The Former Life of Brian
| "The Former Life of Brian" |
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"The Former Life of Brian" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of Family Guy. The episode originally broadcast on April 27, 2008. It guest stars Harvey Fierstein as the older repulsive Tracy (Brian's old girlfriend) and Chace Crawford as Paul, the ne'er-do-well boyfriend of another woman. The episode title is a reference to the Monty Python film The Life of Brian (a cutaway joke even mentions the popular series).
Plot
Brian decides to start a relationship with a nice young widowed woman he meets one day. He agrees to perform magic at her son's birthday party just to impress her, only to learn that she already has a boyfriend she never told him about. Feeling he may be losing his chances at love, Brian ultimately decides to meet up with a former flame named Tracy who, once being quite attractive, has since become fat and slovenly. Partially repulsed, Brian decides to leave, but Tracy insists he stay after revealing that she has a son named Dylan and that he is the father.
Dylan proves to be quite the unruly teenager and Brian laments to Peter and Lois about his experiences with him. Despite this, they attempt to convince him that he should take responsibility for his son. At this time, Dylan arrives at the Griffins' house, explaining that Tracy dropped him off for Brian to raise. There he begins tearing the house apart, and Brian decides to kick him out. However, after they discover they both enjoy smoking marijuana, they begin to connect, and Brian swears to turn Dylan's life in the right direction.
Brian quickly shapes Dylan up to be a fine young man, though he himself begins to act a bit self-righteous. Peter feels very uncomfortable about this, so he decides to convince Tracy to take Dylan back to live with her in the hopes that Brian would go back to normal. Lois supports Peter's position as she, too, has been feeling disturbed that has become a stereotypically overprotective parent right after taking Dylan under his wing. Dylan then steps up, saying it is time for him to turn his mother's life around just as Brian had done for him. Brian agrees, and the two part ways.
Notes
- In the commentary for "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows", Seth MacFarlane says the writers had a very long and "weird" discussion about whether the children of Brian and Pearl Burton should all be toddlers or puppies in a virtual reality simulation of their life married. That episode had a mix of both (some toddlers, some puppies). In this episode, Dylan appears entirely human.
- Dylan is the second Family Guy character other than Chris to see the Evil Monkey in The Closet.
- In fact, Dylan gives him a pretty savage beating. It is unclear if the monkey was killed or simply knocked out.
- There are four refrences to Stewie's sexuallity (most aimed twords Dylan):
- When Lois asks Stewie how he would feel if Dylan stays in his room, Stewie sarcasticly states "No, my pants just got shorter because I hated the idea."
- When helping Brian with his magic act, Stewie is dressed as a female (again). He states, "I can't believe I agreed to four costume changes. Oh, who am I kidding? I insisted on it!"
- Dylan walks in on Stewie's "nude tea party," in which Stewie makes a pretty obvious pass at Dylan, talking about the "tea bags." When Dylan starts to leave, Stewie yells at him to take off his pants.
- This marks the first time Brian describes the plot his ever-unfinished novel.
- The plot sounds familiar to Aces: Iron Eagle 3.
References
- When Brian discovers that he has a son, Stewie, with much anticipation, yells, "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!" in reference to The Jerry Springer Show.
- As a punishment, Dylan tied Meg to a chair and made her watch 178 hours of Monty Python that weren't funny or memorable. While watching, Meg replies, "I'm a girl! I don't even like the good Monty Python sketches!"
- When Stewie points out that Brian couldn't have a thirteen year old son when he himself is only seven years out, Brian tells him that it was in dog years. When Stewie tells Brian that that doesn't make any sence, Brian tells him to complain about it on the Internet. This is a reference to online fans who meticulously document continuity errors within the show.
- As already seen in several other episodes, Stewie's hate of Matthew McConaughey is depicted in a cut-off scene.
- Matthew seems alive and well - this unusual for Family Guy, in which the death of characters is permanent -- Stewie killed Matthew with a crossbow in a previous episode.
- This episode uses a dialouge reference from the sister show American Dad! episode Stannie Get Your Gun where Steve walked in and threw the bookcase on top of his father, with Stan replying something on your mind son? this was the same as in this episode where Dylan threw a vase into the wall and Peter remarking with the exact line something on your mind son?