The New Normal Episode 1.09 Pardon Me

The crew assembles at Bryan and David's for a "potting party," planting bulbs for the spring. They talk about their prospective Thanksgiving plans, and rehash their celebrations of the years gone by. Bryan and David usually spend the holiday alone, sipping on cranberry flavored vodka at a remote location. Rocky's Thanksgiving memories consist of her family insisting her outlandish dreams of moving to Los Angeles were unreasonable. While all Goldie's ever known is Nana stuffing meat down everyone's throats while Clay's mother continually highlights her shortcomings. The guys decide it's time for a new tradition: how about a girls and gays Thanksgiving! Just Bryan, David, Shania, Goldie and Rocky, celebrating the holiday without all that family baggage.

Bryan insists on only the best while Goldie's carrying his baby, and hauls Shania out to an organic turkey farm in Ojai to buy their bird. But the farm isn't exactly what he envisioned; instead of pulling a pre-packed turkey from the back, the farmer insists that Bryan and Shania choose a live turkey to sentence to death for their dinner table. Watching this innocent bunch of poor animals, Bryan and Shania simply can't go through with it and instead decide to "pardon" all of the farm's remaining turkeys. Bryan hauls the live animals home in his Range Rover, simply left with no other option.

Bryan and Shania return home with their gaggle of turkeys to find David in a bit of a situation himself. David's mom is harboring resentment, abandoned yet again by her son on a holiday that's all about family. At this, Shania gets a whim of inspiration: what if this Thanksgiving, they pardon their family members just like she and Bryan pardoned the turkeys? Everyone can invite over those family and friends they've been avoiding to make amends. The gang begrudgingly agrees, and they decide to invite Nana, Shania's father (Clay), Rocky's brother (Clint) and David's divorced mother and father.

Everyone arrives for a meat and cruelty-free Thanksgiving celebration, and things seem to be going surprisingly well. David's parents are doing a great job of pretending to get along, and Nana hasn't made any terribly offense comments (yet). Meanwhile, Goldie and Clint talk quietly in the kitchen. They've been on two dates, but Goldie insists that they keep their involvement under wraps. Despite the fact that Clay's the one who cheated on her, she doesn't want to put him in a position where he's embarrassed or hurt in front of his daughter.

When meat-advocate Jane learns that there will be no turkey this Thanksgiving, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She grabs a meat cleaver and lurks around the backyard, stalking the turkeys. Little does she know that Shania's keeping them safe by hiding them indoors. When Nana's behavior is finally found out, David and Bryan throw her out of their home, insisting her antics aren't welcome at this cruelty-free dinner.

David is hurt and offended later when he catches his parents fighting; all he wanted was for them to pretend to get along, just for today. So imagine his surprise when he later walks in on them having sex in the guesthouse. David is disgusted and beyond confused, as his mother explains that fighting and fornicating is how their relationship works. But David's had enough, and he throws his parents out.

The crew assembles at Bryan and David's for a "potting party," planting bulbs for the spring. They talk about their prospective Thanksgiving plans, and rehash their celebrations of the years gone by. Bryan and David usually spend the holiday alone, sipping on cranberry flavored vodka at a remote location. Rocky's Thanksgiving memories consist of her family insisting her outlandish dreams of moving to Los Angeles were unreasonable. While all Goldie's ever known is Nana stuffing meat down everyone's throats while Clay's mother continually highlights her shortcomings. The guys decide it's time for a new tradition: how about a girls and gays Thanksgiving! Just Bryan, David, Shania, Goldie and Rocky, celebrating the holiday without all that family baggage.

Bryan insists on only the best while Goldie's carrying his baby, and hauls Shania out to an organic turkey farm in Ojai to buy their bird. But the farm isn't exactly what he envisioned; instead of pulling a pre-packed turkey from the back, the farmer insists that Bryan and Shania choose a live turkey to sentence to death for their dinner table. Watching this innocent bunch of poor animals, Bryan and Shania simply can't go through with it and instead decide to "pardon" all of the farm's remaining turkeys. Bryan hauls the live animals home in his Range Rover, simply left with no other option.

Bryan and Shania return home with their gaggle of turkeys to find David in a bit of a situation himself. David's mom is harboring resentment, abandoned yet again by her son on a holiday that's all about family. At this, Shania gets a whim of inspiration: what if this Thanksgiving, they pardon their family members just like she and Bryan pardoned the turkeys? Everyone can invite over those family and friends they've been avoiding to make amends. The gang begrudgingly agrees, and they decide to invite Nana, Shania's father (Clay), Rocky's brother (Clint) and David's divorced mother and father.

Everyone arrives for a meat and cruelty-free Thanksgiving celebration, and things seem to be going surprisingly well. David's parents are doing a great job of pretending to get along, and Nana hasn't made any terribly offense comments (yet). Meanwhile, Goldie and Clint talk quietly in the kitchen. They've been on two dates, but Goldie insists that they keep their involvement under wraps. Despite the fact that Clay's the one who cheated on her, she doesn't want to put him in a position where he's embarrassed or hurt in front of his daughter.

When meat-advocate Jane learns that there will be no turkey this Thanksgiving, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She grabs a meat cleaver and lurks around the backyard, stalking the turkeys. Little does she know that Shania's keeping them safe by hiding them indoors. When Nana's behavior is finally found out, David and Bryan throw her out of their home, insisting her antics aren't welcome at this cruelty-free dinner.

David is hurt and offended later when he catches his parents fighting; all he wanted was for them to pretend to get along, just for today. So imagine his surprise when he later walks in on them having sex in the guesthouse. David is disgusted and beyond confused, as his mother explains that fighting and fornicating is how their relationship works. But David's had enough, and he throws his parents out.

Meanwhile, Goldie and Clint's flirtation surprisingly isn't lost on Clay. He's had enough and physically confronts Clint, warning him to stay away from his wife. The two have at it, forcing Goldie to break up the fight. She reminds Clay that she's not his anymore, and when she was, he couldn't care less. She throws Clay out, insisting that he's no longer welcome at Thanksgiving. Clint leaves as well, admitting that this mess was partially his fault.

When they finally sit down to eat, the only members left are Bryan, David, Goldie, Shania and Rocky. Shania notes that she likes it better with just their gang - meat and drama free. Bryan makes a decision that from here on out Thanksgiving is for their New Normal family, while Christmas is reserved for those relatives they can hardly stand.