Family Guy Season 14 Episode 17 Review: Take A Letter
Lisa Babick
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So, Cleveland has a job.
While that wasn't the main focus of Family Guy Season 14 Episode 17, his bits were the most entertaining.
It's hard to believe that Cleveland's small part was better than Stewie's subplot.
It certainly was surprising to find Cleveland behind the desk when Lois went to mail her letter. I always thought his job was just to sit at the Clam and drink and gossip with the guys.
Lois was surprised to see him there too. He made a lot of stereotypical jabs at himself, which I thought were kind of funny. But, he also served a greater purpose.
Lois needs a job because she wants to send Stewie to a private and pricey preschool, the post office is hiring, and Cleveland is the bridge. As expected, Lois gets the job.
Cleveland is tasked with showing her around. He talks a lot, most of it nonsensical, like when he's talking about the "real" dolls American men will be ordering soon and taking on car rides and other things.
But, then, he comes up with gems, like wanting to show Lois why you should never send cash in the mail. Or, delivering mail at night to in order to smell really nice dinners.
But, the best bit was later when Peter accuses Gretchen of "blackmail," and Cleveland shows up and gives him some mail.
It wasn't the most biting humor, but it was humorous. Can Cleveland's bits be construed as offensive? Absolutely, but then if you're easily offended, you shouldn't be watching this show, because this show has no problem spreading it around to everyone.
I also think that maybe all of Cleveland's appearances this entire episode was a stereotype. The black guy shows up to provide comic relief. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Either way, I found Cleveland very entertaining, and I am not Cleveland's biggest fan.
When Mayor West brings Lois an undeliverable piece of mail, Cleveland shows her the dead letter bin and she decides she's going to organize it. Almost immediately she comes across a letter from Peter to another woman.
The story ends up turning into a Fatal Attraction lite when the other woman, Gretchen, decides to get Lois out of the way so she can have Peter all to herself, because she misinterprets the letter Peter wrote to her a thousand years ago.
There really wasn't anything that stood out in the plot that would be considered funny. The Peter Catcher bit was a very Peter type of thing, but it was very odd, too. Why is this show obsessed with child molesters?
At the end of all the drama Peter and Lois reaffirm their love for each other. Gretchen was never a threat at all. As if. Yawn.
The only entertaining part of Stewie's fancy preschool story with Chadley was the cutaway of the driver's license kid with the girls swooning over doing things in the car in relation to groceries and grocery shopping. And, that was funny only because Stewie showed up to ask us what we expected when his only frame of reference for things to do in a car is what he sees Lois do.
Maybe it wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, maybe it was just something a parent could appreciate, but it was cute, and I enjoyed it.
Another Stewie bit worth mentioning was when he and Brian were in the rich family's house talking about the owner posting a picture on Instagram. Brian said he'd eat the guy's dental floss, then Stewie could put it back on the roll.
It's incredibly gross, but if you've ever had a dog that's eaten ribbon and have had to pull it out of it's butt, you'd probably have thought this was funny. It's not, but it is, all at the same time.
What did you think of "Take a Letter?"
Hit the comments and share your thoughts. If you missed the laughs, you can watch Family Guy online anytime, right here via TV Fanatic!
