Lois Kills Stewie
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"Lois Kills Stewie" is the conclusion of the two-part "100th Episode" story arc of the FOX animated television series Family Guy (Part 1 being "Stewie Kills Lois"), and is also a crossover with American Dad!, another animated comedy series created and produced by Seth MacFarlane. The arc sees Stewie returning to his old, sinister ambitions, with this part focusing on Stewie's attempts at world domination.
Guest starring are American Idol judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson as themselves, and Patrick Stewart as American Dad! character Avery Bullock.
Plot Summary
The previous episode left off with Lois returning to Quahog after her presumed death and naming Stewie her killer. Though the others are confused, Lois begins to explain what happened to her. She starts with the fact that Stewie shot her aboard the cruise ship with a submachine gun at point-blank range, causing her to fall overboard. As she was sinking to what could have been her watery grave, she was rescued by a merman who brought her to the surface, healed her bullet wounds and swam her to shore (it also turns out that mermen actually have the upper bodies of fish and lower bodies of humans). She then found herself suffering from amnesia with absolutely no recollection about her life.
As she wandered aimlessly through the country, she volunteered to be a counselor for a fat camp, then hooked up with a seemingly nice man sometime later, only to discover he was a white supremacist. At a convention, when Lois began to speak out against their views, an enraged attendee threw a glass bottle to her head, which caused her to completely regain her memory, and she rushed back to Quahog to inform everyone what happened.
As soon as she finishes her story, everyone realizes that Stewie has escaped, so Joe initiates a manhunt to find him, though he has little success. The Griffins return home to find Stewie armed with a gun, who knows that his crime is no longer a secret and takes them hostage. Sometime later, when Cleveland walks in on them in a casual, friendly manner to check on them, Stewie shoots him in the chest and kills him in front of the horrified family. Predicting that the police will not be distracted by the disappearance of a black man, Stewie forces Brian to take him somewhere important (in which he drives is a white Toyota Prius), having tied up the family to chairs in the living room.
After fourteen hours, the Griffins realize that Stewie forgot to tie Chris' arms to the chair, so they get him to untie them all. They then begin searching his room for clues as to where he is currently heading. In doing so, Lois accidentally discovers his secret cache of weapons and other devices.
It is then revealed that Stewie's destination is the CIA Headquarters. Posing themselves as agents, Stewie takes Brian with him to the CIA’s supercomputer, where he takes control of the planet's power grid and causes a worldwide blackout. Two agents (who turn out to be Stan Smith and Avery Bullock from the show American Dad!) attempt to intervene, but Stewie threatens to rid the world of energy permanently lest they don’t follow his command. Finding themselves helpless against him, the CIA fulfills his request: to name him "President of the World."
His plans at world domination having finally come to fruition, he names Brian his reluctant personal secretary and begins establishing new laws, which are broadcast across the planet. Unable to bear seeing any more people suffering, Lois realizes that she must put an end to Stewie’s reign of terror. She then arms herself with various weapons from Stewie's reserve, clad in black, and sets out to kill Stewie.
Lois crashes in through Stewie’s office at the White House and confronts her evil son. Having armed himself with his own arsenal of weapons, Stewie fights back. The two engage in a drawn-out, destructive and violent shootout, though Lois gains the upper hand and prepares to shoot and kill him. After being spurred on by Stewie, however, Lois realizes that she could never kill her own baby, even if he is evil. This allows Stewie to take her gun and finish her off, until Peter arrives and shoots Stewie in the chest and head, killing him and saving Lois.
Peter and Lois hold a moment of silence held partially in grief for their fallen baby son yet also in respect for a worthy adversary...when the words "SIMULATION OVER" pop up on the screen. It is then revealed that most of the events that transpired within the two episodes, starting from when Peter and Lois left for the cruise (which they are still on and is apparently going well) were a computer simulation that Stewie went through to see how killing Lois and taking over the world would pan out for him should he go through with his plans immediately. Stewie then states to Brian that he may not be ready for fulfilling these desires...yet.
Cultural References
- Stewie tells Lois to "Say hello to Cleveland for me, and Mr. Weed", the latter of which died in the third season episode "Mr. Saturday Knight".
- Stewie auditions for American Idol in a cutaway, where he sings Debbie Gibson's "Lost in Your Eyes" horribly off-key and is turned down. The judges, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, are voiced by themselves.
- When Lois and Peter temporarily switch bodies, Peter sings the theme to Green Acres while playing with Lois' breasts.
- A homicidal Willem Dafoe is shown to have lived under Stewie's bed.
- Two American Dad! characters, Stan Smith and Avery Bullock, cameo in this episode. In a moment highlighting the fact that Stewie is still a baby, he mistakes Stan for Joe Swanson, remarking, "You look kind of like somebody else I know." This is the third episode to feature a cameo from characters from American Dad!, though it is considered by many to be the first actual crossover with the show.
- The violent shootout between Stewie and Lois is similar to that in the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which was the theme of the poster advertising the previous episode.
- The scene in which Stewie and Lois fly towards each other while firing their guns in bullet time is an obvious reference to The Matrix.
- When Peter shoots Stewie in the head at the end of the simulation, he says "it's just been revoked," which is a nod to the end of Lethal Weapon 2, when Murtaugh shoots Arjen Rudd in the head.
- Stewie says "Well, at least it just doesn't end like the Sopranos when it goes to black mid-se.." and then the screen goes to black and the show ends, referencing the abrupt finale for that series. Interestingly, he made this same reference at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 16, 2007.
- The Microsoft Office Assistant Clippy appears while Stewie is working on the CIA computer and offers assistance for using the computer to take over the world.
- The clip showing Lois with a white supremacist named Danny is a parody of American History X