The Thanksgiving Decoupling

"The Thanksgiving Decoupling" is the ninth episode of the seventh season of the  The Big Bang Theory. The episode will air on November 21, 2013.

Summary
Sheldon protests when the gang drags him to Mrs. Wolowitz's house for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, Penny and Leonard must deal with a mistake from her past.

Extended Plot
In Apartment 4A, Sheldon and Leonard are trying to prove to Penny with math that cow tipping is impossible, which Penny doesn't buy because she believes she has done it at the age of 16, and then Leonard convinces her that she was actually drunk at that time, and it was herself that fell. Raj comments that cow can be both sacred and delicious. Howard enters and announces that His mother has invited everyone over for Thanksgiving dinner since Bernadette's mom is out of town. Howard wants the company so he's not alone with his father-in-law, Mike. Sheldon is not interested; he wants Leonard's traditional meal that he hates and criticizes. Leonard, Penny and Raj accepts the invitation, and Sheldon reluctantly agrees.

A pre-dinner brunch is being served at apartment 4A, Sheldon is still complaining about having to go. Amy tells him that she expects him to be on his best behavior. Sheldon states that being dragged off to dinner akin to being an African slave being dragged away from their home and put under the yoke of the White man. Amy wants to know if he is comparing going to dinner at the Wolowitz's the same as one of the greatest tragedites in the histroy of mankind. Sheldon agrees. Penny tries to help by saying that he can have a nice Thanksgiving anyway. She had a one in Las Vegas once when she was dating Zack. It was more fun than she thought. They gambled, went to one of those cheesey wedding chapels and had a good turkey dinner which was surprising since it was at a strip club. When the subject of Thanksgiving comes up, Penny mentions a trip taken on Thanksgiving a few years ago to Las Vegas with Zack Johnson. They went gambling, have turkey dinner at a striptease club, and had a "silly fake wedding" at one of those (according to Penny) "cheesy wedding chapels". Everyone tells her that the wedding chapels and the marriages are real.

At the Wolowitz house, the Mrs. isn't well and Howard shoots her up with a lot of pain medience. She never comes down and all the viewers do is hear her. No surprise. Bernadette tells Howard that she isn't cooking dinner. She is fine with letting Raj cook the dinner. Mr. R. shows up will stocked with beer, but he says he wants to stay home and watch football.

Shamy and Lenny are driving to Mrs. W's house. Leonard tells Penny that she has to fix this marriage thing and she is in total agreement. Amy is looking up grounds for annulment including a lack of understanding of the ceremony which fits Penny perfectly.

While Raj is fixing dinner, Bernadette sends her husband who just wants to hang out to visit with her dad.

Living room: Howard is trying to talk to Mike about his wife's trip to Arizona. Leonard, Penny, Sheldon and Amy show up. Sheldon asks if someone is slaving away in the kitchen. Penny is quiet and then after her predicament is described, grabs the wine back from Howard.

Kitchen: Amy enters and joins Raj and Bernadette to prepare dinner together. Raj assigns tasks for the two girls and tells them to focus. He especially reminds Amy to keep Bernadette from marshmallows. But Amy tells the two about Penny's marriage and they all get surprised and distracted. Bernadette keeps stuffing marshmallows in her mouth.

Living room: Leonard downloads annulment papers and irritates Penny insisting that she fix it immediately. She calls up Zack to come over to sign them which irritates Leonard. Howard is trying to talk football with Mike. Sheldon knows a lot about football, bonds with Mike and gets a beer from him especially after Mike learns that his Dad died when he was young. Howard also wants to have one for he also hasn't had beer with his father, but is totally ignored.

In the kitchen, Amy, Bernadette and Raj are talking about how they can't believe that Penny married Zack though they are appreciative of his looks. Howard wanders into the kitchen complaining about Mike and Sheldon bonding together.and do not want him, and suddenly Zack arrives, and the other three immediately leave Howard alone in the kitchen; Bernadette doesn't forget to fetch a marshmallow when leaving.

Zack claims he does not want to sign the annulment papers and appears to be as dense as ever and wondering whether he should do this to their kids. Penny insists that they don't have any kids. Leonard and Penny nearly start a new round of fight. At last Zack is made to sign the papers.

Sheldon and Mike are now all drunk in the living room. Bernadette runs into the living room with Howard screaming at Sheldon and her Dad for continually insulting Howard. Amy comes likewise. A drunken Sheldon tells everyone that Amy is a great gal. She smiles. Sheldon tells her to get them another couple of beers after which he smacks her on the rear. Though it hurts, Amy doesn't seem to mind getting some attention from Sheldon.

Finally the whole gang including Zack sit around the Thanksgiving table with Mrs. W. yelling from the basement. Penny apologizes to Leonard and tells him the next time she gets married it wil be for real and forever. Zack tells them that he was a terrible husband since was never around. Mike gives Howard a complement and then tells him that he's drunk. Mike wants to throw the pigskin around with Sheldon who says that this Jewish household probably doesn't have one. Happy Thanksgiving, all you nerds!

Critics
To be entered.

Trivia

 * Penny's cow tipping story was previously mentioned in The Boyfriend Complexity (S4E09) and The Beta Test Initiation (S5E14).
 * Penny is officially "Penny Johnson", no known maiden name.
 * Penny and Zack did not know that the Las Vegas wedding chapels were real.
 * Penny previously suggested wedding at Las Vegas in The Countdown Reflection (S5E24) when the gang were discussing how to carry out the wedding of Howard and Bernadette.
 * Sheldon and Bernadette's father, Mike Rostenkowski, find their common point that they are both familar with football. Sheldon previously demonstrated his knowlege on football in The Cornhusker Vortex (S3E06), and Mike's knowlege has been implied in The Countdown Reflection (S5E24) when he  said "Here you go" and "Like that guy could catch a football".
 * Sheldon gets drunk and slaps Amy on the rear calling her a"great gal". Amy smiles at the attention.
 * Zack Johnson makes his first appearance in three years. Before this, his last appearance was in The Toast Derivation (S4E17).
 * Mrs. Wolowitz first appearance in the 7th season.
 * In this episode Sheldon claims his father died when he was 14. Inconsistence: In The Pancake Batter Anomaly (S1E11), he said at the age of 15 he got sick in Germany, and his mother had to fly back to Texas to help his dad at that time.

Quotes
To be entered.