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Family Guy: Untitled Griffin Family History
by Bob Sassone, posted May 14th 2006 10:02PM
(S05E17) What can you say about an episode of a cartoon that shows that the universe was invented by God farting?This episode had a big Simpsons vibe to it, where one character tells a historical story and the characters from the show serve as the historical characters as well. This one had Peter telling the rest of the family the story of the Griffin family as they all hide out in a panic room while robbers break into the house. It all starts with the dinosaurs, and the show helpfully gives both the theory of evolution and the intelligent design theory (Jeannie blinked everything into existence).
Why does this family hate Meg so much? First they tell her to go down the vent, and when she says she can't, they think she means she won't fit, so they all spit on her to grease her up. Then Peter picks her up and shoves her down the vent to get help make sandwiches, and Stewie calls her a bitch. Yikes.
Thanks to Peter's intercom blabbing, the robbers find Meg in the kitchen and write a sign to show Peter on the monitor that says "We ave your son." Heh.
Peter takes this opportunity to tell the family more of the story of his ancestors. This time it's on a slave ship, on its way to America to work on a Southern plantation. (Peter on the plantation owner's daughter, Lois: "Ordinarily a black man isn't attracted to white women ... she was the type of woman you wanted to have sex with over and over again, pushing her breasts together so she looked like a cross-eyed torso").
Um, seeing the Griffins as a black family? Wild. I particularly liked the scene where Peter tries to escape in a wagon with the help of his friend Al Cowlings.
Back in the present day, Peter finds a flare gun, and before Brian can tell him what to do, Peter fires it off in the panic room, making the sprinklers go off. Peter dons an oxygen tank, but it turns out it's not an oxygen tank, but a tank filled with Tony Danza's breath.
Peter continues his story, telling of his great grandfather, a great silent movie star. His name was Black-Eye Griffin, and in every silent comedy short he gets a black eye. This scene wasn't particularly funny, though I did like the sound they recreated for Black-Eye Griffin's first talkie.
Meanwhile, Meg is trying to convince the crooks to "have their way with her." They refuse.
Peter tells the family about his great uncle, Peter Hitler, Adolph's brother, who is shown bothering Adolph while he did "Nazi stuff." This wasn't particularlly funny either, though Peter asking Adolph what was going on with his art classes was pretty clever.
Back to today, Peter confesses to the family that he doesn't like The Godfather, because it insists on itself, and the family argues about it. Quite a bizarre scene, as the family is about to drown. In the nick of time, the cops come in and save the family, but they announce that the crooks are pressing sexual charges against Meg. She is now a sexual predator.
All in all, a so-so episode. It started rather strong but got weaker as it went along. Next week is the season finale, so let's hope they can end the season on a stronger note.
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