Hey Lois, remember that time Family Guy was funny?
Fox/Fuzzy Door Productions: 2011
I think with all the recent hubbub about Family Guy, it's only fair for me to do a review of one of the worst episodes of the show. And looking at all of the worst this show has had to offer, it's almost impossible to pick just one. I could have gone with the much lauded "Seahorse Seashell Party", which not only frightens the eye with horrific imagery in a lazy attempt to prove "look, we have a budget", but tries to justify making Meg the show's go-to punching bag, but that's been done by many a reviewer. I was also thinking of reviewing "Brian and Stewie". You know that one hour episode that was really like 40 minutes, spending that time with an insufferable baby diaper eating joke, followed by ear mutilation, rewarding the viewer for sitting through the schlock with a schmaltzy ending involving Brian's suicidal thoughts.
That pretty much says a lot about modern Family Guy. It seems that the show has tried more and more in recent years to be more about pulling on the heartstrings while trying their damnedest to be controversial. Be it episodes about Lois' concerns over a sick child not being treated by doctors due to the beliefs of his parents, or the most recent attempt to get the show talked about for the first time since like maybe 2005, which was by brutally killing off Brian Griffin in an episode that again tries too hard to be emotional and heartfelt.
Seriously, this is a show that gave us singing prom night dumpster babies and Quagmire shooting and killing the Simpsons. Attempts at seriousness from this show feel like the show trying too hard to be deep. You're not All in the Family. Hell, you're barely Facts of Life.
Which leads me to the episode I'm reviewing for this edition of Tooncrap. So, what's Family Guy going to treat as a hot button issue this time? The answer is domestic abuse. I guess it's okay to take it serious in this episode. It's not Meg being beat up. So, let's not waste time like some Conway Twitty bit. Let's review this thing.
We open the episode in the Griffin household as Peter tells Lois that he's going fishing with Joe and Quagmire. They joke around about that forgettable time that Peter was a fisherman with two Portuguese assistants, followed by a cutaway of porch geese. heh. At the docks, Joe and Peter are waiting for Quagmire, while having a hard time making idle conversation with one another. The bit goes nowhere.
The two find Quagmire at home hanging from the ceiling, suffering from auto-erotic asphyxiation after watching clown porn. Hey, a funny joke... being done in a rather dark scene. Joe's concerned about Quagmire's health, while Peter is his usual selfish douche self. At the hospital, Peter tells his family that Quagmire is in a coma, and that the only member of his family coming to show up is his sister Brenda with her boyfriend Jeff. I guess a plus to this is at least his dad isn't showing up so the show can make oh-so-tasteful transgender jokes.
Lois isn't too happy about this considering that Jeff is abusive to Brenda, but Peter says that she's gotten a lot better. Yeah, anything Peter says in this episode pretty much results in assholery. We see the couple arrive to the hospital, and yeah, Jeff is abusive to Brenda, and she's pretty much scared to say anything against him. She sings a song her mother used to sing to her (which is about events happening then on October 30th 2011. It's a backfire of a joke. In fact, let's go back to the clown porn, so far that's the only thing that worked in this episode). The song wakes Quagmire from his coma, but before the siblings can talk, Jeff drags her out of the room.
At Quagmire's place, we get more nonsensical verbal abuse from Jeff, which I guess is supposed to be funny, and knowing the writers of this show, it probably was, but really reaches for any sliver of a chuckle and gets nothing in return. Jeff shoves Brenda into another room as we hear her getting verbally abused, again trying for laughs with some of his dialogue, but yeah, no. After the break, it's more verbal abuse.
Quagmire talks to the Griffins about Jeff and this leads Peter into an Iraq Lobster cutaway. Ah, the classic Family Guy callback, only taking what was funny about the original bit, adding obvious racism and placing it in an episode that they're claiming to be a serious story. Quagmire asks Lois to talk to Brenda about leaving Jeff, which leads to a bit involving Brenda having a black eye, and also seemingly having no problem with being abused by Jeff. Quagmire asks Joe to arrest him, but he can't unless Brenda files a formal complaint, which as we saw by the multiple excuses made, that's not happening.
The plan in motion is an intervention. And this leads to yet again misfire joke after misfire joke, from Joe not knowing Chris' name to Peter telling Brenda to smoke a whole carton of cigarettes. Quagmire reads a letter he wrote saying that her being with Jeff has proven that she wants to make her life worse, and that he wants his sister back. These are strong, powerful words. Strong, powerful words from a rapist, but I guess the point is still being made. However, this proves to not work as she's going to marry Jeff because she's pregnant. Peter suggests the names Slappy, Bruisey, and "Keep it Down in Theresy".
Remember when Peter was actually funny? I mean like saying funny things, doing funny things. It seems like now, especially in this episode his whole role is to be the comic relief, but instead of saying something to lighten the mood, the joke comes from mockery of the situation. His role from father who sometimes does the wrong thing but his heart is in the right place has been replaced by horrible person who does horrible things and only really seems to apologize when he knows it'll cost him his family. You know, that family with the wife he treats like crap, and the kids he doesn't even love. That last one being a whole last act plot that was resolved in classic cold Family Guy fashion.
But Peter does eventually come up with a logical idea, why don't they just kick his ass? You know, because a fat guy, a lanky guy, and a cripple stand a chance against a testosterone fueled brute. Quagmire suggests killing Jeff instead, while Joe tells him that he could be arrested for. This leads to a sex with a rooster joke that again feels like it didn't even know its purpose. This of course leads to what this whole episode has been building up to, Jeff beating Brenda. Again, this wouldn't feel like Family Guy suddenly acting like this situation is disturbing to them if it wasn't born from a throwaway joke.
That's right. In the season 8 episode "Jerome is the New Black", the B-Plot involved Brian trying to find out why Quagmire doesn't like him. One of those bits has Brian in a misunderstanding believing that a girl in Quagmire's place was just some score, but it was his sister Brenda, who was hiding from Jeff, who finds her, and we hear her being beaten, being played for comedic effect. Just like this episode. This episode tries too hard to throw humor in a humorless situation. Hey, a conflict over Leno and Letterman. That would be funny if this was still 1993 and it wasn't followed by a woman being struck to the ground.
Finally seeing the abuse go to far (you know, it took seeing the physical aspect of that abuse to do anything about it), they decide to take Jeff on a "hunting trip". This plan to finally off Jeff goes awry when he gets his hands on a shotgun, knocks out Peter and Joe, and takes Quagmire for a ride to the middle of the forest to kill him. Quagmire convinces Jeff to drop the gun and fight like a man, which leads to the two brawling. Or in this case, mostly Quagmire getting his ass handed to him. Jeff chokes out Quagmire, and leaves, believing he killed him. But remember the whole auto-erotic asphyxiation bit earlier? Looks like that actually comes in to play, as Quagmire recovers, hops in the car, and rams it into Jeff, killing him instantly.
You know, I'm glad that Quagmire killed the monster who abused his sister and all, but seriously show, are you really trying to make me cheer for the rapist who preyed on teenagers, and even once said he had no problems sleeping with his daughter? Whatever, the worst of the two (I guess) is killed at least. And the episode ends with Quagmire and company instead of telling Brenda what happened, give her a phony letter saying that Jeff left her instead. I guess that's a more positive way to finish this off.
This episode is a hard one to watch honestly, because it not only deals with some rather rough subject matter of domestic abuse and battered wife syndrome, but it's done in the style fitting of the current writing mindset of this series. Let's try to lighten the mood from this dark story with jokes. But instead of distracting jokes, let's make them more and more tasteless in context of the current situation. And let's do this while trying to make the rapist of the show sympathetic, and even that doesn't fully work. They act like suddenly abuse is a serious topic to them, which would be fine, if the episode before this one didn't try to justify Meg being verbally and physically abused by her family. So, yeah, hypocrisy, thy name is Family Guy.
I know, if I'm looking for good taste, maybe I shouldn't be watching Family Guy. But here's the thing. Maybe if Family Guy was trying to be funny and not make some lopsided point, then maybe that excuse could work. Family Guy's not a show that should be handling this level of drama. It doesn't fit the writing style this show is best suited for. That being crass humor, pop culture digs, and random silliness. Trying to do deeper stories like this just falls on its face because it's subject matter being handled by for the most part inhuman monsters, who either just act like jerks, or try to make the whole situation even worse with inappropriate remarks. Stick to silly episodes, or time adventures with Stewie and Brian.
Yeah, he's dead. But I'm not falling for this phony "dead forever" scam. He'll be back louder, angrier, and with more liberal agendas than ever on a show that in all honesty should have stayed cancelled.