Internal Affairs (Family Guy)

"Internal Affairs" is the twenty-third episode and season finale of the tenth season of Family Guy. It originally aired on May 20, 2012, along with its preceding episode, "Family Guy Viewer Mail #2". In this episode, Peter and Quagmire encourage Joe to have a one-night stand with his attractive new partner to even the score with Bonnie for her own indiscretions. However, when Bonnie finds out and threatens divorce, Lois insists that Peter get them back together. Meanwhile, Peter has another run-in with Ernie the Giant Chicken, making for yet another epic fight. This episode serves as a sequel to "Foreign Affairs".

The episode was written by Wellesley Wild, and directed by Julius Wu. It received mixed reviews for its storyline and cultural references. It guest-starred Scott Grimes as Kevin Swanson, Anna Kendrick as Nora, Christine Lakin as Joyce Kinney, Rachael MacFarlane as Woman, and Patrick Stewart as Susie Swanson.

Plot

At the Clam, Peter and Quagmire see a news report of another successful bust by Joe. After congratulating him, Joe invites them to a party to celebrate his bust. Following the invitation, Peter starts to back out in his car, and hits a car belonging to Ernie the Giant Chicken, setting off another fight, this one being their most out-of-control. During their struggles they land on Stewie's time pad and are transferred to the old west and back (including a cameo of the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future Part III with Marty McFly inside), eventually ending up in a genetic research lab where they are cloned multiple times inside a cloning facility, with the clones fighting each other. Eventually, they set off an explosion killing all of them except the true Peter and Ernie the Giant Chicken, and are then launched into space aboard the Space Shuttle, then crash back to earth on an oil rig. Their fight destroys the oil rig and after Peter wins, Ernie the Giant Chicken is choked, impaled, roasted (by the rocket engines), and almost drowned. But as Peter returns to shore and to Quahog, it is shown that Ernie miraculously continues to live, foreshadowing yet another fight.

Back home, Bonnie is less than impressed by Joe's achievements. At the party, he meets Nora who is taken in by him and she kisses him. Joe is embarrassed and tells her he's not interested, but the guys tell him he should get even with Bonnie for her own indiscretions. The next day, Nora tries to apologize to Joe, but he ends up feeling depressed when Bonnie calls him asking for a different man named Joe, and coldly hangs up the phone when she realizes she called her husband at work by mistake. Joe then propositions Nora and she accepts, though their assignation in the luxurious handicapped restroom stall is limited because Joe can't actually ejaculate. The next day during Kevin's birthday party, Joe admits that he had sex with Nora but feels guilty about it. Bonnie overhears this on Susie's baby monitor, and reveals that she never actually cheated in France (although she confesses to an affair in Go Stewie Go). As they get into a heated argument, pointing out each other's faults, they both threaten divorce.

At the Griffins', though, Lois is mad at Peter for encouraging Joe to have an affair. When Peter meets Joe at his house, he reminisces to Peter about how he met Bonnie during a police raid when she was a stripper and that "Africa" from Toto was playing in the background. Inspired, Peter proposes recreating the meeting to get them together. At the Fuzzy Clam, Peter places a call to Joe, who rushes to the scene to find Bonnie waiting and "Africa" playing. As they apologize, Bonnie offers a lap dance, but Joe gives her one instead and they agree to forgive each other over time.

Reception

The episode received a 2.6 rating and was watched by a total of 5.35 million people, this made it the most watched show on Animation Domination that night, beating The Cleveland Show, Bob's Burgers and The Simpsons with 4.97 million.^[1]

Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club gave the episode B, saying "In typical Family Guy fashion, the way to bring the two back together is outlandishly ridiculous, involving recreating the moment Joe and Bonnie met at a strip club while “Africa” by Toto was playing. That song has been used better by Community, and even Scrubs during a Wizard Of Oz-inspired episode, but here it managed to come off as a light and silly resolution to a surprisingly effective emotional plot. Since we don’t see as much of Joe and Bonnie and haven’t seen how horrible they can be to each other as often as the Griffins, perhaps it’s more believable and more satisfying. But for some reason, the awkwardness of Joe giving Bonnie a lapdance to repay the one she gave him while handcuffed on the night they met felt endearingly funny."^[2]

References