Young Sheldon season 7 episode 3 recap: Sheldon goes rogue

It's already a new week, which means a new episode of Young Sheldon season 7! In last week's episode, we saw Sheldon struggling to keep up with his peers in Germany and be put in his place (good!), Connie and Georgie introduce higher stakes to their gambling business, and some grandfather bonding happens which is equal parts sweet and hilarious.

The Big Bang Theory prequel brought us a new episode tonight, Young Sheldon season 7 episode 3, "A Strudel and a Hot American Boy Toy." We see how Sheldon sort of acts like a teenager once again like in the premiere episode and decides to go exploring in Germany without telling Mary, Missy's little rebellious stage continues, and Connie and Dale adapt to living together. Read on below for all the details!

Sheldon goes rogue

We start off with Sheldon and Mary arguing about the young genius traveling around Germany alone on, of course, a train. It's the ”birthplace of the modern rail system," he tells his mom. Mary obviously doesn't want him going around by himself and says he can't do so. When Sheldon shares that German children ride trains by themselves, she hilariously says, "when you become a German child we’ll talk."

This leads to some unusual behavior for Sheldon - he lies to his mother and decides to go on the trains anyway. Even if it is Sheldon, he's still a teenager I guess! We got hints of this in the premiere episode with him refusing to leave to go back home to Medford after news of the tornado reached them. Though as we know, he really can't keep a secret. So he tells his sister Missy what he's doing. But per usual, his sister could care less.

Sheldon makes around five trips before he gets off one of the trains to grab a snack. And the train doesn't wait for him! This gets him into some big trouble. He calls home and Missy picks up, but when her "friend" Taylor calls, she's not interested in helping Sheldon. The young teen calls officers who show up to help him, but they really don't want to ride in a car with Sheldon for an hour, seeing how annoying he is. And so Sheldon is stuck finding his own way back on foot.

During his walk, a wild dog chases after him and he's all disheveled. After a couple of hours, Missy remembers her brother is in trouble and calls Mary to let her know. Though when Sheldon comes back he comes up with another lie, instead of confronting him, Mary lets him think he got away with it. And she declares in her letter to George (more on that below) that the guilt is eating him alive. Serves him right!

Romancing Mr. Cooper

Though it started out as staying in communication to be more cost efficient as phone calls to and from Germany are expensive, George starts to write letters to Mary and it turns so sweet. It just made me smile the whole time! The two keep each other updated on how things are in Texas and Germany. Missy has a new friend, Taylor, who turns out to be a 15-year-old boy vs. the 13-year-old she is. She lies and says he's gay, which George believes. But, he definitely is not. Oh Missy!

The letters back and forth between the two remind Mary of when she's write to George while he was serving in Vietnam during the war. He sent a polaroid of CeeCee and one of himself, claiming he's her "hot American boy toy." We really don't see these sweeter moments between the couple, and I love it. But it's also bittersweet as we know what's to come. Below, I shared my favorite quote of the episode that made my heart melt. This is Mary telling George the following:

“I’ve been sitting here staring at your picture, thinking about all the years we’ve been together. How I may have taken you for granted the last few. I do appreciate you. I do love you. And I’m sorry I don’t say it enough. Or say it at all.”

I love the narration from the different characters, instead of just getting Sheldon's for a change. And the letters were a great device and style to tell the story of the episode. Because their letters to each other start to inspire some of the other characters to write ones too.

Like Georgie writing a "romantic" letter to Mandy. I mean for him, it is romantic. It's just so funny! “Sure I could go on and on about your pretty b***s. But what’ more important is what’s underneath. Your heart.” Oh, typical Georgie. He also admits he watches her shower, which is creepy. But this does inspire Mandy to go and shower, and she may leave the door unlocked. In a hilarious moment, George accidentally walks in on them after they forget to lock the door. Yup, the Cooper house is getting a little too full!

Dale and Meemaw try to live together (again)

I guess Connie is now officially living with Dale, or at least trying to. She's mad at Mary for not even sending her a postcard, so decides to write a letter to her daughter too. She and Dale, unsurprisingly, are having trouble adjusting to being under the same roof. Apparently Dale likes to play the guitar, but it's the same songs over and over again. Connie hides it and when she admits she did, they lay down some ground rules. Also is the fact that Meemaw's snoring is very loud, while Dale farts all night. The two try to find a compromise and we end with a hilarious scene - Connie snoring while Dale is farting with them both fast asleep to the track of "The Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss II.

Next week on Young Sheldon

The synopsis and promotional images for Young Sheldon season 7 episode 4, “Ants on a Log and a Cheating Winker,” reveal that Sheldon and Mary are done with Germany and are going to be headed back home to reunite with their family! I wonder if we're going to get a bit of a time jump here.

In the next installment, Missy "steps up," Mary has a surprise for George, and Sheldon comes back to find his dorm occupied, per the synopsis. I'm assuming this means his college dorm and not his room at home, which is also occupied by Georgie, Mandy, and CeeCee. Episode 4 airs Thursday, March 7, 20224 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The episode will also be available to stream on Paramount+. We shared the promo below!

If you look closely, there's a hint of Sheldon knocking on the door at home, and then looking shocked. Is this hinting at what we think it's hinting at? I can't look!

Stay tuned to Hidden Remote as we bring you weekly recaps of Young Sheldon season 7!