Meemaw is back and up to no good.
Annie Potts made her long-awaited return to “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” Thursday, marking her first appearance in nearly a year due to her series-regular commitment to Fox’s “Best Medicine.” And almost immediately after arriving in Medford, fresh off an RV trip with Dale (fellow returnee Craig T. Nelson), she and the recently unemployed Mandy find themselves in cahoots again — and taking advantage of Mary’s good heart in the process.
It’s now 1996 on the “Young Sheldon” spin-off, at the height of the Beanie Baby craze. CeeCee loses her beloved stuffed monkey, and Georgie and Mandy have tried and failed to replace it, visiting multiple nearby toy stores and coming up empty. Desperate, Mandy asks Mary if she can sew a replica for her granddaughter, and Mary happily obliges.
A few days later, Mandy and Meemaw take CeeCee to the park, where a mother (played by “Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon” alum Melissa Tang, last seen in Season 1 of “Georgie & Mandy”) approaches Meemaw and asks to buy the monkey for her son. Meemaw hesitates… but when she’s offered $100 in cold, hard cash, it gives her and Mandy an idea: If they can convince Mary to keep making more stuffies, they can sell them to desperate parents and make a fortune. All they have to do is tell Mary they’re for sick children.
The Scheme Escalates Quickly
Before long, their get-rich-quick scheme nearly hits a snag when Medford High librarian — and Beanie Baby connoisseur — Sheryl Hutchins (played by fellow “Young Sheldon” alum Sarah Baker) approaches them in a parking lot and quickly deduces that the Beanie Babies are fake. But she’s more disgusted by the idea of letting a counterfeit into her home than by Georgie’s wife and grandmother making a quick buck.
Mandy and Meemaw eventually sell out and convince Mary to make more. Still naive to what’s really going on, Mary suggests bringing in kids from Sunday school to help, like a little assembly line.
“Kids helping kids… I love it!” Meemaw exclaims.
When Mary steps away to call Pastor Jeff, Dale chimes in with his two cents: “Now you’re turning Sunday school into a sweatshop,” he says. But Meemaw isn’t deterred: “They’re little. They don’t sweat much.”
Connor Gets Closure
Meanwhile, the B-story this week follows Connor, who earlier this season had his heart broken by “Goddess of the Music Store” Chloe following a pregnancy scare. As you’ll recall, he channeled that heartbreak into a novelty song, “Do the Axolotl,” which gets airplay from Dr. Demento. Soon after, Chloe reaches out and asks Connor if he’d be willing to start over, but he tells her he isn’t interested.
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