Lethal Weapons

For the 1987 film, see Lethal Weapon.

"Lethal Weapons"
Family Guy episode
Peter putting Lois in action.
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 7
Directed by	Brian Hogan
Written by	Chris Sheridan
Production code	2ACX18
Original air date	August 22, 2001
Guest stars
Michael Chiklis Peter Gallagher Alastair Shearman
Episode chronology
← Previous "Death Lives" Next → "The Kiss Seen Around the World"
Family Guy (season 3) List of Family Guy episodes

"Lethal Weapons" is the seventh episode from the third season of the FOX animated series Family Guy, another episode produced for Season 2. It is the 35th episode of Family Guy, and originally aired in the United States on August 22, 2001. Michael Chiklis guest stars on the episode as a "leafer."

Plot summary

The peace of Quahog is disrupted when the leaves start turning fall colors and "leafers" from New York invade town. When the family drives to church, the kids start arguing. Stewie tries to control them, but Lois tells them to stop, or else they wouldn't get to go to McDonald's after church. Peter says that they would still be able to go to McDonald's, but wouldn't let Chris supersize his french fries or let Meg blow on her apple pie to cool it down.

Bonnie invites Lois to a Tae Jitsu class where Lois quickly advances to black belt. After getting into a fight with a leafer which is broken up by Lois knocking him out with a single punch, Peter exploits Lois' fighting abilities to drive the leafers back to New York. This gets Lois aggressive enough to challenge and successfully beat up her teacher. Her victory over her teacher makes her so assertive she immediately kisses Peter and then grabs him by the crotch, to which she claims ownership.

That night, Lois rapes Peter, who is too frightened to object to Brian the next morning and eats graham crackers belonging to Stewie. Seeing this, Stewie promptly strikes Peter with a baseball bat. Seeing this, Lois blames herself for serving as a bad role model, and decides to rid the family of anger. Stewie then goes to show he caught her speech on tape, but instead played him doing a radio show.

Family therapy fails to rid Stewie of his rage issues, and so does an attempt by Brian to convince them they've taken mood elevating drugs, when he really gave them placebos. The family ends up in an all-out brawl to get it out of their system. They start to realize how ridiculous the fighting is after Peter gets his head stuck in a picture of a horse's rear end, but when Stewie smashes Lois' head with a chair, they all resume fighting each other.

Finally exhausted, and showing visible wear and bruises, they eventually blame the violence on TV. Peter wonders how come the government does not control television in order to stop its violence. He then "shame(s) on the network (FOX) that puts this junk on the air", to which Lois nervously warns him not to badmouth the network despite that. Peter doesn't seem afraid, not thinking their budget could be cut. He says he's going into the kitchen for a beer. He then exits in a very slow-transition-of-frame motion.

Production

This episode was written by Chris Sheridan and directed by Brian Hogan before the conclusion of the third production season.

In addition to the regular cast, actor Michael Chiklis, actor Peter Gallagher, and actor Alastair Shearman guest starred in the episode. Recurring voice actors Lori Alan, Johnny Brennan, writer Danny Smith, actress Jennifer Tilly, and actor Patrick Warburton made minor appearances.

Cultural references

• The title is a reference to the movie Lethal Weapon and its sequels.

• Peter says brothers and sisters fighting is as natural as a white man's dialogue in a Spike Lee movie. The setting of the following cutaway scene is the pizza shop from Lee's 1989 film, Do the Right Thing.

• When Peter says about Lois, "She floats like a butterfly and stings like when I pee," it is a reference to boxer Muhammad Ali's famous phrase, "Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee."

• During Lois's bar fight when Peter says "Krypton sucks.", the three Krypton criminals, General Zod, Ursa, and Non from the movie Superman II are shown sitting at the bar then fly at Lois who easily defeats them and sends them into the Phantom Zone that they were put into in the first Superman movie.

• Lucy van Pelt from the comic strip Peanuts appears and pulls away a football as Lois tries to kick it (as she does to Charlie Brown). Lois then kicks her in the face and she cries.

• When Peter and Lois go to the Drunken Clam, Lois wishes they would go to a fancier restaurant, such as Olive Garden, where she can taste the breadsticks.

• Lois says she is cutting loose just like "Julie Andrews in that movie where she shows her breasts," leading to a cutaway of Mary Poppins in which Andrews inexplicably opens her blouse. In reality, the movie Lois is referring to is the 1981 film S.O.B..

• Peter calls Lois' tae-jitsu teacher Ralph Macchio. Ralph Macchio played the part of Daniel LaRusso, the kid from the 1984 movie The Karate Kid.

• Whilst fighting with her tae-jitsu teacher, Lois yells, "Spin the wheel, raggedy man." This is a reference to the Mad Max 3 film in which Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) calls Mad Max (Mel Gibson) the Raggedy Man.

External links

• S. Callaghan, "Lethal Weapons". Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 152–155.

Preceded by Death Lives

Family Guy (season 3)

Succeeded by The Kiss Seen Around the World