Review: Family Guy “First Blood”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Stewie spots a trickle of blood inside of his shorts after a fun day on the slip-and-slide, and naturally, thinks he’s having his first period. After a case of spotting, Stewie starts to think he’s pregnant until Brian has to put up with it. When he learns of the weight gain, Stewie opts for a morning after cocktail.

Meanwhile, the guys are questioning their physical prowess so they opt in for Mayor West’s invitation to test their abilities at his dude ranch outside of town. After a few days of picking horses and cattle, Peter and co. spend a night out in the woods where they come face-to-face with a grizzly who beats the hell out of them and takes Peter’s cowboy hat. Peter wants to get his hat back so he leads the guys back into the deep woods to fight the bear so that he can get his symbol of manhood back. We come to find out that Mayor West was the bear this entire time as a big test for Peter to prove his manhood and earn his hat back.

Cutaway Gags

Baptism, Quagmire aging, Fordham 2026, horse dance, cattle dance, Rupert at work, Counting sheep, Bear Scares, hat dance

Our Take

Of all the Animation Domination premieres this Sunday night, Family Guy’s new episode is by far the funniest. Stewie’s bit dances on that line that the infamous abortion episode did a decade earlier, but we’re in a different time now, a decade later, where abortions are a totally normal thing and subtle trans humor can be tolerated by all…oh wait…never mind. I just checked, it’s 2022, and neither of these things are true. Look for both angry articles from Breitbart and Times Out later this week.

But, classic Family Guy doesn’t give a fuck, and I think for the show to continue to be successful for years to come, the franchise has to go the way of Netflix and not care about who to punch down a bit, just as long as the show comes a swinging.

While I think the women’s version of the “B” plot would have also been hilarious, Mayor West bringing in his classic cowboy sensibilities is an excellent clash to the mostly suburbanized folk that is the patriarchs of Spooner Street. I, for one, never once got sick of Peter being skipped at the dance and kept laughing my friggin ass off. The setup is classic “guys go do some dumb shit together” and I’m always going to be here for it.