Grandfathered recap: Gerald's Two Dads

This week’s episode of Grandfathered opens with Ravi and Annelise discussing Thanksgiving plans in the kitchen at the restaurant. They refuse to share their own plans, but Jimmy quickly bursts in to reveal that he’ll be taking the “third most-followed stomach model on Instagram” to Malibu after doing a classic drop-by at Sara’s for a family Thanksgiving. He’s got it all planned: He’ll make an appearance, make memories, and then leave to do what he actually wants to do.

Gerald, on the other hand, wants this year’s Thanksgiving to be more special for Edie’s sake. Sara would be content to order food from the usual Mexican restaurant, but it’s been turned into a vape store, so what can she do?

When Jimmy stops by with his Instagram stomach model, he’s quickly roped in to drawing with Edie and accepting her adorable little kisses. Seriously, this kid is cute.

Jimmy is all set to roll out to Malibu when Bruce, Sara’s date, shows up after returning from a “yam run.” “He was kind of like a father to me,” says Gerald. He indicates that Jimmy is really kind of a fill-in dad for Bruce (Andy Daly). Suddenly, Malibu no longer seems so appealing. Jimmy’s Instagram model date informs him that yes, that feeling in his stomach is actually jealousy. He disagrees, but whips the car around and heads back to Sara’s anyway.

Bruce, it turns out, is an engineer for NASA. He shows up with yams, he cuts firewood, he voluntarily plays with Edie. He’s clearly winning the grandpa competition. Sara, Jimmy, Gerald, and Bruce agree to a game of football — which ends very quickly after a terrible throw from Jimmy. Suddenly, he can’t do anything right. He calls — who else? — Annelise for assistance. She agrees to pick up some presents for Jimmy’s family in exchange for a new TV.

Annelise comes through with a turkey fryer. (The Instagram model, it should be noted, is passed out on the front lawn tanning.) Bruce then busts out a gift of his own. Years ago, he had planted a birch tree with Gerald. “Birchy,” as they called it, had grown into a full-grown tree. So naturally, Bruce harvested it and made it into a canoe.

In an attempt to steal the attention back, Jimmy gets into a fight with Bruce over the fryer. They end up dropping it, which sets Birchy the canoe on fire. Vanessa extinguishes the canoe with a bottle of champagne, and it appears that the day is pretty much ruined.

Later, Jimmy apologizes to Gerald, who is not pleased with the way his special holiday has gone. Jimmy admits that he stayed because he was jealous.

“That’s supposed to make everything better? That you stayed because you were jealous?” Gerald asks. Then he tells his dad that he was jealous for years — of all the kids with dads. And then Bruce came along, and he had someone. He thought Jimmy would like to meet the guy who did that for him.

Obviously, Jimmy feels horrible. He tells Gerald to give him an hour and runs off.

Meanwhile, Bruce has changed from his oily pants — into Sara’s jeans. (“Don’t you love it that I can still fit into your jeans?” “Nope.”) He and Sara flirt a little.

At the restaurant, we find out what Ravi’s Thanksgiving plans are: He secretly hosts a Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant. Unfortunately for him, Jimmy shows up to use the kitchen. He prepares a Mexican meal for his family — which may be the first thing we’ve seen him cook in his restaurant. He delivers it and then attempts to leave so they can enjoy their meal.

Gerald, of course, does not allow this. He convinces his father to stay. Jimmy goes into the kitchen to apologize and finds Sara and Bruce kissing. He holds his stomach — this jealousy is a real thing.

Gerald closes out the day with a toast: “Tradition is whatever happens when you bring together the people you love.” Oh, and then the Instagram model wakes up and walks in with the worst tan line imaginable. Looks like her stomach modeling will be put on hold for a while.

Most millennial moments:

“My whole thing is that in every picture, my stomach is telling a story.” —Jimmy’s Instagram stomach model date explaining her profession

“Damn that was hot. Thanksgiving just got horny.” —Vanessa when Bruce attempts to flirt with Sara