Review: Family Guy “Don’t Be a Dickens at Christmas”

What the Dickens?! Wait, they used that pun already.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Tis the season at the Pawtucket Brewery as Angela (voiced for one of, if not the final times by the late Carrie Fisher) is ready to send everyone home early for Christmas Eve, but gets that pushed a little earlier by Peter holding a boombox. The rest of the family gets ready for the holidays, where Brian tells them his present is signing them up for helping at a homeless shelter, which no one but Lois loves. They hear Peter’s car drive up only to get splashed in mud as he speeds past to get to the bar. He drinks with the guys before getting driven out by maddened swarms of carolers and heads home to settle down and watch a Patrick Swayze holiday movie. No sooner does he get in the door does he get piled by holiday chores, which he refuses. Lois puts her foot down and takes the kids to Newport to spend Christmas with her parents, which they only put off because Peter didn’t want to. Drunk and alone watching his Swayze flick (which I’m not sure even the writer of this episode saw), Peter passes out but is awoken by the ghost of Patrick Swayze himself, who vows to help Peter reclaim his Christmas Spirit.

In true A Christmas Carol fashion, the first stop is Peter’s past, specifically the year 1970/80/90. There he sees his young self-hum and eats cookies as adult Peter revels in how that Christmas was all about him, and wishes it could be like that again. Next is the present as Swayze shows Peter a bunch of homes where everyone’s Christmas is spent together as a family, ending on Lois and the kids at Carter’s place to show how they’re getting on fine without him. This point is made further in the future, as Lois remarries and the kids go on to Ivy League sounding pun jobs, and Future Peter is reduced to a glowing dog fart. This seems enough to shake Peter out of his selfishness, so he drives over to the Pewterschmidt’s house to reconcile with hasty gifts…and then drunkenly dance with Swayze, who I guess was an alcoholic hallucination as the family gazes worriedly into Carter’s old buttcrack. Everybody’s working for the weekend.

OUR TAKE

A Christmas Carol type episode is a pretty stock type of holiday episode, and it was certainly the dud of the three Fox animated shows Christmas episodes tonight (the clear winner being Bob’s Burgers), but I wouldn’t say it’s the worst of Family Guy’s. For one, I might actually remember this one. Do any of you remember “How the Griffin Stole Christmas”? Because I sure don’t.

It’s definitely not up to snuff with “Road to the North Pole” or even “Christmas Guy”, but it’s not like it’s horrible. In fact, that kinda sums up Family Guy in this season so far. They’ve done some interesting twists, half-assed a story arc, and waddled in their own failed expectations, but they’ve basically been jogging in place, though at least they’re getting the exercise. So, since it’s the holidays, I’ll be a bit nicer. Let’s see, Christmas is on the 25th, and 2 + 5 equals…