Road to India (Family Guy)
"Road to India" | |
---|---|
Family Guy episode | |
Episode no. | Season 14 Episode 20 |
Directed by | Greg Colton |
Written by | Danny Smith |
Production code | DACX18 |
Original air date | May 22, 2016 |
Guest appearances | |
Barkhad Abdi as Abduwali Muse Aseem Batra as Ranita Jay Chandrasekhar Cary Elwes Lucas Grabeel Rob Huebel as Executive Anil Kapoor as himself Dan Nainan as Jeb Bush Russell Peters as Padma's Father Sendhil Ramamurthy Sheetal Sheth as Padma, Tapeworm Kabir "Kabeezy" Singh Amir Talai | |
"Road to India" is the twentieth and final episode of the fourteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 269th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on May 22, 2016, and is written by Danny Smith and directed by Greg Colton.[1] The episode is the eighth and most recent in the series of Road to... episodes.
In the episode,
Plot
Brian's computer freezes up and he calls technical support for assistance, where he becomes attracted to an employee named Padma and begins telling her lies to impress her. When Brian wishes to start a relationship with Padma, Stewie tells him that it is doomed since she is in India. Nonetheless, Brian travels to India to meet her, accompanied by Stewie. They go to tech support and find Padma. After spending time together, she invites him and Stewie to her family's home.
When they arrive, Brian and Stewie find that she is arranged to be married to a man named Dhiraj, much to Brian's surprise. Padma unexpectedly calls off the marriage by expressing her love for Brian, which makes her family upset, especially her father who had already paid a large dowry. Brian works to make money to pay back the dowry. He and Stewie first start by doing a roadside service that extracts tapeworms from people through snake charming, before Brian goes on Kaun Banega Crorepati to acquire the money; this ends badly when Brian is asked his first question by Anil Kapoor on the subject of cricket and gets it wrong, losing the game. When Brian meets up with Padma, he learns that her father did not need the dowry money back as her younger sister married Dhiraj, but that Padma does not want to marry him because of his lack of knowledge on India and the fact that they have very little in common. Brian is furious at being rejected after travelling such a long distance for her, but she tells him that she will always love him, because by travelling all the way to India for her, he saved her from a lifetime of unhappiness. She kisses him on the cheek just before she leaves. Brian tries to tell a disagreeing Stewie that it was the journey that mattered.
Meanwhile, Joe visits the Griffins and invites
The episode ends with Anil Kapoor, the Indian audience, Padma and her family, the Griffin family, Joe, and minor characters singing and dancing the closing musical number while dressed in Indian clothing. When Brian joins in on the musical number, he is attacked and mauled by a Bengal tiger as Stewie orders everyone to keep dancing.
Production
"Road to India" is the eighth episode of the series'
Cultural references
English playwright William Shakespeare is seen taking a walk in one of the cutaways, receiving homophobic abuse for wearing a ruff.[6] In another, Peter competes in a "Tori Spelling Bee", spelling disparaging words about the actress.[6] The wedding of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow is seen in another cutaway, where the minister concludes the service by saying "I now pronounce you pretentious and terrible".[6] Peter explains that he is speaking incoherently after drinking four Ensure health drinks.[7]
Stewie refers to India as "where The Beatles came to ruin their music", and a local queries the two Americans on why director Wes Anderson came there to make his "worst movie", The Darjeeling Limited.[6] After a bad pun on New Delhi as New Deli by Stewie, the four-armed elephant-headed deity Ganesha plays a sting.[6]
Reception
"Road to India" scored a 1.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic, and was watched by 2.59 million viewers, making it Fox's highest-rated show of the night.[8]
The episode received mixed reviews. Jesse Schedeen of
However, Lisa Babick of TV Fanatic called the episode "hilarious from beginning to end", despite stating that she would have preferred an episode without a sub-plot. She found some jokes, including the Jeb Bush one, "incredibly ridiculous, but it was hard not to laugh". On a joke about Indians being shut down by pressing on their bindis, she judged that "I am ashamed to say I could not stop laughing at that scene. It was the most culturally offensive thing ever, but it was funny as hell".[7]
Writing for TV Equals, Mark Trammell found the Indian clichés funny despite their stereotypical nature, and the Bollywood-style musical finalé "admittedly a lot of fun".[6]
References
- ^ "FAMILY GUY 05/22/16 9:00pm | FOX Broadcasting Company". Fox.com. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
- ^ "Family Guy – Road to the Multiverse – Cast and Crew". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
- ^ Colton, Greg; Wild, Wellesley; MacFarlane, Seth (2009-09-27). "Road to the Multiverse". Family Guy. Season 08. Episode 01. Fox.
- ^ Writers: Danny Smith, Director: Greg Colton (22 May 2016). "Roads to Vegas". Family Guy. Fox.
- ^ Writers: Danny Smith, Chris Sheridan, Director: Greg Colton (12 December 2010). "Road to the North Pole". Family Guy. Fox.
- ^ a b c d e f Trammell, Mark (May 23, 2016). "'Family Guy' Season 14 Finale: "Road to India"". TV Equals. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
- ^ a b Babick, Lisa (May 23, 2016). "Family Guy Season 14 Episode 20 Review: Road to India". TV Fanatic. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
- ^ Porter, Rick (May 24, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: Billboard Awards, 'Simpsons' finale, 'Undercover Boss' adjust up; 'AFV' and 'Bordertown' finales adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 25, 2016. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
- ^ Schedeen, Jesse (May 23, 2016). "FAMILY GUY: "ROAD TO INDIA" REVIEW". IGN. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
External links
- "Road to India" at IMDb