| "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair" | |||
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| Family Guy episode | |||
Stewie discovers that he has created an evil clone, as indicated by the reverse color scheme in his clothing. |
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| Episode no. | Season 9 Episode 12 |
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| Directed by | Brian Iles | ||
| Written by | Tom Devanney | ||
| Production code | 8ACX11 | ||
| Original air date | March 6, 2011 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Family Guy (season 9) List of Family Guy episodes |
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"The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on March 6, 2011. The episode follows high school student Meg as she attempts to look after her handicapped neighbor, Joe, after his wife, Bonnie, has to leave town temporarily to visit her ailing father. Meg soon becomes infatuated with Joe, however, causing him to become nervous, and approach Meg's parents. Meanwhile, baby Stewie inadvertently creates an evil clone of himself who rampages through Quahog before ultimately attempting to kill Stewie and his anthropomorphic dog Brian.
The episode was written by Tom Devanney and directed by Brian Iles. It received mostly positive reviews from critics for its storyline and many cultural references, in addition to receiving criticism from the Parents Television Council. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 6.32 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Dee Bradley Baker, Colin Ford, Patrick Stewart and Jennifer Tilly, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. It was first announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
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While in her home, Lois is approached by Bonnie, who asks her to look after her husband, Joe, and daughter, Susie, while she is out of town. Lois agrees to do so, but then asks her teenage daughter, Meg to look after them for her. The next day, Meg visits Joe and Susie, and tells them that she will be helping them out while Bonnie is gone. As Joe and Meg bond on the way to school, the two become close, causing Meg to believe that Joe is her boyfriend. The following morning, Meg decides to make breakfast for Joe, wanting him to like her. Joe takes no interest in Meg, who continually tries to approach Joe throughout the rest of the day. That night, after receiving a call from Bonnie that she will be returning home, Meg travels to the airport where Bonnie is departing (Bangor International Airport), in an attempt to plant a weapon in her luggage. Bonnie is then arrested by airport security (also revealing that she was also smuggling cocaine), giving Meg extra time to be with Joe. Unaware that Meg has sabotaged Bonnie's travel plans, the two go to dinner, where Meg suggests that they have a baby. Joe tells Lois and Peter of Meg's crush, expressing his concerns about Meg's behavior. Lois questions Meg about her infatuation with Joe, telling her that the two have nothing in common. Meg awaits Joe to return home, when she jumps in front of his police car, attempting to cripple herself in order to have a common interest. Joe takes Meg to the hospital, where it becomes clear that she will recover and not lose the use of her legs. Meg apologizes to Joe for her strange behavior, Joe tells her he is lucky to have her as a neighbor, and the two decide to become friends.
Meanwhile, Brian tells Stewie that he has become soft, and is no longer evil. In an attempt to refute this, Stewie creates a machine that inadvertently clones an evil twin of himself. (The clone is indicated by wearing clothes in reverse color of that as regular Stewie.) Later that day, the evil clone suddenly attacks Brian, shoving batteries in his nostrils and trying to strangle him with his collar, and disappears, with Stewie questioning what happened to him. The clone then approaches Stewie, causing him to believe he is a genius. Wanting to run tests, the evil clone immediately attacks both Stewie and Brian, and takes off into Quahog, stealing a car after violently slicing the occupant in half with a machete. Attempting to capture the clone, Stewie ties Brian to a lightpost, leaving him there as bait. As the clone prepares to kill Brian, Stewie jumps from behind and the two begin fighting. While fighting, they rip off each others clothes, and Brian cannot tell them apart (because of the clothing difference). Able to escape from the lightpost, Brian grabs the clone's laser gun, and fires at the Stewie that does not laugh at his feet, a weakness of regular Stewie. Stewie thanks Brian for shooting the correct clone, and the two begin to walk home. As the episode ends, Stewie turns back to the camera with a malicious grin and bright yellow cat eyes, to the sound of Vincent Price's diabolical laughter.
First announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International by recurring cast member Patrick Warburton, the episode was written by series regular Tom Devanney and directed by series regular Brian Iles during the course of the ninth production season.[1] Series veterans Peter Shin and James Purdum, both of whom having previously served as animation directors, served as supervising directors for the episode,[1] with Andrew Goldberg, Alex Carter, Elaine Ko, Spencer Porter and Aaron Blitzstein serving as staff writers for the episode.[1] Composer Ron Jones, who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair".[1]
In addition to the regular cast, voice actor Dee Bradley Baker, actor Colin Ford, actor Patrick Stewart, and actress Jennifer Tilly guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Alex Breckenridge, actor Ralph Garman and writer Danny Smith also made minor appearances.[1]
Along with the episode's title, the Meg and Joe plot line heavily borrows from the storyline, as well as several scenes, of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.[2] The scene where Evil Stewie appears in the empty machine is a direct homage to the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within," down to the lighting and piano fill, which has a similar premise involving an evil duplicate of Captain Kirk. While driving Meg to school, Joe asks what Lady Gaga is, asking if the popular singer is "a band", "a soda", or "a store", among other things. Stewie shown with yellow eyes and Vincent Price's laughter is a direct reference to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.[2]
"The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair" was broadcast on March 6, 2011, as a part of an animated television night on Fox, and was preceded by The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers, and followed by Family Guy creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane's spin-off, The Cleveland Show. It was watched by 6.23 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, despite airing simultaneously with Desperate Housewives on ABC, Undercover Boss on CBS and the season premiere of The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. The episode also acquired a 3.1 rating in the 18–49 demographic, beating The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers and The Cleveland Show in addition to significantly edging out all three shows in total viewership.[3] The episode's ratings decreased somewhat from the previous week's episode.[4]
Television critics reacted mostly positive toward the episode, calling the storyline "a decent return to wacky adventures of Quahog."[5] In a simultaneous review of the episodes of The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers that preceded the show, and the episode of The Cleveland Show that followed it, The A.V. Club's Rowan Kaiser wrote, "It was still weird and a bit experimental: An awkward conversation between Meg and Joe was done almost naturalistically, while an evil Stewie clone engaged in hyper-violence beyond the usual implied cartoon violence. It wasn't as funny as it should be, but it did have its moments."[5] Kaise went on to criticize Meg's role in the episode, commenting, "The problem with Meg isn't just that she's treated as a punching bag by the show; it's that as either a normal character or as the butt of all the jokes, she's almost never funny or interesting."[5] He concluded his review by stating, "I'm not sure I liked it, but I did engage with it, which is an improvement over the last few weeks of the show,"[5] and ultimately gave the episode a C+ rating, placing it third out of four, being beaten by The Simpsons episode "The Scorpion's Tale" and the Bob's Burgers episode "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?", and beating The Cleveland Show episode "The Blue, The Gray and The Brown".[5] In slightly more positive review of the episode, Jason Hughes of TV Squad praised the episode for its Meg-centric storyline, writing, "Meg is great as the incredibly needy, creepy, crazy, stalker type."[2] Hughes also praised actress Mila Kunis for her portrayal of Meg, noting, "almost expected her to turn into Annie Wilkes from Misery and strap Joe to a bed."[2] Hughes also stated his concern about the developments in the Stewie storyline writing, "I wonder if this was an acknowledgement that Stewie has changed with an intention to try and bring some of his edge back, or more like a swan song farewell to that level of callousness."[2]
The Parents Television Council, a conservative media watchdog group that frequently criticizes Seth MacFarlane works, named "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair" its "Worst TV Show of the Week" for the week ending on September 2, 2011, basing the review on a repeat broadcast. It got this rating due to sexual content, drug references and excessive violence. Specifically cited were scenes where Quagmire tries to proposition sex to Bonnie in an "aw, shucks" manner, the evil Stewie clone's vicious behavior and Bonnie being detained at the airport for (unknowingly) bringing a weapon into the airport.[6]
| Preceded by German Guy |
Family Guy (season 9) | Succeeded by Trading Places |
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