Rosemary Carter

Rosemary Carter is the mother of Thomas Carter, George Carter Jr. and Peggy Cater and widow of George Carter Sr.. She is a devout born-again Christian from Northern Ireland. Her husband passed away many years ago. She is also the grandmother of Peggy's son and her 3 other kids and Trixy Carter and the sister of Susan, Kathy, Carl and Edward. As of "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", she is the mother-in-law of Amira Moore.
== Overview ==
=== Early years ===
She had met George Carter Sr. and had gone to a bar. Later that night, she had sexual intercourse and got pregnant with Georgie.
=== Young Thomas ===
==== Season 1 ====
The first episode of the series starts with the family enjoying supper. Thomas, Peggy and Rosemary attended church. She tells another participant to mind her own business since her children are making a nuisance of themselves. When Rosemary confides in George about her worries about Thomas attending high school, George quickly calms her down. She takes Thomas for a short walk outside. Thomas wants his bowtie the next day, so she looks for it. George admits he had it, and she is dissatisfied with his revelation. She drives him to Medfield High School and follows him for a bit. Rosemary, George, Ms. McElroy, Ms. Ingram, and Mr. Givens are summoned to Principal Petersen's office. They want his parents to send him to a private school, but they can't since they don't make enough money. She and her family pray and have dinner later that night. (Pilot (Young Thomas
))
Rosemary was at Medfield High School keeping an eye on Thomas because she was concerned about him. He doesn't have a friend, after all. A few days later, she invites Tam, Thomas's new friend for dinner. (Rockets, Communist, and the Dewey Decimal System)
When Mary and George arrive home, Glenda is babysitting. Tomorrow, Rosemary goes to church, and Thomas asks Pastor Jeff some questions about God. Later, she drives George to the hospital because he is experiencing chest pains. (Poker, Faith, and Eggs)
Rosemary was rushing Thomas through breakfast because they were going to be late. Thomas choked on a sausage. A few weeks later, they took Thomas to a psychiatrist. (A Therapist, a Comic Book and a Breakfast Sausage)
Rosemary, George, Georgie, Peggy, Thomas, and Glenda were watching football at home. Tomorrow, she was watching the Wolves playing against another team. Later, Georgie was playing music too loud so she turned it off. She also tells him to clean his room, but he begins to act disrespectful, so she ground him. At night, she tells him to go to bed. Then Tam came to the door to ask if Thomas wanted to go to a party with him. She says he is in bed. Tomorrow, he got a B+ on a math test. So he tattled to her. (A Solar Calculator, a Game Ball, and a Cheerleader's Bosom) 
Rosemary is at dinner with the family. Tomorrow, Thomas is talking to Dorothy Fitzpatrick the loan officer at The First National Bank of Medford, because he is interested in taking out a second mortgage. She hangs up the phone. Later, when she was picking Thomas and Peggy up from school, Thomas asks her to take him to Radio Shack but she says no. He keeps asking her, but she still says no. At night, Thomas doesn't feel well and he thinks he has an ulcer. Tomorrow, they take him to a doctor. When Thomas is done with his research, they send his papers to NASA, but the people from NASA don't reply so the whole family took a trip to Houston. (A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac)
Rosemary is seated at the dinner table when Glenda serves her smoked brisket. George requests the brisket recipe, but Glenda writes, "Keep Dreaming Tubby  ❤️." He hands the piece of paper to Rosemary, who describes Glenda as a horrible person. She then asks everyone to the church picnic. Later, Rosemary and George conflict. Peggy was eavesdropping in, but she tricked them into thinking Georgie was eavesdropping. Rosemary is seen driving Thomas, Peggy, Trixy and Glenda to the church picnic tomorrow. She returns home later that day and begins bickering with George once more. Rosemary and Glenda were having coffee from Café Du Monde when George stormed in. Rosemary, George, and Glenda were in the bible study room when Thomas made Glenda's brisket recipe public. (A Brisket, Voodoo, and Cannonball Run)
==== Season 2 ====
Rosemary is not happy that Thomas started to change the refrigerator. They try to call a mechanic, but the mechanic says that the price costs $200. As Thomas get a job delivering newspaper, she drives along to watch him progress throughout the neighbourhood. (A High-Pitched Buzz and Training Wheels)
When Thomas realizes that there is another prodigy, Rosemary meets Paige’s parents and ask about their experience in raising a prodigy. They invite them over, and they talk. Drinking beer, they connect over how intense their kids are with respect to academics. She learns from Paige’s parents she is more sociable and not difficult. (A Rival Prodigy and Sir Isaac Neutron)
Rosemary is at home when she receives a call telling her that Stephanie Hanson’s daughter died in a car accident. Feeling distraught, she and George attend the funeral. Feeling a crisis of faith, she decides to pay a visit to Pastor Jeff. She talks to Peg the receptionist, before she is let into the office where Pastor Jeff talks about ways to improve her morale. Over the next week, she forms a religious meeting of people, created a faith garden, and hopes things are for the better, prays for Thomas before he goes to sleep, and is a bit happier. On Saturday, she and Glenda decide to head over to a bar and have some fun drinking beer and have a good time. She is reminded that she got pregnant when she went on a date with George and had to get married, so she does not get ostracized in society. She reconciles her faith and attends church again on Sunday; there she is horrified that even her mother dares to raise her hand so Thomas can ask a question for Pastor Jeff. (A Crisis of Faith and Octopus Aliens)
When Halloween arrives, Pastor Jeff asks Rosemary take over responsibilities of a creation of a Hell House that year; the previous year had generated bad press and did not achieve its goal of showing Christian responsibility. Rosemary goes to the school theatre teacher Gene Lundy, who helps put up a Heck House. She goes to the local real estate agent none other than Fred Murphy and asks them to rent a house for that day; he agrees only if he gets a role in the play. Rosemary agrees that he gets the role of Lust.
Meanwhile, Rosemary sets up a heaven section where she is an angel, hoping someone comes to salvation. During the event, she wanted Lundy to actually show salvation from God of their sins but is rebuffed. Later in the evening, her heaven presentation is validated when Veronica Duncan comes in and begs for forgiveness while dedicating the rest of her life as a Christian. (Seven Deadly Sins and a Small Carl Sagan)
One day, she goes to the Church to see Pastor Jeff. She talks a bit with Peg and notices he coughs a lot. She goes in and talks to Jeff, telling him to go home or see a doctor. She is given the responsibility to act as a marriage counselor while he recovers. Rosemary waits for the Walkers and tells them they are in good hands. At home, Rosemary excitedly tells George about her new in-charge role and her maiden marriage counseling. Simultaneously, Rosemary comes back and breaks the news of visiting a shut-in coyly, grabs a bun and rushes back in. At night, Rosemary visits the shut-in to bring dinner for Mr. Gilford who’s a loner and not a big fan of conversations. After he’s had his meal, Rosemary cleans up the wrappers and sits to keep him company. He is surprised she wants to stick around and questions her on the same. Rosemary starts quoting scriptures which suggest people must look after fellow men and how it's their duty. Mr. Gilford seems irritated as women don’t preach in church and doesn’t want to hear her recite The Bible. Offended, Rosemary corrects him that she’s not in church as she’s rather in his disgusting living room. He looks around the ghetto space, as it is true! At the church office, Rosemary is searching for binder clips and soon Jeff returns, looking sick and exhausted. Rosemary asks why’s he not resting at home. He blames his unhappy marriage and deviates the dialogue to how she’s been holding up. She gives a positive report about the Walkers who’ll be multiplying soon and grimaces upon remembering her shut-in visit. Jeff asks her to give Mr. Gilford a pass after all he’s been through having been a genuine war hero. Rosemary feels sorry and takes permission to give him another visit at the shut-in. This time: however, she’s alarmed as no one answers her repeated knocks at his door. Walking in with the food, she discovers he is deceased. The police come in and take care of things. Next Sunday. Pastor Jeff invites Rosemary to come speak at the dais. She speaks about Mr. Gilford- the 45 years of his glorious married life, his family, his service to the country in the army and his unapologetic love for the Dallas Cowboys. She invites the congregation to join her celebrate his life at the American legion and ends her speech asking for volunteers who’d help her sort of Mr. Gilford’s house. (A Math Emergency and Perky Palms)
==== Season 3 ====
Rosemary enters Thomas’s room to see him conducting an experiment similar to what Nikola Tesla speculated. Later, she is talking to her mother at the breakfast table and learns that Dr. Sturgis is in a psychiatric hospital. She later sees Thomas talking about subatomic particles and tries to talk to him about potential mental illness. She gets some books about it and is embarrassed during the checkout. (Quirky Eggheads and Ireland Snow Globes)
Glenda is talking to Rosemary at the food table about John Sturgis. She is concerned about him. Later on, George knocks on her door to pitch a snow globe, but does not want one. She encourages him to find others. (Quirky Eggheads and Ireland Snow Globes)
==== Season 4 ====
Rosemary drives home when Peggy asks about a school dance, but rebuffs her because they are baptists. Later on, she is told by Peggy of a Bible quote, but then tells her that she cannot do that because it is from the film "Footloose", and it was warned against by Pastor Jeff. As a result, she storms to ask of Georgie showed Peggy the film, to which he had said no. Later, after some thought, she went to Peggy’s door and said she will allow her to do so. She tries to open the door. (Crappy Frozen Ice Cream and an Organ Grinder's Monkey)
Rosemary is concerned for her mother and son. She wants to driver Thomas to school, but he panics and goes back home. She tries to talk to him but think he is having a panic attack. She goes to work, and talks briefly to Jeff. Glenda calls her asking for the Church Shuttle, and is joking told about the Geezer shuttle; she gives the number. Soon enough, she goes home, and sees Lucas from Lindon Telecom working in Thomas’s room. She asks what is going on and is told that Thomas manipulated Linda into installing a dedicated phone line from their home to the college servers. She is not too thrilled. She later receives a call from Linda Hagemeyer and tells her that she wants to raise her kid her own way. (The Geezer Bus and a New Model for Education).
When Thomas goes crazy about Paige being recruited to University of Medfield, Peggy taunts Thomas and says he likes her. She asks several questions and got into his head about his liking Paige. Later, she tells Thomas that he has a crush on her, despite denials from Thomas. (A Second Prodigy and the Hottest Tips for Pouty Lips)
John Sturgis comes for dinner and everyone is having a good time. They explore alternate universes where members of the family are different. He imagines himself as an uptight person who is a preacher and is well respected.(A Black Hole)
John Sturgis comes for dinner and everyone is having a good time. They explore alternate universes where members of the family are different. She imagined herself in a skimpy dress, drinking alcohol and going to the club later on. (A Black Hole)
She is summoned to Jeff’s office where she is told about his new child. She offers to help Peg and herself to take on some new responsibilities after Jeff has some time off. When she asks Peg to do something, she is told that she is not “the boss around here” when Jeff is away. Later, she tells Peg that she is correct, and Peg is happy that Rosemary will do everything. She is told that she thinks she is better than everyone. Later at home, she is confused at Peggy’s behaviour. She goes in and tells her to apologize to Thomas; as a result, she tells Peggy that she is grounded. She goes out and is very unhappy about the situation and frustrated at the fact that “she has to handle everything”. Feeling sad, she tells Georgie to make himself some food; she later receives some soup from Georgie.(The Wild and Woolly World of Nonlinear Dynamics)
==== Season 5 ====
She was in a meeting with Jeff; he tells her to take some time off because they, as church leaders, need to set a good example. (White Trash, Holy Rollers and Punching People)
==== Season 6 ====
Rosemary hears George talking on the house phone and asks who is it. She is told that her son Georgie and her mother were arrested at the border. She is concerned for Georgie but not so much about her mother, remarking that Glenda had been in jail before. She wants things to be better. That night, she walks to Glenda's house and meets Mandy, who was talking to Peggy. She was surprised that Peggy told Mandy lots of things. At night, she takes out the trash when she also sees Pastor Jeff take out the trash; she refuses to tell Jeff where he is, saying she can do it. Jeff hopes she will be at church there again; Jeff asked about Georgie and Mandy will be ok. She just directly says it's a bastard child. The next morning before church, she is at the breakfast table and Peggy joins her for church. At church, she enters with Peggy and Thomas, well aware of the judgmental condescending stares she gets. She tries to hold hands with others, but is rebuffed by a woman. She immediately leaves; she had to tell Thomas to leave after he tried to talk to the congregation. (Four Hundred Cartons of Undeclared Cigarettes and a Niblingo) 
Everyone makes dinner and talks. Rosemary worked at the bowling Alley when she sees Pastor Rob there. She goes up to him and greets him, and is introduced to his girlfriend Shannon Dixon; Shannon reminds Rosemary that Rosemary used to babysit her and would like the liquor cabinet. Rosemary awkwardly leaves and talks to Brenda. Then she goes to work on administrative duties in the back office. There, Brenda and Rosemary bond and decide to go to a bar; Rosemary dances to the music. (Future Worf and the Margarita of the South Pacific)
Rosemary is given a copy of the book "Passion's Harvest" by Glenda. She decides to read it and reads it in multiple places such as a park bench, the bathroom to the annoyance of Peggy, and at work. She considers the book to be trash quality and decides that she can write better. She dreams of herself in an eye-catching dress at a bar with a man named Dusty and they go out to kiss. She had continued to write at the kitchen table, and George enters, breaking her out of the daze of writing. She ends up taking him to the bedroom and engage in sex. She later finishes the story and kisses Dusty. 
Rosemary one day is at the kitchen table when her daughter comes home. Peggy is upset about boy trouble and Rosemary wants to talk about it; Peggy retorts that the only boys she knows are Jesus and George, to Rosemary's surprise. Later, Georgie volunteers to help make food, and she is impressed. At night, she goes to get the groceries and asks George to help get them. Soon enough, she is shocked by Peggy’s disaster attempt at getting blonde hair. (Blonde Ambition and the Concept of Zero)
Rosemary receives a call from Thomas asking if he can stay overnight in his dorm; she says yes. She later on entices George to have sex, as they are home alone for the moment; Peggy comes home and tells them that she is home. The next morning, She kisses George, to Peggy’s disgust. When she is in the bedroom with George, she drunkenly tells him that she wants a new baby, but is rebuffed by George. (A Resident Advisor and the Word 'Sketchy')
At a dinner, Rosemary welcomes Mandy for stopping by. She tells Mandy to not answer Thomas’s inappropriate question. Later, she is fine with Wayne Wilkins sleeping on the coach. Thomas later asks about social protocol because he wanted to watch television. (An Ugly Car, an Affair and Some Kickass Football)
==== Season 7 ====
To be added
=== The Sidemen ===
==== Season 1 ====
When Thomas is fired for disrespecting his new boss, Dr. Eric Gablehauser, Rosemary comes to help after being called by Lewis when he resorts to odd activities to pass the time. At first, she tries to coax him to apologize to his ex-boss, but finally tells him off about his superior attitude and forces him to go apologize. She goes with him and Dr. Gablehauser admittedly develops an attraction to her (she quickly points out her husband is dead). Thomas ends up getting his job back without really apologizing.
==== Season 2 ====
Rosemary is absent in Season 2 but was mentioned in a few episodes.
When Thomas banishes Penny from the apartment. Lewis, who witnessed the whole incident, decides to put an end to this war by giving Penny what he describes as Sheldon's Kryptonite: his mother's phone number. She suddenly calls him and reprimands him about his behaviour to Penny; thus, he apologizes. (The Panty Piñata Polarization)
When Lewis's mother Beverly visits and goes to the toilet, Lewis and Thomas discuss their mothers. After Thomas expresses admiration for Lewis's mother, he reveals that Rosemary once hit him with a Bible because he wouldn't eat his brussels sprouts. Lewis says that Thomas doesn't give his mother enough credit and that she's warm, loving, and doesn't glue electrodes to people's heads to measure their brain waves while potty-training. (The Maternal Capacitance)
==== Season 3 ====
Thomas goes to his hometown in Ireland when his friends damage his career. She welcomes him back, though she starts to irritate him with her religious quirks. He drives her crazy because of his arrogant attitude. The guys show up to take him back, and he agrees only when his mother starts up again with her religious beliefs on evolution. She admits to being happy he is leaving, commenting, "Don't tell me prayer never works!"
==== Season 4 ====
Thomas meets a new friend named Amira, who is the female version of him. They have a falling out when they disagree on whose career is better and Sheldon lapses into an odd depression where he buys multiple cats. Rosemary comes and tricks the two into making up by using reverse psychology. She makes it seem she is happy the two split up and they rebel by mending their friendship.
==== Season 5 ====
Rosemary comes to visit her son but ends up spending more time with his friends. She chooses to accompany his friends on a sightseeing trip of Hollywood rather than go with Thomas to a lecture where he wants to embarrass Saul Perlmutter and to have her cook the meals that Thomas wants her to prepare. Annoyed, he goes with Amira, but catches a cold when it rains. Becoming sick, Rosemary finally gives him attention and nurses him back to health.
==== Season 6 ====
Rosemary was absent in all episodes in Season 6 but was mentioned a few times.
In "The Santa Simulation," it is revealed that her father died when Thomas was 3 years old. At the Babybrook Mall in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1997 that same year, Rosemary dragged Thomas to the mall and plopped Thomas on Santa's lap, and Thomas said he wanted his grandfather back when asked what he wanted for Christmas, but this was denied, and this became the reason that Thomas hates Christmas.
She is mentioned again in "The Bakersfield Expedition" where a policeman asks Lewis, Thomas, JJ, Simon, Ethan, Harry, Vik and James if they need him to call someone and he guesses their moms, referring to Rosemary, Beverly, Yinka, Ruth, Tricia, Mrs Minter, Mrs. Wolowitz, and Mrs. Barn and Lewis responds "Thanks. But we got it covered."
==== Season 7 ====
She was mentioned in "The Raiders Minimization." Thomas said that she used to put hamster poop in his father's tobacco when he used to drink.
Thomas visits Ireland when his sister is having a baby in "The Carter Extraction." Thomas talks with his mother on his webcam broadcast. Rosemary is not seen on screen, only her voice is heard.
In "The Mommy Observation", Thomas surprises his mother with a visit and catches her having sexual relations with her boyfriend. First, Thomas condemns her for having coitus despite her Christian beliefs, so she sends him to his room. James, who was in Ireland lecturing, tells him how he drove away his mother's boyfriend and how she has been lonely ever since. Thomas decides to not stand in his mother's way of happiness, though he still chooses to condemn her internally. Also, he tries to have a talk with her about the birds and the bees.
==== Season 8 ====
In "The Maternal Combustion," Rosemary Carter finally meets Dr. Beverly Hutchinson, Lewis's mother. The two very different women start out as civil, but later quickly come to clash as Beverly insults and belittles Rosemary's strict religious beliefs and Rosemary in turn derides Beverly's cold attitude and her parenting beliefs. Rosemary is especially insulted when Beverly is left dumbstruck how a genius intellect like Thomas could be born to a woman like her. After taking a break from each other, the two come to terms with the argument: Rosemary decides to forgive Beverly for her offhandish ways and Beverly realizes that there is more than one way to raise a child. The two mothers make up, and Beverly tries unconditional loving by trying an awkward hug with Lewis.
==== Season 9 ====
In "The Matrimonial Momentum," Thomas is in his apartment calling her after his breakup with Amira. He regretfully informs her that Amira broke up with him and that he would like to send the engagement ring (which is an old family heirloom - it belonged to his great-grandmother) back to Ireland. She tells him not to be too hasty - his sister Peggy is already married, and she would rather Thomas gave the ring to Amira than let his older brother George Jr. give it to his "whore of a girlfriend." Thomas decides to hold on to it. 
She reappears in "The Convergence Convergence" when Thomas invites her to Lewis and Penny's re-wedding and without telling the bride and groom. She is picked up by Amira whom she is fond of and tells her to call her "Rosemary." Rosemary is not pleased to meet Beverly again, as they barely speak in the apartment. She also fights again with Beverly over the Bible. Rosemary becomes quite taken with Lewis's father Alfred and they bond over their dislike of Beverly, his charm, and his tolerance of others' beliefs and their admiration of each other's beliefs. Both of them excuse themselves early from dinner and appear to be hooking up at their hotel to the discomfort of Lewis and Thomas, and to Penny's delight. 
==== Season 10 ====
In Rosemary's appearance in "The Conjugal Conjecture", it's revealed that she and Alfred merely had a simple conversation while at their hotel. Despite this, they still intend to see each other, much to Beverly, Lewis, and Thomas's reluctance. Rosemary consoles Amira when she mistakenly thought that Thomas would propose when he was giving a speech to Penny and Lewis. Afterwards, on the way to the airport, she teaches Amira how to make Thomas treat her right. (Just add a little zing to it.)
In "The Holiday Summation," Thomas and Amira visit her in Ireland, where Thomas is reluctant to tell her that they are living together, due to her religious beliefs. Thomas is surprised that she couldn't be happier for them and also learns that she thought he would never find anyone. He is even more peeved when Amira had told her of the living arrangements ahead of time. Thomas goes off and rebels, dressing like an idiot and getting an earring. Rosemary makes him take it out. Amira also learns that, even though Rosemary likes her, she does think that Amira is weird.
==== Season 11 ====
Rosemary reappeared in the season premiere, "The Proposal Proposal", when Thomas phoned her to tell her that he and Amira were engaged. Rosemary was happy for the both of them, but she was not surprised, as she had been praying for the two of them. Thomas informed his mother that they would not be getting married in a church, which was okay with Rosemary, as she said anywhere Jesus is a church, and he'll be there in her heart. She was also quite surprised to hear that there was more than one woman interested in Thomas and thought that she might've prayed a little too hard. After hanging up, Rosemary thanks the Lord for making the engagement happen, and that even though he (the Lord) can do miracles, that one was mighty impressive.
She reappeared in the "The Solo Oscillation," where she called Thomas, who was annoyed by it, since he was trying to find something to work on.
In her last appearance on "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", Rosemary and her daughter Peggy are picked up from the airport by Vik. She mentions that they had also been driven to the airport by an Indian fellow. Peggy objected to her comment, in spite of the fact that it was barely even racist. Rosemary also is in denial that her daughter is also separated from her husband. Later at the wedding, when Mrs. Moore wants to take her daughter away because she thinks that Thomas has left her at the altar, Penny tells her to stop and that Thomas would never hurt the woman he loves. Rosemary stands up and applauds Penny, who tells her to sit down too. Rosemary also tells Thomas how proud she is of him, how she wishes her father was still here to see him and that her comment that "sometimes it's the imperfections in things that make things perfect" gives Thomas an epiphany about his string theory work.
==== Season 12 ====
Rosemary is only mentioned several times in Season 12.
== Physical appearance ==
Rosemary is an attractive, older woman with brown hair and blue eyes. She often wears dresses and necklaces in her appearances.
== Personality ==
"I have no illusions about my mother. She is a kind, loving, religiously fanatical right-wing Texan with a slightly out-of-scale head and a mild Dr. Pepper addiction."
―Thomas Carter, The Precious Fragmentation
Rosemary is very wise, intelligent, caring, kind, friendly, loving, and sweet-natured: she is very religious and at times, can be unwittingly bigoted - something Lewis occasionally has to point out to her. She appears to be an extremely good mother and is the only one who has ever been able to control Thomas. Lewis describes her as Thomas's "kryptonite." Thomas describes Rosemary as being a "kind, loving, religiously fanatical, right-wing Texan, with a slightly out of scale head and a mild Dr. Pepper addiction." Thomas also uses his mother to exact the point that he isn't crazy, as she had had him tested. Mary later confirmed the story, although with the caveat that she wished she'd "followed up with that specialist in Houston." It is shown in "The Rhinitis Revelation" that all of the gang like her very much, as she provides the attention and wisdom they did not receive from their own mothers (especially Lewis's mother).
She is called upon by both Lewis and Penny when Thomas gets particularly difficult to handle.
She is also the complete opposite of Lewis's unpopular mother Beverly Hutchinson, who is narcissistic, unfriendly, unloving, unaffectionate, uncaring and does completely crazy things, like gluing electrodes to people's heads to measure their brain waves while potty training, and their parenting strategies are very different from each other's (Rosemary having unconditional love for Thomas, and Beverly raising Lewis as a science experiment and having him try to achieve and having to make him earn her love and affection until after Beverly talks with Thomas) that their respective sons prefer to have each other's mother for a mother, and the two women don't see eye-to-eye with anything and truly don't like each other.
She is also extremely wise and has handled situations with Thomas. During her first meeting with Beverly, she was able to successfully pawn her and make her realize that her parenting skills are crap, which later got Beverly to realize that there is more than one way to raise a child and to make her shower Lewis with unconditional love.
Despite her extremely sweet and compassionate nature compared to most of the cast, Rosemary can be vicious when pushed - this is seen on several occasions between her and her son. It is seen most prominently when she sends Thomas to his room, forces him to apologize for his extreme treatment of Penny (in which Lewis refers to Rosemary as his kryptonite), and memorably butts heads with Beverly Hofstadter. She doesn't suffer strong insults to her religion easily, and when Beverly contemptuously asks her if she could read another book than the Bible, Rosemary ferociously answers 'When God writes one, I will!' Despite this, it must be noted that, in the latter occasion, Rosemary was trying to state a petty argument between Beverly and her ex-husband Alfred.
As revealed by her eldest son George Jr., Rosemary was never an entirely good mother. This happens when George tells Lewis and the audience that, out of all her children, she is the proudest of Thomas, even when George made all the sacrifices, took care of Rosemary and his sister Peggy and had a successful business career in running a tire store after building it all on his own from scratch. 
In "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", when Rosemary was talking about Peggy in Vik's car, she was not being good at all and at the wedding, Rosemary and George said nothing to each other and when Rosemary stood up to applaud Penny for telling Mrs. Moore to sit back down, Penny crossly tells Rosemary to sit down as well and leads to Peggy smiling at Rosemary being reprimanded. This sort of behaviour proved that she actually shared with Beverly two traits: Parental favouritism and wanting the children to go into academic careers.
In Young Thomas her personality was a lot different than in The Sidemen. She is shown to sometimes be is very controlling and can be mean when provoked. She also inherited some of Thomas's antics, she is very controlling, hates change, always thinking she is right and also criticizes people. She always thinks she is perfect or superior.
How Rosemary Carter personality changed from the Sidemen, possibly with her son Thomas Carter Jr. Mostly she was devoted to him for too long, she lost her identity and when he left for graduate school in ELIT. She changed a lot into a nicer person. 
== Family ==
* Husband: George Carter Sr.
* Sons: George Carter Jr. and Thomas Carter
* Daughter: Peggy Carter 
* Mother: Glenda Tucker
* Father: Pop-Pop
* Brothers: Carl and Edward
*Sisters: Gracie and Susan
* Grandsons: 2 Unnamed (via Peggy) a
*Granddaughters: 2 Unnamed (via Peggy) and Trixy Carter (via Thomas)
* Son-in-law: Unnamed
* Father-in-law: Mr. Carter
* Mother-in-law: Mrs. Carter
* Sister-in-law: Unnamed
* Brother-in-law: Unnamed
== Relationships ==
=== Thomas Carter ===
Rosemary loves her son very much, and Thomas loves his mother back, although Rosemary can become agitated by her son's rude behaviour; she reprimanded Thomas for hanging Penny's laundry on the telephone wires, scolded him for sexually condemning her. In "The Luminous Fish Effect", Rosemary said she loves Thomas to death, but he had been difficult ever since he had fallen out of her at the K-mart. Her constant doting on him is likely the reason behind his antics, arrogance, selfishness and feeling to get whatever he wants. Rosemary did inherit some of Thomas's antics like being controlling and hates change when he was younger. In Young Thomas, Rosemary did favour Thomas sometimes, but she doesn't cut him any slack and does punish him sometimes like the other siblings, In Young Thomas her personality was a lot different than in The Sidemen. In Young Thomas, a little bit more about her is known. She is shown to have some of Thomas's antics: Sometimes she is very controlling, hates change and can be mean. Rosemary also inherited some of more Thomas's antics like being critical, thinking she is better than everyone else and sometimes she doesn't understand people's emotions.
=== George Carter Sr. ===
Rosemary and her husband George, Thomas's father, appeared to have had an imploding relationship and marriage. Thomas claims that they fought all the time. It's revealed in the Season 10 episode "The Hot Tub Contamination" that George Sr. was cheating on her with another woman. Rosemary was well aware of this but did not seem to mind. In Young Thomas, Rosemary and George are instead happily married, and fights are only brief and minor ones, which contradicts the cases in TSDM. In later seasons they marital problems and lead to George Carter from cheating. Why they almost got divorced.
=== Thomas's Siblings ===
Rosemary's relationship with her other two children is somehow not very much explained. In "The Luminous Fish Effect," Rosemary describes the two of them to be "dumb as soup." It's possible that she may be on somewhat good terms with Peggy as well as her husband and son. She and Peggy seem to have a more tense relationship during "The Bow Tie Asymmetry"; however, she appears to not be on good terms with her other son George Jr. as in "The Matrimonial Momentum" as she calls him an idiot and calls his girlfriend a whore. Nevertheless, in "The Sibling Realignment", she told Thomas that she would only be at his wedding if he invited his brother. George mentioned that even though he sacrificed for the family after his father died and he took care of the house, Rosemary is prouder of Thomas than of him, even when he is also a successful businessman. But she still loves her son George Jr. and why she wants Thomas to invite him to the wedding.
=== Lewis Hutchinson ===
Based on her maturity, reasonable behaviour, and sweet, kind, caring, and loving nature, she appears to be Leonard's female equivalent. Leonard always likes Mary and looks up to her, as he always finds his own mother to be stupid. Mary is essentially the mother Leonard wishes he had. In "The Convergence Convergence," Mary says that she has always had a special place in her heart for Leonard, taking care of Sheldon for years.
=== Penny ===
Penny really likes Mary Cooper, as the latter is very caring and sweet compared to many other characters. Penny also called her to tell her that Sheldon threw her clothes up on the telephone wires. When Mary comes for a visit in "The Maternal Combustion", she doesn't hesitate to give Penny a hug.
=== Amira Moore ===
Mary was first seen with Amy in "The Zazzy Substitution" where she helps Sheldon and Amy get back together after the two had an argument. They weren't seen together again until "The Convergence Convergence," where Amy and Sheldon picked her up from the airport, where it is revealed that Mary is accepting of Amy and is fond of her, although it had already been revealed in "The Matrimonial Momentum" (S9E1) that Amy was in Mary's nightly prayers and in "The Meemaw Materialization" (S9E14) where Meemaw said that Mary is okay with Amy.
=== The rest of the group ===
Howard and Raj both particularly like Mary because she is such a nice woman. In "The Rhinitis Revelation," Mary comforted Raj when he was upset, and Howard was always getting along great with her. Mary also liked Howard and was amazed by his impending trip to the International Space Station, commenting on it as "a trip to the heavens."
Mary hadn't been seen with Bernadette and Stuart until the episode "The Conjugal Conjecture," but didn't talk to either of them, although she was shocked by Bernadette's shouting after she did it at Sheldon, and Mary hadn't heard Bernadette's squeaky voice, which was why Bernadette was absent from meeting her in "The Zazzy Substitution" and "The Rhinitis Revelation," which were two episodes Bernadette didn't appear in as a main cast member. It's likely that the two women would have a very good relationship, and Mary would be very sympathetic towards Bernadette and perhaps give her advice about raising children, since Bernadette had to take care of her younger siblings while her mother worked full-time. As for Stuart, it's likely she would have a good relationship with him too. Mary still hasn't met Emily and Leslie.
=== Beverly Hutchinson ===
Mary meets Leonard's mother Beverly Hofstadter and the two very different women started out as being civil, but later quickly came to clash after Beverly insulted Mary's religious beliefs while Mary in return berated Beverly for her cold and distant attitude towards Leonard. The appeared to make up; however, this peace is not maintained. In "The Convergence Convergence", it turns out that the two women have kept a true dislike of each other and when they meet up again, Mary is not happy to see Beverly again and Mary endś up bonding with Beverly's ex-husband Alfred over their mutual dislike of her and their admiration of each other's beliefs. At the restaurant during the rehearsal dinner, the mothers start a small argument about the Bible and reading other books.
Despite the two ladies' different beliefs, personalities and parenting styles, Mary shares with Beverly the habit of having a favorite child (Mary for Sheldon and Beverly for Leonard's brother and sister) and if they're successful. In the Young Sheldon episode "An 8-Bit Princess and a Flat Tire Genius", Mary is not appreciative towards Georgie's new job with tires, instead focusing more on academics, which is what makes her and Beverly similar. In Young Sheldon, Mary is similar to Beverly Hofstadter herself, as she may not have Beverly and Sheldon super intelligence, but she does have some of her personality, like Sheldon: sometimes, she is very controlling, hates change and can be mean. Mary also inherited some of more Sheldon's antics like being critical, thinking she is better than everyone else and sometimes she doesn't understand people's emotions.
=== Alfred Hutchinson ===
Mary meets Leonard's father Alfred Hofstadter in "The Convergence Convergence", and the two come quickly to get along great by bonding over their mutual dislike of Beverly and over expressing admiration of each other's beliefs. When they leave the restaurant after fighting with Beverly, they find out they are staying at the same hotel, and they decide to share a cab. Later, their respective sons aren't able to contact them, since they have obviously turned their phones off and are probably hooking up at their hotel. In the next episode, they admit to having not slept together, but plan on still seeing each other.
== Trivia ==
* Laurie Metcalf was a regular in the sitcom Roseanne, along with Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert. She played Sara's character's aunt.
* She looks down on Catholicism.
* She played Andy's mom in the Toy Story series which Leonard and Raj are a huge fans of. This creates a celebrity paradox; one of many to occur in this show.
** When Leonard and his friends go to Texas to convince Sheldon to come back home with them, Raj wonders why Howard is wearing a ridiculous-looking cowboy hat he bought at the airport souvenir shop. When Howard says he must blend in, Raj's response is "Blend into what, Toy Story?" Laurie Metcalf voiced Mrs. Davis, the mother of the protagonist toys' owner in that film.
* She also played a love interest for unworldly eccentric physics professor Dick Solomon in Third Rock From The Sun. Sheldon would not have approved: she was an English Literature professor and belonged firmly to the Inhumanities. Even worse than the religion...
* Zoe Perry, who plays the younger version of Mary Cooper on the prequel series Young Sheldon, is the daughter of Laurie Metcalf. By coincidence, Perry also played a younger version of her mother's character in an episode of Roseanne.
* Both Sheldon's and Leonard's mothers are fit for the other: Mary for Leonard and Beverly for Sheldon.
** Due to Sheldon's and Leonard's mothers being fit for the other's child, Sheldon is jealous of Leonard's childhood and Leonard is jealous of Sheldon's childhood.
* In "The Precious Fragmentation" Sheldon says she has a mild Dr. Pepper addiction. Her addiction to caffeine can be observed in "The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation" when she is seen drinking Pepsi.
* While not directly involving the character, In "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion", Sheldon is attempting to avoid going to work by faking illness. Leonard eventually convinces Sheldon to get dressed and get in the car by choosing similar words and a tone of voice Mary would have in the same situation. However, Leonard is unaware of why what he did was so effective.
* It was planned that she would meet Beverly Hofstadter which would have caused mother envy between the two in Season 6, but the idea was dropped when they couldn't get the actresses together at the same time. However, this was then put into action in the penultimate Season 8 episode "The Maternal Combustion".
* Sheldon wants Penny to take care of him like his mother did in "The Pancake Batter Anomaly", by singing to him and rubbing Vapor Rub on his chest. He does the same thing for Amy in "The Fish Guts Displacement".
* Mary has met all of her son's friends but hadn't been seen with Bernadette and Stuart until "The Conjugal Conjecture", but didn't talk. She also still hasn't met Emily, Leslie or recurring character Claire.
* Mary was the first parent of any main character to appear in the series.
* Sheldon once stated, "Mom smokes in the car, but we can't tell Dad.", implying that Mary does or used to smoke secretly in the car and not tell her husband George about it, and presumably Sheldon must have somehow accidentally found out about it and Mary made him keep it a secret.
* Mary and her husband George Cooper Sr. were unhappily married for a long time. They never got divorced, but they usually stay for the kids. Mostly George had a lot of affairs behind Mary's back, even though Mary was aware of it.
* Mary had George Jr at 24 years old and had Sheldon and Missy at 29 years old. Rumor that she had George out of wedlock, so she had premarital sex.
* Mary's comment to Sheldon before his wedding inspired his and Amy's Super Asymmetry theory, for which they received the Nobel Prize.
* Throughout Season 12, Mary is frequently mentioned, but does not appear.
* In A Docent, A Little Lady and a Bouncer Named Dalton revealed that Mary Cooper's favorite movie is Road House with Patrick Swayze. George Cooper Jr. is the only one who has learned this mother's secret.
** When her husband saw this film, he said that Swayze was the spitting image of Georgie. This fact shocked Mary and opened her eyes that maybe she really loves men like her eldest son.
* When Sheldon was a child, Mary Cooper drove a 1986 Mercury Colony Park station wagon, though when necessary, George drove it too.
* Mary did inherit some of Sheldon antics like she hates change and sometimes controlling in Young Sheldon.
* In Young Sheldon personality was a lot different that the Big Bang Theory. She did inherit some of Sheldon's antics. Sometimes she is very controlling, and she hates change and sometimes mean like Sheldon. In the big Bang theory, she is very nice and caring and sometimes she is glad that Sheldon out of her hair.
* In Young Sheldon she is a minor antagonist and anti-hero of the series like Sheldon Cooper in both series in The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. The Big Bang Theory she is nothing like what she was in Young Sheldon.
* In Young Sheldon, Mary is similar to Beverly Hofstadter herself and she may not have Beverly and Sheldon super intelligence. But she does have some of her personality like Sheldon: Sometimes she is very controlling, hates change and can be mean. Mary also inherited some of more Sheldon's antics like being critical, thinking she is better than everyone else and sometimes she doesn't understand people's emotions.
Category:Sidemen Characters
Category:The Carter Family