Family Guy Season 22 Episode 5 Review: Baby, It’s Cold Inside

Family Guy Season 22 Episode 5, “Baby, It’s Cold Inside,” is a somewhat disappointing, only intermittently funny outing of the long-running Seth MacFarlane-created series. 

This episode, written by Seth MacFarlane, David Zuckerman, and Danny Smith, is mostly forgettable and features characters doing things we’ve essentially seen them do before. 

Despite its best efforts, this fifth episode has very few laugh-out-loud or even amusing moments, and there are too many pop culture references.  

Family Guy’s characters are up to the same old tricks on this episode, which is good and bad.

Of course, it’s always good to see the writers staying true to the nature of the characters and their relationships with one another, as we see here when Peter messes up and makes Lois angry. They argue, and then she forgives him for some reason. 

However, on the flip side, this also means that there is no real character development — at least for Peter, whose behavior is pretty predictable on this episode. 

For example, it’s hardly surprising that Peter would forget his and Lois’ anniversary and even less surprising that he would try a myriad of ways to make it up to her. Just because Peter is often the goofiest character on the show doesn’t mean that he can’t surprise us or at least show us something new. 

We also see Joe continuing to bore (and annoy) his friends, which is in character but something we’ve come to expect that has become a tad redundant at this point. 

This episode also features a side plot involving Stewie embracing his inner college frat boy once he gets a mini-fridge — which works, in theory, but isn’t nearly as amusing or hilarious as it’s most likely intended to be. 

To be sure, Stewie’s various phases are entertaining just by their very nature, especially since this particular phase is one we haven’t seen before from him. 

But, perhaps the best (and funniest) gag is when we see a cruise ship that couldn’t dock because of COVID, and Peter’s enormous belly flop essentially sinks the ship. It’s a satirization of COVID that is still clever despite being a little dated. 

That said, there are probably one or two too many references to COVID-19 on this episode, which are sometimes distracting. 

Stewie and Brian are almost always good together and are easily one of the best pairings that Family Guy has ever offered its viewers. 

The cliffhanger ending featuring a frozen Stewie that pans to a class photo from 1923 refers to The Shining, and it’s unlikely that Stewie is dead. Although to be fair, the writers had no problem killing off Brian earlier in the series — albeit temporarily. 

Seeing Lois be the hero is amusing and different, and her punching a shark is fun to watch. Hopefully, we’ll get to see her embrace her role as “Alpha” some more. 

Chris is barely in the episode, although his popping up to act as an R.A. in Stewie’s supposed “dorm” is actually pretty amusing. 

Meg is absent, which is disappointing, as she was featured prominently earlier in the season, most notably in Family Guy Season 22 Episode 1, “Fertilized Megg.” 

This episode contains plenty of pop culture references, perhaps too many for its own good. Characters reference everything from Mad Magazine to Donald Sutherland to Saturday Night Live. 

The Saturday Night Live part goes on a bit too long, and although it’s funny in concept, it’s not nearly as amusing in the execution. 

There’s also a bit called “Danny DeVito and the Magic Mosquito,” which is meant to be funny but isn’t. This episode seems to go out of its way to satirize numerous celebrities, which is typical for Family Guy. Still, the plethora of them on this episode makes them somewhat distracting. 

While the Michael Douglas cutaway doesn’t work, the Chris Daughtry reference and cameo are mildly amusing. It’s always interesting when celebrities guest-star (either in voice or physical form) as themselves on this show, and this is no exception. 

A quick reference to the late Anne Heche is a bit tasteless, even for a show like Family Guy, which is unafraid to lambast anyone and anything. 

Perhaps the best cutaway, though — of which there are several — is when you see a nickel and other coins in a self-help group, which ends up being a fake promo for a new Pixar movie. Again, Family Guy is hardly afraid to make fun of anything (including a major studio like Disney), and it works in their favor here. 

Stray Observations:

• The writers should get props for going hard with its Armie Hammer baking powder and its sting at his alleged cannibalism. 
• After one argument between Lois and Peter, Brian claims this is the “most upset” he’s ever seen her, which is hard to believe, so Brian is either exaggerating or incorrect. 
• One funny gag is a cutaway at a sex party when Peter keeps forgetting the safe word — this is clearly among the raunchier moments of Family Guy.
• Lois mentions “all these years” that she and Peter have been together, but it’s unclear how many years they’ve actually been together. 

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 9:30/8:30c on Fox.

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