Medicine:Hot Shots (Family Guy)

"Hot Shots"
Family Guy episode
Episode no.	Season 15 Episode 6
Directed by	John Holmquist
Written by	David A. Goodman
Production code	EACX03
Original air date	November 13, 2016 (2016-11-13)
Guest appearance(s)
Jerry Lambert Hopper Penn Sean Penn as himself Fred Tatasciore as John Goodman

"Hot Shots" is the sixth episode of the fifteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 275th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on November 13, 2016, and is written by David A. Goodman and directed by John Holmquist. In this episode, Peter and Lois open up a protest to convince the town to ban vaccination in Quahog after learning about possible bad side-effects within it, causing consequences to happen to Stewie.

Plot

When a bat invades the Griffin's home at the time when the Griffin family was watching Rational Geographic, Peter does everything he can to get rid of it. He finally succeeds when he chases the bat, whom he names "Bat Damon" (a caricature of Matt Damon) out of Stewie's window with a tennis racket. However, he injures Stewie's hand in the process.

They head to the Quahog Hospital, where Dr. Hartman informs them that Stewie's hand is not broken but that he has yet to receive his vaccinations. After they read possible side effects, Peter and Lois delay the procedure. After reading anti-vaccination material online, they decide against vaccinating Stewie. Brian objects as he mentions the potential risks, but Lois ignores him and with Peter decide to rally Quahog to ban vaccination.

Brian persuades Stewie that what they're doing is a bad idea by telling him of the horrid diseases that come with no vaccination. At the park, Peter and Lois fail to gain any support for their anti-vaccination rally, with the exception of a man looking to buy a megaphone. Peters stars in an anti-vaccination commercial in which he spouts facts, such as the fact that "vaccinate" rhymes with "masturbate" and that he cannot tell actresses Michelle Williams and Carey Mulligan apart. This leads to everyone in Quahog to stop vaccinating their children.

When Peter and Lois drop Stewie off at Quahog Preschool, they discover no other children there following an outbreak of measles. Outside, they see that the authorities are forcing people to be quarantined in their houses until the measles outbreak has ended. The guy that bought the megaphone has announced the quarantine as he is being driven around in a truck. Joe Swanson argues with a paraplegic Rhode Island State Police member and a paraplegic FBI agent over jurisdiction until a walking crossing guard pulls rank over both of them.

Brian points out to Lois that this is all her fault, as she was the one who led Peter and didn't listen. Realizing their error, Lois decides to get Stewie vaccinated only for Peter to admit that he destroyed the hospital. Peter eventually breaks out in measles as he was never vaccinated himself (since he was born in Mexico as said back in "Padre de Familia"). However, Peter tries to remain optimistic, but he eventually falls completely ill as Meg tends to him.

Fearing infection, Stewie resolves to leave Quahog and get the vaccines from the next town. When he sees that the way out is blocked by Joe and his fellow police officers, he crawls from under the bridge to cross it, but fear gets the best of him as his shoe falls into the river. Upon discovering Stewie's absence, Lois and Brian find him under the bridge, but are too late to save him when he falls upon the approaching upside-down train's arrival. In the nick of time, Stewie is saved by actor Sean Penn whom Lois shows a cold attitude towards due to his portrayal of Harvey Milk in Milk. Penn reveals that he has plenty of vaccines for everybody and tells Lois the importance of vaccination.

In the aftermath of the quarantine, the Griffins are happy that the epidemic has finally subsided and everyone is vaccinated.

Cultural references

When the bat first flies in, Peter makes a reference to it being Grandpa Munster from The Munsters. He then watches Interview with the Vampire. Stewie is annoyed by the drama over the vaccines and tells viewers to switch to Game of Thrones.

Peter's destruction of the vaccines is in the style of the Joker from The Dark Knight, referencing the scene where the Joker blows up the hospital (as well as actor Heath Ledger's untimely death).

The episode mocks Jenny McCarthy as a vaccination expert as well as John Goodman's weight.

When Stewie goes missing, Brian notices they can find him via The Family Circus-style dotted path he left behind. Billy from the comic strip is seen dead of measles and being licked by Marmaduke. In a parody of a scene in Good Will Hunting, "Bat Damon" appears at the house and makes a joke about the phrase "How do you like them apples?" which impresses Peter.

Reception

The episode received an audience of 3.58 million viewers, a huge increase from the previous episode of 2.6 million viewers, and making it the third most-watched show of the night, behind Son of Zorn and The Simpsons.

Jake Beamer of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 9/10.

External links

• "Hot Shots" on IMDb