Review: Family Guy “Absolutely Babulous”

Our Take:

Stewie has an outburst after he realizes all of his trophies and medals were given to him for participating, and not for any success. The results of his overreaction causes the Griffin’s home to burn down. The family is forced to move in with Lois’s parents. Peter has a hard time gaining respect until he connects with Lois’s mother. Unfortunately, he convinces her to leave her husband. Meanwhile, Stewie is set on winning an actual trophy and enters a local pie bake-off in hopes of proving his worth.

Overview:

We are three episodes into the eighteenth season and Family Guy, and we have yet to have any standout plots.  This series is at its best when it is messing with the status quo and playing around with its own formulas. It would be nice to start out a new season with, at minimum, a Stewie-Brian episode. These ongoing family dramas are not what brings fans back. And, this one was extremely lacking from anything substantial to keep us excited for what’s to come for the remainder of the season.

Peter’s ongoing struggles with Lois’s parents are getting played-out. The relationship hasn’t changed in the many years despite the many moments that Peter has bonded with them. You would think after all of this time, Lois’s father would have accepted his daughters choice in a lover, especially considering the many times Peter has saved his life. Yet, here we are playing on the same jokes that Peter does not fit into their lifestyle. For a mix-up, Lois’s mom is much more involved in this episode, but it doesn’t help and hardly pays off.

Though this wasn’t a full-out Stewie-Brian episode, they still do carry the B-plot. In fact, they help to start the episode out strong when Stewie breaks down after discovering all of his medals and trophies are participation rewards. Stewie full-blown burns down the house, and it’s not something that is played off a scene later. Beyond the significant lead-up, the remainder of their plot goes nowhere and adds nothing to the episode. Though I should say, since it’s something I usually complain about with Family Guy, the scenarios did have an actual conclusion.

Finally, we did get back to some cut scenes. The first couple of episodes were terribly lacking from the jokes that the series is known for. Thankfully, there was a substantial injection of the ridiculous for this one. One of them involves a German cereal that likes to watch people poo. Maybe it’s not hilarious, in fact, it sounds dumb writing it, but it’s nice that the show is getting back to form. If the plot cannot carry the episodes at least, these jokes are enough to entertain, so they cannot afford to lose the stupidity.

To be fair, this wasn’t the worst episode of Family Guy. There were some fun moments, the humour was there, and the story actually made some sense. It just felt like an episode that could have taken place in the first five-years and been much funnier. At this point, the series should be doing much better than this and progressed past these old narratives. Here’s to hoping that a strong episode comes out sooner rather than later.