History YMMV / FamilyGuyS12E6LifeOfBrian

* HarsherInHindsight: Mayor Adam West saying that nobody came to his funeral before fading away isn't really all that funny anymore now that the real Creator/AdamWest has passed.

* EthnicScrappy: Italian-Americans ''really'' didn't like Vinnie.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Mayor Adam West saying that nobody came to his funeral before fading away isn't really all that funny anymore now that the real Creator/AdamWest has passed.

* BrokenBase: Opinions of the decision to kill off Brian were all over the place, all of which [[SeriousBusiness extremely passionate]]. Some thought it was a daring move on the part of the writers to kill off one of the most popular characters, others saw the whole thing as a desperate plea for ratings, and others still were completely benign because [[IKnewIt they know that]] [[SnapBack it would be undone in due time]]. But the most vocal were probably the dedicated fans who took the whole thing as a slap in their face.
* CriticalDissonance: "Life of Brian" is one of the most despised episodes among the fanbase for being a shameless RatingsStunt. The AV Club, however, gave it an A-, the highest grade out of any Season 12 episode.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: While it's really to buy this episode's emotional writing, Creator/SethMacFarlane did a really phenomenal job at delivering Brian's last words before his death.

* ToughActToFollow: To the point that some feel the show has truly passed its zenith now.

* CommonKnowledge: A lot of people constantly question over the identity of the unknown character that ran over and killed Brian. But actually, Brian was killed by NOBODY. It is never shown or hinted who that person is, there were no characters known at the time that wanted to kill Brian, the person doesn't even display the slightest bit of personality or emotion when running over Brian and just acts like a regular person driving. It's obvious that the writers never wrote in the script that there was a character that killed Brian, meaning that all they just simply wrote for the episode was "Brian gets run over by a car" instead of "Someone ran over Brian with a car." In short, Brian was basically just killed by a car, not by someone in a car.

* MoralEventHorizon: Whoever ran over Brian. They didn’t even look back after fatally injuring him. [[RiddleForTheAges They’ve never come forward after the fact.]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Mayor Adam West saying that nobody came to his funeral before fading away isn't really all that funny anymore now that the real Creator/AdamWest is dead.

* BrokenBase: Opinions of the decision to kill off Brian were all over the place, all of which [[SeriousBusiness extremely passionate]]. Some thought it was a daring move on the part of the writers to kill off one of the most popular characters, others saw the whole thing as [[WereStillRelevantDammit a desperate plea for ratings]], and others still were completely benign because [[IKnewIt they know that]] [[SnapBack it would be undone in due time]]. But the most vocal were probably the dedicated fans who took the whole thing as a slap in their face.

* CommonKnowledge: A lot of people constantly question over the identity of the unknown character that ran over and killed Brian. But actually, Brian was killed by NOBODY. It is never shown or hinted who that person is, and the person doesn't even display the slightest bit of personality or emotion when running over Brian and just acts like a regular person driving. It's obvious that the writers never wrote in the script that there was a character that killed Brian, meaning that all they just simply wrote for the episode was "Brian gets run over by a car" instead of "Someone ran over Brian with a car." In short, Brian was basically just killed by a car, not by someone in a car.

* {{Glurge}}: The writers milk the emotional weight of the story for all it's worth, but because of the show's strictly un-serious reputation, it comes off as sickeningly disingenuous and incredibly forced.

* BrokenBase: [[{{Understatement}} To put it mildly]]. Opinions of the decision to kill off Brian were all over the place, all of which [[SeriousBusiness extremely passionate]]. Some thought it was a daring move on the part of the writers to kill off one of the most popular characters, others saw the whole thing as [[WereStillRelevantDammit a desperate plea for ratings]], and others still were completely benign because [[IKnewIt they know that]] [[SnapBack it would be undone in due time]]. But the most vocal were probably the dedicated fans who took the whole thing as a slap in their face.

* SympathySue: Brian's [[{{Flanderization}} pompous attitude and extremist liberal rantings]] are completely ignored in this episode for the sake of sapping every amount of sympathy out of the viewer when he's killed.

* ToughActToFollow: To the point that some feel the show has truly passed it's zenith now.

* {{Glurge}}: The writers milk the emotional weight of the story for all it's worth, but because of the show's strictly un-serious reputation, it comes off as sickeningly disingenuous.

* ToughActToFollow: To the point that some feel the show has truly passed it's zenith now.

* UnfortunateImplications: While everyone reacted it shock, they really should have seen it coming. Between the episode's title, the reveal that a Griffin would die in the season, and the episode's released summary, it was pretty clear Brian wasn't going to make it.
** But then there's the fact that Brian's name was in two future episode titles, as well as the B-plot of the season 13 episode "The Book of Joe" being released and the poster for "Grimm Job" showing Brian. Even before he died, it was pretty clear he would be back soon.

* ToughActToFollow: To the point that some feel the show has truly passed it's zenith now.

* PuritySue: Brian's [[{{Flanderization}} pompous attitude and extremist liberal rantings]] are completely ignored in this episode for the sake of sapping every amount of sympathy out of the viewer when he's killed.

* PuritySue: Brian's [[{{Flanderization}} pompous attitude and extremist liberal rantings]] are completely ignored in this episode for the sake of sapping every amount of sympathy out of the viewer when he's killed.

* BaseBreaker: [[{{Understatement}} To put it mildly]]. Opinions of the decision to kill off Brian were all over the place, all of which [[SeriousBusiness extremely passionate]]. Some thought it was a daring move on the part of the writers to kill off one of the most popular characters, others saw the whole thing as [[WereStillRelevantDammit a desperate plea for ratings]], and others still were completely benign because [[IKnewIt they know that]] [[SnapBack it would be undone in due time]]. But the most vocal were probably the dedicated fans who took the whole thing as a slap in their face.

* InferredHolocaust: From the way fans reacted, it seemed to come out of nowhere, but really, the signs were ''everywhere''. A character was confirmed to be killed off, Tony Sirico (the actor best known for playing Paulie Walnuts on ''TheSopranos'') was confirmed to be a new dog the Griffins would get and had recorded his vocals for the theme song, and the plot summary---given several weeks in advance---came with the detail about how Stewie regrets destroying his time machine after "''an unthinkable event occurs''".
** And then there's the title. With all that other evidence, [[TearJerker there's no way it could possibly mean anything other than that]].
** And also, what it implied for the future of the series. Beginning with Vinny in the theme song, the following episode, which could have been a hilarious episode, was arguably an even bigger TearJerker due to Brian's PresentAbsence.
*** And then, it suggests that Brian could die for real someday.

* InferredHolocaust: From the way fans reacted, it seemed to come out of nowhere, but really, the signs were ''everywhere''. A character was conformed to be killed off, Tony Sirico (the actor best known for playing Paulie Walnuts on ''TheSopranos'') was confirmed to be a new dog the Griffins would get and had recorded his vocals for the theme song, and the plot summary---given several weeks in advance---came with the detail about how Stewie regrets destroying his time machine after "''an unthinkable event occurs''".

* BaseBreaker: [[{{Understatement}} To put it mildly]]. Opinions of the decision to kill off Brian were all over the place, al of which [[SeriousBusiness extremely passionate]]. Some thought it was a daring move on the part of the writers to kill off one of the most popular characters, others saw the whole thing as [[WereStillRelevantDammit a desperate plea for ratings]], and others still were completely benign because [[IKnewIt they know that]] [[SnapBack it would be undone in due time]]. But the most vocal were probably the dedicated fans who took the whole thing as a slap in their face.

* BaseBreaker: To put it mildly. Opinions of the decision to kill off Brian were all over the place, al of which [[SeriousBusiness extremely passionate]]. Some thought it was a daring move on the part of the writers to kill off one of the most popular characters, others saw the whole thing as [[WereStillRelevantDammit a desperate plea for ratings]], and others still were completely benign because [[IKnewIt they know that]] [[SnapBack it would be undone in due time]]. But the most vocal were probably the dedicated fans who took the whole thing as a slap in their face.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Let's face it, not many people thought Brian's death would stick. Creator/SethMacFarlane himself lampshaded it after [[Recap/FamilyGuyS12E8ChristmasGuy the next episode]] aired.