Review: Family Guy “Throw it Away”

Forget Game of Thrones, check out Boob Dragons!

Overview:

Lois discovers a new book, Throw it Away by Tricia Takanawa, all about decluttering the home.  Lois goes all in and takes the book’s teachings to heart by clearing out anything in the house that does not bring joy.  After she finds happiness in her minimal home, she takes things to an extreme when she realizes Peter does not bring her joy.

After Peter leaves, he unsuccessfully tries to stay with Quagmire before ending up sleeping in a storage room.  Meanwhile, Lois continues her cleansing rampage and eventually kicks out the entire family.  That’s when she realizes that her path to happiness may have caused her to have a mental breakdown.

Our Take:

Ooh, that was a tough break since the last episode of Family Guy. Something about having to wait for weeks to get the final few episodes is the toughest stretch of the season.  This year felt like terrible timing as we were getting some of the best episodes just before the break.  But, we’re back, baby.  And, on an average night, I would be disappointed to get a Lois heavy episode, wishing for more Stewie and Brian, but I’m just happy to have a fresh show to watch after I’ve been cramming older episodes on Adult Swim Canada this month.

Alright, I shouldn’t rip on Lois heavy episodes.  Sure, she’s not my favourite of characters, but that is probably more due to the fact that she is not the one that delivers twelve jokes a minute like some of the other family members.  Truth is, Lois is an extremely valuable part of the cast, and she represents many essential parts of our culture.  Besides all of that, a Lois focused plot is as smart as this show can get, alongside a Brian/Stewie story.  As wonderful as all the other characters are, typically their plots are focused more on getting the laugh in place of getting the arch completed.  Considering one of the things that drive me nuts about Family Guy is that the story can feel unfinished because they are squeezing in so many cutscenes, I should be more grateful to have Lois represented.  In fact, the show makes fun of itself for cutting out important plot scenes in this episode when the family magically figures out where Lois went after she loses her mind.

Speaking of those beautiful cutscenes that we watch this show for, this episode didn’t have as many, but the ones that were added were worth it.  Personally, I would be as excited as Chris for the Game of Thrones spoof, “Boob Dragons” – which is as much as it sounds as you would think.  Another great cut features Peter trying to prove his Woody and Buzz toys are alive.  But, for something more meta, Stewie makes mention that even Lois’ cutscenes are becoming more minimalist, which leads into a direct shot of the mom with a simple one-sentence mention to Trump’s appearance.  While not funny, it was also hilarious.  Family Guy is the king of making the unfunny worth a belly laugh.

For lovers of a good cameo, this episode offers a beauty.  In a throwback to the future, Bender of Futurama gains some screen time when Lois accidentally uses Stewie’s time machine.  Coincidentally, I just happened to have seen John DiMaggio earlier today at the local comic convention.  So, look forward to reading a writeup about that on Bubbleblabber this week.  But, any time a character as beloved as Bender makes a return, even for a blink, it’s worth a mention.

As far as the plot goes, I’m kind of afraid to dissect this one.  Gender stereotypes are a hot topic in today’s climate, and Family Guy may have been sending the wrong message about women here.  The premise is about Lois, the mother, and wife, becoming obsessed with making things happy and pure that she ends up destroying the family.  Then, in place of having a low moment where she is sad to lose her family, she has a mental breakdown.  Lois falling into depression in her pursuit of happiness would make more sense story-wise.  So, the choice to make her lose her cool feels like a narrowminded comment on women.  The moral of this story should be about family being more important than the environment, but instead, we get the message that fads like this are for mentally unstable women.

As you can tell, there are some highs and lows to this episode.  The humour was on point and was done in that Family Guy edge that we all love.  It was even nice to see Lois get the screen time she deserves.  I think we’ve had more Meg episodes than Lois in recent years.  But, something about the plot just didn’t sit right.  This show always dances that fine line of socially acceptable, and this time they may have dipped over to the other side without realizing it.  Not to the point that the show should garner some backlash, but enough to add uncertainty.  Anyways, I do have mixed feelings considering this was the same episode that brought us Boob Dragons.