The Season 1 finale of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage has set up big changes for the series going forward. The relationship between Georgie’s (Montana Jordan) in-laws will change, now that Jim (Will Sasso) has sold the tire shop. Connor’s (Dougie Baldwin) relationship with Chloe (Kara Arena) is progressing. Mandy’s (Emily Osment) new job has the potential to bring her success, while it could also bring about the inevitable end of the titular couple’s marriage.
One of the biggest changes going forward is Georgie and Ruben (Jessie Prez) becoming business partners by pooling their resources to buy the tire shop. It would be hard to argue against the fact that without Ruben, Georgie would never have been able to buy the shop, and, as a result, would never have become the Georgie we meet in The Big Bang Theory, the one with a successful Dr. Tire franchise. That makes him a pivotal character in Georgie’s life, with their partnership a touchstone moment in the creation of Dr. Tire, which makes his absence in the greater Big Bang Theory universe confusing.
Georgie and Ruben’s Fates Are Linked Together in ‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’
In the Season 1 finale of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Jim McAllister decides to sell the shop to Fred Fagenbacher (Matt Letscher), an auto parts magnate and Audrey’s (Rachel Bay Jones) ex-boyfriend. Georgie asks for 48 hours to come up with the money to match Fred’s offer, and Jim agrees. After striking out with the bank and with Meemaw (Annie Potts), Georgie is finally able to secure a loan after Mary (Zoe Perry) offers up the Cooper home as collateral. It’s still not enough to match the initial offer until Ruben, who also approached his family for the same reason, comes in with the balance, making them partners in the business. Given how each comes in with the fates of not only themselves but their respective families on the line, their partnership isn’t just business: it’s personal.
Their relationship to date hasn’t really been explored in the series, and the (criminally) few times we’ve seen Ruben has shown that what they have borders on antagonistic. Now that Ruben will presumably appear more often, the new season will see the pair figure out how to work together, not only to make the business a success, but to thwart whatever plans Fred has to take them down. Success, as we know, never happens overnight, and the potential hazards that Fred represents make success an even dodgier prospect.
That makes their partnership a necessity not for a period of days or months, but conceivably years. As a result, their relationship can’t possibly be limited to only when they are in the tire shop together. They will become deeply connected, two men whose lives are inextricably linked, who have no choice but to trust that the other has their back. That trust is built by learning about one another, and that takes time. Knowing how deep they will be in each other’s lives, for what has to be a period of years, makes it even more confusing that Ruben has never been heard about outside of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.
The Reason ‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ Ruben Isn’t in ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Universe Makes Sense, but There Are Other Possibilities
It may be confusing why Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage character, Ruben, has no mention in the greater The Big Bang Theory universe outside this series, but the reason why makes sense. Quite simply, Ruben wasn’t a character before the series premiered, with the sarcastic mechanic being created specifically for the Young Sheldon spinoff (it leads into a Schrödinger’s Cat-like situation where the character didn’t exist, yet he did exist). It’s hard to reference a character without having a character to reference, but for kicks and giggles, we can certainly speculate as to why the prominent figure in Georgie’s life never gets a shout-out in either of the parent series.
For starters, Young Sheldon never spent much time in the tire shop, so for Ruben not to appear in the few scenes that take place there isn’t strange. As for The Big Bang Theory, what we know about Georgie, prior to the events of “The Sibling Realignment” in Season 11, comes from Sheldon (Jim Parsons) himself, and that information only comes in throwaway lines, like referring to him and his sister as “mouth-breathing idiots.” Any talk about Ruben would have meant that Sheldon knew anything about what his brother had been up to at any point, and while Lord knows we love him, Sheldon is extremely self-centered through the bulk of the series’ run.
Related
‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ Season 2 Needs To Let Georgie Grow Beyond ‘Young Sheldon’
The hit CBS series needs to prepare Georgie for adulthood.
Then, when we finally do meet Georgie at one of his Dr. Tire shops in “The Sibling Realignment,” courtesy of Jerry O’Connell, Ruben isn’t there, for much the same reason he wasn’t in Young Sheldon: the scene didn’t last long enough at the shop to warrant seeing him. He could have been in the back, at another location, or, and this may be a very real possibility, Ruben had been long gone due to something that happened in the timeline between the two series. The most likely scenario would be that their business partnership simply fell apart, in one of two ways.
On the one hand, they may have split under amicable circumstances, wishing each other well as they move on to different ventures. On the other hand, those circumstances may have been hostile, with resentment, an unwillingness to work together anymore, or even giving up shares to the evil Fred Fagenbacher severing not only their business dynamic, but their personal relationship altogether.
Or — and this is just as likely — we’re making the proverbial mountain out of a mole hill, and they’re still working together as closely as ever. After all, it’s Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, not Georgie & Ruben’s First Business Partnership. So who knows? Season 2 might just set the stage for the actual reason why Ruben isn’t ever mentioned in the parent series. It has already set Jessie Prez’s Ruben up for more of a presence, and if nothing else, that is a positive for the series going forward.
All episodes of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage are available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.