Review: Family Guy “High School History”
Overview:
Family Guy‘s Season 24 draws to a close with “High School History.” Taking a trip back in time, the Griffins reenact the French Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II.
Our Take:
Starting things off, it seems that the show wants to end the season with something special, giving us another three-parter this season. In fact, this is actually the third episode this season with the “three story” format. Stewie’s time machine is broken, so Brian takes a page from his own “time machine,” a history book and reads about three historical events. Naturally, Stewie muses that he’s under some court order. Something involving a grocery store robot.
The three-parters often get flak for not doing much with Meg. They might be happy to see her as a queen, of France no less, until they realize she’s stuck marrying her brother. After a joke about people not wanting to pay for ad-free subscriptions, the increase in taxes spur on a revolution, led by Stewie and Brian. Of course, anyone with a basic knowledge of French history knows things will end with Chris and Meg getting sent to the guillotine. In fact, the entire main cast, plus J.K. Rowling, end up losing their heads.
The second story sees Peter as Honest Abe with Lois as Mary Todd, who surprisingly serves as the voice of reason, with Brian a perpetually drunk Ulysses S. Grant. While everyone agrees that Gettysburg sucks, Peter decides it must be saved at all costs. Stewie is John Wilkes Booth Romijn Stamos who swears revenge after getting bumped in favor of the Gettysburg address. After an Abbott and Costello “General Lee” joke, a fateful production of Our American Cousin must play out, filmed in front of a live studio audience. Granted, some fans will prefer the time the show presented this historical moment as a “Mentos” commercial, but at least Stewie delivers Booth’s famous line, “Did I do that?”
In the final story, Joe is Roosevelt, Franklin, not Teddy, and Peter is Churchill, all the while keeping his Rhode Island accent. We get another Abbott and Costello joke with Stalin’s name before America enters World War II following Pearl Harbor. Fans who wish that Stewie went back to his evil dictator personality from earlier seasons might be interested in seeing who Stewie ends up being. And, yes, there is also a shout-out to a certain memetic movie scene that The Cleveland Show also poked fun at.
With the historical trappings, there are some clever jokes, such as the French peasants deriding Marie Antoinette for being Austrian, which was something she faced in real life. On the other hand, the episode does take some liberties, such as promoting the story of Marie’s “Let them eat cake” line. Of course, fans can rest assured, whatever errors the story makes will probably get listed on TV Tropes.
Some viewers might find the historical references to be a bit esoteric. However, as Lois advises in the final scene, it might be a good idea to take a break from Lois.
Some of the “casting” choices in the episode might shock some fans. With the way Bonnie’s been acting in later seasons, some fans might feel that she doesn’t deserve to be someone as cool as Eleanor Roosevelt. Some may have preferred Joe to be married to the real Eleanor Roosevelt.
Still, the episode manages to be fun, clever when it wants to be, and a memorable season finale.
