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Recap / Family Guy S 2 E 13 Road To Rhode Island

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"We're off, on the Road to Rhode Island"

Original air date: 5/30/2000

Production code: 2ACX-12

In this episode, Brian volunteers to pick up Stewie from Lois's parents' vacation in Palm Springs, and the duo end up on the road a la Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the Road to ... movies. Meanwhile, Lois orders relationship-building tapes for herself and Peter, but Peter ends up enjoying them more for the parts that are for men only.


"Road to Rhode Island" contains examples of these tropes:

  • All Men Are Perverts: The "Men-only" part of the tapes that Peter and Lois get contains pornography.
  • Angrish: When Stewie finds out that Lois sent Brian to pick him up instead of herself, he's so annoyed he can barely form a cohesive sentence.
    Stewie: That idiot slattern sent the dog?! Oh, oh, oh! This is, this is, oh, don't even get me started. I-I-I-I mean, really! When I think of-of-of-of the times that that woman has... Oh, I won't even begin to-to-to-
    Brian: Can we go?
    Stewie: Fine.
  • Bait-and-Switch:
    Brian: Hey kid, thanks for not ratting me out. Is there anything I can do for you?
    Stewie: Oh, yes. Remember the episode of The Brady Bunch where Bobby saved Greg's life and Greg became his slave?
    Brian: Yeah...
    Stewie: It's on this afternoon, you can tape it for me. And put a nice label on it.
  • Beer Goggles: At the airport bar, Brian drinks a lot of alcohol and tells the woman next to him that she's getting increasingly attractive.
  • Blatant Lies: Stewie catches Brian piss drunk at an airport bar. Brian chalks it up to a speech impediment (that he certainly does not have when he's sober), throws up and blames it on a stomach virus, then collapses and insists it's an inner-ear infection.
  • Brick Joke: When Lois says that Stewie is vacationing with his grandparents in their summer home, it cuts to Stewie stealing Babs' necklace and tossing it in a maid's pocket: "That should provide some after-dinner entertainment." When Brian goes to pick up Stewie, the maid is being taken away by the police.
  • Canines Gambling in a Card Game: Stewie comments on the Dogs Playing Poker paintings hanging on a wall, and suggests that since Jesus is alone in one of the other paintings, the dogs should invite him to their card game.
  • Characterisation Click Moment: This episode pivoted the Vitriolic Best Buds relationship between Brian and Stewie that slowly defined their characters in future seasons, having had only brief Sitcom Arch-Nemesis interactions in previous episodes.
  • Didn't Think This Through: When Brian sees the highway sign saying Austin is eight miles away, he grabs Stewie and jumps off the truck so they can go there. Stewie points out the truck was heading in that direction, so now they have to walk.
  • Due to the Dead: Brian is horrified when he sees that his mother's body has been stuffed and is being used as a table. He ends up stealing it in order to give her a proper burial.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Carter and Barbara are shown to be living in Florida in this episode while later episodes show them to be living in Rhode Island (though, considering how wealthy they are, that could have been a summer home).
  • Epic Fail: When Brian and Stewie attempt to fly home in an airplane, they fail to notice the two cows close by and end breaking the airplane's wings just barely into take off.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Brian takes Stewie off their ride after he sees a highway sign pointing to Austin, the farm he was born and declares to go there.
    Stewie: Oh, so she's in Austin, hm? Eight miles that way?
    Brian: Yes.
    Stewie: All right. So instead of driving down this sun-parched highway, we've now got to walk.
    Brian: *realises* Uh... pretty much, yeah.
    Stewie: You know what this means.
    Brian: *mournfully* Yeah.
    *Gilligan Cut to Stewie riding on Brian*
    Stewie:I say, walk slower, dog. My Huggies are already holed up in Box Canyon.
  • Everyone Has Standards: The cutaway gag about Peter and Lois having to watch a snuff film made by her Uncle Jerry showed Peter was genuinely uncomfortable.
  • Fanservice:
    • The relationship-building tapes that Lois buys for her and Peter contain a "Men-only" portion, which, as mentioned above, is actually pornography.
    • Then when Lois finds out, she strips into her underwear, and states that if Peter wanted to see a woman get naughty, he "should've told [her]."
  • Foreshadowing: As the two sleep, Brian is licking Stewie, causing the latter to proclaim "That's it, Mr. Giraffe. Get all the marmalade". This was as Stewie began shifting from an evil genius bent on killing his mother and/or taking over the world into an Ambiguously Gay Jerk with a Heart of Gold who pretty much abandoned his mission to kill Lois and/or rule the world and started to view Brian as a friend.
  • Freudian Slippery Slope: Peter, when he talks about the tapes:
    Peter: I got another relationship tape.
    Lois: $49.95? That's three times as much as the first one.
    Peter: Now, Lois, our marriage can't be measured in nipples and dimes. I mean nickels and boobs. ...money.
  • Friendship Moment: On the train ride, Brian thanks Stewie for sticking by him during this whole trip. It leads into the song.
  • Gigantic Gulp: Brian drinks wine out of one, after Lois points out that he's been drinking a lot of wine lately.
  • The Glasses Gotta Go: The woman on the "couples therapy" tape starts by wearing glasses and her hair in a bun, but then removes the glasses and lets her hair loose, instantly becoming more attractive.
  • Hillbilly Incest: Brian and Stewie see two hillbillies arguing with each other, leading to the following exchange:
    Old man: You put your seed in my daughter's belly! You're fired!
    Young man: But pa, you can't fire me!
    Old man: You're lucky you're my brother too, or I'd kill you!
  • Jenny's Number: Stewie tries to call home to have Lois wire him and Brian some money, but he thinks their number is 867-5309.
    Stewie: Oh, wait, that's not it. Damn you, Tommy Tutone!
  • Karma Houdini:
    • Stewie and Brian get away with both skipping out on their hotel room bill and stealing a car. Stewie also gets away with framing a maid for stealing Babs' pearl necklace.
    • Dr. Amanda Rebecca, arguably, given how she's selling porn tapes disguised as relationship advice, and it's her tapes that nearly cause Peter and Lois' relationship to fall apart. One wonders if she's caused other relationships to fall apart...
  • Pre Emptive Declaration: After escaping from a hotel without paying and stealing a car, Stewie lists all of the crimes Brian has committed. Brian then adds the time he slammed Stewie's head into the window. When Stewie questions when that happened, Brian slams on the breaks and he hits his head on the windshield.
    Stewie: Well... I walked right into that one, didn't I?
  • Pun: When Brian comes across his stuffed dead mother:
    Stewie: I say, someone must have said a funny, because your mother's in stitches! (laughs) I'll leave you to grieve.
    • Another joke later:
    Stewie: Stiff upper lip. (laughs)
  • Rewind, Replay, Repeat: What Peter does with the tape Lois just made, while kissing her.
    Lois on TV: (disrobing down to her underwear) You shoulda told me. [REWIND] You shoulda told me. [REWIND] You shoulda told me.
  • Sadistic Choice: Parodied. Peter once had to choose which movie to rent: Ernest Goes to the Beach and Ernest Doesn't Go to the Beach just as the video store was about to close for the day.
  • Shout-Out: When Stewie sees a picture of Jesus Christ standing all by himself in a field, he sees another picture on the wall and comments, "you'd think those bulldogs would invite him to their card game".
  • Snuff Film: One cutaway gag reveals Peter and Lois had to sit through one of these made by Lois's Uncle Jerry.
  • Song Parody: The song "Off on the Road to Rhode Island" is a modern remake of "Off on the Road to Morocco".
  • Tangled Family Tree: When Brian and Stewie arrive at a cropduster pilot's farm, the farmer is overheard arguing with the pilot he fired for impregnating his daughter. The pilot argues this, telling him "Pa, you can't fire me!" but the farmer still fires him. It's further implied that incest runs in the farmer's family as the pilot he fired is not just the farmer's son but also his brother, insinuating that pilot impregnated his own sister/niece.
  • This Is the Part Where...: While Stewie and Brian escape with a hijacked car.
    Stewie: Yes, you've got a lot to think about. Public drunkenness, grand theft auto...
    Brian: You'll have to add the part where I made you smash your head on the windshield.
    Stewie: Oh, I don't recall...
    (Brian abruptly stops the car, causing Stewie to hit the windshield)
    Stewie: Oof! (gets up and dusts himself off) Yes, well, I supposed I walked right into that one.
  • Two First Names: Dr. Amanda Rebecca.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: There are two plots to the episode: one is with Brian and Stewie trying to return home after missing their flight, and the other is with Peter becoming addicted to pornographic marriage counseling tapes. However, Brain and Stewie's plot has the most focus.
  • Vehicle Vanish: When Brian and Stewie sees the police searching through the vehicle they had stolen, they panic and have to disappear quick. A truck drives past them... and Brian and Stewie are still standing where they're at.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: The episode (and its sequels) is similar to the Road to ... film series from the 1940s. This episode, however, bears the most resemblance to the film series, especially Road to Morocco.

 
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Road to Rhode Island

Brian brings up the time he smashed Stewie's head against the windshield.

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4.94 (18 votes)

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