Why Sheldon Doesn’t Drive: The Mystery Revealed

During the long time running show The Big Bang Theory, the show would have a flashback into Sheldon’s (Jim Parsons) past to provide the explanation for why he is the way he is (they explained why he always knocked three times). With the new spin-off prequel Young Sheldon, the possibilities of finding out more about his past are limitless. We got to see another mystery solved about Sheldon when in Thursday night’s episode we find out why Sheldon doesn’t drive.

Until now, we had known since the start of the show that Sheldon doesn’t drive and that he was completely reliant on his friends for transport. They actually made an entire episode about how they got fed up of Sheldon (which happens often) so he was forced to learn to drive. He failed horribly. And as we now know it’s one of his childlike quirks that is the reason he never learned to drive.

Thursday’s episode of Young Sheldon, titled “Poker, Faith, and Eggs,” took us back to the moment when Sheldon (Iain Armitage) decided that driving wasn’t for him. His father (Lance Barber) was in the hospital, so the kids wanted to come visit despite it being against their mothers (Zoe Perry) wishes. So George Jr. (Montana Jordan) “borrowed” their Meemaw’s (Annie Potts) car and drove them to the hospital. However, at the time George’s only experience with driving was a tractor at 4-H, and as you might have guessed the ride didn’t go very well. Behind them, they left a plethora of knocked over trashcans and damaged mailboxes.

“I’ve often been asked why I never learned to drive a car,” grown-up Sheldon said in the voiceover. “This night is your answer.”

The twist is, that Sheldon actually knows how to drive. It was revealed in the last season that Sheldon had acquired his driving license two years prior when he was on his license-acquiring spree and never told anyone. He barely passed. He still prefers being chauffeured than driving himself.

Sheldon ALWAYS comes prepared. #YoungSheldon pic.twitter.com/b6qWsv7FSM

— Young Sheldon (@YoungSheldon) November 10, 2017

Is this a slip up on the writers part? Maybe. But this begs the question, when is Sheldon’s narration taking place in the timeline? It certainly is after the autotrophs began to drool, but it seems that is before he got his license, which would put it somewhere around 2013.