Perfect Castaway

"Perfect Castaway" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 18, 2005.^[1] In the episode, Peter, Cleveland, Joe and Quagmire get stranded on an island and are rescued after months but when Peter returns home he realizes that Lois has married Brian. The episode is a reference to the 2000 films The Perfect Storm and Cast Away.

Written by John Viener and directed by James Purdum and Peter Shin, the episode was scheduled to air on September 11, 2005, but was pushed back a week out of sensitivity to Hurricane Katrina victims. It guest starred Adam Carolla, Adam West, Phil LaMarr, Danny Smith, and Wally Wingert. Since airing, "Perfect Castaway" received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

With his business as a private fisherman starting to go under, to get food to feed his family, Peter goes in search of fish at Pelican's Reef at the suggestion of Seamus the old salt, with Cleveland, Joe, and Quagmire tagging along for the free beer. They find the reef and catch the fish that are seemingly tuna, but a hurricane causes a giant wave that sinks their boat. They survive by floating on a raft built out of Quagmire's sex dolls. While floating, Peter reveals that he has been eating Joe's legs. The four men set ashore on a desert island. Several months later, they decided to have an orgy while a cruise ship passes and rescues them, and the four men return home.

Once Peter returns, however, Lois tells him that after he was presumed dead, she married Brian, and that he supports the family by working as a salesman (at what is later revealed to be a Hummer dealership), Chris is getting better grades and Meg even had a date (with the announcer from Superfriends) and that she cannot just leave Brian after all he has done for the family. Peter becomes disappointed and leaves, getting his own room in a hotel in downtown Quahog. In an attempt to win Lois back, Peter goes to the house, where Lois finds him butt naked and lying on the couch covered in whip cream. His plan succeeds and they have sex. However, Stewie finds them, but videotapes and shows the tape to Brian . Brian goes to the hotel that Peter is staying at to confront him and Lois, but when he overhears Lois explain to Peter that although she loves him, she made a commitment to Brian and must stop seeing him. Brian leaves without confronting them and when Lois returns home he tells her he wants to break up because "he doesn't think she's right for him" and that she should go back to Peter. Lois is highly grateful of Brian and they remain friends. At the end of the episode Brian becomes annoyed when Lois admits to him that if she had not gotten back with Peter she would have pushed their beds together, saying she was only days away from having sex with him.

Production

John Viener wrote the episode.

"Perfect Castaway" was written by John Viener and directed by James Purdum and Peter Shin.^[1] It featured special guest appearances of Adam Carolla as Death, Adam West as Mayor Adam West and Phil LaMarr as Ollie Williams.^[1] Also Danny Smith and Wally Wingert.^[1] This episode was planned to be the season premiere but was changed out of respect for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.^[2] Instead it was released September 18, 2005.^[1]

Cultural references

The episode's title and several aspects of its plot references the 2000 film The Perfect Storm, as well as the movie Cast Away, another 2000 film starring Tom Hanks. Cast Away is parodied in things such as Peter growing a beard and his hair getting longer while on the island, and the fact that his wife remarries when he returns.^[2] When Seamus explains about Pelican's Reef, Peter looks back on when he out-farted Michael Moore. The farting was made to sound like Dueling Banjos. The name of the hurricane that Peter gets caught in is named RuPaul which "made his or her way up the coast" as Tom Tucker claimed on the news in reference to the famous drag queen. Peter claims to have built the first time machine, a DeLorean DMC-12 he crashes, a reference to Back to the Future. When Peter and Lois are in the motel, the famous silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock is seen through the window.^[2] In the episode, Stewie tries out for the MTV reality show, The Real World.^[2]

Reception

The episode received positive reviews. Ryan J. Budke from TV Squad praised the episode for "embracing its irreverence", and was amused by the animated nudity warning, at the end calling it a great episode.^[2] The Pitt News reviewer John Nigro felt that "Perfect Castaway" was one of the season's best episodes.^[3]

References