User Reviews

For those fans "not quite sure what to make of it" of Young Sheldon, my advice would be to hang in there as this show is getting better and better with each episode. We learn how the young Sheldon learns to persist at a very early age why he had no choice but to set his career path as a theoretical physicist.

When a space scientist from NASA visits with Sheldon's school and Sheldon inquires why a space ship cannot land back in to the earth's atmosphere to reduce the enormous costs of the USA space program, the scientist attempts to appease Sheldon by giving him a token NASA patch to place on his school bag. Sheldon will have nothing to do with being ignored so he spends the next few days in his room preparing mathematical equations until he gets stomach cramps which turn out to be the early signs of a stomach ulcer to which his family doctor prescribes Zantac. Sheldon notices that his family doctor's office has an unoccupied computer so while the family doctor is talking to Sheldon's parents, Sheldon takes the opportunity to use the doctor's computer to hack in to the NASA space programs computer to finish his calculations.

The entire Cooper family then heads off to NASA as Sheldon received no response to his mailed recommendations so that Sheldon can personally explain why what NASA says "cannot be done" , Sheldon will walk NASA through why it will be done, further explaining why Sheldon is a child genius.

The entire Cooper clan realizes that Sheldon is a dweeb and quirky, but darn it, when Sheldon is right about something and won't let go, then the entire Cooper clan is there to support him, especially his football loving, beer swigging father. NASA learns that you cannot put the Cooper clan on a shelf and ignore them, because as the adult Sheldon would later in his life, knock three times on a door to make sure the person on the other side of that door would know who is on "the other side of that door", young Sheldon (and his family) have no qualms about going to NASA headquarters to satisfy young Sheldon's need to be proven right....again!

It is a touching scene when the adult Sheldon narrates to the audience it is times like the Cooper's trip to NASA that he realizes what his dad (and his whole family including his grandma) will do for him, so look out world....you cannot ignore young Sheldon!

It is an inspiring family themed episode.

When the NASA scientist Dr. Ronald Hodges (Jason Kravits) gives a lecture at Sheldon's high school, he explains the budget problem of the agency. Sheldon questions him why the rocket is dumped at sea and not landed on Earth to be reused and reduce costs, but Dr. Hodges does not give much attention to Sheldon and gives a NASA patch to him. Now Sheldon uses physics to calculate the equations to land the rocket and his father and family help him to get an answer from NASA.

"A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac" is one of the best (if not the best so far) episodes of Sheldon. His pursue for a computer first negotiating a second mortgage of his house with the bank and then for modem to hack NASA's computer to perform his calculation to him is spectacular. His ulcer is hilarious. His discussion with the NASA scientist is great. But the cameo of Elon Musk in the end is the icing on the cake. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac"

This is another warm and mildly funny episode of the 'Big Bang Theory' spin-off/prequel, and again displays all the promise that it might be able to stand on its own two feet.

I hope they don't go too far down the 'quirky teacher' route, because it feels like other shows (The Goldbergs, The Wonder Years) have already drained this pool dry, but it's a device that works well here.

I wouldn't say this show is laugh out loud funny, but it is warm and well written, not to mention performed by a stellar case of actors, many of whom have the difficulty of having to play the younger versions of characters we've met previously on the sister show.

All in all, another good episode.