Be Careful What You Fish For

"Be Careful What You Fish For" is the fourteenth episode of the tenth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. The episode originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 19, 2012. When Peter and the guys try to salvage a sunken Mercedes-Benz, Peter half-heartedly promises a favor to a helpful dolphin. Soon, the dolphin moves to Quahog but outstays his welcome at Peter's. Peter tries to reunite the dolphin with his ex-wife in hopes that he will return to the ocean.

This episode was written by Steve Callaghan and directed by Julius Wu. It guest stars Ricky Gervais, as the voice of Billy Finn the dolphin, and Lucy Davis as the voice of Joanne Finn, the dolphin's ex-wife. Both Gervais and Davis starred together in the original British version of The Office.

Plot

When Peter and the guys try to salvage a sunken Mercedes-Benz after hearing a news report of a cargo of them sinking, Peter half-heartedly promises a favor to a dolphin named Billy Finn that helps him recover a hood ornament. Billy decides to take Peter up on his offer and see what things are like on dry land. Peter is amused at Billy's sense of humor at first, but Billy soon begins to wear out his welcome and is shown being annoying. When Peter finally agrees to ask Billy about moving on, Billy proposes getting Peter a second hood ornament to keep up their friendship. This stops Peter in his tracks. When Peter discovers part of his problem is his estrangement from his ex-wife Joanne and how it contributes to his loneliness, Peter decides to reunite the couple. After attempts with Quagmire dressing up as Aquaman and Joe dressing up as Neptune did not work, Peter and Billy make a heartfelt speech together and the two dolphins are happily reunited. Seamus later fishes Joe out of the water.

Steve Callaghan wrote the episode.

Meanwhile, when Stewie leaves the daycare center covered in finger paints and reports negligence in the classroom, Brian offers to confront the irresponsible caregiver, Miss Emily. When Brian sees Miss Emily, he realizes that she is a very attractive young woman, and upon coming across her sunbathing, he changes course and resorts to running interference with Stewie to keep him from getting Miss Emily in trouble until he gets to sleep with her. When Brian arrives to meet up with Miss Emily, he finds that she already has a boyfriend named Devin, causing Brian to do what Stewie wanted him to do. As Miss Emily is being arrested by the police, Brian quotes "What you did to those children, there's a special place in Hell for people like you." As the police car drives off, Stewie then jokes with Brian about how she is going to be abused in women's prison as they head off to find Stewie a new daycare center.

Reception

In its original broadcast on February 19, 2012, "Be Careful What You Fish For" was watched by 5.39 million U.S. viewers and acquired a 2.7/5 rating in the 18–49 demographic.^[1]

This episode received mainly mixed reviews. Kevin MacFarland of The A.V. Club gave a C-, saying "There is very little in this entire episode that would make it memorable for longer than a week. I’d be surprised if anyone thought of this as anything other than “that one time Ricky Gervais was on Family Guy,” not even as a talking dolphin. People will probably get the animal wrong. Peter eventually gets Billy back with his wife, with the help of Quagmire playing Aquaman and Joe playing King Triton from The Little Mermaid, but none of the romantic plot is set up when Billy shows up in the first place. It’s the same random meandering through well-worn sitcom plot clichés that keeps Family Guy saddled with the “lazy” label. If this rerun comes on as some mindless background filler, it’ll do the job dutifully, but it’s getting increasingly frustrating to watch the show come up with material for Adam West that always hits the mark, but never find a way to fit other high-profile guest appearances into the framework."^[2]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "Be Careful What You Fish For"

• "Be Careful What You Fish For" at TV.com