Review: Family Guy “Stewie’s First Word”

 

 

Overview:

After getting frustrated in church, Stewie decides to shout out his very first word (that everyone can understand). Unfortunately, his word choice may not have been the most suitable for the house of God.

Unsure of who to blame, Lois goes on a witch hunt for whoever taught the obscene word to her baby. 

After trying to catch everyone from Peter to television, Lois realizes that it was her that Stewie heard the swear from.  With a mental breakdown, Lois decides it best that she go away to a special women’s retreat. 

However, the teachings there do not align with her own. Soon Lois realizes that she is not a bad mother and finds comfort in her own word choices.

 

Our Take:

Family Guy is entering their 19th season on a high note. It was recently announced that the series has been renewed for two more seasons following this one. And, to kick things off this year the show premieres with its milestone 350th episode.

Though, all the good news does not mean that the series has not had a couple of bridges to cross over the break.  

Of course, Covid-19 has caused all of us to change up the routine, and Family Guy has done their part by producing episodes remotely as much as possible. Thankfully, you cannot even tell as the animation and voice recordings are as seamless as ever.

Additionally, the Black Lives Movement that has gained steam recently inspired voice actor Mike Henry to step down as the long-running voice of Cleveland Brown. A move that inspired many voice actors to follow suit and no longer voice non-white characters. Thankfully, Family Guy found their new voice for Cleveland in YouTuber and impressionist Arif Zahir (not featured in this episode).

Regardless of the obstacles, Family Guy premiered on time with the rest of the Animation Domination line-up and we are set for another full 20-episode season.

This milestone 350th episode delivers on the promise of Stewie saying his first word that the family can understand. Of course, it is the most atrocious word at the most atrocious time. But that is what Family Guy does best, takes those terrible moments that could happen to anyone in the real world and make them hilarious. Stewie does make it up in the conclusion of the episode speaking his second, more heartfelt word.

When it comes to humour, Family Guy has not lost any of its old tricks. They may not have learned any new ones, but that’s alright. The cutscenes feature everything from the fourth wall breaking transitions to pure nonsense. While the references are as outdated as ever. For example, a third of the episode is spent mocking the preschool Canadian television series Caillou, a show that has not been popular for over a decade and has been mocked to death. But that is how Family Guy rolls.

Who knows how this series continues to work. On paper, the irrelevant and sometimes inappropriate jokes mixed with the sloppy storytelling would be enough to kill any show. However, Family Guy takes pride in the way it is, acting like the anti-thesis on how good television is constructed. And, with two seasons following this one up, we will have many new episodes to try and figure it out.

With episode #350, Family Guy delivers another non-spectacular, somehow tolerable, mishmash of a plot. Yet, somehow still lands as a decent entertaining half-an-hour spent.