Louise helps Bob cook Thanksgiving dinner for a retirement home. Meanwhile, Gene and Tina try to help Zeke entertain the residents when the cable TV goes out, and Linda tries to help Sergeant Bosco convince his mother to join the guests.
Stuck in the Kitchen With Tropes:
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The parade at the end is used by Bob to apologize to Louise for being a Control Freak. Louise in turn apologizes for not helping at all, and admits that on every non-Thanksgiving day she considers Bob a good dad. Noteworthy is that Louise says this last part with an audience, when she often has trouble admitting familial love without one.
- Both Sides Have a Point: While Bob is more than a bit of a Control Freak on Thanksgiving, it's acknowledged by Louise herself that she kind of deserved getting kicked out of the kitchen because she was just making things worse and only changed her attitude for selfish reasons.
- Bottle Episode: The entire episode, save for the first scene in the Belchers' car, takes place at the retirement home. As such, it's the first episode in Season 12 where there is no Burger of the Day.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Zeke's grandma appears for the first time since "Midday Run".
- Sergeant Bosco's mother Lillian returns from "Bobby Driver", and Bob alludes to their previous encounter by calling her pleasant in a noticeably stilted manner.
- Cerebus Retcon: In Lillian's first appearance, it's mentioned that she has a second son who she favors over Sergeant Bosco, and the latter's disdain for this is played for laughs. Here it's shown that said favorite son doesn't even visit her while Sergeant Bosco does, and Bosco's annoyance at being The Un-Favourite is made out to be because he's pissed that his brother can't be bothered to visit Lillian, overall being played as much more serious than the initial revelation of Gary's existence.
- Companion Food: Bob talks to the food he's cooked, which tells Bob he's not being crazy about Thanksgiving. Bob lampshades that they're just telling him what he wants to hear.
- Continuity Nod:
- This is twice now that an argument between Bob and Louise ends with Louise trying to slam a door and becoming disappointed when it doesn't have the desired effect. Also, Bob is talking to an inanimate object that he is tending towards.
- At the beginning of the episode, Tina says she wishes she could visit Meryl Winters from "Secret Admiral-irer" but that Meryl has moved out of the retirement home to live with her 90-year-old boyfriend.
- Control Freak: Once again, it's lampshaded to hell and back that Bob treats Thanksgiving as the most serious thing ever, and has to have everything go perfectly. Throughout the episode, Louise calls him Thankszilla, which Bob realizes and apologizes for at the end.
- Freudian Excuse: Lillian Bosco attributes her status as a mean old lady to the fact that she rarely gets visits from her kids, especially her favored son Gary.
- Is There a Doctor in the House?: A cook rather than a doctor, but plays out similarly in essentials. After the head chef goes into labor and the assistant chef goes with her to the hospital because he’s the father-to-be, the nurse desperately asks around if there's anyone in the home who can cook a lot of food and Bob being not only an actual restauranteur but one who LOVES cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Bob even specifically likens the scenario to this trope.
- Maternity Crisis: Bob has to step in to cook the retirement home's Thanksgiving dinner because the home's head chef went into labor, and the assistant chef is unavailable because he's the father-to-be.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to the song "Stuck in the Middle with You", performed by Gerry Rafferty with the band Stealers Wheel.
- Pyromaniac: When Bob finds a flame gun used for crème brulee, Louise immediately becomes excited, especially when Bob notes there might be a reason to use it. She aborts her plan to get kicked out when she realizes she might be able to use it, which is when Bob does actually kick her out... but at the end of the episode, Bob makes amends with her by letting her use it.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Linda calls out Lillian for neglecting Sergeant Bosco in favor of her other son Gary, especially when the former actually bothered to visit her while Gary didn't.
- Shared Family Quirks: Zeke's grandma has the same Character Catchphrase as her grandson.Zeke's Grandma: Do what?
- Shout-Out:
- The Exterminator Van is "Paging Mr. Vermin".
- During the kids' performance for the retirees, Gene and Zeke allude to the musicals Oklahoma! and RENT.
- When Bob comes out as a "Sorry, Louise" balloon float, one of the seniors asks if that's a Pixar character.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: In the closing credits song, the rhyme at the end of the lines "With a thousand degrees of butane blast / you’ll knock marshmallows right on their — " is covered up by a crash sound effect.
- Springtime for Hitler: Louise intentionally sabotages her attempts to help so that Bob will kick her out, but this is after Bob was told by Linda to cool it regarding Thanksgiving, so he instead discreetly corrects her mistakes and keeps her working there. He does eventually kick her out... when she tries to actually help (albeit only because she wanted to use the flame gun).
- Thanksgiving Episode: The Belchers spend Thanksgiving volunteering at a retirement home. Bob is made to cook dinner after the chef had an emergency, while the Belcher kids help Zeke entertain the seniors by improvising a parade after the TV goes out.
- The Un-Favourite: Lillian favors her son Gary, who didn't even show up, but ignores her other son Sergeant Bosco, who took the time to visit her.
