Our Idiot Brian

"Our Idiot Brian" is the eighth episode of the thirteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 239th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on January 11, 2015, and is written by Aaron Lee and directed by John Holmquist.^[1] The title is a play on the film Our Idiot Brother. The episode centers on Brian failing an SAT test, leading the family into thinking that he is not as smart as he claims to be, although Peter shows him the upside to being unintelligent. The cause of Brian's change in behavior is found to be a brain tumor, and Stewie longs for Brian to have it removed to return to normal.

Plot

Meg worries about passing her SAT to get into college, so her friends suggest she get a more intelligent person to take the test for her. She convinces Brian to do so, flattering him by reciting quotes from his novel Faster Than the Speed of Love. Brian disguises himself as Meg, goes to school and takes the test for her. Meg shows Brian that he failed badly, scoring just 1,000 out of 2,400. Chris decides to spread the news and rides off on his horse Artemis. When he arrives in the village, Chris forgets what he is going to say and assumes that the news is that Brian is getting another book published. After Chris leaves, the villagers are relieved that the news is not about another Meg episode.

Peter tries to get Brian to look on the bright side of being less intelligent, and together they do low-brow activities like watching a demolition derby and visiting Orlando, Florida. However, Stewie is puzzled about Brian's change in attitude as being very uncharacteristic of him.

When Brian gets hurt upon collapsing and bleeding out his nose, he is rushed to the hospital and it is discovered by Dr. Hartman that he has a brain tumor, albeit benign. The family members are split on whether or not Brian should have the surgery to remove it, with Brian wanting to leave himself be while Stewie wants his old Brian back. Stewie exposes Brian to his cultured items trying to get him to remember what his life was like originally.

However, Brian fully embraces being less intelligent and Stewie gives up leaving him resigned to living with the new Brian. This changes when Peter's stunts worry Stewie that it could lead to Brian's death, Stewie is filled with new resolve after seeing Brian watch the DVD menu of That's My Boy. Deciding to use his stupidity against him, he tricks Brian into getting the operation by claiming that it was an operation to graft him another penis.

At the hospital, Brian is returned to his normal pretentious self. Peter comes in stating that he has gotten the two-penis surgery, but the original one falls off.

Reception

The episode received an audience of 4.12 million, making it the second most watched show on Fox that night after The Simpsons episode "Bart's New Friend".^[2]

Katrina Tulloch of Entertainment Weekly praised the episode, writing that "Honestly, I would love to spend a day with Family Guy writers because I can’t imagine what those people are like, to come up with scripts like this." She deemed the best cutaway to be one in which Black Widow is portrayed as less powerful than other Marvel Comics characters, and the best insult to be when Abraham Lincoln calls the only beardless man in his cabinet a "baby".^[3]

The Parents Television Council, a long-time critic of Family Guy, named this episode as the "Worst of the Week" saying it promoted not being concerned by "sexism. Or racism. Or anti-Semitism. Or rape and child molestation or violence or hate speech".^[4]

References