TVSquad

(S05E06) The story for this week's episode was more involved, which is a good thing. A little plot goes a long way. When the plot gets too thin everything rides on the gags, and it is hard to pull off an episode with just gags. While the sex-ed story has been told many times, I liked the Family Guy take on it.

It gave them a good reason to bring out slutty Lois, and slutty Lois is usually pretty funny, like when she was trying to explain the wonders of sex to Meg. Or showing up for role-playing night dressed as Grimace? Good stuff.

It was pretty obvious where the sex-ed class was heading when Lois was fired, but bringing in David Cross to play Reverend Kirkwood was perfect. All of his stuff was really well written. From his hip lingo to bond with the kids (Walkman, The Matrix, boss, the pizza parlor) right through all of his insane statistics and warnings. I especially liked the bit from the pamphlet, "If you have sex, your penis will fall off and land in another dimension populated entirely by dogs, who will eat it." I have to say though, when Doug said there were other things he and Meg could do, I had no idea it was going to be ear sex. The hell? That made me laugh just from the sheer absurdity of it.

It was a good night for Peter too. It's a fine line for me with Peter and his level of stupidity. This week the level was just right, and Peter got some great lines. Telling Meg that he wants to be obstinate was a nice play on words. And "it's been on my crotch" from the other room was a laugh out loud moment. I think they were trying to play fast and loose with standards and practices with the Shakespeare statue. When Peter started pounding on Rainbow Bright, that sure looked like a giant penis.

Stewie and Brian were split off into their own story again this week, and while the lesser plot, it still delivered some fun stuff. It's always a good time when Brian terrorizes Stewie. The armpit hair on the tongue was particularly menacing. Picking on a baby shouldn't be funny, but when the baby is an evil mastermind, I think that makes it ok. Stewie comparing Jillian to Reuben Studdard, John Goodman, and Santa was funny too. I like the Jillian character. Apparently I would rather hear Drew Barrymore than see her.

As for the gags this week, another mixed bag. I really liked the opening with Adam West and his cat launcher. That is just such a strange idea it has to be funny. The Genital Hospital scene wasn't particularly funny, but Stewie's line, "that's not going to help her nymphomania, it's only going to exacerbate it." was. Text message your choice was funny the first time, especially with the look from Brian, but not as good the second time. Houdini trying to disappear on his wife was good. And Britney's dietitian sold me on that bit with the line, "Not everything needs gravy."

A few of them didn't really work for me. I get what they are saying about Liam Neeson, but it wasn't a very good joke. The Mel Gibson bit was telegraphed before they cut away, and having seen what South Park has done with Gibson, this one was DOA. Facts of Life? Eh. I'm kind of undecided on Knight Rider. It was very odd, but seemed like it needed a payoff later in the episode. The tooth fairy didn't really work for me either.

Overall, I'd call this a solid episode. Not destined for the classic list, but with enough good stuff to be worth repeating.