Holy Crap

"Holy Crap" is the second episode of the second season of the American animated television series Family Guy, a holdover from the first season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 30, 1999.

The episode features Peter's devoutly religious, recently retired father Francis coming to visit, though he is intolerant of the others and makes life miserable for the rest of the Griffin family. Peter tries to bond with him, since Francis had always been neglectful, and when all else fails, he resorts to kidnapping the Pope to settle their conflict.

The episode was rated TV-14 (D) for suggestive dialogue.

Plot summary

Peter Griffin's devoutly Catholic father Francis is forced to retire from his job at the Pawtucket Mill, and moves in with him, though this brings trouble since he attacks Peter's wife Lois for being Protestant. Francis yells at his elder grandson, Chris, because he believes that he is masturbating in the bathroom when he is merely defecating. He makes his granddaughter, Meg, feel guilty for holding hands with a neighbor boy, and tells his younger grandson, Stewie, bedtime stories of the punishments that await sinners in Hell. Francis and his teachings to his grandchildren cause Chris to become convinced that defecation is a sin, while it makes Stewie become fascinated with God and his power to punish sinners.

Francis is bored by retirement and is soon hired at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory where Peter works; thanks to his excellent proficiency he is made foreman of the factory and fires Peter. Francis tells Peter he is a failure as a worker and a father, with this Peter gets tired of trying to please his father and at first does not know what to do, but then sees on the news that the Pope is visiting Boston. Peter decides to drive to Boston and "kidnap" the Pope so that he could tell Francis what a good father and person he is. Peter takes the Pope to his house; when Lois sees him she is terrified that Peter kidnapped him. Although he kidnapped him, the Pope agrees to tell Francis what a good person Peter is. Before they go, Peter fixes the problems Francis had created for his grandchildren; he tells Chris that what happens in the bathroom is between him and God, and to Meg that it is okay at her age to go out with boys, and tells Stewie about how loving God is.

Peter takes the Pope to the toy factory, where he tells Francis that Peter is a good man and father. After hearing this Francis accuses the Pope of being soft; the Pope takes great offense at Francis's claim and starts yelling at him, threatening to excommunicate him. Peter intervenes, and when he reveals he wanted his father's love, Francis says that albeit he doesn't like Peter's personality, he loves his son, and Peter reconciles with his father. Francis is forgiven by the Pope and is hired for a job as a security guard for his tour of the United States. At the end of the episode, Peter's mother shows up at the door and wishes to live with the family, prompting them to jump in an escape pod.

Production

Mike Henry acted as a staff writer for this episode.

"Holy Crap" was written by Danny Smith and directed by Neil Affleck. To help Smith were voice actor Mike Henry and Andrew Gormley who acted as staff writers for the episode, while Ricky Blitt, Chris Sheridan and Neil Goldman acted as story editors. To help Affleck direct were supervising directors Peter Shin and Roy Allen Smith.^[1]

The episode introduced the character, Francis Griffin, Peter's obsessively devout Irish Catholic father. Francis would return in future episodes of the series such as "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz," "Peter's Two Dads" and "Family Goy".^[2] In the episode and his subsequent appearances he is voiced by Charles Durning.^[2]

In an interview for UGO, Seth MacFarlane commented that he felt this episode was one of the edgiest episodes that the show had produced at the time.^[3] In reference to the season 3 episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", which was originally not broadcast on the Fox network because the producers thought it would be too offensive, MacFarlane said that "The episode we did with the Pope, I think, was a lot more offensive to Catholics than the Weinstein was to Jews. I think more of it had to do with internal politics".^[3]

In addition to the regular cast, drummer Andrew Gormley, voice actress Olivia Hack, actor Dwight Schultz and actress Florence Stanley guest starred.^[4] Recurring guest voice actress Lori Alan and writer David Zuckerman also made minor appearances.^[4]

Cultural references

The episode revolves around Peter kidnapping the Pope. Rosie O'Donnell and the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, which she starred in were referenced in the episode.^[5] While the Griffins are watching television a commercial for the advertising campaign Got Milk? is shown.^[5] In a cutaway Peter goes to Hell and sees Adolf Hitler, Al Capone, John Wilkes Booth, and Superman.^[5] When Peter realizes he raises a good family and doesn't care what his father thinks, he tells The Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman from The Wizard of Oz that they always had what they wanted.

Reception

Ahsan Haque of IGN rated the episode a 7.9 out of a possible 10, saying "As a whole, this episode was definitely an entertaining outing, but it's definitely not an unforgettable classic like some of the earlier episodes" and that "the majority of random jokes in this episode were simply not as funny they could have been. That being said, there are a couple of shock-worthy gems here that would make even the most jaded viewer smile".^[5]

References

• Callaghan, Steve. “Holy Crap.” Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 47–49.

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