Family Guy: Brian's Got a Brand New Bag (2009)
Season 8, Episode 4
Wow, it's rare for a character to start out dynamic and end up one dimensional in a single episode. (contains spoilers)
18 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The setup for the show had so much potential. Brian went against his usual nature and began dating an older, mature, down-to-earth woman named Rita, and he spends a lot of time hiding her from his family, for good reason. We are more than aware the Griffins can be very cruel to people who aren't perfect, but that's the humor. Brain eventually falls for her, of course. She was invited over for dinner, and of course every spoken line at it is either an age remark from Lois or Peter trying to get her to give her age. She breaks down, admits she's 50, and runs out crying, with Brian chasing her. And that's where it all falls apart.

Once Rita's age was revealed, she lost all her dimensions and become one constant age joke. She suddenly uses old terms, like street car and tooth polish, in place of the modern words like toothpaste. Her boobs get pinched in her armpit during sex then she somehow breaks her hip during. She starts referring to furniture by what their normal brand names were back in the 50's. In other words, she started out as a woman, and from after dinner scene on instantly became an old woman transported to the present from the mid 50's. Probably done so since the Griffin's subplot had ended long ago and Rita and Brian weren't around them anymore, so the only people who could make age jokes (the only jokes for the last 10 minutes of the show) were Rita and Brian. Brian's side were his reactions which were nothing short of obvious unease and annoyance at her suddenly acting old. I felt like Brain at the end of the episode, tired of all the sudden, tightly crammed age jokes that were completely absent from Rita when she was introduced and her personality shown.

Definitely not one of the best episodes, and among the ones I consider the worst.
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