Brian's estranged son, Dylan, returns to Quahog to film a new Disney Channel kidcom, and Brian uses his son's fame to get a job as a staff writer. Meanwhile, Peter tries to make things right with Quagmire after shooting him, and ends up fighting with him over Joe.
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!!Tropes associated with this episode (YMMV goes [[YMMV/FamilyGuyS12E11BriansABadFather here]]):
* AssholeVictim:
** Peter at the end of the episode. After [[PaedoHunt molesting baby Susie]], and committing a bunch of other heinous acts throughout the series, he gets a well-deserved [[BoomHeadshot bullet to the head]] courtesy of Quagmire.
** Quagmire could be counted as well when Peter shoots him due to being a proud sex-maniac who rapes his victims.
* AssumingTheAudiencesAge: Peter does an AsideGlance and tells the audience, "Oh, you don't know who Creator/JoePesci is cuz you're fourteen." The show itself is rated TV-14.
* AxesAtSchool: Peter thinks it would be cool and funny to massacre a cafeteria full of students at an elementary school, what with using that as an analogy to grouping wild animals together to shoot as on a hunting trip.
* BigEater: Brian, possibly, seeing as he drowns his sorrows after Dylan leaves him by taking the entire refreshment table.
* BlowingARaspberry: What Peter tries to do to little Suzie. Normally, you'd do it on the cheek or the arm, or in the very least, the stomach. [[PaedoHunt It's all but shown that he goes lower]].
* BoomHeadshot: Peter receives this courtesy of Quagmire. Unlike most examples, he does survive albeit rendered immobilized.
* BondOneLiner: Quagmire has one after he shoots Peter.
-->'''Quagmire:''' Alright, we're good.
* CallBack: In order to infiltrate Dylan's show, Stewie dons his Zac Sawyer disguise that was previously seen in "[=McStroke=]".
* CluelessAesop: Stewie convinces Dylan to make amends with Brian by arguing that "taking a risk is better than not having a dad". Before this point, their falling out was caused by Brian willingly taking advantage of Dylan and only reconnecting with his son because he had something that Brian could benefit from. Brian being his father should not be enough for Dylan to forgive him, and in this case, not having his father in his life would be ''far'' better for Dylan's wellbeing than letting Brian continue to exploit and manipulate him.
* ClusterFBomb: Quagmire says the following in one scene when Peter refers to him as trash:
-->'''Quagmire:''' Jerome, can you tell that piece-of-shit asshole to fucking get the hell out of here before I fucking kick him in the face?
* DarkerAndEdgier: Attempted InUniverse. When joining the writing team of Dylan's show, having never seen any prior episodes beforehand, Brian has the characters going on long, depressing monologues about life and death, with Dylan's character even putting a gun in his mouth ''onscreen'', when the show is supposed to be a lighthearted teen sitcom with a much younger demographic. Naturally, his ideas don't go over well with the show's actual creative team.
* DidntThinkThisThrough:
** When presenting his ideas for implementing [[DarkerAndEdgier more mature themes and content]] into Dylan's show, it apparently hasn't yet occurred to Brian that he's writing for a Disney Channel sitcom aimed at ''young children''. When this is pointed out to him, he's clearly too embarrassed to backtrack and instead tries to spin this misunderstanding as further wisdom.
-->'''Brian:''' Art is scary! This is writing, man, the viewer wants to be ''raped''!\\
'''Other writer:''' Are you saying my nine-year-old daughter wants to be raped?\\
'''Brian:''' And ''now'' you're asking the right questions!
** Peter and Quagmire have a falling out after Peter shoots Quagmire in the arm during a hunting trip. Eventually, Peter offers Quagmire the opportunity to shoot him to make them even, thinking Quagmire would decline and consider the "thought" as being what counts. He never once considered that Quagmire would actually take him up on the offer, and tries to back out when he does.
-->'''Peter''': But... but just the fact that I would make the offer is so meaningful to you.\\
'''Quagmire''': Your offer means ''nothing'', Peter. The only thing that means anything to me is a bullet in your arm.
* DisproportionateRetribution: When Peter chickens out of getting shot in the arm, Quagmire gets fed up and finally shoots Peter ''in the head''.
* EpicFail: As Quagmire points out, Peter is [[LiteralMetaphor literally]] incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: It is strongly implied in past episodes that Quagmire has had sexual relations with teenaged girls, making him in many eyes a sex offender. Even he is shocked at Peter's (off-camera) behavior with 1-year-old Suzie.
* EyeScream: Peter's eyeball graphically pops out when Quagmire shoots him.
* FeudEpisode: Happens with Peter and Quagmire, after the former deliberately shoots the latter.
* HiddenDepths: Apparently, Quagmire is an outstanding godfather to Susie.
* {{Jerkass}}: Brian previously parted ways with Dylan on good terms, yet now views spending contact with his son as a waste of time until he sees the opportunity to use him.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Brian when he realizes how selfish he was to use Dylan for his own writing career.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: When the guys are hunting at the beginning of the episode, Peter finds a buck, but hesitates to shoot it. The buck then points behind Peter, who looks to see that its buddies have surrounded him with baseball bats.
-->'''Buck''': [[PreAsskickingOneLiner Should have taken the shot, fatass.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Brian hasn't even ''bothered'' to contact Dylan in the years since the episode his son was introduced and was even making excuses not to go visit Dylan when he called. But the instant Brian finds out that Dylan is going to be starring in a TV show, he races over to the studio to mooch off of his son's upcoming fame.
* PreemptiveDeclaration: Deconstructed in this episode:
-->'''Security Guard:''' (at the studio where Brian's son Dylan works) Sorry, Brian, Dylan says he doesn't want to see you anymore. We're not allowed to let you in.
-->'''Brian:''' Well, you know what? I'm sorry, too.
-->'''Security Guard:''' For what?
-->'''Brian:''' For this!
-->(Brian takes a swing at the security guard, but the guard catches Brian's arm and then hits Brian with his baton)
-->'''Stewie:''' [[LampshadeHanging Yeah, you know, you probably would've had a better shot if you hadn't yelled "For this!" You know, that-that kind of telegraphed what you were gonna do.]]
* RejectedApology: Dylan towards Brian at first, mostly because texting "SRY" with a frowny face emoji is not even a remotely sufficient apology for deliberately avoiding all contact with your son for years until it was beneficial to your career. However, once Stewie reveals that Brian told him that he could not believe how selfish and horrible he was to Dylan and acknowledges he's a terrible father, Dylan is quick to reconcile with his canine pop.
* SequelEpisode: To the sixth season's "The Former Life of Brian".
* ShoutOut: ''Series/TheLoveBoat'' -- A parody of ''Film/CaptainPhillips'' that doesn't end too well for Captain Stubing.
* SpoilerTitle: For those who read episode listings, "Brian's A Bad Father" comes five episodes after [[Recap/FamilyGuyS12E6LifeOfBrian "Life of Brian"]], spoiling that Brian's death in the latter wasn't going to stick.
* SuicideAsComedy: Peter asks Lois for advice on how to slit his wrists. Meg responds off-screen "Sideways for attention, long way for results," which Lois concurs with.
* TakeAThirdOption: Peter offers to let Quagmire shoot him in order to square things. Quagmire agrees, and a horrified Peter tries to back out--saying the gesture should be enough. They argue and start to scuffle over the gun, so Joe shoots Peter in the arm as an attempted compromise. Neither Quagmire nor Peter are satisfied (the former because ''he'' should have been the one to take the shot, the latter because he got shot at all), and then Quagmire decides to just shoot Peter anyways while Peter is claiming he should shoot Joe for this.
* TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain: Quagmire shoots Peter in the head, leaving him mentally handicapped with severe brain damage (well, more than he had anyways). [[StatusQuoIsGod Naturally]], [[UnexplainedRecovery he's completely back to normal in the next episode]].
* TitleDrop: Almost. At the end of their argument, Dylan tells Brian that he's a terrible father.
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: The Creator/{{MGM}} lion said this in a cutaway after "sticking his head in a circle at the beginning of movies" as a child.
* WithCatlikeTread: See PreemptiveDeclaration above.
* YankTheDogsChain: Dylan is willing to give Brian another chance, only to realize Brian was just using him.
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