Mind Over Murder

"Mind Over Murder"

“Mind Over Murder” is an episode of Family Guy from season one. It guest-stars Alex Rocco as the masculine woman and Leslie Uggams as herself.

Plot

The opening scene of a man eating “Mintos” before shooting another man at the theater parodies the candy, Mentos (its commercial, jingle, and the candy itself), and the assassination of American President Abraham Lincoln. Stewie is in terrible pain from teething and cannot find comfort anywhere. When Lois tells him that his pain will ultimately pass, it gives him the idea to build a machine that will move time forward to the point where his teething will have already stopped; he plans to call it a "Time Machine". Meanwhile, Peter drives Chris to his soccer game, where he gets into a fight with another parent who insulted Chris for his playing ability. He punches the parent, who Peter then realizes is not a man, as he had assumed, but rather a masculine-looking and sounding pregnant woman.

Peter is put under house arrest for assault and soon finds that he misses his friends. Peter has a vision of the Pawtucket Patriot from his beer bottle label and opens a bar in his basement (a nod to Field of Dreams) so that his friends can come to visit and hang out with him. Pawtucket Ale and its mascot, Pawtucket Pat, are a take off on Samuel Adams, a popular brand of beer in New England. It isn't long before the basement bar becomes a local hotspot. One of the songs first heard at Ye Old Pube is "You'll Never Know." When Lois discovers this, she’s upset, but then she gets a chance to sing on stage before an adoring crowd. As she savors the spotlight over the next few days, Peter becomes increasingly uncomfortable with all the attention she's getting, especially from the male patrons. Later Lois sings "Steam Heat" from The Pajama Game, "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl, and Al Jolson's "You Made Me Love You."

Meanwhile, Stewie’s time machine plans are discovered, causing him to panic about the breach of security. In a clear move to protect the plans, he uses the machine to go back in time before his plans were actually found. But he reverses time just as Peter is having an epiphany about how poorly he treats Lois and seconds before the basement bar goes up in flames. Stewie even manages to back time up to before Chris’s soccer game, followed by Peter tripping on and destroying the time machine. Now Peter is unable to take Chris to soccer, and Stewie is left to suffer with teething pain with his two talking teeth waging a war against each other but shortly after since they can't move decide to bite Stewie's tongue.

Notes

• In the Disc 1 Season 1 of the DVD on the back of the cover it says that Meg is the singer at Peter’s bar, not Lois.
• Stewie saves Lois' & Peters life since he didn't know about the house fire.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Loretta Brown.

Censorship

• In syndication, the following things were either cut or altered:
  • Bert's "Son of a bitch" is cut in the Homicide: Life on Sesame Street cutaway (and Bert's rear cleavage is digitally painted over).
  • Peter seeing the Pawtucket Patriot ends early after the Patriot suggests Peter build a bar, removing the part with Peter asking if he goes through the Patriot would that mean they've "done it", and the Patriot's response "Geez, what's with you and the gay jokes?"
  • The peeing man's "Hey" in "Hey, you must be Lois" is skipped over.
  • The flashback of Stewie peeing in Peter's eye is cut, although in promos, this part was shown intact.

Cultural references

• When Peter says all of the television shows are starting to run together, we see a clip of Homicide: Life on Sesame Street, a mash-up of Homicide: Life on the Street and Sesame Street, where Bert is seen getting out of bed in a rugged apartment and getting a phone call. He mutters "Hello?...(sighs) Son of a bitch...I'm on my way". He then mentions that "some poor bastard got his head blown off, down at a place called Hooper's. Then (in a reference to rumors that Ernie and Bert are gay), Ernie is seen sitting in his bed, eating a cookie (referencing to a classic Ernie and Bert bit) and telling Bert he wished he wouldn't drink so much. Bert responds angrily shouting "Well, Ernie, I wish you wouldn't eat cookies in the damn bed!" Ernie quips "Bert, you're shouting again, Bert!" Then Bert sighs to the signature music piece that ends most Ernie and Bert skits.
• The Pawtucket Patriot is a take off of Samuel Adams brand lager.
• The songs Lois sings at Peter's bar are as follows: "You'll Never Know," "You Made Me Love You," and "Steam Heat."

References

• Callaghan, Steve. “Mind Over Murder.” Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 26–29.
• Delarte, Alonso. “Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 1.” Bob’s Poetry Magazine March 2005: 10–12. http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Mr.pdf

External links

• Template:FGwiki
• Mind Over Murder at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode
• Watch Mind Over Murder on OpenHulu.com