Brian in Love

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“Brian in Love”
Family Guy episode

Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 2
Guest stars	Sam Waterston
Written by	Gary Janetti
Directed by	Jack Dyer
Production no.	2ACX01
Original airdate	March 7, 2000
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List of Family Guy episodes

"Brian in Love" is an episode from the second season of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. It guest stars Sam Waterston as Dr. Kaplan.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Lois is upset that Stewie has wet the carpet in the living room. Stewie emphatically denies this, but Lois and Peter are convinced that it's a sign that Stewie is ready to potty train. However, it's actually Brian that's wetting the house, and he tries to clean up another accident that night.

Brian and Lois by themselves

After a failed attempt by Peter at getting Stewie to use the toilet, the family goes to the supermarket to buy groceries. In the checkout line, Brian has another accident, revealing that Stewie (much to his own delight) is innocent. This leads to Brian going to see Dr. Kaplan, a psychiatrist. The doctor decides Brian is having a mid-life crisis, so Brian goes traveling and exploring.

Brian feels better, but shortly after returning, Stewie frames Brian by peeing all over the living room. Brian is blamed and returns to Dr. Kaplan to find out why this is still happening. After revealing that his last accident happened after watching Lois and Peter have a water fight while washing the car, Dr. Kaplan tells Brian that he is in love with Lois.

Brian and Lois discuss the situation and decide to just remain friends. Peter conjectures that Brian's beloved would "probably end up with some idiot."

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Notes

Stewie is understood in this episode:
- Stewie tells Peter to put his fingers on the toilet seat, and Peter does.
- Peter also replies "yeah" to Stewie when he sarcastically suggests that they light a doobie and watch porn (after Peter suggests that Stewie should drink beer in order to learn how to use the toilet).
The first airing of this episode had Peter's line to Brian when Brian has his accident at the supermarket, "Geez, Brian, where do you think you are, K-Mart?" All reruns, including those on Cartoon Network, and the DVD version, has "K-Mart" replaced with "Pay-Less".
This is the first episode to imply that Brian is in love with Lois.
This is also the first episode that shows the name of the local bar, "The Drunken Clam."

[edit] Cultural references

Stewie disposing of Mr. Rogers

One sequence parodies Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Stewie kills Mr. Rogers, but first he lets him see the carnage from the Land of Make Believe. Stewie is woken up, revealing that his domination of the neighborhood was just a dream, only to be in the middle of another dream where Mr. Rogers is revealed to dress like Lois.

A sequence parodies the closing titles of 1960s cartoon series The Jetsons in which George Jetson gets caught on his treadmill/dog-walk machine with their dog Astro.

Brian can be seen reading Into Thin Air, journalist Jon Krakauer's account of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. Brian can also been seen reading Memoirs of a Geisha

A cutaway suggests the that the mysterious 1932 kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh's son was actually an attempt by Lindbergh to cover up the loss of the toddler during toilet training. Lindbergh also disposed of a witness, fellow aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937.

When Lois suggests that toilet training would be a good way for Peter and Stewie to bond, Peter responds with the catch phrase from the James Bond film series "Bond, James Bond".

When Peter is looking for books about toilet training the first book the book seller shows him is Everybody Poops, an actual book. This is followed by "Nobody Poops But You" and "You're an Naughty Boy and That's Nothing But Concentrated Evil Coming Out the Back of You".

When Brian pees in the supermarket, Peter asks, "Where do you think you are, Brian? Payless?", referring to a discount shoe store (the original line referred to K-Mart instead of Payless, but it has since been changed on all broadcasts, including the Cartoon Network airing and the DVD release).

Brian tells Dr. Kaplan about a dream parodying the 1976 science fiction film Logan's Run, in which the "Sandmen" kill all people at age 30 as means of population control. In the dream, Brian tries to distract the Sandmen by pointing out Peanuts character Snoopy, who's "got to be in his fifties." Also, the overhead speakers in the film play the Air Supply song "All Out of Love."

After Peter says, "Lots of crazy people have gone onto lead normal, successful lives," a picture of then-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather appears on screen.

When Brian and Lois are watching the "special report on sex (part 3)", the picture on the wall over the bed is the same one from Barton Fink

Brian runs over a man in the countryside and asks if he is horror author Stephen King. Nine months before this episode aired, King was hit by a car while walking down a road near his Maine home. However, Brian hit another horror author, Dean Koontz. Upon learning his identity, Brian runs him over a second time.

In his nightmare, Brian is in sector 7G. Homer Simpson is the safety inspector of sector 7G at the Springfield Nuclear Powerplant on The Simpsons.

[edit] References

Callaghan, Steve. "Brian in Love." Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1-3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 53–55.
Delarte, Alonso. "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 2." Bob's Poetry Magazine May 2005: 10–11. http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02My.pdf