Review: Family Guy “Old West”

Overview

It’s Father’s Day in Quahog and although we get some quick cameos of characters we haven’t seen in a while(Mort!, Junior!, and almost Giant Chicken!), the bulk of the episode revolves around Mayor Wild West getting reacquainted with both his father (Old West, voiced by Gerald McRaney) and stepfather (Allen, voiced by Tony Hale). Peter does his best to bestow his years of fatherly experience on Old West, even giving the ol’ cowboy a makeover, but Mayor West doesn’t buy it and arrests his father after West takes a bullet in the arm. Eventually Peter and the gang break out Old West from jail, get him back in the good graces of Mayor West, and allow the cowboy to ride out into the sunset.

Cutaways:

Horses playing video games, David Geffen

Our Take

A VERY funny episode of Family Guy kicks off the show’s February premieres and that’s even with not very many cutaway gags. For my money I think Gerald McRaney did an excellent job portraying Old West, a character I thought was hysterical and I hope we get to see him a few more times. His extreme contrast in style to that of Allen is fantastic and can make for some funny ideas for premises in the future.

Another thing I’ve noticed, Principal Shepherd (Gary Cole) has seen quite a bit of increased use the last couple of seasons, almost as a fifth friend, and I’m here for it. A very underrated character that has been a part of some great episodes in the past, I like the increased capacity of which he’s being presented.

Family Guy gives us a pretty hilarious return with a lot of originality and hijinks. Yes, Peter helping another character assimilate into Quahog isn’t that new of a premise, but the Western flair that became the pathos of the episode made for a silly outing that even David Geffen can be proud of.