Jill’s dad is coming for Thanksgiving and bringing his new fiancée. This really set things up for a great episode, I thought, but I found the entire subplot with Jill & Jimmy trying to celebrate Thanksgiving while dealing with Jill’s dad and his new fiancée to be really insufferable and annoying. And I have to say that Leo’s subplot really did not work in this episode; he finds out his wife is having an affair so he tries to intrude himself into the Brock’s Thanksgiving and then his wife follows him over there to patch things up and it’s all very shrill.
The subplot with Kenny and Max stuck at the police station on Thanksgiving night is a lot better, because it’s basically all character stuff. And I was kind of shocked at just how frank their conversation is. They spend some time mulling over their sex lives as singles and end up talking quite frankly about who they fantasize about while they masturbate. This episode came out the very same month that The Contest came out on Seinfeld; apparently there was something in the water. They don’t use the word “masturbate” on this episode either, but it’s very clear what they’re talking about and it leads to probably the best joke in the series. When Kenny asks Max if she’s ever thought about him while she did it. Holly really slays the moment. “Yeah . . . once or twice . . . when you were thinner.” God, what a joke. Too bad the bulk of this episode is so lackluster/annoying; this little subplot is a winner. 2 stars.
tl;dr – family drama on Thanksgiving has rarely been this rote and annoying; a well-written subplot with Kenny and Max can’t save this episode from the doldrums. 2 stars.