(S05E07) Again this week things are split up into Family Guy and The Brian and Stewie Show. I don't mind the split stories as the Stewie and Brian stuff is usually my favorite anyway. It is about time for a big family outing or something to get them all back together though. I'm still calling this an up and down season overall, but this episode was one of the upswings. There were some truly great moments, and both of the stories were good, with one small exception. But we'll get to that later. It was great to see the return of Olivia. Her original episode "From Method To Madness" was a good one, and they continued the story of Stewie and Olivia nicely here. This one worked well all the way through. I liked lovestruck Stewie that was just beside himself with his attraction to Olivia. But his attempted makeover was even better. When he started collecting Brian's hair, you knew he had to be up to something, but I didn't see pubes, chest hair, and pit hair coming. Very funny stuff. Of course, taking advice on dealing with women from observing Quagmire was even better still. "I don't want my neighbors seeing a fat old dirty whore screamin at me on my front lawn."
If there was anything I didn't like about the story it was that bad boy Stewie was so short lived. He reverted back awfully quick once he got the date. Not a huge deal though, because the Stewie and Olivia relationship made for some good laughs. Seeing them bicker like a long term couple was funny, and I especially liked the double date with Brian and Jillian. I didn't think Drew Barrymore would be around this long, but I do like the Jillian character.
Anyway, as you know, there was no happily ever after for Stewie. Winding things up by having him set fire to the house that Olivia and Victor were in was great. And Stewie's line afterwords was nice, "Idea for a farce, cheating wife and pompous ass burned alive." That's the evil Stewie that we've been missing. Brian and Stewie also get credit for a great ending to the episode with Brian's explanation about what being gay is and Stewie's realization that "I could totally get into that." Something we all saw coming, I'm sure.
In the other big plot we had obsessive Peter. The way Peter becomes obsessed about things and jumps in with both feet and no clue is one of the things I really like about the character. And having him obsessed with chick flicks was a great idea. I liked the setup of the story with the two of them in the theater and Peter reacting to Autum's Piano, with the characters Sassy, Pouty, and Suicidey. I also liked the making of Steel Vaginas and Peter's insistence that Joe get out of the wheel chair. I even liked the screening of the movie. Joe's CGI legs were hilarious. But after all the good stuff, it just stopped. It really seemed like there should have been some kind of a payoff at the end. Something more than just everyone grumbling as they left anyway. It's also worth noting that Meg and Chris were almost non-existent this week.
As far as the non-story related goodies, a good collection overall. Only two of them really stood out as bad. The Star Wars bit was a nice recreation of that scene, and could have been really funny if there had been a joke. "Ya jerk" isn't really a joke. And unless I completely missed it, the guy with the pictures of his kids was just stupid.
On the other hand, Chester Cheetah rocking out to "Tom Sawyer" and snorting lines of cheese dust was awesome. "There is no *&%^*&* drummer better than Neil Peart." I thought the Tasty Juice tag line was funny, "Drink it, then convert it to pee." Peter made the Sandra Oh bit with his rushed admission that he thinks about her while having sex with Lois. The Mayor of Comedy hawking the "Punchlines of the 80's" was good, and left me thinking that the Star Wars joke really could have used a punch line. And Q-bert, I spent so much time playing that game that it couldn't not be funny.
Overall, another really good episode.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-27-2006 @ 8:25AM
Tasha said...
I like Family Guy. Sometimes it's too frank. Whatever. It's nice. And this episode was really good. Even my mom liked it.
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11-27-2006 @ 8:43AM
Crow said...
I thought Alan Alda was voicing Victor but didn't see his name on the end credits.
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11-27-2006 @ 9:16AM
Rhomboid said...
The guy-with-pictures bit was just another form of the old "breeders are annoying because they can't stop shoving the details of their precious little snowflakes in your face even if you don't care" joke. I thought it worked pretty well.
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11-27-2006 @ 9:33AM
Miles said...
There was an exchange between Stewie and Brian when Stewie talks about leaving Olivia. Brian says something about "black man" and Stewie gets PC, a line like: "You better look at yourself, man." Does anyone have the actual lines? What about a link to an actual clip of the scene?
Thanks to all who can help.
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11-27-2006 @ 9:44AM
Douglin said...
The punchline to the star wars joke was the curb your enthusiasm theme music wasn't it? I thought that was funny that it went from being a star wars scene into a typical curb your enthusiasm scene.
I thought the guy with the photos was hilarious, it was a nice return to the 'ultra-fast' actions from the early seasons
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11-27-2006 @ 9:44AM
David said...
The punchline for the Star Wars bit was the Curb Your Enthusiasm music that closed it, I assume. Funny stuff.
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11-27-2006 @ 10:26AM
Brett said...
Crow, I thought it was Alan Alda too, but couldn't find his name in the credits, or online, so it could just be that it was someone doing a really good Alan Alda impression.
As for the Star Wars joke, I totally missed that it was the Curb Your Enthusiasm music. I could never get into that show, so I haven't watched it in years.
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11-27-2006 @ 11:33AM
SJ said...
Nice shout-out to Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Favourite line:
Joe: "I can't walk Peter."
Peter: "But your character can."
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11-27-2006 @ 12:09PM
Bebop said...
Is everyone missing the mock Good Will Hunting scene. It was toward the end where Bryan kept saying, "it's not your fault, it's not your fault."
I was dying! Steel vagina...hillarious.
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11-27-2006 @ 12:11PM
rolando said...
"On the other hand, Chester Cheetah rocking out to "Tom Sawyer" and snorting lines of cheese dust was awesome. "There is no *&%^*&* drummer better than Neil Peart."
Does anyone know where i can see this?!! i missed last night ep.
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11-27-2006 @ 12:49PM
Tucker said...
Yup, it was the Star Wars: A New Hope scene re-done in Curb format that made the joke... I guess it sucks to watch this show and miss a reference, but I can't ever recall a time that happened to me. Maybe that's why I love this show so much, it's like Seth McFarlane shares an identical body of pop-culture knowledge as me.
Great episode all around, really nothing else to add this week. Has anyone noticed that they've started adding a lot more sitcom format to the show? More recurring characters, continuing storylines, etc. It's not necessarily a good or bad change, but just something I've noticed this season.
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11-27-2006 @ 1:58PM
cd said...
they need to stop with the star wars and indiana jones jokes. they werent funny the first time......
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11-27-2006 @ 2:37PM
Shlomo said...
Well, i thought the Star Wars joke was hilarious, maybe you didnt realize that after the fight they played the theme song to Curb Your Enthusiasm, because that was such a Larry David-esque argument. Im a big fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Star Wars,so i thought the joke was great!
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11-27-2006 @ 4:47PM
TVblogger said...
Well, you're right again the stories were split up between Stewie/Brian and Peter. But, they are becoming so split up that I didn't even think that Peter interacted with Brian or Stewie this time.
To me it seemed that more than anything Peter's story was almost filler. I agree they need to have some sort of Family Guy road trip to bring them all back together. I love when Stewie and Peter interact and it's been a long time since they have.
TVblogger.
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11-27-2006 @ 5:11PM
Brett said...
Make Me Laugh, I can see why you would say Meg wasn't in the episode, but she was there 'technically.' I remember seeing her on the couch when Peter was screening the film. But your point is well taken, the lack of Chris and Meg stuff is curious.
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11-27-2006 @ 8:57PM
Make Me Laugh said...
Um, if I'm not mistaken this was the second straight episode without Meg. Has she been kicked ?
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11-27-2006 @ 11:30PM
Andy said...
I loved that star wars reference! My dad does not care about star wars but had to laugh when the Curb music began. Great episode this week.
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11-29-2006 @ 3:13PM
Mike said...
Did anyone else think Peter's line, "I don't have a good feeling about Suicidey" was hilarious? That's one of the funniest things I've ever heard Peter say. I like the way they continually reinforce that Peter has a brilliant grasp of the obvious.
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