One If by Clam, Two If by Sea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Family Guy Episode | |
|---|---|
| "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea" | |
 |
|
| Episode no.: | 32 |
| Prod. code: | 2ACX19 |
| Airdate: | August 1, 2001 |
| Writer(s): | Jim Bernstein and Michael Shipley |
| Director: | Dan Povenmire |
| Guest star(s): | Hugh Laurie, Ed Asner |
"One If by Clam, Two If by Sea" is an episode of Family Guy. Guest stars Hugh Laurie, Jennifer Tilly, Patrick Warburton, and Ed Asner as murderer Steve Bellows.
The episode title is a parody of the Old North Church lamps signal to Paul Revere during the American Revolution about how the British would attack: "One if by land, Two if By Sea".
[edit] Plot summary
Flashbacks at the beginning establish that Peter has been working at the toy factory and going to the Drunken Clam regularly since 1977.
A hurricane convinces the Drunken Clam's owner Horace to sell the bar, and an Englishman named Nigel Pinchley turns it into a British pub. Upset over the loss of their favourite bar, Peter and friends storm a British ship in an attempt to recreate the Boston Tea Party with beer.
When the pub mysteriously burns down that night, they are thrown in jail. Lois tricks Nigel into confessing that he torched his own pub for the dual goals of insurance money and to send Peter to jail. Horace returns and rebuilds the familiar watering hole.
Meantime, Stewie tries to teach Eliza, Nigel's daughter, to overcome her "common" Cockney accent and speak "proper" English. He wagers with Brian that she will be a proper lady at her birthday party. Eliza does admirably — until she wets her panties in front of everybody.
After her father gets hung, Eliza gets sent to a rat-hole orphanage and sends Stewie a letter threatening to kill Lois if she gets out. Stewie enjoys reading her letter.
[edit] Cultural references
- Stewie's attempt to teach Eliza to speak like a Lady is a parody of the British musical My Fair Lady, in which a phonetics professor finds an impoverished girl, also named Eliza, and tries to train her to speak so "properly" that he could pass her off as a duchess. Seth MacFarlane based Stewie's voice on actor Rex Harrison, who played the professor in the 1964 film version of My Fair Lady.
- In the 1980s flashback, Cleveland is dressed as a member of Run D.M.C. and Peter is dressed like Michael Jackson with a Flock of Seagulls haircut as he appeared in the music video for his 1983 hit "Beat It". There is also a De Lorean parked out the front of the Drunken Clam.
- Cleveland tells Peter he is “livin' la vida loca,” a reference to a 1999 Ricky Martin hit.
- The song that Peter plays on glasses during the storm is What I Did For Love from the musical A Chorus Line.
- When Lois says, “Nigel is charming; all British men are,” Peter replies, “Yeah right, that’s what they said about Benjamin Disraeli” Disraeli was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1868 and again from 1874 until 1880.
- In search of a place to drink, Peter and friends try standing in an alley, like Hank Hill and friends on King of the Hill, another Fox animated sitcom.
- The scene in which Peter and his friends sneak on a British ship and pour beer overboard is a parody of the 1773 Boston Tea Party, in which the Sons of Liberty did the same with British tea.
- A cutaway parodies the "light cycle" sequence from 1982 film Tron, where Peter claims he is the "green guy".
- The writing on the back wall reads "If you can read this, your TV is upside down" upside down.
- Trisha Takanawa holds a charred portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and puns on the expression “flaming queen.”
- Peter and the gang’s arrival to jail parodies a scene in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption. Peter’s method of carving a tunnel out of the prison, seen later in the episode, mirrors the protagonist’s escape in that film.
- Demond Wilson star of the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son is hiding in Nigel's study.
- Stewie calls Brian "Dogbert", a reference to the title character’s dog in the comic strip Dilbert.
- When Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland and Joe try to fight the british men in the pub, they "load" their guns (beers) while they are singing "Boom-shakka-lakka Boom-lakka-lakka", the famous line of Sly & The Family Stone's Higher (this is already sung on another episode called Ready, Willing, and Disabled). This line is also chanted in the 1981 movie Stripes starring Bill Murray as his platoon shows up late for basic training graduation.
- One of the episode's more esoteric references is Cleveland's line "Don't tread on me" as they enter the British pub and try to reclaim it. This is a reference to the First Navy Jack ensign, which featured thirteen horizontal red lines with a rattlesnake in the foreground. (A similar, albeit longer, allusion is made in The Simpsons' episode "Whacking Day".)
[edit] Trivia
- Peter's prisoner number is D1749. He is also the only one in the group with a number.
[edit] References
- S. Callaghan, "One if by Clam, Two if by Sea." Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1-3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 140 - 143.
- A. Delarte, "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 3" in Bob's Poetry Magazine, 2.August 2005: 38 - 40 http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Au.pdf
| Preceded by: "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington" |
Family Guy Episodes | Followed by: "And the Wiener Is..." |
