Airdate: May 20, 2012
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. As Peter starts to back out in his car, he hits a car belonging to Ernie, the giant chicken, setting off another fight. During their fight, they land on Stewie's time pad and fight their way across time itself, eventually ending up in a genetic research lab and in space. Crashing back to Earth on an oil rig, they continue to fight. Their fight destroys the oil rig and Ernie is roasted by the rocket engines. But as Peter struggles to shore, Ernie shows he (unsurprisingly) continues to live.
Back home, Bonnie is not impressed by Joe's achievements. At the party, he meets Nora who is taken in by him and she kisses him. Telling the guys at the Clam, the guys tell him he should get even with Bonnie for her infidelity in "Foreign Affairs". The next day, Nora tries to apologize, but when Bonnie misdials Joe and stops talking, Joe decides to take advantage of Nora, taking her to the handicapped stall getaway he has, although he is physically unable to consummate the relationship. The next day, Joe admits to feeling guilty, but Bonnie overhears and reveals that she never actually cheated in France. As they fight over each other's faults, they both decide to divorce.
Back home, the Griffins also fight over their involvement in the Swansons' split. Over drinks, Joe reminisces to Peter about how he met Bonnie when she was a stripper. 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, as they meet, they hear their song. As they apologize, Bonnie offers a lap dance, but Joe gives her one instead and they agree to forgive each other over time.
"Internal Affairs" contains examples of:
- As the Good Book Says...: Peter tries to use this as a defense when Lois gets on his case about encouraging Joe to commit infidelity.Peter: Look Lois, it's in the Bible!Lois: What's in the Bible?(Beat)Peter: I don't know. Doesn't that always cover it somehow?
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Joe and Bonnie have a marital argument and agree to a divorce at Kevin's 25th birthday.
- Disposable Love Interest: Nora has very little screentime and not given a distinct personality outside of her admiration and attraction to Joe, mainly serving as a plot device to have Joe cheat on Bonnie.
- Dumbass Has a Point: When Quagmire and Joe discuss the latter’s affair while he’s changing Susie’s diaper, Peter doesn’t engage in their conversation but points out that it feels weird to discuss such things in front of a baby.
- Explosive Decompression: During Peter and Ernie's fight, they end up destroying a space shuttle in outer space. The astronaut is left screaming for about half a second before his head explodes.
- Eye Awaken: How Ernie the Giant Chicken reveals his survival.
- Happy Ending Override: Joe should remember being there at Paris to successfully stop Bonnie from going through with her affair, but he doesn't appear to.
- Hero of Another Story: "Well, now I've seen Woodrow Wilson naked."
- Hypocrite: Bonnie is furious that Joe cheated on her as she is revealed to have never gone through with her affair in "Foreign Affairs", even though Bonnie has also been shown having other affairs in the past, at least one of which Joe would already be aware of.
- Is This Thing Still On?: Bonnie learns of Joe’s infidelity via the baby monitor.
- Jerkass: Several characters in the episode:
- Joe for having an affair with Nora and constantly insulting Bonnie for things like her voice.
- Bonnie for being very cold to Joe for no explained reason before the affair and for refusing to show up at Joe’s drug bust party.
- Peter and Quagmire for convincing Joe to cheat on Bonnie and giving him misleading information that Bonnie went through with the affair in Paris.
- Karma Houdini: Peter and Quagmire do not receive comeuppance for encouraging Joe to have an affair, and for almost ruining his marriage with Bonnie. Peter only gets called out by Lois for instigating the whole affair but does not get punished beyond that.
- Made of Iron: Not even impalement, asphyxiation and being set ablaze by the engines of a space shuttle were able to kill the Giant Chicken.
- Oh, Crap!: Quagmire and Joe have this reaction when they discover that Susie’s baby monitor is still on after they talked about Joe cheating on Bonnie, who soon storms into the room in a rage.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Joe and Bonnie deliver two to each other during their argument after the latter learns about the former's affair.
- Retcon: This episode reveals that Bonnie never actually consummated her affair with Francois in "Foreign Affairs". Previous times that Bonnie is implied to have had cheated on Joe (such as having sex with Quagmire in "April In Quahog") are also not mentioned at all, in order to make Joe's affair feel more unacceptable.
- Sequel Episode: The episode serves as one to "Foreign Affairs", with Joe committing adultery in an attempt to even the score with Bonnie.
- Ship Tease: Notice how Meg is the only one holding a present when the Griffins come to Kevin's birthday.
- Shout-Out: Peter and the Chicken go back in time on Stewie's time machine to the Old West and only make it back while on top of a DeLorean on train tracks.
- The Unfair Sex: Deconstructed. Bonnie is pissed at Joe for cheating on her, but Joe calls her out for being an overall bitch to him and for almost doing the exact same thing a while back. He's even the one who demands a divorce.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Nora is not seen or mentioned for the rest of the episode after Joe has sex with her.
