Episode 3 - Spies Reminiscent of Us
22 March 2012
Synopsis: Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd rent Cleveland’s house and when Stewie and Brian investigate what they are up to, they find out that they are spies. They accidentally “activate” Mayor West who it turns out was a Soviet sleeper spy. They track West back to Russia and prevent him from detonating a nuclear weapon. Meanwhile Quagmire tries to make an Improv group with Peter and Jo.
The Good: The Family Guy writers decide to relive their youths by bringing in Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd to spoof several movies from the 80s. I have no problem with this idea as it gives the episode a clear identity and provides an implausible plot for Brian and Stewie to mess around in.
Peter’s stupidity and one track mind are also well exploited as he ruins all of Quagmire’s attempts to form a coherent improve group. I appreciated how that story grew out of Peter’s hurt ego after meeting Chevy and Dan. The jokes were passable throughout. Stewie’s colouring of Sebastian the Crab provided unexpected mirth as did the typically bizarre decision to have an elephant exchange student live with the family for a week. Once more the Brady Bunch gets sent up for a predictable gag. A joke that will please many people and was a nice self reference was Stewie’s answer to Dan’s question about whether anyone local has been acting strangely: “Well there’s a paedophile up the street that nobody seems to be doing anything about. But it’s mainly because he’s so funny.”
Do you know what Peter has in common with Marshall Erikson (How I Met Your Mother), Tracy Jordan (30 Rock), Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and his proxy George Costanza (Seinfeld)? They all desire privacy and space on the toilet. I hope the women of the world are listening.
Flashback ratio (good-medium-bad): 1-1-1
The Bad: I only place it in the bad because a casual viewer might well be turned off by it, but the jokes here are incredibly self referential. I enjoyed the references to The Cleveland Show and they probably are a good form of cross promotion, but the joke may get lost. Stewie is too groggy to set up a flashback joke, leaving his flashback self at a loss to explain Wilma Rudolph’s presence in his scene. It’s a fun idea if you’ve not seen the show comment on its own formula before (609 was the last time I can remember). Vladimir Putin even gets in on that act. The little comments about this being a TV show are peppered through out (see the end where Brian says Chris will be back next week) and I remain convinced that they undercut the comedy more than they enhance it.
I also remain convinced that if the Family Guy writers are going to indulge their own desires then they should go all the way with it. If you love 80s movies then do an entire show dedicated to Chase and Aykroyd, don’t bother with the Peter side plot. The improv jokes were fairly basic and the plot didn’t go anywhere. The season premiere did a nice job of just focussing solely on one idea and I think this could have benefited from that too.
Best Joke: Many will disagree but for me the comedy came largely from the Family Guy universe “commenting” or looking sideways at Chase and Aykroyd’s movies. So this choice dialogue, complete with Stewie’s ever amusing voice made me smile and played satire nicely.
AW: “I don’t remember a thing. Except how much I love the Michael Jackson Thriller video. Boy could that guy dance!”
DA: “Guy dance? Guidance! Source programmable guidance! We can reprogramme and disarm the missile from here!”
CC: “From here? (the silo is a few dozen metres away) Well our arms would have to be forty feet long Dan.”
DA: “No yutz not from right here. We go over there (points) and do it.”
CC: “Oh right.”
SG: “Oh come on Chevy! You should have known what he was talking about (trailing off).”
The Bottom Line: Another decent story and a few good jokes but so far the weakest of the three season eight episodes.
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