The Thanksgiving Decoupling

Episode aired Nov 21, 2013
TV-14
20m

IMDb RATING

8.8/10

5.3K

YOUR RATING

Mayim Bialik and Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory (2007)

Comedy Romance

The gang spend Thanksgiving at Mrs. Wolowitz's house. Howard tries to bond with his father-in-law, and a mistake from Penny's past comes back to haunt her.The gang spend Thanksgiving at Mrs. Wolowitz's house. Howard tries to bond with his father-in-law, and a mistake from Penny's past comes back to haunt her.The gang spend Thanksgiving at Mrs. Wolowitz's house. Howard tries to bond with his father-in-law, and a mistake from Penny's past comes back to haunt her.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.8/10

5.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos7

+ 2

User reviews6

8.85.2K

Featured reviews

10Hitchcoc

So Very Good!

Put everyone, including Bernadette's father, at the Walowitz house for Thanksgiving and it's the best. Where does one start? Penny reveals a secret about a Thanksgiving in Las Vegas that involves Zack. Sheldon's football knowledge joins him up with Bernie's father and they have a few beers. Howard is persecuted by everyone. And Raj has his true calling. But Zack has the best lines in the entire episode.

10askeland89

Best episode yet!

I discovered this show four days ago and this is my favorite episode so far!

Zach does not make a lot of appearances and Sheldon getting drunk is not something you see every day. I'm glad they use it sparingly, makes it so much more special when it first happens and getting both in one episode is jackpot for me! This episode is pure gold!

5studioAT

The Thanksgiving Decoupling

I thought this was a nice Thanksgiving episode of the show, that had a nice heart about it alongside the humour.

All of the characters are given their moment to shine, and as ever, the interplay between them is lovely.

The Penny plot feels a little bit ripped off from 'Friends', but hey, this wouldn't be the first time that happened.

I liked the Sheldon plot, especially after the last episode where he was presented as being horrid. Here we got a little bit more of a human touch and a nice nod to his father, who of course we would later meet in the spin-off 'Young Sheldon'.

Good fun overall.

Trivia
The Thanksgiving Day football game Mike and Sheldon discuss (where Mike wanted to shoot his TV and Sheldon's dad did) was the 1993 game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins. In that game, which was played in a rare snowstorm in Dallas, the Dolphins squibbed their attempt at a game-winning field goal, leaving the ball spinning on the ground with members of the Cowboys surrounding it waiting for it to stop in order to declare it dead. However, Leon Lett ran up to try to grab it, but slipped and inadvertently batted the ball away, which made it a live ball again. The Dolphins recovered, tried the field goal again, and were successful, winning the game.

Goofs
The titular storyline plot starts with Penny being unaware that Las Vegas weddings count as actual marriages. Yet in The Countdown Reflection (2012) when Howard and Bernadette were trying to get married before he went to space, Penny herself suggested getting married in Vegas, including saying she knows several people who got married there.

Quotes
Mr. Rostenkowski: I don't know what's scarier: the bathroom clowns or the woman that put 'em there.
Sheldon Cooper: All I know is you can only fit one of her in a car.
[Howard enters from the kitchen]
Sheldon Cooper: And there's the clown that came out of her.
[Howard turns right around and goes back in the kitchen]

Crazy credits
CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #431

I'm concerned that the infrared beam which triggers public toilets to flush might cause cancer.

I'm considering getting a Twitter account so I can have a way to express my innermost thoughts to strangers.

I'm confused as to why a poorly designed web site means affordable health care is a bad idea.

I'm thinking of writing a children's story about a leaf on a tree who arrogantly insists he's a self-made, independent leaf. Then one day a fierce wind blows him off his branch and to the ground below. As his life slowly ebbs away, he looks up at the magnificent old tree that had been his home and realizes that he had never been on his own. His entire life he had been part of something bigger and more beautiful than anything he could have imagined. In a blinding flash, he awakens from the delusion of self. Then an arrogant, self-centered kid rakes him up and bags him.

I'm wondering if maybe I should stop writing these freakin' vanity cards.

Connections
References Kinect Star Wars (2012)

Soundtracks
History of Everything
(uncredited)
Written by Barenaked Ladies
Performed by Barenaked Ladies
[Series theme song played during the opening titles]