Peter makes a sentient hologram of himself in order to get out of menial household duties.
Tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Hologram Peter starts off as a normal sentient hologram who is friendly to the real Peter. However, after spending a lot of time with the family, Hologram Peter turns against his creator and traps him in the basement.
- Halloween Episode: The first part of the episode takes place at a Halloween carnival where Peter finds the hologram machine that kicks off the episode's main plot. The episode also aired the day before Halloween.
- Hard Light: The hologram machine can generate holograms that can physically interact with objects.
- If I Can't Have You…: When Lois and the rest of the family (sans Meg) try to leave after discovering that the Peter that's been spending time with them is an imposter, he plans to kill them with this rationale. Fortunately, the real Peter arrives in time to save them immediately after this declaration.
- Ignored Epiphany: After Hologram Peter’s destruction, Peter vows to become only half as good of a husband and father as what the former was. Lois, however, interprets Hologram Peter as being the best version of Peter that her husband could be and that it can be a reality if he is willing to make the effort to do so. It predictably isn't enough to get Peter to reconsider, who just tacks on that he makes no promises to even follow through with his goal and goes on to make another hologram in The Stinger.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Lois callously abandons Meg to Hologram Peter for no reason, only to immediately get ambushed by Hologram Peter himself.
- No-Sell: During their fight, Hologram Peter attempts to download Peter's mind into himself, only to be caught off guard when it doesn't work and leaves him open long enough for Peter to strike back.Peter: Joke's on you, there's nothing in there.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Lois eventually realizes that the Peter that's been with the family the past three days isn't the real one when he mentions that he doesn't know what a Dutch oven is, that he's been flossing, and that he mopped the kitchen floor, the latter two being things the real Peter would never be considerate enough to do.
- Self-Deprecation: Peter's hologram degenerating into previous character designs before turning into Homer Simpson and Fred Flintstone is a reference to claims that Peter is a ripoff of those characters.
- Shapeshifter Swan Song: Hologram Peter's destruction first has him shapeshifting from being in his pajamas, to his everyday clothes, to Peter's original design from the earlier seasons (right down to the eye over the nose), to Larry, to Homer Simpson, and then finally Fred Flintstone before exploding in a flash of light.Fred: Wilma!
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Peter manages to escape being bound in the basement by sawing through his hands with a hacksaw and then stitching them back on with Twizzlers, Lois asks why he didn't just saw through his bindings. Peter replies that it's because "hacksaw hindsight is 20/20".
- The Un-Favourite: After realizing that Peter is actually a hologram, Lois quietly warns everyone else in the house that they have get out. When she gets to Meg's room, however, she simply instructs Meg to take out the trash in the morning.
- Ungrateful Bastard: What convinces Hologram Peter to murder the family, outraged that despite having been a better husband and father than the real Peter ever has, they still show a lack of appreciation for everything he's done for them to the point of trying to run away from him after discovering that he's a fake.
- Villain Has a Point: It's hard to argue with Hologram Peter that the real Peter doesn't deserve his family and neglects them on a regular basis. In fact, he made the hologram in the first place specifically to avoid spending time with them.
