Review: Family Guy “The Movement”

 

 

Overview(Spoilers Below):

Carter Pewterschmidt has bought the local minor league baseball team, the Quahog Whooping Scalpers. 

And, when the team needs a new head coach, Peter takes the job. Everything seems to be going well until Peter gets a bad case of diarrhea during the national anthem, which forces him to take a knee. Everyone misinterprets the move as an intentional protest for equality. However, this makes the baseball team look bad. Leaving Peter in the awkward position of supporting equal rights or pissing off his father-in-law/boss.

 

Our Take:

In an episode where Peter Griffin becomes both a baseball coach and an equal rights activist, which would you think Family Guy has more jokes for? I am sure you said the latter, but you would be ever so wrong. 

There is at least half an episode of jokes surrounding Peter’s jumbled baseball speech, and abilities as a coach. 

While activism doesn’t play much of a role at all. Disappointing if you read the synopsis that proclaimed Peter would be becoming a social justice warrior. Instead, the prime target for Family Guy jokes was quickly skimmed over.

But that should all be expected. Because, when Family Guy has two roads to choose from, it usually picks the less obvious route. Much like how Peter accidentally becomes an icon of equality, the episode seems to accidentally slip into that territory. It quickly tries to rectify that by taking us somewhere even more unexpected, Quahog’s own version of Wakanda, Waquahog. A funny parody of Black Panther that also could have used more screen time and jokes.

Despite these strange directional choices, the episode holds together to be entertaining overall.  There are some great clips, which the show has been lacking recently. Peter’s Nike commercial alone makes this an episode worth watching.  And, though it did take over, Peter as a baseball coach did offer some amusing moments in the early acts of the episode.

The final act is a mess, which is another commonality for Family Guy. The series often struggles to wrap up the plots in a timely manner, if at all. And, this episode is no different. The Waquahog side-story, while funny, took most of the running time for a solid conclusion. 

And, when Peter is left with his choice between equal rights and his new coaching gig, the stakes were not built enough for anyone to care. It’s almost predictable at this point that episodes like this one will have a stupid ending. But, even the 90s techno Hamster Dance, is a step-down.

There are some saving graces. Mostly thanks to outside sources. Besides the Waquahog reference, Homer Simpson and Stan Smith both make appearances.  While Homer’s cameo is minimal, the American Dad reference is a highlight. With Peter as a coach, he decides to make a bold move in sending Meg down to the minors, that being Seth MacFarlane’s TBS series, American Dad.  Something she takes in an instant when being threatened to be sent down further to The Orville. You gotta love that self-deprecating humour.

While when it comes to plot and theme, this episode is a complete mess, there is still something lovable about the episode. It maintains that ridiculous humour that keeps us coming back for more from this show.  And, it’s always been this way.  Nobody is watching Family Guy for brilliant storytelling or intelligent commentary about society. It’s mostly dumb humour to fill our time and get a few laughs out of us. So, on that front, this episode does its job.