Family Guy: The Former Life Of Brian
By fred | April 28, 2008
(S06E11) It’s been quite a while since we’ve had the chance to watch a new episode of Family Guy, and as it turns out the show is only back for a very shot period of time : next week will the the season finale already ! Of course, 22 episodes were originally ordered, but with the strike I guess we should be lucky we get to see two new episodes of the show this season, especially after the “threats” about how creator MacFarlane could quit or not come back since Fox decided to air episodes without him doing the last minutes tweaks as he usually does, but that he couldn’t do because he was striking.
Seems everything has been worked out, and now they’re all back to work. Starting with this brand new episode, which overall was a good one, despite a very slow start.
The episode was good, but it took a while before things actually got interesting and, you know, funny. Basically, the good parts had to do with Brian’s son, but before we could get there we had to go through a bunch of magic acts and other crap that were more boring than anything. Stewie’s face painted, or not the next minute, Brian trying to impress a girl by having Stewie dressed up as a bunny only to leave when he found out she had a crappy boyfriend already, all of that only had one purpose : to get him to go find his son. It just sucks that it took a while, and none of it was actually funny.
But once we got there, things actually got really good. It started we a little trick Family Guy has done in the past : acknowledging that something doesn’t really make sense, so that they can make fun of it and eventually use it to their advantage. It might not always work, but this time it did, though I’m sure still plenty fans will rant online about how Brian couldn’t possibly have a child that old, given his own age.
Never mind the fact that, shall I remind you, Brian is actually a dog and (probably) couldn’t have a human child, at all. But that’s part of the joke I guess, and it works. Another thing that always works for me, is when they bring Brian back to his roots. Let’s face it, we’re all used to see him as a lot more human than he really is - I mean he is a dog.
But we we hear he’s got a 13 years old son, we don’t have a problem with a dog having a human child, only with the age of said child. Yet, from time to time we are treated with a joke that reminds us what Brian really is, a dog, and that always cracks me up. They’ve done it already once this season if I’m not mistaken, and they did it again this time, with Dylan, Brian’s son, sticking his father’s head into a bag. Brian switch back to dog-mode, and I always find that absolutely hilarious !
Amongst the other jokes that had me laughing out loud we find Dylan’s general behavior, or how Peter wanted to get the kid a gun for Christmas so that he could kill everybody, Stewie starting to say complicated words only to end up making noises and faces at Brian, who ended up slapping him to the ground (”Great parenting!“), Chris warning Dylan about the evil monkey in the closet, only to see Dylan beat the crap out of him, Dylan messing up with Peter’s hair, but no worries because Peter “[is] full of Playdo“, so he could grow them back in no time !
And of course, a father and his son bounding over a joint, smoking pot together and then finding the inspiration to turn one’s life around for the better ! What a great parenting lesson, isn’t it? Speaking of which, of course Brian acting all obnoxious in the bar was another great one ! “You do not understand. Until you have a child, until you have a child, you do not understand. (…) Oh My God!! Oh no, Oh My God! Oh that’s, oh God! No no no… known on wood, known on wood, known on wood, oh I can’t hear anymore of this!”
Of all the jokes that were completely unrelated to the actual plot, I thought most of them weren’t so good/funny, except for the Matthew McConaughey joke, that was quite funny and all so true, that one I loved!
In the end it was a good episode, even though it took quite a long time to actually start, and I do wish they had a good ending, because that last scene/joke wasn’t funny, and it’s always best to end up on a high note. But still, I liked this episode, I’m glad the show is back, I’m just sorry there’s already only one episode left for this season, but it’s still better than nothing, right?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Family Guy
