Episode 4 - Stewie Kills Lois (1)
29 March 2012
Synopsis: Peter and Lois go on a cruise and leave Stewie behind. Angry at this Stewie chases after the ship and murders Lois. A year later Peter is put on trial for the murder and found guilty. Just then Lois appears to reveal who the real killer was.
The Good: The hundredth episode of Family Guy finally presents the story of Stewie killing Lois which has been his stated goal since the first episode. By showing the story develop for over a year makes it feel significant and draws you in to find out how the writers will make everything go back to normal. Peter amusingly incriminating himself is fun and there are plenty of other jokes to enjoy.
Stewie’s oedipal description of torturing Lois and Brian getting carried away with it is fun. Meanwhile Peter indulges in some surreal and creative jokes when he tells Lois that Philip Seymour Hoffman was the lead in Titanic and then goes on a date with a stick figure. Then there are more familiar jokes with Stewie’s homosexuality (“An hour from now I’ll be surrounded by seamen”), Mr Pewterschmidt killing a hooker (“You pay me now?”) and Peter treating Brian like he really is a dog (“and Brian, STAY OUT OF THE CAT BOX!”).
It is a bit of a surprise to see Lois “die” and it does a fine job of keeping you intrigued to see what will happen next.
Flashback ratio (good-medium-bad): 2-6-4
The Bad: The writers seem to go overboard in trying to cram as many jokes as possible into the episode. And naturally many of these jokes don’t work so well. Cheap shots at Rosie O’Donnell and Barbara Streisand’s appearance are lame and “Poop Deck” jokes are about as basic as you can get.
And it wouldn’t be Family Guy without questionable lines about abortion and developmentally disabled cops.
Best Joke: Peter keeps lying to Chris about Lois being dead. We then get a shot of Joe dressed as Lois talking to Chris
J: “Alright sweetie, you ready to get some new notebooks and protractors and slacks?”
C: “I want blue jeans.”
J: “You’re getting SLACKS!”
The Bottom Line: Even though the jokes are a mixed bag, there is probably more good than bad. And the story is interesting to see and entertaining. They set up part two well and it feels like an appropriate hundredth episode for the show.
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