Review: Family Guy “Let The Goodtimes Walk”
Overview:
In Fox’s latest episode of Family Guy, sleeping pills give Joe the ability to walk while he’s sleeping. However, it proves to have an unexpected side effect.
Our Take:
The story starts out with Peter getting a saxophone from a school rummage sale, causing him to go around town playing something that’s apparently supposed to sound like “Careless Whisper.” This ends up keeping Joe up at night when he keeps playing outside his window. Quagmire tries to help with some medicine that causes him to sleepwalk. And we do mean sleepwalk.
Unfortunately, it’s not exactly Joe’s personality that’s the one out and about. Acting out a modern-day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “Joey Goodtimes” is cool and laid-back. After making a good impression on his friends and Bonnie, Joe decides it’s for the best to just stay “Joey” all the time.
Joe is probably one of the more sympathetic characters on the show, so fans probably expect Peter and the other pals to realize they genuinely miss their buddy and try to bring back the real Joe. Instead, they simply realize it’s important to have a “bottom” friend for their dynamic to work. Either way, the important thing is bringing back the Joe we all know and love.
While the episode initially presented “Joey” as some sort of evil alter-ego, even trapping our “Joe” in a mirror at some point, simply asking him the nerdy questions that the real Joe can’t help to answer breaks the spell, so to speak. Once again, all that matters is that Joe’s safe.
Bonnie’s arguably at her worst in the story. While it makes sense that she’d enjoy having a more laid-back husband, she makes it clear she prefers “Joey” to the man she married. After callously falling asleep during a conversation, she simply disappears from the story altogether. And, of course, long-time fans probably want to point out that the last time Joe was able to walk again, she ultimately shot him in the spine.
Overall, while this could have been a good story to see the characters appreciate him, it’s still nice to see Joe get some attention at all. And the episode still offers an important question: do groundhogs deserve a whole month, even if they stole their holiday from the hedgehogs?
