15th episode of the 5th season of Family Guy
"
Boys Do Cry
" is the 15th episode of the
fifth season
of the American
animated sitcom
Family Guy
. It originally aired on the
Fox network
in the United States on April 29, 2007. The episode follows the
Griffin family
after
Lois
gets a job as an organist at the local church, and she insists that the rest of the family go to church with her. This eventually leads to
Stewie
drinking and throwing up during a sermon, which causes a mob to form around the Griffin household. In an attempt to prevent the town from supposedly exorcising the devil out of Stewie, the family escape and seek refuge in Texas.
The episode was written by series regular
Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
and directed by
Brian Iles
. The episode received generally mixed reviews from critics for its storyline and many cultural references. According to
Nielsen ratings
, it was viewed in 8.13 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by
Drew Barrymore
,
Bill Engvall
,
Gilbert Gottfried
and Camilla Stull, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. "Boys Do Cry" was released on
DVD
along with four other episodes from the season on October 21, 2008.
Plot
[
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]
Lois
gets a job as the new organist at the local church and forces her family to start attending mass on Sundays. After Stewie mistakes
Communion
wine for punch, he drinks too much and vomits, leading the citizens of Quahog to believe Stewie is possessed by
Satan
. When the priest wants to
exorcise
him, aided by everyone in town, the Griffin family escapes to Lois's sister Carol's house in
Texas
. Upon arriving at the home,
Peter
fits in well with the
cowboys
, but
Brian
is disgusted by the bigotry of the local residents. Stewie,
cross dressing
to protect his identity, begins using the name "Stephanie Griffin" and, after being convinced by Lois, enters a "Little Miss Texan"
beauty pageant
. Meanwhile, as part of an initiation into an after-school club,
Meg
and
Chris
sneak into
George W. Bush
's
Crawford ranch
to steal a pair of his underwear.
Lois soon hears that the search for Stewie has ended after people got distracted by news of the Super Devil (an entity described as 6 inches taller than the Devil, driving a flying motorcycle and armed with a jar of marmalade), but since she was hoping to instill "new moral values" in her family she decides not to mention that they can go home. Meanwhile, after branding a cow, things turn worse when
Peter reveals that he is mentally retarded
. The men with him, who explain that Texas "
executes the retarded
", tie him to an electric chair, in an attempt to put him to death, but he is soon rescued by his trusty horse, revealed to be voiced by
Gilbert Gottfried
.
Later, Brian finds out from his girlfriend Jillian back in Quahog about the town calling off the search, and rushes to the pageant tells Lois, who says she has known for weeks which horrifies Brian. Stewie manages to win, but when his wig falls off during the crowning ceremony, the audience labels him as a "queer-o-sexual" and tries to rush the stage. The family is able to escape on the back of Gottfried, and return home to Quahog. The episode ends with Lois telling Peter that moral and family values don't come from where people live or who their friends are, but from people themselves and that they should embrace their lives, while Peter says that people should be careful what they watch, and not become religious with it, while breaking the fourth wall.
Production
[
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]
The episode was written by
Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
and was directed by
Brian Iles
, in his first episode for the series.
[1]
Series regulars
Peter Shin
and James Purdum served as supervising directors. Chevapravatdumrong was also one of the executive story editors working in the episode, the other one being
Patrick Meighan
.
[1]
"Boys Do Cry", along with the four other episodes from
Family Guy
'
s fifth season, were released on a three-disc
DVD
set in the United States on October 21, 2008. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Seth MacFarlane and various crew and cast members, a collection of deleted scenes, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "100th Episode Special", and a mini-feature entitled
Family Guy
Live.
[2]
The episode featured a guest performance by a
leukemia
patient, Camilla Stull, who had wanted to do a voice on the show.
She provided two lines for one of the competing pageant contestants. Stull has since died from the disease, but is still "immortalized" in the episode.
In addition to Stull and the regular cast, actress Drew Barrymore and comedians
Bill Engvall
and
Gilbert Gottfried
guest starred in the episode.
[1]
Recurring voices include
Lori Alan
,
Alex Breckenridge
, writer
Kirker Butler
, voice actor Chris Cox, actor
Ralph Garman
, writer
Mark Hentemann
, writer
Danny Smith
, writer
Alec Sulkin
, writer
John Viener
, and actor
Adam West
.
[1]
Reception
[
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]
In a slight decrease from the previous week, the episode was viewed in 8.13 million homes in its original airing, according to
Nielsen ratings
, in the United States. The episode also acquired a 2.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic, tying with
The Simpsons
, in addition to significantly winning over
American Dad!
, in both rating and total viewership.
[4]
In a review of the episode, Brett Love of
TV Squad
noted that the episode "had its moments, but there were some pretty big breaks between them." Love also thought that Lois getting a job as an organist was "a nice way to go, because it does fit in well with what we already know about her."
[5]
Ahsan Haque of
IGN
said that the episode was "very stale and tired" with "very few funny moments," and that "Lois wanting a more wholesome ethical lifestyle could have worked, but the execution failed miserably." Overall, Haque noted that the episode was "a serious disappointment on many levels." The "lack of laughs, poor pacing, and lack of judgment really hurt," rating the episode as a 4 out of 10.
[6]
References
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]
External links
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]