Original air date: 1/31/2002 (produced in 2001)
Production code: 3ACX-10
Peter and Lois work out their jealousy issues with a trial separation—during which their marriage counselor advises them to date other people. Meanwhile, Stewie and Brian are stuck together after Brian tries to stop Stewie from eating industrial-strength glue.
"Stuck Together, Torn Apart" contains examples of:
- Adam Westing: Jennifer Love Hewitt (who's revealed to be the niece of Mort and Muriel Goldman).
- Artistic License – Geography: Stewie lampshades that a 17th-century well is an out-of-place convenient plot device, but funnily enough, this is actually subverted, as Family Guy's Quahog happens to be located in Rhode Island, one of the few American states where you can come across a 17th-century well!
- Appease the Volcano God: The therapist records Peter and Chris practicing a dance in straw skirts, and Peter angrily chiding Chris for messing up with:Peter: Are you trying to piss off the volcano?!
- Ascended Extra: This is Mort's first major role other than just being Neil's dad.
- Big Eater: Jennifer Love Hewitt is horrified when Peter devours a whole pie as an appetizer before their dinner arrives.
- Butt-Monkey: Cleveland when he meets the police van's arresting robot and gets brutalized and framed for having a gun.
- Chained Heat: The Brian & Stewie plot is a variation, with glue instead of handcuffs or some kind of chain.
- Clock Tampering: While Peter and Lois have a trial separation, and Quagmire leaps at the chance to ask Lois out. As she says she needs some time to think it over, Quagmire smashes open a wall clock, turns the time forward, and asks "How about now?"
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Peter can't stand it when somebody flirts with Lois or when Lois finds another man handsome. He even punched out his own reflection because Lois said, "Look at that handsome man", to the mirror (also a sign of Peter's stupidity).
- Geeky Turn-On: Jennifer Love Hewitt is attracted to Peter's disgusting ways.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Jennifer Love Hewitt says this word for word after a disastrous date with Peter and getting defeated by a jealous Lois.
- Is This Thing Still On?: While trying to overhear Lois's conversation with her old boyfriend, Peter turns the police van's audio system up too high, resulting in it hear Quagmire's Inner Monologue Conversation about a woman he had sex with. Upon realizing that the others can hear him (he can even himself), Quagmire tries to block out his thoughts by humming a John Philip Sousa march in his head.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Peter gets jealous when he spies on Lois and Ross having a simple coffee break as friends catching up.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: After pulling them over, a police officer noticed Brian seemingly holding Stewie's hand. Stewie decided to make it worse by lying about how he met Brian on the internet who then offered him candy. Fortunately, Brian managed to clear up the misunderstanding by mentioning the super glue, which the police officer is familiar with as he and his partner are stuck together, too.
- Noodle Incident:
- Apparently, Stewie once wore Lois's wedding dress, during which Brian took pictures, but lied and told Stewie there was no film in the camera.
- A flashback shows Peter at a discothèque smashing a disco ball, which he mistook for a piñata.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Lois can finally understand how Peter can get so jealous at times when Lois drives away Jennifer Love Hewitt in her jealous rage after Lois sees her trying to make out with Peter.
- Oh, Crap!: Stewie and Brian when they find out that the glue doesn't come unstuck, at least until they realize that there's a solvent for said glue, which takes two weeks to deliver and an hour to actually take effect.
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Orphaned Reference: When Jennifer Love Hewitt is listing her roles to Peter, one of them is The Devil and Daniel Webster. At the time, this was a real film she was starring in, that was directed by Alec Baldwin. Due to the film’s Troubled Production and Executive Meddling, Baldwin came to view the whole project as an old shame, taking his name off the director’s credit when it was released in 2007 as Shortcut to Happiness. - Out Giving Birth, Back in Two Minutes: Peter is talking to a very fat woman (one of his ex-girlfriends) when suddenly a baby simply falls out of her, causing her to shout out to her offscreen husband, "You were right! I was pregnant!"
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted. Peter is at CostMart and gets a free sample, saying that it was quite good. Afterwards, a man identical to Peter wearing a Groucho Marx disguise takes a sample, then another Peter with a thin mustache and oriental haircut (plus a horrible Japanese accent). The employee informs him that he doesn't have to disguise himself to get free samples. Suddenly, Groucho Marx Peter and the actual Peter walk up behind him and ask if they can have another free sample.
- Paste Eater: What sets off Stewie and Brian's subplot is Stewie trying to eat some industrial glue. When Brian stops him, he ends up grabbing the hand that was holding the glue.
- Rage Against the Reflection: Played for Laughs when Peter yells "You son of a bitch!" at his own reflection and punches the mirror because Lois said "Look at that handsome man!" and Peter got jealous.
- Recognition Failure: When Mort introduces Peter to his niece, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Peter shows no recollection to who she is and later doesn’t recognize any of her work she name drops.
- Saying Too Much: When Peter and his friends realize Lois is having dinner with another man and wonder what she could be doing, Quagmire gives out a pretty blunt guess that quickly spills into him oversharing a tad much:Quagmire: Is it possible that she's a whore? (everyone stares at him) ...You know, like on weekends, just to pay for her mom's dialysis? ...Like in my fantasy? ...Y'know what, let's start over. Hi, I'm Quagmire! (offers his hand)
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Lois is briefly the victim of this.
- Second-Person Attack: The singer on stage who says the next song is for all the ladies out there is punched by Peter, seen from the singer's viewpoint.
- Slipping a Mickey: Quagmire has a habit of doing this on dates as the waiter informs him the usual drinks. He later attempts to do the same with Jennifer Love Hewitt.
- Shout-Out:
- To find his little black book, Peter uses a device similar to the ark-finding amulet from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- One of Peter's ex-girlfriends is Peppermint Patty from Peanuts. Unlike Peter's last ex-girlfriend, she's aged more gracefully, which she owes to Marcie, who's now her lesbian domestic partner.
- When Stewie sees the midget woman stuck in the well, he says "It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again!".
- Stalker Shrine: One of Peter's old girlfriends has an entire hallway full of pictures of Peter. She is also wearing the dress that she wore to that prom...and hasn't washed the hand that touched Peter's since then...or flushed the toilet he used, for that matter.
- Take That!:
- When the marriage counselor wants video cameras to be set up so he can see footage of the Griffins' home lives, Peter says that it will be just like Big Brother except somebody will be watching.
- Stewie thinks of something that can last an hour: watching Rita Rudner do five minutes of stand-up.Brian: Ba-zing.
- Understatement: Brian says to Lois, "Peter isn't exactly the most 'understanding guy' when it comes to you and other men"—see Crazy Jealous Guy for what happens.
