Review: Family Guy “The First No L”

 

 

Overview:

Lois can’t get the family to help with the Christmas duties. Instead of doing it all herself once again, she decides to leave on a trip and let them fend for themselves. However, she does not make it far when she decides to stay in a local hotel and watch her family from a distance.

Peter miraculously finds a way to get all the Christmas chores done, and with enough time to bond closer with his kids. This is the final straw for Lois whose plan has backfired, and now she wants to destroy their Christmas.

 

Our Take:

For a special Christmas episode, Family Guy once again dips into its old jar of tricks. Besides some Grinch parodies and the holiday setting, the entire plot has been done by this show before. The synopsis of Lois leaving because she feels underappreciated, everything goes fine which makes her feel worse, resulting in the family showing their appreciation, is an old plot with old themes.

For a series that acts like it is so intelligent because it can mock anything, it is quite ignorant of the current climate of parenting. This old idea that the mother does everything and goes underappreciated has been fazed out of North American culture. Now fathers are just as underappreciated as mothers. Majority of television shows have understood that and adapted, but Family Guy is caught in its old ways.

This type of content no longer has an audience. The target millennial audience for this show has no connection to a mother being a slave to the household. And in no way is it funny that a father can take care of things like cooking dinner or hanging the Christmas lights.

The shame is that the quality of the show is that it usually understands these social issues and uses them to push boundaries for a laugh. But when it comes down to gender equality in the home Family Guy is outdated and unaware.

There was some fun with the conclusion. Like the Grinch parody that included her slinking on the floor and Stewie dressed up as little Susie Loo catching her in the act. Or by delivering three heartfelt messages to appease Lois, showing just how easy it is to show appreciation. And overall, there is a good injection of Quagmire to the episode whose humour can elevate the show.

On the other hand, there was a lack of effort to make this Christmas episode special. These annual events should be given some care as they are a gift from the show to audiences. But when the series does not try to create something exciting, it makes us realize that they don’t have the ambition to give us anything above and beyond anymore.

Unfortunately, this holidays, Family Guy decided to give a standard episode. Have some old, recycled plots. Some c-grade jokes. Some outdatedly unnecessary morals. It is the perfect festive topping to the first half of a season which feels like they threw in the towel. See everybody after the mid-season break.