The entire family attends Hal's Father's birthday, and the extended family humiliates Lois at every chance available. Reese and Dewey try to suck up to their grandfather in hopes they are included in his will.
Guest starring:
- Walter (Christopher Lloyd)
- Amelia (Brenda Strong)
This work contains examples of:
- Berserk Button: Seeing Lois cry makes all the men in their family draw the line. While Hal manages to gather courage and finally confront his father, the boys take revenge.
- Brawn Hilda: Claire is big, butch and is always wearing suits. According to Malcolm, they had to drive three blocks for her to let go of the door handle as they flee the place.
- Character Development: After all the humiliation she suffers from Hal's relatives, the episode ends with Lois taking the first steps by treating Piama better, to the shock of everyone else.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Hal wets the bed after having a dream about having a therapy session with Jesus. He interoperates it as his body telling him he needs to confront his father.
- Friend to All Children: For some reason, all the little kids of the extended family get attached to Francis and stick to him like glue. When the boys are destroying the party, they help Francis by loosening the screws of the table so they can run over the buffet.
- Heroic BSoD: Lois rarely cries, but Hal's relatives pushes her to her breaking point. When the in-laws send her on a wild goose chase for formal shoes to exclude her from the family photo, she shuts herself in a closet and cries, to the shock of her family.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Claire is built like a Brawn Hilda and often wears suits, while her husband is more effeminate.
- Obnoxious In-Laws:
- Until the end of the episode, Lois was constantly making snide comments at Piama. She starts to treat her better after everything Hal's relatives did to her.
- All of Hal's relatives are cruel and passive-aggressive to Lois. Hal's father does nothing because he doesn't like to confront people.
- Parental Neglect: Walter is bad at confrontation and he resorts to making Hal laugh to avoid hearing his problems. When Hal finally decides to confront him and all his tricks fail, he is completely lost for words.
- Potty Failure: Hal makes a comeback by tickling his father and letting out all the problems from his childhood that he neglected to hear. The only thing that he can answer to Hal is requesting some towels.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Upon seeing Lois reduced to tears, Francis, Malcolm, Reese and Dewey take the golf kart, use it to destroy the buffet table, run over the cake, decapitate a statue and finish by sinking with the golf kart in the pool. Despite the subsequent obligatory scolding from Lois and Hal, it's clear from their faces that they are not really mad at them.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Claire is more masculine looking, while Amelia is more refined.
