Overview

As usual, “Boys & Squirrels” was neatly separated into two opposing narratives. However, it is clear which one garnered the most attention, and strangely, it wasn’t the one in which Peter’s height was doubled. But, at least for those of us with women, the payoff was fairly fantastic.

However, Stewie and Chris end up being the stars of the episode, which is understandable considering the title. But first, let’s take care of Peter. He has a new chainsaw when the episode starts, and like any man with a new toy, he uses it for everything, including butchering his sausages and buttering Stewie’s toast. He chops down a tree that eventually topples over him, breaking his arm, while looking for something else to saw through. He seeks assistance from a chiropractor, who realigns his back and repairs his arm while also stretching him to his true height, which is many feet taller than previously. There are several jokes to highlight this; for example, when he gets up, his head is out of the frame, and when he rides an amusement park ride, he kicks everyone watching with his dangling legs. However, eventually it gets to be too much of a hassle, and Lois suggests a solution: She, like all women, has the ability to chastise a man so strongly that he physically recoils. His entire body can fit on a pillow once she’s through.

Chris and Stewie acquire an orphaned squirrel as a pet as a result of Peter cutting down the tree, which they nurse back to health and raise as their own, treating it like a child (Family Guy might never get bored of intimating a weird relationship between these two.) The young boy develops quickly. They give it food and care, take pictures with it, and document each milestone—including its first steps—for social media. However, quite surprisingly, it takes its first steps outside and into the corridor, where Brian mutilates the unfortunate creature. (Whenever Family Guy remembers that Brian is a dog, it always comes as a surprise.)

Stewie and Chris react horribly to this development, but instead of blaming Brian, they point the finger at one another. They argue until only couples counseling is left as an option when Chris tries to clean up his shoebox bed (lots of jokes about therapy here, far too many to count.) Although it builds to a satisfying climax, it stubbornly maintains this season’s focus on Stewie and Chris’s strange relationship as well as Stewie’s strange pseudo-adult relationships with everyone and everything. Possibly, things will shift a little in the upcoming episode.