Saving Private Brian

Plot

A U.S. Army recruitment officer comes to the high school to hold an assembly and entices the students with a glamorized, deceptive video presentation, which impresses every one including Chris. Chris returns home and tells the family during dinner that he wants to enlist, but Lois attempts to dissuade him, for the military is not a place for him. The next day, while driving Stewie to Gymboree Play & Music for parachute day, Brian decides to take a detour to the recruitment office to scold the recruiting officer for trying to trick Chris through devious means. The two arrive at the office but the wait is long; when Brian goes to top-up the parking meter Stewie walks into the office. Stewie ends up enlisting in the Army and signs Brian up as well when told there "is a $100 bonus for signing up a buddy." Brian returns and is shocked. Brian and Stewie begin basic training, but Brian becomes stressed from the discipline and decides one night to leave. Stewie wakes up and finds Brian packing his suitcase, but he manages to talk him out of leaving, insisting that he had never finished anything significant in his life and that the Army will provide him the discipline. With this, Brian decides to stay. After they complete their training, Stewie and Brian are deployed to Iraq. Meantime, the two are patrolling the streets of a village, commenting on the "good situation so far"; however, after the pair get caught up in a terrorist attack, they become dissuaded and decide to find a way to get out of the Army. They first attempt to be discharged by pretending to be homosexual (only to discover that one of their superiors is gay). As a last resort, they attempt to get "Wounded in Action" by shooting each other in the foot; they do this only to find out that the Army now takes anyone no matter what, going so far as to allow two corpses to guard the ammunition. They are then told that democracy has kicked in and the war is over, thus meaning all the soldiers can return to the United States.

Meanwhile, to distract Chris from the Army, Peter takes him to look at extracurricular activities at his school, where he is accepted into a heavy metal band. Chris develops a rebellious and rude attitude after joining the band, and he significantly changes his appearance. Peter and Lois, worried about his behavior, search his room to find the cause of his behavioral change; Lois becomes convinced it is a result of listening to the violent lyrics from his music. In addition, they find a poster shrine to Marilyn Manson in his closet, and become convinced that his music corrupted their son. They decide to track down Manson and find him at the Grammys Music Awards. When they find Manson, Peter punches him in the face and Lois accuses him for destroying their son with his songs. Manson, played by writer Tom Devanney, laughing at "this old thing again", offers to help them with Chris. Manson returns to the Griffin house with Peter and Lois, where he tells Chris and his bandmates that it is important to respect and obey their parents, and in addition to mending the tension between them, Manson ends the episode by giving Peter some more parental advice: Peter and Chris should start fishing.

Production

The scene in which recruitment officers enter public schools in an attempt to recruit children is based on real life, as the Army has often sent recruitors to high schools for seniors. More recently they have started with the younger grades even though there is a minimum age for enlistment. The show also featured the last (living) appearance of Johnny and Vern, the vaudeville performers; Stewie shoots them because, as MacFarlane comments, "people were getting sick of them", with David Goodman adding that "the show was relying on them too much". The duo return in "Back to the Woods", with Vern as a ghost and Johnny in Hell.

Upon the receiving of the news that democracy has come to Iraq, one scene shows a man having a knife held to his throat, which caused some controversy after the episode was broadcast. Stewie also knowingly breaks the fourth wall in the episode, by speaking in a manner as if he were talking to the audience. In one scene, Stewie mentions the time "Peter went after that hockey coach" (making a veiled reference to "Hockey Dad" Thomas Junta), in the expectation of a cutaway gag. However, nothing happens, and Stewie comments, "Oh, no clip? Thought we had a clip". This scene was described as being a one off.

In addition to the regular cast, actor Gary Cole, actor Louis Gossett, Jr., actress Juanita Jennings, voice actor Phil LaMarr, actor Samm Levine, voice actress Rachael MacFarlane, actor Denis Martel, voice actor Enn Reitel, actress Stacey Scowley, voice actor Fred Tatasciore and voice actor Wally Wingert guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Alex Breckenridge, Chris Cox, writer Tom Devanney, actor Ralph Garman, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin and writer John Viener made minor appearances. Actor Adam West also has a guest appearance in the episode.

Reception

In a significant decrease from the previous week, the episode was viewed in 8.45 million homes in its original airing, according to Nielsen ratings. The episode also acquired a 3.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic, slightly being edged out by The Simpsons, while still winning over series creator Seth MacFarlane's second show American Dad!.

IGN commented that the portrayal of "service in the military is a hilarious satire of the current state of our military in Iraq". Iverson was also impressed with the episode's random flashback gags, commenting that "normally they are only groan-worthy", receiving a final rating of 9/10. Brett Love of TV Squad noted that "The Full Metal Jacket/Stripes angle for Stewie and Brian was great, right down to the Stripes music during the obstacle course. And Louis Gossett, Jr. as Sergeant Angryman is a nice bit of casting".