Family Guy: Movin' Out (Brian's Song)

One of last season's highlights was the introduction of Brian's beautiful and endearing yet intellectually challenged girlfriend Jillian, voiced by Drew Barrymore. The obvious mismatch between Brian and Jillian was the source for some of the best laughs and actual drama in the previous season. Forgetting the fact that Brian's a dog, the fact that their relationship lasted so long is of one of those Family Guy oddities done right.

In this episode, their relationship is really put to the test when Brian gets weaseled into moving in with Jillian, despite his objections. Brian's one of those insecure characters who's easily manipulated by those around him. So when Peter helps Jillian to push the idea of moving in together, Brian reluctantly accepts. Despite not having sufficient funds to actually support paying his half of the rent, he goes along with it.

When Stewie offers to move in and help pay for the rent, Brian's okay with that too. Brian puts up with Stewie's obnoxiousness, even when it gets in the way of spending "quality" time with Jillian. Even after Jillian breaks up with Brian - it takes a pep talk from Stewie to convince him to actually go and try to win her back.

Stewie's not-so-subtle gay tendencies really stick out this episode. From the party guests he invites to the extremely obvious request to have sex with Brian (is that open gayness or something more animalistic?). Brian's reaction was hilarious.

The secondary story in this episode was remarkably entertaining. It's hard to think that scenes exclusively featuring Meg and Chris could actually provide some laughs, but there were a couple of genuinely funny moments between the two. The siblings end up working together in the same convenience store, but Meg ends up doing all the work while Chris and the owner, Carl, spend all their time talking about movies they liked. The movie discussion scenes, while not bone-splittingly funny, worked really well because the conversations themselves felt somewhat genuine.

It wouldn't be Family Guy if there weren't a few over-the-top offensive jokes and this episode has a few great ones. From the Meg and Peter phone-sex scene to Stewie's jab at the disposable income of immigrant families, to Peter's Donald Duck costume, this episode doesn't hold back anything when it comes to tastelessness.

It's definitely sad to see the end of the Brian and Jillian relationship, especially considering the great performance put on by Drew Barrymore. She moved on to dating mayor Adam West after the breakup. Hopefully Jillian will make another appearance sometime in the future - she really was a great addition to the show.

Overall, "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)" managed to rise about the generic plotline and deliver a pretty solid half hour of entertainment that told a cohesive (and somewhat sad) main story, with just enough gags to fill in the rest of the time. It's a bit more story-heavy compared to what I'm used to seeing on the show, but this is sometimes a good thing - especially compared to some of the completely storyline-free episodes I was subjected to in the previous season.