"Legalese and a Whole Hoo-Ha" is an episode of Young Sheldon that first aired December 8, 2022.
President Hagemeyer (Wendie Malick) is trying to monetize Sheldon's database that he invented in the previous episode. Mary and George notice that Sheldon only gets 10% of the database's profits, while the other 90% goes to the University. Sheldon doesn't care, since he just wants to do science, but Mary and George want some of Sheldon's money, so they hire a lawyer. Hagemeyer later makes a deal with Sheldon to name a science building after him in exchange for agreeing to 10%. Dr. Linkletter (Ed Begley Jr.) also wants some of the money, since Sheldon came up with the database idea in his office (but actually because he wants compensation for putting up with Sheldon).
Later, the Coopers are meeting with President Hagemeyer (and Dr. Linkletter also shows up uninvited) to sign the contract. Sheldon is upset that everyone is using him as a pawn to make money, and so he storms out. Mary follows him, and he tells her that he will fund his database with private investment.
Meanwhile, Georgie, Connie, and Mandy are working at the video store. Mrs. Howard (Eileen Galindo) comes to return her copy of Basic Instinct, and demands that the store stop carrying it because it contains sexual content; she then tells her prayer group about it. Pastor Jeff later confronts Connie, but she doesn't back down.
Pastor Jeff then starts a protest outside the video store, and Mandy goes to argue with them in an attempt to drive them away, but Connie uses a fire extinguisher on them. Georgie disapproves of Connie's decision, as it risks blowing the cover for the gambling room, which is where the real money is being made, but Connie and Mandy still won't back down.
Connie then goes to Pastor Jeff's house and visibly destroys the store's copy of Basic Instinct, to get him to stop his protests. Jeff appreciates Connie's actions, but then offers to go through the store and remove all of the other dirty movies. This prompts Connie to change her mind and order more dirty movies for the store. The local news then shows up at the store, and so Connie now has no choice but to remove all of the store's dirty movies.
Connie then gets the idea to look through the store's records and see if Pastor Jeff rented anything that he claims is sinful. She doesn't find any dirt on Jeff, but she does find a lot of dirt on his wife and other members of the congregation.
Tropes
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Connie blackmails Jeff with the fact that his wife and the church elders had been renting movies that Jeff and the other people say are sinful, he begs her with, “Connie, please”. Adult Sheldon provides a voice-over of hearing a man beg.
- Blackmail: Connie uses the customer records to see if she can blackmail Pastor Jeff with whatever improper movie he might have rented. Finding none, she then tries his wife and finds that she rented Dirty Dancing and Fatal Attraction multiple times. Using this and some of the other congregation members' rentals, Connie makes Jeff beg for mercy.
- Dumbass Has a Point: It's the usually dense Georgie who points out to Connie that picking a fight with the church will just bring media attention and risk exposing the secret gambling den. Connie then asks how he became the rational one.
- Political Overcorrectness: Pastor Jeff forces Connie to remove all movies he and the more judgmental congregation members find objectional because of nudity or language.
- Previously on…: We're reminded that Connie decided to expand her business to the video rental store and that Sheldon presented Hagemeyer with an idea for a scientific grant database which Hagemeyer immediately thought would be very profitable.
- Relax-o-Vision: Just as Connie is making Pastor Jeff sweat, adult Sheldon says that he's ending the episode here so the audience doesn't have to listen to a grown man beg for mercy.
- Shout-Out to Porky's: The R-rated movie includes full female nudity. Connie says it was rented by one of the church elders, much to Pastor Jeff's dismay.
- Start My Own: Tired of having Hagemeyer, Linkletter and his parents fighting over the contract for the database project, Sheldon decides to just work on it alone using private funding.
