Recap / Family Guy S 21 E 9 Carny Knowledge

After Peter and Chris finish last in a "Generation Gap" game, Lois forces them to try and reconnect. Meanwhile, Brian starts dating a crude carny.

Tropes:

• Doesn't Know Their Own Child: Peter and Chris finish the "Generation Gap" game in dead-last due to Peter knowing almost nothing about him besides his "goopy head being squished out of [Lois] like toothpaste." This drives Lois to force them to reconnect.
• Foreshadowing: When Lois is talking with Bonnie and Donna about how Peter and Chris have been leaving her out of family decisions, Seamus is working on a screenplay at the table next to them. At the end, it’s revealed that the episode was all part of Seamus’ screenplay.
• Hypocrite:
  • Lois pushes Peter to spend more time with Chris, then gets jealous of their bond and tries to sabotage it, despite wanting them to bond in the first place.
  • Peter himself falls into this when he refuses to forgive Lois, who angrily points out that he constantly does stupid, selfish things; and yet she always forgives him.
• Impeded Communication: Lois tries to drive a wedge between Peter and Chris by forging their handwriting on essays that claim they prefer Joe and Charles (as in Charles in Charge) over them. She even leaves voicemails pretending to be Chris and Peter. It almost works until Peter and Chris listen to the end of the voicemail Lois left while pretending to be the latter, and they realize that they've been deceived.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Though Lois was very obnoxious and mean-spirited in her desire and methods of trying to break Peter and Chris up, part of her motivation was due to them routinely mocking and undermining her and cutting her out from all matters in the family. Not to mention, they were also doing progressively more dangerous things with impunity like lighting fires in the house.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • When Peter doubts he can accept her apology, Lois can't believe it.
    Lois: You do something crazy basically once a week, and I always forgive you.
  • Seeing Brian suffer from Piano Drop, Stewie observes this has been a bad week for him.
• Lost in the Maize: The whole reason Peter participated in the "Generation Gap" game was because Lois saved him from the corn maze.
  Lois: Yeah, he was crying.
• Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: Amber breaks up with Brian because he doesn't know any Kid Rock lyrics or the names of monster trucks.
• Nested Story Reveal: The ending reveals that the entire episode was actually a screenplay written by Seamus.
• Not Good with Rejection: Brian's only real reason why he's so angry about Amber breaking up with him is because his pride won't let him accept the fact that a person he views as lesser than him was the one who ended the relationship. He decides he wants to get back together with her solely so he can be the one to dump her.
• Papa Wolf: After finally convincing Amber to take him back, Brian is all set to be the one to dump her. Before he can, he's introduced to her muscle-bound, sledge hammer-wielding uncle, who says he has brutally dealt with guys that treated his niece badly.
• Piano Drop: Peter merely hoists Lois' piano over the front door to get back at her for trying to sabotage his father-son bond with Chris. When Brian comes home after being forced to stay in a relationship with Amber by her uncle, the piano falls and lands on him, presumably killing him in the process.
• Something We Forgot: Peter was setting up the Piano Drop to get back at Lois, but she caught him and the whole issue was simply talked out instead. In the last scene, the family is watching TV and about to recap the story, only to hear the piano actually drop. Meg points out Peter never took the piano down, and Stewie sees that it fell on Brian.
• Take That!: Seamus wins an Oscar for his screenplay, only to suddenly be slapped by Will Smith (a reference to when Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 ceremony)
• Vague Age: Amber is so weathered by her carny lifestyle that Brian can't tell how old she is, guessing that she's either 27 or 61.