‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 7, episode 9 preview: Zack returns … but why?

Next week, “The Big Bang Theory” is going to be airing its first-ever Thanksgiving episode, which is something that we consider to be quite the surprise. After all, this show has taken on so many other holidays, so why has it taken it this long for Turkey Day to be shown? The only real solution that we can offer here is that we rarely see any of the characters’ immediately family members, and it becomes somewhat of an elephant in the room when certain people like Penny’s mom are not mentioned.

But what makes next week’s Thanksgiving-centered episode all the more interesting is actually someone who may be … married? That’s right: Zack is going to be back on the show, and it will be revealed that Penny may actually be married to her ex. Given her history of drinking and having fun, we wouldn’t be shocked to see that she married someone and didn’t remember it at all. Sure, it may be a little out of “The Hangover,” but imagine how fun this could be for Leonard. This is something that we first teased a little while back, and it is finally coming to fruition.

Away from Zack, this episode will feature the return of Casey Sander as Bernadette’s father, and also the first appearance (at least via voice) of Howard’s mother for the first time in a while as she gets involved in the Thanksgiving festivities. We’ve said it before a number of times that this holiday typically makes for some pretty awesome episodes of sitcoms, and the potential here seems great for laughs. Zack was always our favorite Penny love interest other than Leonard, mostly because he was a pretty likable guy who wasn’t awful. He just so happened to be one of the dumbest people on the planet, and Leonard and company had quite a bit of fun at his expense.

What do you think is going to happen on this episode, and are you glad that there is a use for the Zack character on the show again? Share below, and click here to read our full review of last night’s new episode.

Photo: CBS