A microchip on Brian reveals he had a family before the Griffins.
Tropes:
- Adaption Displacement: In-universe as Brian wants to discuss Jaws. Henderson asks if he means the book by Peter Benchley but Brian has no idea it was a book first and says he means the movie by Steven Spielberg.
- Berserk Button: Stewie attempts to establish a comedic rapport with Chris, using his classic "cool whip" bit. However, when he starts saying "cool whip", Chris proceeds to have a violent meltdown, and starts swinging Stewie around.
- Brick Joke: Lois once said that the Griffins stole Chris from a Dutch family, who appears at the end of the episode.
- Brutal Honesty: After the family talks about putting gross things in the bathroom trash, Stewie says the quote at the bottomStewie: I'm not proud of this family.
- Call-Back: Peter's "Roadhouse" kicking.
- Comical Overreacting: Stewie once again pronounces "Cool Whip" as "Cool Hwip". While Brian would normally get annoyed with his pronunciation and keep correcting him, Chris screams at Stewie, throws the pie and Cool Whip at the wall, and grabs Stewie and violently swings him around when Stewie tries to point out it was supposed to be a joke.
- Didn't Think This Through: Peter draws himself a crayon rocket to escape the barber but forgets to draw himself any rations, leaving him emaciated in outer space.Peter: (three weeks within space) I didn't draw any food or supplies.
- Freudian Excuse: Brian's Know-Nothing Know-It-All tendencies might have come from when he stayed with the Hendersons, as the patriarch has the same personality.
- Grass is Greener: After seeing that the Hendersons are wealthier, more successful, more sophisticated, and seem to have more in common with Brian than the Griffins do, Brian decides that he'd rather stay with the Hendersons — but not long afterwards, Brian realizes that the Hendersons really don't see or care about Brian as anything more than "just a pet." The Griffins, for all the issues and flaws, have always treated Brian as a member of the family and not just a pet.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Subverted; a comment by Mr. Henderson suggests that he pegged Brian as an "alcoholic fraud," but Brian manages to dispel this by feigning some knowledge.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Peter may have been acting like a toddler demanding his now dead barber cut his hair, but he had the right not to want his hair cut after Lois and his new hairdresser made it obvious he no longer had a say in how he wanted his hair styled when they started whispering about it behind his back.
- Manchild: Peter refuses to let his hair be cut by anyone else than his barber Jerry, who just died, in the most childish way possible.
- Shout-Out: Brian and the Hendersons talk about the Ted movies, with Brian loving the first one but being lukewarm about the second one.
- Truth in Television: As childish as Peter was acting, there are plenty of people out there who really do only allow one person to cut their hair for life. Most people, especially children, prefer to get their hair cut from someone they trust.
