Review: Family Guy “Live, Laugh, Love”

Overview

When Peter realizes Joe has never found him funny, he is determined to make Joe laugh; Lois chaperones Chris and Meg’s school trip, where she strives to reunite the principal with his long-lost love.

Cutaways Gags

Substitute Bullies, Chris Returning Real Doll, Heart Emoji, College Try, Karaoke Lounge

Our Take

Family Guy returns to it’s normal slot and rightful time slot with a dual affair that seemed to be a continuation of the show’s recurring themes of seasons 21 and 22 in that we got whole bits dedicated to various apps. For our A-plot featuring Peter it was a whole obsession over text app acknowledgements that felt out of place for a premise revolving around all of the guys. Probably a better fit for a Meg or Stewie premise than one featuring the heads of their respective households, the climax featuring Peter going full Tom Cruise in sneaking into Joe’s house was the real highlight.

I probably had a bit more fun with Lois going on a field trip with the kids but I feel like the entire B-plot was mishandled in that we got introduced to numerous good ideas for full episodes that fizzle out early. For starters, I would’ve loved to have spent more time on the field trip with Lois embarrassing the kids that doesn’t really get resolved and even in leading into Principal Shepherd’s reunion with a former flame we spend so much time in the other eras we really don’t even get enough time to really care about John’s journey to weigh one way or another there was even a point.

That said, that’s not to say didn’t have a lot of funny bits as the cutaways and bathroom breaks made for enough giggles from me that I’m giving this one a barely passing grade. This isn’t one of writer Mike Desilets’ best efforts as he’s had much better output in years prior for the series, we’ll see if he comes back during the show’s 23rd season with a redemption piece.