There are two things that drag this episode down: unbalanced subplots, and a lack of good, laugh-out-loud jokes.
The main storyline has Stewie facing off against his rival Doug in a class election, while none of the other main characters have anything of their own going on except to occasionally play a supporting role in the Stewie plot, or to show up in as cutaway gag. Even the roadtrip that Peter takes with his friends at the beginning of the episode only serves to set up Stewie's motivation for announcing his candidacy. Besides Stewie, Brian and Chris get a bit more screentime than the rest, but not by a lot.
There are a few political jokes thrown in here and there, which is to be expected of any episode that is about an election. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the jokes are mainly at the expense of the Republican party, but it hardly feels over-done in that regard. Then again, I'm the kind of person who thinks that it only makes sense to make fun of both sides equally when one side isn't doing everything in its power to invite ridicule on a daily basis. Even if the few political jokes were aimed at Democrats, however, the real issue is that the episode just isn't that funny.
Probably the best quip in the entire episode comes early on, when Doug says to Stewie that he "didn't expect to run into the town square *in* the Town Square." Hardly top-shelf Family Guy, but witty at least. The rest of the jokes range from underwhelming to downright cringe-worthy. For example, when Stewie tries to annoy his parents by playing loud music, it is only mildly amusing that he chooses "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies and that they actually end up enjoying it. When the neighbors show up dressed in retro clothing to start dancing along, it feels like they might be dragging the joke out too long, but you hold out hope that the scene might end on a hilarious and unexpected punchline. Instead, we get a lame joke followed by the most awkward and unearned "Who else but Quagmire?" cutaway in the show's history (not that those were ever very funny to begin with). It's moments like these that just feel desperate and unaware, like a child that got a big laugh once and then continues to repeat the same joke over and over while the adults in the room groan internally. Even the gags that aren't awkward call-backs to past episodes end up being disappointing, usually amounting to a silly setup that might elicit a chuckle at best, but without a strong enough punchline to send it home. The overall impression is that not a lot of care went into this episode - like they just needed an episode to round out the season so they let an intern do most of the writing and said, "Ehh, good enough".
The main storyline has Stewie facing off against his rival Doug in a class election, while none of the other main characters have anything of their own going on except to occasionally play a supporting role in the Stewie plot, or to show up in as cutaway gag. Even the roadtrip that Peter takes with his friends at the beginning of the episode only serves to set up Stewie's motivation for announcing his candidacy. Besides Stewie, Brian and Chris get a bit more screentime than the rest, but not by a lot.
There are a few political jokes thrown in here and there, which is to be expected of any episode that is about an election. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the jokes are mainly at the expense of the Republican party, but it hardly feels over-done in that regard. Then again, I'm the kind of person who thinks that it only makes sense to make fun of both sides equally when one side isn't doing everything in its power to invite ridicule on a daily basis. Even if the few political jokes were aimed at Democrats, however, the real issue is that the episode just isn't that funny.
Probably the best quip in the entire episode comes early on, when Doug says to Stewie that he "didn't expect to run into the town square *in* the Town Square." Hardly top-shelf Family Guy, but witty at least. The rest of the jokes range from underwhelming to downright cringe-worthy. For example, when Stewie tries to annoy his parents by playing loud music, it is only mildly amusing that he chooses "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies and that they actually end up enjoying it. When the neighbors show up dressed in retro clothing to start dancing along, it feels like they might be dragging the joke out too long, but you hold out hope that the scene might end on a hilarious and unexpected punchline. Instead, we get a lame joke followed by the most awkward and unearned "Who else but Quagmire?" cutaway in the show's history (not that those were ever very funny to begin with). It's moments like these that just feel desperate and unaware, like a child that got a big laugh once and then continues to repeat the same joke over and over while the adults in the room groan internally. Even the gags that aren't awkward call-backs to past episodes end up being disappointing, usually amounting to a silly setup that might elicit a chuckle at best, but without a strong enough punchline to send it home. The overall impression is that not a lot of care went into this episode - like they just needed an episode to round out the season so they let an intern do most of the writing and said, "Ehh, good enough".
