"Turkey, I need you beside me..."
"If I can't love it, I must hate it."
—Gene, about food
When Gene can't eat Thanksgiving dinner because of a stomach flu, the family tries to cheer him up by telling stories.
Diarrhea of a Tropey Kid:
- Artistic License – Botany: An in-universe example. Louise's story features wheat trees, Tina even states that wheat doesn't grow on trees.
- Author Appeal: There are times in Tina's story where things get a bit hot because of her love for erotic fiction. When listing characters that may have their clothes peeled off, there are several attractive men like Boyz 4 Now and Hugh Grant.
- Big Eater: Gene's appetite is what got him in trouble in the first place. While Bob was preparing Thanksgiving dinner, Gene kept asking to eat whatever he was preparing; when he asks to eat the chicken parmesan in the fridge instead, Bob tells him not to because it's old, already moldy and he's going to throw it away. Gene eats some of it anyway when everyone's asleep and it gives him food poisoning. In Bob's story, Gene eats an entire chicken parmesan the size of Texas.
- The Cameo: Lenny DeStefano and Large Tommy make cameos in Tina's story as members of the Secret Service.
- Didn't Think This Through: As described above, Gene's insistence of eating spoiled food makes him sick and unable to eat any of the Thanksgiving dinner the next day that he was looking forward to. Additionally, despite wanting to hide his consumption of the chicken parmesan, it's clear that the instant he took a bite someone would've found out (if he ate it all or threw it out Bob would've noticed its absence, and by not eating it all Bob saw the half-eaten chicken parmesan and immediately knew Gene took a bite).
- Distracted by the Sexy: While telling her story, Tina is briefly distracted by listing off who on Air Force One might get their clothes peeled off, including the Boyz 4 Now, both young and old Hugh Grant, and the Property Brothers.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Tina's story is shamelessly structured with many sexual innuendos, constantly veering off into those in suspicious detail that Louise has to tell Tina to focus on the actual story.
- Dwindling Party: In Louise's story, the Breadator takes out most of the characters, in the order of: the Pesto kids (who were Killed Offscreen), Courtney, Gayle, Rudy, Tina, and Linda. At the end, only Gene and Louise remain safe (aside from Zeke, who was Mission Control and didn't accompany them in the field).
- Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: In both Tina's and Bob's stories, Gene insists that his wife be played by Linda (which Tina follows through on, but Bob never acknowledges). Linda finds it sweet and Gayle (being Gayle) doesn't see any issue with it, but everyone else is disturbed.Bob: Weeeeee all need to have a talk as a family.
- The Food Poisoning Incident: It isn't revealed until the end of the episode, but Bob and Gene both realize Gene doesn't have the stomach flu and is instead sick because he ate old chicken parmesan that Bob left in the fridge instead of throwing out.
- Forced Transformation: Instead of killing his victims, the "Breadator" in Louise's story turns them into baked goods.
- Foreshadowing: Bob's story revolves around Gene eating chicken parmesan. Later it's revealed that this is why Gene is sick, and it's also revealed that Bob knew this and intentionally structured his story to subtly inform Gene that he knew.
- I Taste Delicious: In Louise's story, Linda gets turned into half a dozen muffins, one of which wants to taste another.
- Let's Meet the Meat: In Tina's story, President Gene is in the country of Appleachia, which is inhabited by apples who want to be eaten. The villains are pears, who want Americans to eat them more. This is even lampshaded by Lousie.Louise: Wait, they WANT to be eaten?Tina: Yeah, they want to be eaten.Louise: Okay, no further questions then.
- Literal Metaphor: Gene stating how he was embarrassed that he ate garbage is actually true. The chicken Parmesan was so old it was basically trash and starting to grow mold.
- Mining for Cookies: Louise's story takes place in a jungle of wheat trees (Tina tries to correct her but is outvoted) and a river of butter. Bob's story has Gene drilling offshore for marinara sauce (in the Marinara Trench, naturally).
- Not So Above It All: Normally Bob is just a bystander to the kids' outlandish stories. Here we see he's capable of making those stories himself.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Bob admits that he was a Big Eater as a child, just like Gene is, and it turns out that this is how he first got into cooking.
- The Nudifier: Discussed in Tina's story, where the pear terrorists (pearrorists?) use giant peelers instead of guns. When Louise asks if that means they're skinning people she clarifies that it'll just remove their clothes. When these are later turned back on the them, their bodies being peeled is treated like them being naked.
- Oh, Crap!: Bob has this reaction when he realizes that Gene took a bite from the moldy chicken parmesan he explicitly said not to eat.
- Old Shame: In-Universe example. Gene admits the reason why didn’t tell anyone he got sick from eating the old chicken parmesan is because he was embarrassed of how he basically ate garbage.
- Passive Aggressive Combat: In a show of rather sly parenting, Bob structures his own story as a way to subtly inform Gene that he knows Gene got sick from trying to eat the old chicken parmesan but wants Gene to admit what he did. It works.
- Predator Pastiche: Louise's story is about the "Breadator", an alien made of bread that turns its victims into baked goods.
- Recycled Animation:
- The Presidential motorcade scene in Tina's story uses a London backdrop from "Bed, Bob & Beyond" including; Forward-facing cars being parked on the left, Minis and taxi cabs, and post boxes painted black visible.
- The NASA boardroom scene from Bob's story resembles the boardroom seen in "Like Gene for Chocolate."
- The world background shots are reused from previous episodes including; Westminster Abbey and Tower Bridge, London from "Bed, Bob and Beyond"; Times Square, New York City from "Local She-ro"; and Paris from "Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now."
- Shout-Out:
- The Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title is one to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series.
- The Store Next Door is "The Road Less Graveled Asphalt Paving".
- The Exterminator Van is "When Bugs Cry".
- Gene thinks he pooped out the part of his brain dedicated to The Kominsky Method.Tina: That's most of his brain.
- Linda mentions the movie Knives Out, only she thinks it's named Knives In.
- When Gene sees the giant chicken parmesan, he says "Mama mÃa, that's a spicy meatball!", a line from a famous Alka-Seltzer commercial.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: In Bob's story, Linda, Tina, and Gene all think the blob picture is Pierce Brosnan.
- Thanksgiving Episode: Fills Season 11's quota. The plot of the episode revolves around Gene getting too sick to eat the family's traditional Thanksgiving meal.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Aside from Gene being unable to eat it (except as leftovers at least a day later), Bob's Thanksgiving plans go rather smoothly this year.
- Trapped in Containment: Under the false assumption that Gene has a contagious stomach bug (instead of food poisoning), the Belchers have him quarantined in the bathroom.
- Whole-Plot Reference:
- Louise's story is one to Predator. She calls it "Breadator".
- Tina's story is one to Air Force One. She calls it "Pear Force One".
- Bob's story is one to Armageddon (1998). He calls it "Parmageddon".
