The Heartbreak Dog

Plot

The Spooner Street neighbors celebrate Bonnie Swanson's 46th birthday at the Swanson residence where Joe shows a slideshow of the place he and Bonnie went on their honeymoon when he could still walk but, to Bonnie's discomfort, he also shows memories of how they went back there, but Bonnie had a terrible time due to Joe's disability.. After using the bathroom, Brian finds Bonnie crying in her room, where Bonnie tells him that she's upset that she has taken care of Joe Swanson half her life. After sharing a tender moment, Brian and Bonnie have a kiss, which they rue immediately after. Brian confides the infidelity with Peter, who swears to keep quiet. Joe and Bonnie come to the Griffins' for game night, where they participate in charades. After Bonnie leaves to get more wine, she finds Brian on his laptop and they have an awkward conversation, with Brian lying about telling anybody, and it ends with them agreeing that their romance won't work out (and in the process Stewie FaceTimes Brian and learns of their fling, but Brian shuts him off). However, when Brian and Bonnie head back to the living room, Peter's guessing of the charades cause him to accidentally reveal the affair, shocking everybody. Brian visits Joe the next day and tries to clear the air, and Joe at first seems to be okay, but a tow truck removing his car proves otherwise. Joe then proceeds to take additional revenge schemes on Brian like drugging him with a spiked wine followed by Joe putting shoes on Brian and uploading the footage on the internet.

Meanwhile, Meg is sent to be a volunteer at the Quahog Retirement Home as part of the school's community service project held by Principal Shepherd. Meg is annoyed by a resident there named Mrs. Parkhurst. While attending to the naggy woman's needs, she steals a golden brooch in revenge and decides to steal from the other residents there, since they treat her badly as well. At the Griffins' house, Chris eventually finds out about this and is at first appalled by it, but eventually decides to get in on the action. One of their plans involved tricking an elderly lady into thinking that she has died and entered Heaven.

Brian sets up an intervention consisting of the Griffins, Quagmire, and Cleveland to talk sense into Joe. But after he and Bonnie arrive, they get off track and label Brian and Bonnie as both terrible people making Brian angry and stand up for Bonnie. They both decide to escape together to pursue a relationship, much to Joe's distress. Due to Brian's car running out of gas and penniless, Brian and Bonnie work at a diner to earn money where their tempers begin to flare.

Meg and Chris establish the stolen items in Meg's room to turn it into a wealthy person's home, but they immediately regret their thefts after Chris uses an urn as an ashtray. They try to covertly return the items, but Mrs. Parkhurst and the rest of the elderly inhabitants catch them. Mrs. Parkhurst demands that in exchange for not calling the police, that they spend more time at the home where they must listen to their stories, help them with their jigsaw puzzles, and serve them pudding.

Joe eventually finds Brian and Bonnie at the diner and apologizes to Bonnie for being too dependent on her, and they reconcile by kissing each other. Brian smugly calls himself Cupid for bringing Joe and Bonnie back together, but Joe shoots him in the leg while kissing Bonnie as retribution. Stewie then shows up to have some apple pie, but indifferently comments on Brian's injury.

At the Griffins' house, Brian (whose leg is in a cast), Meg, and Chris each tell about their own respective adventure simultaneously after Peter turns it into a competition due to the remaining seconds in the episode. Peter declares nobody the winner and breaks the fourth wall when telling the audience while pointing to them "Especially not you! Good night, everybody!".

Reception

The episode received an audience of 2.98 million, making it the second-most watched show on Fox that night behind The Simpsons.