Little Thanksgiving: The Flashback Episode That Brought Steve Carell Back — and Broke Hearts All Over Again

Nick never truly comes back. He only lives on in memory — and that’s exactly what makes “Little Thanksgiving” one of the most devastating episodes of the season.

When The Four Seasons killed off Steve Carell’s Nick in Season 1, it seemed like a permanent goodbye. So when Episode 5, “Big Thanksgiving,” ends with Nick suddenly appearing and calling out for Anne, fans were left stunned, wondering if the show had somehow brought him back to life. The truth, revealed in the very next episode, is far more bittersweet: this twist kicks off “Little Thanksgiving,” a flashback to a Thanksgiving from several years earlier. Nick hasn’t returned. He’s only being remembered.

A Trip Back to a Smaller, Harder Thanksgiving

Rather than reviving the character in the present day, the episode transports viewers to a much quieter holiday gathering set during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the friend group was forced into a smaller, more intimate celebration. According to reporting, the storyline follows the group gathering for Thanksgiving in the midst of the pandemic, where Danny encounters one of Nick’s mistresses while out looking for his dog, prompting Nick to later admit his infidelity to Anne. It’s a confession that audiences already know won’t be his last.

This structure is what makes the flashback so quietly brutal. It doesn’t bring Nick back to give the characters closure. It brings him back to deepen the wound, showing viewers the slow erosion of his marriage to Anne long before his death, and long before audiences understood the full weight of what she endured.

Why Anne Stayed

Kerri Kenney-Silver, who plays Anne, offered insight into why her character remained in the marriage despite the betrayal. She suggested Anne initially stayed for their teenage daughter, since Nick was a devoted father, while also looking at the entire life they had built together. Kenney-Silver went further, stating she doesn’t believe Anne ever truly intended to leave him, and that had Nick not left first, Anne would have spent the rest of her life convincing herself that this compromised version of happiness was enough.

That insight reframes the entire flashback. It isn’t simply about exposing Nick’s flaws. It’s about understanding the quiet self-deception required to stay in a fractured marriage — a tragedy made even heavier by the knowledge that Anne never got the chance to choose differently.

A Performance That Hits Harder in Retrospect

For the cast, filming the episode carried unexpected emotional weight. Kenney-Silver described one pivotal scene revealing the roots of Nick and Anne’s strained marriage as deeply emotional to shoot opposite Carell. Will Forte admitted the gravity of the storyline didn’t fully register until he watched the finished episode, saying the transition into the flashback was so well executed that it left him stunned, and the moment afterward, returning to the present with Anne alone in the house, felt crushing.

That’s the emotional trick of “Little Thanksgiving.” Nick’s presence on screen isn’t comfort. It’s a countdown, a reminder that every warm moment in the flashback is leading toward loss the audience has already witnessed. Steve Carell’s return isn’t a resurrection. It’s a eulogy disguised as a holiday episode — and it lands with devastating precision.