McStroke

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“McStroke”
Family Guy episode

Peter, Brian, and the Talking Cow in a photo booth.
Episode no. Season 6
Episode 8
Written by Wellesley Wild
Directed by Brian Iles
Guest stars Camille Guaty
Ricardo Montalbán
Production no. 5ACX19
Original airdate January 13, 2008
Season 6 episodes
Family Guy - Season 6
September 23, 2007 – May 4, 2008
  1. Blue Harvest
  2. Movin' Out (Brian's Song)
  3. Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air
  4. Stewie Kills Lois (1)
  5. Lois Kills Stewie (2)
  6. Padre de Familia
  7. Peter's Daughter
  8. McStroke
  9. Back to the Woods
  10. Play It Again, Brian
  11. The Former Life of Brian
  12. Long John Peter
← Season 5 Season 7 →
List of Family Guy episodes

"McStroke" is a season six episode of the FOX animated series Family Guy, that aired on January 13, 2008. The title is a play on McDonald's terminology of putting "Mc" in front of common words. It guest stars Ricardo Montalbán as the genetically engineered cow.

This was the first new episode of the show in over a month due to the writers’ strike and is now the last episode to air without Seth MacFarlane's permission due to the Writers Guild strike (since the strike ended on February 12, 2008, four weeks after this episode first aired).[1] It was also the final episode of the fifth production cycle to air.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

While looking through Cleveland's mail, Peter discovers a magazine that talks about the wonders of people with mustaches. This, of course, fascinates Peter, who decides to grow a mustache himself, which he grows quite attached to. Then while he and Brian are walking down the street, they see that the local fast food restaurant McBurgertown is on fire, and the firemen putting it out recruit Peter to help, since someone with a mustache is obviously capable of such a task. As he operates the hose, Peter hears a man crying for help from within the building. Peter enters the blaze and saves the man, but his mustache has caught fire and burned off.

Peter becomes depressed about the loss of his mustache and tapes Brian to his face as a substitute. Shortly thereafter, the owner of McBurgertown shows up and offers Peter a lifetime supply of burgers as a reward for his heroism. Peter accepts this offer, feeling that eating burgers will fill the void that his mustache left. However, after eating 30 burgers in one sitting, he suffers a severe stroke and is immediately hospitalized. The entire left side of his body is paralyzed, forcing him to limp around on one leg, with his arm hanging lifelessly on his side and part of his face severely hanging over. This lifestyle proves to be difficult for Peter for the next three months, and he blames McBurgertown for his problems. Wondering if there is anything that can be done to return to his regular regime, he decides to give stem cell research a try and, after a mere 5 minutes, Peter returns completely healed of his condition, exclaiming "Why are we not funding this?!"

Peter decides to sue McBurgertown over what happened, despite the fact that the stroke was a consequence of his own actions. The company, which has an immense amount of lawyers, easily wins the court case. Nevertheless, Peter is still convinced that McBurgertown is bad, so he and Brian infiltrate the company headquarters to find incriminating evidence. There they discover a slaughterhouse filled with cows, one of which has the ability to talk (voiced by Ricardo Montalbán). They release this cow, barely escape the guards, and have him give testimony describing all the evils the company has committed against his species. The McBurgertown franchise is left in ruins and all is well, although at the episode’s end, the Griffins are left with the issue of where to keep the cow now that he has nowhere to go.

Stewie as “Zac Sawyer” parking with Connie D’Amico before they were going to have sex.
Stewie as “Zac Sawyer” parking with Connie D’Amico before they were going to have sex.

Meanwhile, Stewie complains about the teen dramas on TV, saying that anyone can become popular. So he and Brian wager that Stewie can disguise himself as a high-schooler and become the most popular kid in less than a week. Taking on the name Zac Sawyer, he starts hanging out with Connie D’Amico and her friends and easily wins them over with his cool antics, and his popularity immediately skyrockets. For three months Zac remains the most popular kid there, but he plans to continue to be popular and, that very night, is planning on taking Connie to "Anal Point." Of course he knows nothing about sex, so Brian teaches him. That night Connie and Zac are about to have sex, but when Zac takes off his pants, Connie laughs at the size of his penis and breaks up with him, leaving him unsatisfied about the “sex” they had. The next day at school, he is ostracized by the popular kids for his “baby penis,” ending his reign of popularity. He has his sweet revenge on Connie by shedding his clothes and making out with her, thus making her look like a nepiophile and having her taken to jail. In the end, Stewie proudly walks out of the school completely naked.

[edit] Notes

Where in this episode, Lois finds Peter's new mustache sexy, in "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" she said beards are ugly when Peter decided to grow a beard.

[edit] Critical reception

The main plot of the episode has been called "a mild parody of the movie Super Size Me.[2] Some critics disliked the episode and blamed Macfarlane's lack of participation due to the strike, but others, acknowledging that "this episode could have sucked" because of the strike, found it brilliantly entertaining.[3]

[edit] Cultural references

  • "McBurgertown" is a parody of McDonald’s, a fast-food chain that has been involved in numerous legal battles against customers plagued with ill health who blame the company for their ailments.
  • Montalbán played a character called Khan Noonien Singh in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" and again in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The character is a genetically engineered human, just as the cow Montalbán plays in this episode is genetically engineered.
  • The cow’s line "Including... my beloved wife" is also spoken by Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
  • When Peter appears at the kitchen with a mustache, Brian says it’s gay. Peter then says that it’s not gay because, if it were, Freddie Mercury would be gay, which the late singer actually was.
  • Peter’s line "With great mustache comes great responsibility" is a reference to Spider-Man, whose most well-known line is "With great power comes great responsibility."
  • The firemen’s helmets have an emblem resembling the Heinz Ketchup sticker, with the number 57 in reference to the 57 Varieties.
  • The setting outside the Italian deli is similar to the one in The Sopranos.
  • The Monopoly man in prison is a parody of the movie The Shawshank Redemption, complete with an impersonation of Morgan Freeman narrating.
  • After Peter is healed of his stroke via stem-cells in five minutes, he exclaims "Why are we not funding this?", pointing to the fact that the US government is not funding fetal stem-cell research.
  • The Talking Cow claims that they call the slaughterhouse "Dacow". As he points out, this is a pun on the Nazi concentration camp, Dachau.
  • When Peter is not happy with the fact he is suffering a stroke, he is approached by Wimpy, also suffering a stroke. Wimpy, famous for saying, "I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today," is a character from the Popeye comic strip and cartoons.
  • During the tour of McBurgertown’s headquarters, a picture can be seen on the wall of a character who looks like Mayor McCheese, a character from 1970s McDonald’s commercials. Mayor McCheese appeared in the episode “Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air.”
  • The McBurgertown tour guide says that the company’s original value meal consisted of a hamburger, a cup of coffee, and a Lucky Strike cigarette, and it sold for one straw penny back in 1952.
  • Peter’s pronunciation of "strawpenny" is similar to archaic British monetary terms such as "tuppence" (two pence) and "ha’penny" (half penny).
  • The chase scene in the McBurgertown building mimics the musical chase sequences from The Monkees television show, complete with a rendition of The Monkees’ "Pleasant Valley Sunday".
  • While paralyzed, Peter is driving while listening to "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M.
  • When Peter is offered a lifetime supply of McBurgertown burgers, he says that it’s a better deal than "the one Helen Hunt offered me."
  • Stewie references actor and artist Will Smith after he is accepted by the "cool kids", saying "I’m a bigger hit than Will Smith and his nice clean rap."
  • After Stewie accepts Connie's date, Connie says "OMG!" which is a reference to teens using a lot of slang, mainly in initials. It is also a reference to SMS language.
  • The show that Stewie and Brian are watching is a parody of The CW’s One Tree Hill. Stewie also uses the name Zack Sawyer while he goes to James Woods' High- a reference to One Tree Hill character Peyton Sawyer. This reference to the show has been acknowledged by the writers of One Tree Hill; the mock theme tune used in this parody plays on Peyton Sawyer's telephone in the episode "Hate Is Safer Than Love".
  • While Stewie is walking out of the High School, the famous 1975 Bob Dylan song "Hurricane" is playing.
  • Peter Thinks He can speak Italian just because he has a mustache

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ Brad Trechak, "Family Guy: McStroke" TV Squad. "Overall, other than a few high points, I'd have to say this episode was a downer. The writer's strike could be blamed. Perhaps with Seth McFarlane behind the episode, some stuff could have been made better."
  2. ^ Brad Trechak, "Family Guy: McStroke" TV Squad
  3. ^ Ahsan Haque, "'Family Guy: "McStroke" Review: Peter grows a moustache and Stewie goes to high school." IGN

[edit] External links


Preceded by
“Peter’s Daughter”		 Family Guy Episodes Followed by
“Back to the Woods”