Play It Again, Brian

"Play It Again, Brian" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of Family Guy. The episode originally broadcast on March 2, 2008. The episode follows Peter and Lois, who are going through a tense time in their marriage, so Brian invites them to Martha's Vineyard, who has been invited to receive a prize for an essay he wrote. Peter and Lois go with Brian to the vineyard and leave their kids with Herbert.

The episode was written by Danny Smith and it was directed by John Holmquist. Recurring voice actors Lori Alan, Lisa Wilhoit, Bruce Lanoil, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, John Viener and Rachael MacFarlane also made appearances. The episode received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Peter and Lois are having marital difficulties. Brian announces that he has won an award for an essay he wrote and has been invited to Martha's Vineyard to receive it, and offers to take them with him on vacation to ease the anxiety. Peter and Lois agree, and when the three arrive at their fancy hotel, Peter immediately begins enjoying himself by being very annoying. Lois decides to put Peter's misbehavior behind her, but agrees to spend the day with Brian as Peter has already made plans for himself. Toward the end of the day, Lois is dismayed to find that Peter is gone yet again so she decides to spend the evening with Brian. As Brian makes preparations, he begins experiencing fantasies of himself having sex with Lois and declaring his passion for her. That evening, Brian reveals to Lois that the essay he wrote was about her, to which she thanks him. Brian offers Lois another glass of champagne, before losing his self-restraint and aggressively attempting to make a pass at Lois, who rebuffs his advances and forces him out of the room. Regretting his actions and saddened by Lois' rejection, Brian calls Stewie to tell him what happened. The next morning, Lois tells Peter about what happened, and Peter confronts Brian at the hotel bar. Brian says that Peter is not good enough for Lois, and Peter counters by saying Brian has never had a long-term relationship with any woman he has ever been with. Their argument quickly escalates into a brutal fistfight. Later, Brian ultimately promises never to let Lois come between their friendship ever again, and they forgive each other. Later, Brian talks to Lois about his actions and she forgives him as well, though she does admit that sometimes she feels the same way Brian does about her, before Brian reveals that the essay he won the award for was mostly plagiarized from Summer of '42. Nevertheless, she chooses to remain faithful to Peter, they sing "The Spirit of Massachusetts" and the three happily return home as if nothing bad ever happened.

Back at the Griffin home, Peter and Lois have hired Herbert to look after Meg, Chris and Stewie while they are away. As he always does, Herbert makes several attempts to be near Chris. While Herbert is reading Chris a bedtime story, Chris asks him "Are you a pedophile?" Herbert's answer, if any, is not shown.

Production

Mike Henry voices the character of Herbert.

The episode was written by the season's executive producer Danny Smith, in his first writing credit for the season.^[1] It was directed by John Holmquist, in his second directing credit for the season since he directed the episode "Stewie Kills Lois" earlier in the season.^[2][1] Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdun acted as supervising directors for the episode.^[1] The episode's music was composed by Walter Murphy.^[1] Both of the episode's musical numbers were performed by show creator Seth MacFarlane.^[3]

The episode is one of the few of the show that heavily features the character of Herbert, voiced by one of the show's main voice actors, Mike Henry.^[1] The character first appeared in the episode "To Love and Die in Dixie" and since then he has been criticized for the style of humor that he brings to the show.^[4][5]

"Play It Again, Brian", along with the last four episodes of the sixth season and the first eight episodes of the seventh season were released on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2009, one month after it had completed broadcast on television.^[6] The "Volume 7" DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, animatics, and commentaries for every episode.^[7]

Recurring voice actors Lori Alan, Lisa Wilhoit, Bruce Lanoil, episode writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin, and writer John Viener made minor appearances.^[1] MacFarlane's sister, Rachael MacFarlane, also appeared in a minor scene.^[1]

Cultural references

The episode featured various references to the general culture. The title refers to Woody Allen's play-turned-movie Play It Again, Sam, and the episode contains multiple references to the film. The song As Time Goes By was featured heavily in Allen's film, can be heard in the episode sung by Seth MacFarlane.^[3] Cleveland is shown to have gone on tour with Black Box.^[3] Peter said that he was watching the sitcom Three's Company'' before he soiled himself out of laughter.^[3] We can hear Stewie playing Scattergories with Herbert.^[3] Brian considers renting the film Vanilla Sky.^[3] Nathan Lane stops the fight between Peter and Brian.^[3] Peter sings "Spirit of Massachusetts" at the end of the episode.^[3] Stewie references the Grateful Dead in this episode. Brian admitted to mostly plagiarizing Summer of '42 for his essay.

Reception

This episode received mixed reviews. Brad Trechak of TV Squad enjoyed the episode, saying "Overall, a good episode. I particularly liked the Disney-style ending. The show itself reopened and furthered some of the slowly developing subplots of the Family Guy universe and proves that it is willing to go places that The Simpsons considers beneath them."^[3] Ahsan Haque of IGN stated that while "Play It Again, Brian" is "definitely entertaining" it "plays too much like a paint-by-numbers cheesy sitcom episode as opposed to being a creative and unique endeavor". He graded the episode 7.2 out of 10.^[8] Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club wrote that "the gags being, as always, hit-or-miss, there wasn't enough story-based humor to maintain the momentum", but called the ending "kinda sweet, but at the same time devoid of any sentimentality whatsoever". She graded the episode B-.^[9]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Play it Again, Brian

• "Play It Again, Brian" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Play It Again, Brian" at TV.com