Take a Letter (Family Guy)

"Take a Letter" is the seventeenth episode of the fourteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 266th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on April 17, 2016, and is written by Kevin Biggins and directed by John Holmquist.^[1] In the episode, Lois becomes a postal worker to pay for Stewie's education while Peter runs into his old girlfriend.

Plot

Lois wishes to relocate Stewie to another pre-school, due to his current one's selling of dog milk. She plans having him sent to Corridors, a pricey prestige pre-school. At the United States Post Office, where Cleveland now works at, Lois gives him a letter of recommendation to a new school. She wishes to have a new job due to the savings she needs for Stewie's new school, so she accepts Cleveland's offer to work at the post office. After Cleveland shows her the ropes, she receives an unbalanced letter to Hollywood from Mayor Adam West. Cleveland tells her to put it in a randomly piled up letter bin full of other stale letters. She starts to organize the photos, but discovers a letter Peter sent to a girl named Gretchen Mercer, dated a week prior to their wedding day. Her curiosity piqued, she steals the letter and brings it home, where Bonnie tells her to come into contact with Gretchen. She finds her address and sees that Gretchen is a beautiful woman, and learns that she used to date Peter. Gretchen reads the letter and tells Lois that it's just some random thing Peter sent to her, making Lois relieved.

Meanwhile, Stewie has successfully gained attendance at Corridors and befriends a rich kid named Chadley, who offers him a playdate at his house, which Stewie accepts. Stewie is impressed at his bedroom, but his new friend presumes that he lives in a mansion, too. Stewie, wishing to please Chadley, falsely claims that he does have a mansion. He comes to Brian for help, and they use a mansion of an arrogant television pitchman that's on vacation to pass off as Stewie's own, since Carter and Babs Pewterschmidt are throwing an Eyes Wide Shut weekend at his mansion. Chadley comes and is impressed by the mansion so much, to the point where Stewie decides to throw a party and invite the entire school so he can impress them all simultaneously.

Gretchen later shows up at Peter's doorstep, much to his surprise (and later to his shock), when she says that she wants to marry him due to the letter's actual statement of his doubts on marrying Lois, and threatens to tell Lois that he was in love with her before their wedding. At a coffee shop, Peter tries to convince Gretchen that he is happily married to Lois, and Gretchen apparently understands, but asks him to come to a Ray LaMontagne concert with her that evening as a last activity, and Peter reluctantly accepts. At the concert, he regrets his decision and leaves as a "beard inspector" shows up. Gretchen at first accepts, but the angry look on her face proves otherwise.

During Stewie's speech at the party, the television pitchman returns from his vacation and throws them out. Stewie tells Chadley and the displeased kids that he wanted Chadley to think he was rich. Chadley tells Stewie that he isn't upset that he isn't rich, but is upset over his deception and that he isn't rich. After Chadley and the kids leave, Stewie tells Brian that he doesn't need cash to make it in life. However, the television pitchman of the mansion comes out and says that Chadley left his wallet. Stewie and Brian get greedy, but a sound Stewie makes convinces the owner that he isn't Chadley.

Gretchen attempts to kill Lois and texts Peter about "their problem," but soon learns of the true meaning of the text, thanks to Meg. He tries to stop Gretchen, who tells Lois that she lied about the letter, and hands it to her. When she reads it, she is confused on why Peter would send Gretchen a letter about having doubts. Peter admits that he was afraid, since Lois' family hates him along with other stuff. Lois tells Gretchen that she can have Peter and walks off coldly, much to Peter's disappointment and Gretchen's elation. Lois comes back and hits her with a banister, telling Peter that she lied so Gretchen would let her guard down, and confesses to Peter that she had cold feet on their wedding day, but still loves him nonetheless. Peter and Lois reconcile and decide to do intercourse between mail slots, which fails as Lois can't feel Peter's penis.

At the Griffins' house, Lois reveals to the family that she was fired on account of assaulting Gretchen on federal property and the intercourse through the mail slots upon Chris commenting about it. Brian laments that Stewie can't enroll at Corridors anymore since Lois lost her job. Stewie tells him that he can do fine without school by expressing an interest in becoming a YouTube sensation, and lists a bunch of internet celebrities who got rich like Jenna Marbles, Ray William Johnson, Bethany Mota, Marcus Butler, and Ingrid Nilsen. Brian doesn't know who they are. Stewie then closes out the episode by breaking the fourth wall by tapping the Fox bug on the screen and saying to Brian "this, this is over."

Reception

The episode received an audience of 2.93 million, making it the most watched show on Fox that night.^[2]

References