One If by Clam, Two If by Sea
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"One If by Clam, Two If by Sea" is the 32nd episode of Family Guy. Guest stars in the episode are Hugh Laurie, Jennifer Tilly, and Edward 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 Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory and going to The Drunken Clam regularly since at least 1977.
A hurricane strikes Quahog. While the family hides, Peter plays "What I Did for Love" from the musical A Chorus Line on wine glasses. The Griffin's house suffers cosmetic damage. Afterwards, a tour of the town shows much destruction.
Though The Drunken Clam was undamaged, the bar's owner, Horace, sells it. An Englishman named Nigel Pinchley turns it into a British pub. Upset over the loss of their favorite bar and failing to find another one, Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe try to start their own American revolution at the pub by spraying beer in front of the patrons. However, the British use their linguistic skills to convince them to leave. The men are not swayed completely and storm a British ship in an attempt to recreate the Boston Tea Party with beer.
When the pub mysteriously burns down that night, Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe are thrown in jail. Even worse, the meanest criminal Joe ever put away plans to kill him and the others at midnight on Saturday. Lois, Loretta, and Bonnie are unable to believe their husbands would burn down their favorite hangout. Lois suspects Nigel is the culprit and plans to trick him into confessing that he torched his own pub for the dual goals of insurance money and to send Peter and the others to jail. Her plans involve Bonnie and Loretta overhearing as witnesses. Lois entraps Nigel in his study, thinking she has spotted Bonnie and Loretta hiding. She gets Nigel to confess everything. However, she has mistaken a globe for Bonnie's pregnant stomach and the hair of Demond Wilson, star of the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son for that of Loretta. However, Nigel's insurance agent was in his closet and overheard everything. The men are rescued moments before the madman arrives to kill them. As soon as he does, he takes the time he has by himself to rethink his life.
Meanwhile, in a parody of the musical My Fair Lady, Stewie tries to teach Eliza, Nigel's daughter, to overcome her "common" Cockney accent and speak "proper" English, one of the lessons based on Stewie's matricidal efforts. He wagers with Brian that she will be a proper lady at her birthday party (though Brian does not seem to go through with it). Eliza does admirably... until she wets herself in front of everybody.
The men and their wives celebrate their success at The Drunken Clam, which Horace has bought back and returned to normal. Nigel is hanged at the Tower of London back in England, and Eliza gets sent to an orphanage. She sends Stewie a letter threatening to kill Lois if she gets out, wanting revenge and possibly knowing Stewie would enjoy it, which he does.
[edit] Censorship
- On Fox, in the lesbian bar, Quagmire asking a kissing lesbian couple if they've "ever been penetrated" (followed by Quagmire getting thrown out) was cut.
- In syndication, the scene in the pub where Peter calls a British man “a cigarette," is cut.
- In syndication, the scene after Eliza wets herself is shortened as to remove Stewie silently telling Brian "vacuum" (made to look like he is saying "fuck you").
- The reference of King of the Hill after Joe, Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland was cut on all networks.
[edit] Flashbacks
- The car parked outside the Drunken Clam is an AMC Pacer during the 1977 flashback, a De Lorean DMC-12 in '84, and a VW Beetle in the 'present'.
- Peter's 1984 hairdo resembles that of Mike Score of A Flock of Seagulls. His jacket then resembles Michael Jackson's coat from the music video "Beat It".
[edit] Cultural references
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This article or section contains too many minor or trivial fictional references. Mere trivia, or references unimportant to the overall plot of a work of fiction, should be deleted. See also what Wikipedia is. |
- With the transformation of the Drunken Clam into a British pub, the girlie magazines in the bathroom are replaced with Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield, whom the men misinterpret as the magician.
- Benjamin Disraeli, a British Prime Minister, statesman, and literary figure, is referenced in a brief cutaway in which he states "You don't even know who I am". With this reference, Family Guy pokes fun at itself referencing not only well-known pop culture icons and historical figures, but also relatively obscure people of whom many viewers have no knowledge.
- Peter and friends mock a typical beer-drinking scene in King of the Hill.
- Representing what would happen if the British created action films, Peter imagines action movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in a romantic film (in the Brideshead Revisited or Merchant Ivory vein) titled I Remember Cecil.
- Cleveland's line "Don't tread on me", spoken as they enter the British pub and try to reclaim it, is a reference to the First Navy Jack ensign, which featured thirteen horizontal red lines with a rattlesnake in the foreground.
- A cutaway parodies the "Light Cycle" sequence from 1982 film Tron.
- Peter is punched in the face by a member of the British Foot Guards when he starts to say something about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
- Trisha Takanawa holds a charred portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
- Peter references Cops, and that "you know there's a fat, drunk guy in there". He turns out to be the guy.
- 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.
- Stewie calls Brian "Dogbert", another white-haired talking canine from the Dilbert series.
- The sub-plot involving Stewie and Brian's bet that Stewie will be unable to improve Eliza's vocabulary by the date of her birthday party is a reference to the 1912 play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. It should be noted that the name of the character Eliza is a reference to the character Eliza Doolittle from Shaw's play (all Shavian references, however, come through the filter of Lerner & Loew's adaptation of the play as My Fair Lady--the intended topic of the parody).
- Nigel Pinchley tells Lois that he once rang someone's bell and 'ran like Sebastian Coe'. Sebastian Coe is a British athlete and former politician, influential in London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
[edit] References
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This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. |
- 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
[edit] External links
| Preceded by “Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington” |
Family Guy Episodes | Followed by “And the Wiener Is...” |
