Review: Family Guy “Lawyer Guy”

Overview

Peter decides to sue his neighbor for whatever reason so he hires a lawyer. Come to find out, lawyer Brick Baker is Peter’s new neighbor, but Peter is able to secure a victory. In retaliation, Brick buys musical tickets for Peter and his friends but Peter is separated from the rest of the group allowing Brick to steal Peter’s friends. After a bit, Peter is able to win back his pals, and maybe Brick is a new recurring character?

Meanwhile, Stewie and Brian head to a lobster truck but are turned off by the fact that the line is so long so they decide to take matters into their own hands and launch their own lobster boat operation to make a bunch of money. It doesn’t take long before the boat gets hit by a storm and Rupert goes overboard. Stewie and Brian go underwater to try and find Rupert however Brian gets eaten by a shark and Rupert gets knocked off of an underwater cliff. Stewie and Brian return to their boat to regroup and make another go at saving Rupert, but when Stewie goes it alone he nearly dies, though Brian is able to make the save.

Cutaway Gags

NFL Referee, M.A.S.H., Farside, Horace Teaperry, Lee Harvey working from home, West’s Wonders

Our Take

I hope Brick becomes a permanent character to the show if for not other reason bringing back Jay Pharoah would be another solid addition to the cast. Earlier this season we saw a concerted effort by Family Guy to really work in new or newer characters voiced by the likes of Chris Parnell, Peter Macon, and Sam Elliott and I think Pharoah could be an MVP candidate given that, like MacFarlane, Pharoah can voice a hundred different characters and Brick is already a good one, so I hope there’s more where that came from.

Unfortunately, I thought the “B”-plot with Brian and Stewie was very “paint-by-the-numbers” and I actually think could’ve been a candidate for a new “Brian & Stewie” standalone that, with more time, could’ve turned the whole lobster business into a much more solid and dramatic episode. That didn’t happen, but with the episode deploying a number of pretty great cutaway gags, that helped buoy the tepid “at sea” premise.

This week’s episode is very much a culture clash of an episode, shepherding in the new while still getting fed the old. Personally, I’ve been preferring the former as of late.