An App a Day

"An App a Day"

"An App a Day" is the thirteenth episode of the fourteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 262nd episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on February 14, 2016, and is written by Anthony Blasucci and directed by Mike Kim.In the episode, Peter learns about phone apps and when he gives his phone to Chris, he then sends a girl a photo of his genitals which results in him being labeled a sex offender. Meanwhile, Brian and Stewie take up tennis.

Plot

At the Drunken Clam, Peter Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Cleveland Brown, and Joe Swanson are having drinks when the jukebox plays a song. Peter and Quagmire argue over which singer is singing on a jukebox until Cleveland solves the argument by using the mobile app Shazam. After Peter learns about phone apps, he takes an interest in them. Peter's phone eventually breaks because of the app overload and gives it to Chris.

At school, Chris sends a picture of his genitals through his cell phone to a girl he likes named Marcie Miller. This lands Chris in Principal Shepherd's office with his parents and Joe. Despite their assurance that Chris will apologize, Joe tells him that this act of "child pornography" has made him a sex offender and he must take a rehab course, which is taught by Quagmire. Despite Chris' dislike of the class, he passes it, but Chris finds himself snubbed by society due to his sex offender act. He goes to Quagmire for advice, but while Glenn feels bad for Chris, he bluntly tells the kid that no one will ever forgive or forget what happened and Chris needs to learn how to cope with being a pariah as even Herbert called Chris a pervert.

Meanwhile, Stewie asks Brian to drive him to the Quahog Racquet Club to play tennis. When they arrive at the club, Brian becomes interested in playing tennis, persuading Stewie to sign them up for the upcoming couples tennis player game. On their first practice course, Brian gets distracted by women. Pretty soon, Brian's inexperience with tennis starts to show, which makes Stewie angry but also drives Brian to become a good player.

Chris decides to chemically castrate himself into a well-behaved, calm, diligent teenager via pills, much to his family's dismay. Peter attempts to get him to reconsider his choice by taking him to an orgy, to no avail. Peter and Lois eventually discover a silver lining to the situation when Chris becomes exceptionally elegant.

On the day of the tournament, Brian and Stewie are screwed by a bad call that turns into a Stewie tirade against the referee that ends with them both being thrown out of the club by a security guard who stated that he thought his ball was in.

At the school library, Chris is successfully tutoring another student when Marcie Miller notices this and apologizes to him, stating it was her father who saw the pictures and ratted him out. When she pats him on the shoulder, Chris' genitalia acts up as both of them get a strange feeling. This causes him to make a run to the bathroom and Chris regresses to his previous self where the very old school librarian Mrs. LaPorter catches Chris masturbating, an act so shocking that she has a fatal heart attack.

At the Griffin's house, Peter and Lois are happy that Chris is back to normal. When Peter asks Chris if his claim of chemical castration isn't for everyone is the real lesson, Brian states that the lesson should involve being happy on the tennis court. Peter flatly asks Brian "Where have you been?"

Reception

The episode received an audience of 2.57 million, making it the second most watched show on Fox that night behind The Simpsons.