A Shot in the Dark (Family Guy)

"A Shot in the Dark" is the ninth episode of the fourteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 258th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on December 13, 2015, and is written by Mike Desilets and directed by Brian Iles.^[1] This episode was originally produced under the title "Stand Your Brown".^[2]

It was originally set to air on November 15, 2015,^[3] but was replaced by "Peter's Sister" following the November 2015 Paris attacks. The second planned airing was supposed to be December 6, 2015, but it was again replaced, this time by "Brokeback Swanson" following the 2015 San Bernardino shooting.

Plot

Peter has the couch outside of the house and he, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe take advantage of it to do their drinking. But when the couch is stolen, they decide to form a neighborhood watch. Despite Joe's explanation that they can't get guns, Peter manages to get his hands on several. When Peter spots a shadowy figure getting into Cleveland's house, he shoots the person, which is then revealed to be Cleveland's son, Cleveland Brown Jr.

At the hospital, Peter meets the Browns and finds Cleveland and Donna upset, considering him a racist as Cleveland Jr. explains to Peter, his parents, Dr. Hartman, and Joe that he didn't hear Peter approach due to his listening to music on a headset and the reason he was using the window to get into the house because his father said opening the door lets out too much air conditioning. As Joe tries to explain that the police have considered it an accident, Cleveland refuses to have anything further to do with Peter. At the Drunken Clam, Peter, Quagmire, and Joe see Cleveland on Tom Tucker's show, where he is trying to force the city of Quahog to consider it a hate crime. The town starts acting angrily towards the Griffins and Peter decides to prove that he isn't racist. He tries to take Cleveland a drink and cigars, but is rebuffed. His clumsiness results in Cleveland's house catching on fire. As a crowd gathers, Peter's screams for the family to get out of the burning house are misconstrued as threats. An angry crowd later forms outside of the Griffins' house. Joe and his fellow police officers are forced to arrest Peter on orders of his supervisors "upstairs" to pacify the black community. When Peter asks who the guys upstairs are, Joe states that he doesn't know, since the Quahog Police Department doesn't have an elevator.

While incarcerated at the Quahog Police Department, Peter is visited by Carter Pewterschmidt. Carter offers his help in bailing him out as well as providing a distraction for the community with the help of his lawyer. In court, Cleveland Jr.'s testimony reduces the room to tears, but Carter's lawyer attacks Cleveland Jr.'s music choice of listening to Jay-Z, hinting that he is a thug. Peter objects to the character assassination as the lawyer even tricks Cleveland Jr. into taking a knife, and making it appear that he is a threat. Cleveland, outraged at what has happened to his son, confronts Peter outside the courtroom and insists that their friendship is over.

As the mob turns on Cleveland and his family outside of their home, Peter intercedes and admits to shooting Cleveland Jr, and says he should be held responsible for his actions, even if it means going to jail. As Joe arrests Peter, Cleveland is touched by this action and falsely claims to have shot Cleveland Jr. himself, causing the crowd to flee in disinterest in black-on-black crime. He admits that he realized that Peter only shot Cleveland Jr. due to his stupidity, not due to being racist, and forgives him. Peter apologizes to Cleveland Jr., and it is accepted until Cleveland leaves. Then Cleveland Jr. threatens Peter, claims it was a joke and laughs it off, and then walks away, leaving a shocked Peter wondering whether he was joking or not.

Reception

The episode received an audience of 3.74 million, making it the third most watched show on Fox that night behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Simpsons.^[4]

References