Review: Family Guy “Thanksgiving”

Episode Synopsis: Lois cooks a big Thanksgiving meal and invites everyone over for dinner. Meanwhile, Joe is shocked when his MIA son (voice of Scott Grimes) returns from Iraq.

Spoilers Below

Its Turkey Day, and Joe and Bonnie are over for Dinner! They’re sad though because its the anniversary of their son’s death. But, the rest of the neighborhood is there, and once dinner commences(which gets more and more awkward as time goes on) Kevin Swanson makes an unannounced return! Turns out he was just unconscious from a bomb blast caused by a rigged turkey. Or was he?  Turns out Kevin’s war stories are bull shit and that he faked his own death and went AWOL, only to be arrested for desertion by his own dad! He starts to explain his reasoning for ditching his servicemen. He was really just tired of killing Iraqis that had nothing to do with 9/11, and as a result he gets lambasted by everyone at dinner including Ida who actually served. Kevin then tells a story about when he was a kid and his dad was on duty, and how Joe made a brave choice on right/wrong versus the law.  Or does he?

WOW! What a twist ending. You have to see it to believe it. And a VERY funny episode of Family Guy this week, and I think the writing on this show is as good now as it has ever been the last few years. The cutaways weren’t even that great, but they didn’t need them because Peter and Lois’ random bantering was enough to break up the plot. Good to see some characters we haven’t seen in a while like Bonnie, Ida, and a few other familiar faces.