Review: Family Guy “He’s Bla-ack!”

Spoilers Below

It’s been a long time coming, but Cleveland has finally made his way back to Quahog and the Family Guy cast! He’s not alone though! He brought the rest of the Brown family along with him to join the regular cast.

When Cleveland returns to town, the guys don’t waste time making fun of how awful the Cleveland Show did. All of the jokes were absolutely hilarious and it’s great to see that MacFarlane and the writers can own their mistakes and have some fun with it. Even the opening theme song included a pretty funny joke.

Problems arise when Chris breaks Donna’s favorite vase, and receives a spanking from the stern mother. When he tells Lois about what happened, she drags Peter over to the Brown home where she confronts Donna. The two get into an argument and ban the families from interacting, including Peter and Cleveland.

This is one of my favorite episodes of Family Guy in recent memory. Everything about it was gold. Introducing Cleveland, the theme song, how Stewie interacts with Rallo, it’s all excellent. I think a lot of fans were worried that they would lose the characters they enjoyed seeing on the Cleveland Show, but it seems those worries can be put aside for now. It’s exciting to think about the new stories and relationships that can develop. Imagine one of Stewie and Brian’s international adventures, and throw Rallo into the mix? Just excellent. I’m getting off track though.

The jokes were in this episode were top notch, I was laughing at just about everything. There was one focused story, and everything felt fresh with the introduction of the new Brown family. I really enjoyed seeing how different characters interacted, and while the story itself was a little dry, I enjoyed just about everything else. While this did have the elements of a buddy-story, I think this was also about the wives. Things were a little rough between them this episode, it will be interesting to see if that tension follows into other episodes.

I liked this episode so much, it’s difficult to think of anything I didn’t enjoy. I did mention that the story was dry. What I mean by that is that the story of a bigger conflict interfering with a friendship feels like something we’ve seen a million times. But, I think in this case it’s forgivable because it makes sense considering the circumstances.

Overall, I loved this episode. Hands down my favorite of the season. I have more excitement for the future of the show than I’ve ever had before. It feels fresh again, and I can’t wait to see how they work with these new characters.

Are you guys excited about Cleveland returning? Do you miss the Cleveland Show? Let us know!