Family Guy Season 22 Episode 1 Review: Fertilized Megg

Family Guy Season 22 Episode 1, “Fertilized Megg,” is a disappointing mixed bag of some laughs, too many cutaways, and a fast-moving plot. 

This episode, written by Seth MacFarlane, David Zuckerman, and Maggie Mull, is one of the rare Meg-centric episodes, which is a good thing — except the pregnancy storyline is rushed. 

This first episode of Season 22 fails to live up to earlier episodes of the series, although it does have some amusing moments.  

“Fertilized Megg” decides to do things differently than typically expected from the long run of Family Guy. 

Unfortunately, the 9 months of Meg’s pregnancy go by too quickly. And sure, the episodes are short, but it would’ve been interesting to see her interact with others through all three trimesters.

As a character who’s often been the butt of jokes, it was refreshing to see her take center stage in this episode — and then disappointing when there’s little exploration of her feelings about the pregnancy. 

However, Dr. Hartman’s interactions with Meg at the hospital are in line with how he’s behaved in the past, and some of his lines are among the funniest in the episode. 

Peter’s initial reaction to Meg’s pregnancy stays true to who we know him to be, but this does lead to a rough take on abortion (using “top of the stairs” as a substitute). Although, the show has never been afraid to make jokes that others might find offensive. 

Then there is the strange choice to have Peter give meth a try which is used to showcase the passing of time. None of it makes much sense and adds to the rushed feeling we get from the episode overall.

It is, however, fun to see Peter bond with the newborn in ways that actually do make sense. 

This episode also features a new rivalry between Stewie and another baby, William. We’ve seen him have plenty of rivalries with schoolmates over the years, although this one is short-lived and hardly memorable. 

If the writers planned to introduce a new rival for Stewie, they should have had him show up more than once in the episode. 

Also, the cutaways in this episode include Stewie more than they usually do and include a Boston Tea Party shout-out. It’s usually amusing seeing Stewie in cutaways, but there seem to be too many in an episode that’s barely 20 minutes long. 

In addition, most of Stewie’s bits in this episode just don’t land. There’s an especially irritating joke about “sush” (aka sushi) that is repeated to excess and just isn’t funny. 

Brian is barely in the episode, and hopefully, he will make more of an appearance in future episodes this season, as he’s often the relatively sound voice of reason. 

As we’ve seen throughout the long run of Family Guy, the Griffin family dynamics are odd, to say the least. In this episode, Lois actually says, “We’re all disgusting, and that’s what family is.” 

That line is probably the best one in the episode, and kind of summarizes the Griffins’ relationships to one another. 

Lois enjoying being a so-called “GILF” and a “hot grandma” is easily one of the highlights of the episode. Even when she’s not in the main plot, Alex Bornstein’s strong vocal performance is always committed to whatever hijinks in which the character is involved. 

There’s a moment when there’s noticeable hair on Lois’ upper lip, and this is mentioned quickly. It’s always a bit jarring to see the character looking different, even slightly so, which makes this bit memorable, if strange. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the episode isn’t all that memorable and is probably one of the more forgettable ones in recent years. This is a shame because the central plot revolving around Meg could have been more interesting than it turned out to be. 

This episode contains plenty of one-liners and short bits that sometimes land and sometimes don’t — after all, humor is subjective — which is often the case with Family Guy in recent years. 

We do get a couple of old-fashioned cartoon effects, including a clever riff on The Flintstones accompanied by the text “legally acceptable sound-alike.” Peter’s exclamation does pop up twice in the episode, which is always good to see. 

The show is often at its most interesting when showing meta and/or self-aware moments such as these. 

Family Guy has never really shied away from poking fun at — often directly — celebrities, politicians, and current events. On this episode, the show makes fun of Lindsay Graham, Jennifer Aniston, and others. 

These digs are often so quick that they’re easy to miss, and the way they’re incorporated into the characters’ dialogue isn’t organic. Sure, the show is often random, but the jokes should at least make sense in context, which they don’t always. 

Stray Observations:

• Peter has a Marilyn Monroe moment, which leads to Joe annoying his friends with his trivia knowledge; it’s something we’ve seen before, but the bit goes on for too long (as is often the case with Family Guy). 
• There’s also a shout-out to Young Sheldon, which is not surprising, as Family Guy often references other shows.
• Dr. Hartman mentions an “implantation cannon,” which is unfortunately not shown but should have been.  
• Stewie doing a cutaway just so he could “watch the show” that a character was easily the best use of a cutaway in this episode; it’s a unique interpretation of the concept the show has incorporated for years. 

What did you think of this episode of Family Guy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Family Guy airs Sundays at 9:30 p.m. on Fox.

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