In this Thanksgiving Episode, Lois cooks up a big dinner and invites friends, family, and neighbors — but the dinner turns into a political discussion when Joe's estranged son, Kevin, returns from fighting in Iraq, revealing that he deserted his position in protest.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: Peter sets up a cutaway Benedict Arnold Drummond. However, instead of that, we see a crew in a control room that isn't sure what Peter wants or have any viable footage, so they begrudgingly go with a completely different cutaway (the Cowardly Lion as Lindsay Lohan's gynecologist) instead.
- Berserk Button: Joe doesn’t take kindly to Kevin comparing U.S. troops to Nazi soldiers to refute Joe’s declaration that he must follows orders when the Nazi’s did the same thing.
- Bottle Episode: Outside of the beginning with Tom & Joyce, cutaways, one scene in the backyard, and flashbacks, the entire episode takes place in the Griffin family house.
- Bowdlerization: Brian's line after Ida tells him that Kevin was wrong to desert his post in Iraq is "Okay, well, that's just some dumb tranny" in the DVD version. On TV, the line is "Okay, well, that's just some dumb drag queen."
- Continuity Nod:
- During Brian and Ida's awkward conversation, Stewie references Brian's reaction to learning who she was.
- Also, there’s a part where Peter believes Iraq played a part in 9/11. This is a call-back to when he made the same mistake in "Baby Not on Board".
- Faking the Dead: Kevin reveals he did this to get out of the war. In response, Peter says he did this, too; a cutaway shows him lying in a coffin during a funeral and being Buried Alive all simply to get out of a dentist appointment.
- Harmful to Minors: Kevin hopes Susie isn't scared by his night terrors. A cutaway shows Susie Swanson has seen worse by staying up late and watching programming that's vastly inappropriate for babies.Susie: [thinking] A human centipede? How ghastly!
- Hypocrite: During the big debate about Kevin's actions, Brian says Ida's military history provides absolute authority on the issue, but he only says that because he expects full agreement with his own position. However, it's due that long history in the military that prompts Ida to openly criticize what Kevin did, which leads to Brian's insult noted above.
- Just Following Orders: Ida believes a good soldier should always do this. Kevin counterpoints with the usual nugget, pointing out that blindly following orders historically enables the deaths of countless innocents.
- Last-Second Joke Problem: The episode ends with the main conflict of the episode (mainly Kevin's return and the reveal that he faked his own death to get out of Iraq) resolved. Just then, another Kevin shows up at the door and claims that the other one is an imposter. Peter says that they have no time to resolve this issue and the episode ends, with no resolution to this plotline after that.
- Mama Bear: Bonnie objects to Joe trying to arrest Kevin, even though he deserted the army.
- No Ending: Parodied. The actual conflict is resolved with time to spare, but then another Kevin appears at the front door and says the one we've seen so far is an impostor. Peter says there's no time for this.
- No Sympathy: Brian thinks Ida should understand Kevin's reason for deserting. She doesn't, and wouldn't have done the same. She tells him that desertion is wrong, plain and simple. In Quagmire's case, he's racist against the Middle-East ever since 9/11.
- Opinion Flip Flop: Brian assumes that Ida (a war hero) would support Kevin's decision to desert the army. She doesn't, so Brian immediately downplays her viewpoint's significance.
- Properly Paranoid: Joe starts to get suspicious when Kevin references a movie that came out while he was supposedly in a coma.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Two are doled out in quick succession, one by Ida directed at Kevin, and the second by Kevin directed at everybody, but especially Joe.Ida: Son... When you go to war, you don't end up fighting for your country or your family or your flag. You're fighting for your fellow soldiers there in the foxhole with you. You walked out on those men, and that's what's most unforgivable.
Kevin: You know what, everyone?! Forget it! Up 'til today, you guys thought I was dead. Well, I'm not. But after all this? Dad, you may as well take me to prison, because right now, I wish I WAS dead. - Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Both Kevin and Joe had reasons for disobeying the law. Lampshaded by Kevin."You knew what your duty said what you were supposed to do, but instead, you did what you thought was right."
- Ship Sinking: Kevin calls Meg a skank. Well, so much for the romance that was implied between them in the early seasons.
- Skewed Priorities: Exaggerated in a Cutaway Gag; Peter would prefer to make his whole family believe he's dead than go to a dentist appointment.
- Spotting the Thread: Joe makes a reference to The Hurt Locker to Kevin while they are playing a game of football, which Kevin derides, saying his fellow soldiers used to laugh at how fake the movie was. Joe expresses confusion, as the movie was released in 2007, when Kevin was supposedly in a coma. This results in more and more details being unraveled until Kevin can't maintain his cover story anymore and reveals that he faked his death.
- Thanksgiving Episode: The title says it all. However, the second half of the episode puts more focus on the revelation of Kevin's faked death and desertion.
- Too Dumb to Live: Kevin's friends stupidly fail to notice how serious a strapped ticking bomb to a turkey is before everyone but him dies in the explosion.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Peter asking to see Kevin's Purple Heart leads to the revelation of Kevin's desertion.
- War Is Hell: What Kevin believes, which is why he faked his death and went AWOL.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Most of the characters (particularly Ida and Quagmire) call Kevin out for deserting the army, ignoring his reason.
- Whole-Plot Reference: All in the Family: A remarkably similar situation – a draft dodger who was living in Canada, to escape prosecution for ignoring his notice to report for duty and fight in the Vietnam War - was shown on a Holiday Episode, that being that series' 1976 Christmas Episode "The Draft Dodger." Like Family Guy's "Thanksgiving," the guest character is able to keep hold of his secret but as another character begins asking questions the truth slowly is revealed, leading to anger, disgust and an emotional argument about the merits of said war and questioning its morality, before a counterpoint is made and peace is (somewhat) restored.
