Lois Comes Out of Her Shell

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"Lois Comes Out of Her Shell"
Family Guy episode
Episode no.Season 11
Episode 6
Directed by Joe Vaux
Written by Danny Smith
Featured music
Production codeAACX05
Original air dateNovember 25, 2012 (2012-11-25)
Guest appearances

Uncredited:

Episode chronology
 Previous
"Joe's Revenge"
Next 
"Friends Without Benefits"
Family Guy season 11
List of episodes

"Lois Comes Out of Her Shell" is the sixth episode of the eleventh season and the 194th episode overall of the animated comedy series Family Guy . It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 25, 2012. It was written by Danny Smith and directed by Joe Vaux. In the episode, Lois has a midlife crisis leaving Peter desperately trying to keep up with her. Meanwhile, Stewie adopts a turtle from the park, but the turtle is determined to kill Stewie.

Contents

Plot

Lois is not looking forward to her 43rd birthday due to age insecurity, but Brian suggests throwing her a surprise party. After Peter reads a poem that lowers Lois’s spirits even further, she begins to suffer a midlife crisis and decides to turn her life around by adopting a younger lifestyle, including longer hair, after a makeover and shopping trip. Lois’s new lifestyle causes conflict for Peter, who is unsure about the changes but enjoys aspects of her new persona. However, her behavior soon begins to wear on him. When Peter becomes tired at a party, he dampens Lois’s mood, prompting her to leave and party with younger women instead.

Back home, Brian points out to Peter that Lois is behaving this way because of the poem he read to her. A television report about Justin Bieber later shows Lois spending time with the teenage girls. Lois sneaks into the concert intending to seduce Bieber, but Peter interrupts and beats him up. When Peter demands that Lois come home and act her age, she refuses, citing his earlier comments. Peter apologizes and admits that he loves Lois for who she is. When Bieber is called back onstage, Peter is forced to substitute "Conway Bieber".

Meanwhile, Stewie finds a turtle in a pond at a park and takes him home as a pet, naming him Sheldon. Sheldon seeks revenge for being removed from his natural environment by attempting to ruin Stewie’s life. After several close encounters, Stewie grows suspicious. Sheldon’s revenge plot is revealed late one night, and Stewie flushes him down the toilet. When Sheldon survives and returns for further revenge, Stewie discovers Rupert’s head and a stranger’s head in boxes and vows to get even with him. Sheldon later bursts into Stewie’s room for a final confrontation. Stewie nearly loses the fight until Mario appears, jumps on Sheldon, and kills him, explaining that although his life of jumping on turtles is no longer exciting, it is something he must continue doing.

Reception

The episode received a 2.9 rating and was watched by a total of 5.77 million people, making it the second most watched show on Animation Domination that night, beating The Cleveland Show and Bob's Burgers but losing to The Simpsons with 7.46 million. [1] The episode was met with mixed reviews from critics. Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B−, reviewing it as having telegraphed plot developments and typical sitcom themes, but nonetheless superior to previous episodes' lack of structure and joke execution. [2] Carter Dotson of TV Fanatic gave the episode three and a half stars out of five, commenting positively on the coherence of the plot and the Conway Bieber gag, but with "some misgivings about just how genuine this episode’s newfound heart was." [3]

References

  1. Bibel, Sarah. "Sunday Final Ratings: 'Once Upon a Time', 'Family Guy' & 'The Cleveland Show' Adjusted Up; 'The Good Wife' & '60 Minutes' Adjusted Down". Zap2it. Tv by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012.
  2. McFarland, Kevin (November 26, 2012). "Family Guy: "Lois Comes Out Of Her Shell"". Avclub.com. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  3. "Family Guy Review: Conway Bieber & The Old Pack Mule". TV Fanatic. November 26, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2014.

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