Episode no. Season 14
Episode 4 Written by Chris Sheridan | Directed by Greg Colton Production code CACX16 | |
Original air date 000000002015-10-25-0000October 25, 2015 | ||
"Peternormal Activity" is the fourth episode of the fourteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 253rd episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on October 25, 2015, and is written by Chris Sheridan and directed by Greg Colton. The title is a play on the Paranormal Activity film series.
Contents
Plot
Outside the movie theater, Peter Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Cleveland Brown, and Joe Swanson are in line to see Maniac Pope 2: Thou Shall Not Live. After watching the movie, they make negative comments about it. At the Drunken Clam, Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe seek inspiration for a horror film idea. They decide to head to the abandoned Quahog Asylum to gain it. When they arrive, they begin sharing their stories:
As they share their ideas, they begin to hear strange noises and footsteps in the distance. The four get frightened and try to evacuate, but discover they have been locked in. They crawl through an air duct, but it collapses and they end up in the basement, where they encounter the hook-handed man that was involved in the story about the asylum's past. They flee past him and get outside, but realize that they are four against one, so they attack and inadvertently kill him. Upon investigation, they discover he is a property caretaker named Albert, who explains he lost his hand saving the lives of fellow American soldiers in the Korean War. Quagmire wants to confess the murder, but he is overruled. They bury Albert's body and his car while making a pact to keep the murder a secret.
After the incident, Peter has a sleepless night and deals with coincidences that are similar to the circumstances of the murder. At the Drunken Clam, Quagmire denies his involvement and reveals he forged an alibi, prompting Peter to return to the Quahog Asylum to frame Quagmire for the murder. Once he is there, he finds that the other three are already there, all planning to frame each other. Before they assault each other with shovels, Peter sees this as inspiration for a horror film. Later, their film Cereal Killer is released starring John Goodman as the Peter-like character; they have a negative opinion of it upon leaving the theatre. Afterwards, they see Albert in a newspaper as he is reported missing and revealed to be a Ku Klux Klan leader who stole war medals. This revelation soothes their guilty consciences. Back at the Quahog Asylum, Albert's hook rises from the grave and his car door rises in the same way.
Meanwhile, Brian starts wearing glasses and begins acting much more arrogant and pretentious than usual, much to Stewie's annoyance. At a coffee shop, Stewie reaches his breaking point when Brian tries to pick up a girl with his ego, and vows to destroy the glasses. Stewie puts his plan into action at a sauna within the Quahog Spa by having Chris steal the glasses, but it backfires when Chris locks himself, Stewie, and Brian inside all weekend. Once the weekend is over, they break out of the sauna with a hazardous appearance and run into Mayor Adam West. At the Griffin home, Stewie strikes Brian with a baseball bat, shattering his lenses, with its fragments going into Brian's eyes. Stewie also states that Lois wanted him to tell Brian and everyone else that dinner is almost ready.
Reception
The episode received an audience of 3.85 million, making it the third-most watched show on Fox that night behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Simpsons episode, "Treehouse of Horror XXVI". Lisa Babick of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4/5.