Review: Family Guy “Pawtucket Pat”

 

 

Overview:

Brian takes on a new gig as an online journalist. Investigating a new story, he uncovers some dark secrets about Pawtucket Pat. After discovering the town founder and brewery mascot was a racist and stole his beer recipe from Native Americans, Brian leads a protest to remove his statue from the center of town.

Worried about losing an important town monument, Peter leads his own protest in support of keeping the statue. The town is divided, and when Brian takes things into his own hands the debate escalates. 

Though both sides failed to consider the position of the Native American community.

 

Our Take:

You can never be certain what you will get out of an episode of Family Guy. One night you may get an entire story centered around some obscure reference to an 80s movie that no one has heard of, or completely forgot. 

The next one could be some challenge to the status quo of sitcom television. Then, you get episodes such as this one, that take on relevant social issues and try to add something to the conversation.

This last year has seen more statues tumble than in memorable history. The Black Lives Matter movement initiated groups all over the world to challenge outdated symbols that represented darker times. Monuments to men who also practiced slave trading and racism have fallen in cities across the globe. Now, the debate of tradition versus progression reaches Quahog.

Unfortunately, the episode does not really add anything to either argument. With most of the story involving set-up, this episode suffered the Family Guy tradition of abruptly concluding things without full resolution.

There was a climactic scene where the ‘Keep Up the Statue’ side conceded that the racist statue should go. However, it was not that they were convinced that racism was wrong, only that the town would be okay without it. This may help right-wing viewers find comfort in losing their monuments, but it did not help to sell home the true nature of the argument.

The episode ends with Peter stating that they “may win an award for this,” and referencing acclaimed films that centred around republican minded people changing their ways. But the episode failed to acknowledge the critical piece about racism and instead focused on the value of a giant sculpted piece of metal and the value that it holds.

With all the focus on the storyline, there was not much room left for comedy. The episode included minimal cutaways and lacked the flair that we usually see out of Family Guy. Even Brian’s adventures in online journalism were minimal. But watching Kid Rock get scolded by Adult Rock was a stand-out moment worth watching.

This was an ambitious plot choice by Family Guy, it just missed the mark. There was a time when this show would argue both sides with valuable points and make fun of everyone along the way. This episode just presented the problem and found a solution without actually facing the real argument. An entire episode about racism should have something more to say than we can move on without statues.