Brian's a Bad Father (Family Guy)

Brian's a Bad Father is the 11th episode of the twelfth season of Family Guy. It is the 221st episode overall.

Plot
Brian's human son, Dylan, returns, now a teen TV star. Rather than being a good father to his estranged son, Brian uses his son's television connections to further his own writing career. Meanwhile, after Peter shoots Quagmire on a hunting trip, the two friends clash and Joe must choose a side.

Why It Badly Sucks

 * 1) Brian is at his absolute worst in this episode (alongside Brian Writes a Bestseller), as he purposefully ignores and avoids his son for no apparent reason. And then, instead of congratulating and being proud of him for becoming an actor, he takes advantage of this to get a job on his show to continue his "writing career" and makes TV-MA changes to a show that was meant for Disney Channel in the most pretentious way possible.
 * 2) The title of this episode makes the plot feel completely predictable and formulaic since it already spoils that Brian is going to be a bad father to Dylan.
 * 3) The subplot where Peter and Quagmire end their friendship after Peter shoots Quagmire in the arm is nothing but filler.
 * 4) Along with Brian, several characters are unlikable here.
 * 5) *Peter is also unlikable as he intentionally shoots Quagmire in the arm after he tries to prove to him that the safety on his gun was on, which is dangerous and could've killed him.
 * 6) *Although not as bad as Peter and Brian, Quagmire is also very unlikeable as instead of shooting Peter in the arm, he purposely shoots him in the head which is mortally dangerous.
 * 7) Joe is out of character in this episode as he never arrests Peter and Quagmire for assaulting and shooting each other even though he is supposed to because he is a cop and Peter and Quagmire blatantly broke the law in front of Joe in this episode.
 * 8) After Peter and Quagmire end their friendship and Joe chooses Quagmire over Peter, the episode wants you to sympathize with Peter for losing Joe and Quagmire, when he actually deserved it.
 * 9) Peter’s infamous suicide joke: He asks Lois how he should slits his wrist if he were to kill himself and Meg’s voice is heard off-screen saying: "Sideways for attention and long-ways for results!"
 * 10) *What is worse is that certain scenes were cut from this episode, such as a scene of Brian talking with Dylan, and yet the writers chose to keep this one.
 * 11) There are some very questionable lines.
 * 12) * Stewie says, "Oh, that dog o' mine!" in one scene just to get a pathetic laugh from the viewers.
 * 13) * There's also the stupid line that follows immediately after the above: "Family Guy, we've been on for years!" with a jingle that the show has overused at this point.
 * 14) * Stewie's message to Dylan: "Isn't taking a risk better than not having a dad?" is absolutely wrong on so many levels.
 * 15) The episode states that "You're better off having an abusive bad father than not having one in the first place", which, again, it's wrong in so many levels.
 * 16) *Brian has done nothing to deserve Dylan as his son throughout the episode.
 * 17) There is a very disturbing scene where Peter gives Joe's infant daughter, Susie, a raspberry in "the wrong place". In fact, Joe doesn't arrest Peter for this, even though he's a cop.
 * 18) A lot of the jokes are painfully unfunny and mean-spirited, like where Peter makes a joke about a school shooting when going hunting.
 * 19) *The scene where Brian steals all the food in the studio goes on for 37 seconds.
 * 20) Due to the reasons above, it is not a very good way to bring back Brian's son, Dylan, since he hasn't appeared on the show nor has been mentioned ever since his first appearance in Season 6.
 * 21) The writers of this episode seem to be aware of the criticism fans were making towards the out of character behavior Brian had been displaying since season 7 as Brian acknowledges that he was selfish to Dylan and spent the majority of the episode being scummy like he was in episode before and after “Life Of Brian”.  This acknowledgment along with their choice of episode title, shows that the writers are aware of Brian’s Flanderization, derailment, and severe flaws that damage his reputation with fans yet they are refusing to do anything about it and it shows.
 * 22) The scene with Peter in a wheelchair with brain damage comes off as disrespectful and insulting to the mentally handicapped.
 * 23) The episode’s subplot teaches a very bad moral: If you have a falling out with a friend because that friend hurt you then you should reconcile with that friend by hurting him back in an excessive or equal fashion. That is shown through Peter and Quagmire ending their friendship after Peter shoots Quagmire and they then reconcile after Quagmire shoots Peter in the head.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Brian apologizes to Dylan at the end of the episode, which is good, but still does not excuse him for his actions. He also did get karma for his actions by being fired from Disney.
 * 2) There are a few good jokes here and there.
 * 3) *The parody cutaway with the MGM Lion was pretty funny.
 * 4) *Quagmire's line: "Jerome, can you tell that piece of shit asshole to fucking get the hell out of here before I fucking kick him in the face?" was funny.
 * 5) *Depending on your view, the scene where Peter explains to Dylan: "Oh, you don't know who Joe Pesci is cuz you're 14" after Joe Pesci appears in the scene where Quagmire and Peter both constantly scream Joe's name can be funny.
 * 6) The episode at least lives up to its name.
 * 7) Dylan, Stewie, Lois, Meg, Jerome and Joe are all likable characters here. Lois isn’t flanderized like she usually is and this is one of the few times seasons 8-15 Meg has her original personality.

Reception
This episode received overwhelmingly negative reviews, and currently sits at a 5.8/10 on IMDb. It is considered to be one of the worst Family Guy episodes; PhantomStrider reviewed this episode as the number 1 worst episode of Family Guy, particularly due to the scene with Peter and a knife.

Trivia

 * Dylan never appears or is even mentioned again after this episode.
 * Seth MacFarlane later called the episode one of his least favorite Family Guy episodes.

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