In Defense of the Family Guy

Catching up with the contents of my DVR, I watched the hourlong special episode of FAMILY GUY titled "Brian & Stewie", which featured talking dog Brian and queer, football-headed toddler Stewie as they're trapped in a bank vault over a weekend.

[SPOILERS HEREIN, but you should still read it if you don't watch FAMILY GUY.]

First, let me point out that FAMILY GUY is one of the shows that I watch that few of my friends watch. [Add to that IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA, a show which I am now fully caught up on. A show that is the best thing you're not watching. A show that is SEINFELD on crack (literally). A show you should watch from the beginning, through Netflix.]

I adored FAMILY GUY initially. When many friends who I thought would love it... well, did not. Then it got cancelled and came back and the quality became questionable and SOUTH PARK parodied it and I started watching it out of routine...

All that aside, the episode "Brian & Stewie", IMHO, is a testament to how FAMILY GUY can be brilliant in a way that separates it from THE SIMPSONS and SOUTH PARK and everything else out there.

The episode features just Brian and Stewie. Trapped in a bank vault over a weekend. There are NO infamous/patented FAMILY GUY non-sequitur cutaways. This is just an exploration of the characters of Brian and Stewie.

The episode starts off with the lowest of scatological humor—which I succumbed to but which might totally turn off some people...

... but it deepened...

We learn that Brian keeps a lockbox in this bank vault with a bottle of scotch and a loaded gun, in the event that he decides to commit suicide. This is NOT played for laughs. This is played straight. A talking dog confessing that he keeps a gun for the purpose of killing himself. This and Stewie's reaction to this confession. It's surprisingly moving.

The episode ends with an excerpt from Charles Dickens's David Copperfield, read by Brian. Without sarcasm.

I am shocked and appalled at how much this episode moved me.

Full episode of "Brian & Stewie" on HULU (while the link lasts and while HULU remains free).