Hot Shots (''Family Guy'')

"Hot Shots" is the sixth episode of the fifteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 275th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on November 13, 2016, and is written by David A. Goodman and directed by John Holmquist.^[2]

Plot

When a bat invades the Griffin's home at the time when the Griffin family was watching Rational Geographic, Peter does everything he can to get rid of it. He finally succeeds when he chases the bat, whom he names "Bat Damon" (a caricature of Matt Damon) out of Stewie's window with a tennis racket. However, he injures Stewie in the process.

They head to the Quahog Hospital so that Dr. Hartman to heal him only for Hartman to acknowledge that Stewie has yet to receive vaccination. After they read possible bad side-effects, Peter and Lois delay the procedure. After reading more about vaccination from the internet, they decide against it. Brian objects as he mentions the potential risks, but Lois ignores him and with Peter decide to rally Quahog to ban vaccination.

Brian persuades Stewie that what they're doing is a bad idea by telling him of the horrid diseases that come with no vaccination. At the park, Peter and Lois fail to gain any support for their anti-vaccination rally even when a guy mistakes them for a person selling megaphones. At the Drunken Clam, Peter's friends see him on a commercial that promotes anti-vaccination. This leads to everyone in Quahog to not give vaccination to their child.

The next day, when Peter and Lois drop Stewie off at Quahog Preschool, they discover that no other child is there. Miss Tammy explains that there has been an outbreak of measles due to the children of Quahog not being vaccinated. Outside, they see that the authorities are forcing people to be quarantined in their houses until the measles outbreak has ended. The guy that bought the megaphone has announced the quarantine as he is being driven around in a truck. Joe Swanson interacts with a paraplegic Rhode Island State Police member and a paraplegic FBI agent until a walking crossing guard states that he has jurisdiction over them.

Brian points out to Lois that this is all her fault, as she was the one who led Peter and didn't listen. Realizing their error, Lois decides to get Stewie vaccinated only for Peter to admit that he destroyed the hospital. Peter eventually breaks out in measles as he was never vaccinated himself (since he was born in Mexico as said back in "Padre de Familia"). However, Peter tries to remain optimistic, but he eventually falls completely ill as Meg tends to him.

Fearing infection, Stewie resolves to leave Quahog and get the vaccines from the next town. When he sees that the way out is blocked by Joe and his fellow police officers, he crawls from under the bridge to cross it, but fear gets the best of him as his shoe falls into the river. Upon discovering Stewie's absence, Lois and Brian find him under the bridge, but are too late to save him when he falls upon the approaching upside-down train's arrival. In the nick of time, Stewie is saved by actor Sean Penn who Lois shows a cold attitude towards due to his portrayal of Harvey Milk in Milk. Penn reveals that he has plenty of vaccines for everybody and tells Lois the importance of vaccination.

In the aftermath of the quarantine, the Griffins are happy that the epidemic has finally subsided and everyone is vaccinated.

Cultural references

When the bat first flies in, Peter makes a reference to it being Grandpa Munster from The Munsters. He then watches Interview with the Vampire. Stewie is annoyed by the drama over the vaccines and tells viewers to switch to Game of Thrones.

Peter's destruction of the vaccines is in the style of the Joker from The Dark Knight, referencing the scene where the Joker blows up the hospital (as well as actor Heath Ledger's untimely death).

The episode mocks Jenny McCarthy as a vaccination expert as well as John Goodman's weight.

When Stewie goes missing, Brian notices they can find him via The Family Circus-style dotted path he left behind. Billy from the comic strip is seen dead of measles and being licked by Marmaduke. In a parody of a scene in Good Will Hunting, "Bat Damon" appears at the house and makes a joke about the phrase "How do you like them apples?" which impresses Peter.

Reception

The episode received an audience of 3.58 million viewers, a huge increase from the previous episode of 2.6 million viewers,^[3] and making it the third most-watched show of the night, behind Son of Zorn and The Simpsons.^[4]

Jake Beamer of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 9/10.^[5] The episode was given a negative review by "Wonder_Buster" on Minds.com.^[6]

References

External links

• "Hot Shots" on IMDb
• "Hot Shots" at TV.com