Review: Family Guy “The Stewaway”

Overview

Stewie gets addicted to hide-and-seek that goes so crazy he ends up in Paris after hiding in Quagmire’s stowaway for work. Meanwhile, Lois and Peter head to Vermont, and while they both live, Lois ends up being medevaced out of the woods.

Cutaways

Instagram, Auction, Fake Cartoons, Twitch, French TV

Our Take

Have I mentioned lately how much I love John Viener? He’s by far my favorite voice actor of all-time and this week’s episode showcases that in spades. The long-time actor/writer/producer can also be seen in series like Duncanville, Phineas and Ferb, and Ted and it’s worth just the tiny snippets you get from him because he’s fantastic.

In any event, this week’s episode of Family Guy was a bunch of fun! We almost get a “Road to” like episode that’s set off by Stewie just being a baby which are some of my favorite episodes to watch. Stewie’s innocence is an ongoing personality attribute that has long surpassed his days as a baby wanting to kill his mother, and I think the character is better for it.

Equally as different as her initial 100 episodes, Lois going to great lengths to try to one-up her neighbor reminded me of the point of Bo Burnham’s song, “White Women’s Instagram“, in that, it pokes fun at the ridiculous lengths white women go through to deem themselves as superwomen for no other reason than to subvert other white women. It’s a hilarious satire on a 100% true issue in this country, and timely, given that after Elon Musk bought Twitter, a number of people said “find me on Instagram” as a way to look better about supporting a billionaire…only to support a different billionaire in Mark Zuckerberg who has had his own public issues in the past.

Lastly, the cutaways were very funny this week as well, but I think a few more highlights just came in the non-sequitors presented. Peter and Lois going back and forth on betting lacrosse had me laughing uncontrollably for a few minutes to the point I had to pause the show until I was through, and we sometimes forget the whimsical influences this show has in it’s production right up until we see Stewie head into Madeline’s home setting, complete with breath-taking backgrounds that give homage to the legendary Ludwig Bemelmans.

Family Guy continues to have a nice bounce year, and this week’s episode aired the same weekend Hollywood was celebrating 400 episodes which is due to go down on FOX in a few weeks, a proud and momentous achievement that will only be toppled in 100 more episodes when we get to 500.