A Fish Out of Water | |
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Season 3, Episode 10 | |
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Air date | October 25, 2000 |
Episode Guide | |
Previous Mr. Saturday Knight |
Next The Fat Man and the Sea |
A Fish Out of Water is the tenth episode of the third season of Family Guy. It is the fifty-first episode, overall.
Synopsis[]
Peter pursues his dream job as a fisherman.
Plot[]
Jobless, unmotivated, and depressed, Peter becomes morbidly obese. On a "walk" on the docks assisted by Brian and a forklift, he meets resolves to lose the weight and become a fisherman. Joe takes Peter to a police seized-property auction, where Peter buys a boat for $50,000; he names the boat “S.S. More Powerful Than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the Incredible Hulk Put Together”.
To pay for the vessel, Peter takes out a dubious loan from Jim's Bank, with his house and possessions as collateral. The bank is so certain that Peter will default on the loan that they sell the house to another family and repossess his furniture before the payment deadline arrives. Peter must raise $50,000 before the imminent deadline or his house and furniture will be permanently taken away from him.
Unfortunately, Peter's new fishing career does not prove successful. His boss Hennessey O'Callaghan didn't like Peter and didn't want to work with him, as he's already got enough fishermen working for him and that Peter was nothing special and that he didn't want to pay another basic fisherman just for doing the same things everyone else has already been doing, so he thought of sneaky ways to trick him into failing his job. He tricks him with a "good fishing spot" at 42 degrees North, 71 degrees West (which likely references Sharon, Massachusetts, a town with a high Jewish population). Peter ends up crushing a clown at a child's bar mitzvah. He also bribed a fisherman to use a sign at Griffin's fish stand to tell people that Peter had sex with the fish he catches.
As it seems hopeless, Hennessey eventually told Peter while he was thinking of ways to make money that there was a legendary man-eating fish called Daggermouth that had a $50,000 reward. Despite Seamus' warnings and Hennessey himself swearing Peter would never catch it, Peter decides to go anyway, with Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe accompanying him on his quest.
Meanwhile, Lois takes Meg to go on spring break to a local spa, but Meg herself would rather be at the Narragansett Beach where the rest of her school is spending the break. Lois tries to oblige by driving her there (though Meg was not meaning for Lois to be there with her). But the morning they arrive, Lois lets her wild side from her younger years get the better of her and, much to Meg’s annoyance and chagrin, fits in better with the teenage party crowd than Meg does. In a moment of exuberance, Meg accidentally flashes her breasts, but both she and Lois are quickly arrested. They escape from the police car and while returning home, Lois apologizes to Meg for her arrogant and immature behavior, admitting that if she may have ruined the experience for her by having more fun amongst her classmates when Meg should have been the one enjoying herself. Suddenly, a car full of spring breakers Connie D'Amico and her friends pull alongside them, honking and yelling. They are not cheering for Lois, as it first appears, but for Meg. Meg obliges them by flashing again.
Peter and his friends manage to track the legendary fish to his lair, where they discover that Daggermouth is in fact a robotic fish created to generate a demand for merchandise, and its creator, Salty, is in talks with Nickelodeon for a TV series with Daggermouth. In exchange for his silence, Salty gives Peter $50,000. Peter promptly pays off the loan and buys back his furniture. Later, near the end, Lois and Peter are seen watching Daggermouth and Boom Boom on Nickelodeon. The episode ends with Peter saying "Good night, Lois. Good night, Jim and Abby" (the last two being members of the other family).
Characters[]
Major Roles[]
- Peter Griffin
- Lois Griffin
- Meg Griffin
- Seamus Levine
- Hennessey O'Callaghan
- Joe Swanson
- Cleveland Brown
- Glenn Quagmire
- Daggermouth
- Santos
- Pasquel
- Connie D'amico
Minor Roles[]
- Chris Griffin
- Stewie Griffin
- Brian Griffin
- Jim Stevenson
- Abby Stevenson
- Mark Stevenson
- Mary Stevenson
- Tom Tucker
- Jake Tucker
- Principal Shepherd
- Gina Resedes
- Scott
- Doug
- Jim Kaplan
- Billy Finn
- Salty
- Boom Boom
- Spuds MacKenzie
- The Stevensons
- Mordecai the Dancing Yiddish Clown
- Harelip Steve
- Carson Daly
- Bernard Shaw
Quotes[]
- Peter: There she is, boys, the S.S. More powerful than Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and the Incredible Hulk put together.
- Peter: I heard that one of Shannen Doherty's eyes is off center because it's trying to escape.
- Jake Tucker: [about Peter] What's that, Daddy?
- Tom Tucker: That's Mercury, Jake. The planet closest to the sun. What it's doing down here by the wharf, I haven't the foggiest. We should probably ask a scientist...
- Peter: I'm a guy, you jackass!
- [After Peter wins the boat at a police auction]
- Seamus: The last captain of that vessel lost his life. And it weren't no accident! His name was Salty. And he was devoured by Daggermouth, the man-eating blowfish. You want to buy that boat? Go ahead. But don't expect me to fish your dead body from an angry sea that gave you fair warning.
- Peter: Are you up for bids, too? You are just precious.
- [As Peter sails off, a fisherman walks up to Hennessey]
- Fisherman: Hey sir, is that the new fisherman?
- Hennessey: Yeah, his name's Peter. But he'll soon not be, cause I'm getting that man fired.
- Fisherman: But, why?
- Hennessey: Because I don't need Peter! I already got enough fishermen working for me and that man is nothing special. I don't wanna pay another basic-ass fisherman for doing the same things everyone else is doing.
- [After Peter crashes into a boat which kills a clown at a Bar Mitzvah]
- Boy: Papa, he killed Mordecai the Dancing Yiddish Clown!
- Father: Stop crying! You just became a man. Now, act like one!
- Brian: Peter, did you read the fine print on this loan contract?
- Peter: If by "read" you mean "imagined a naked lady," then yes.
- Spring Break Guy: Hey, did you hear what happened to the dude from UMass? He got so drunk, he fell off his hotel balcony! He's in a coma!
- Spring Break Guy #2: Oh, man! I want to party with him!
- Chris: [answers the phone] Good evening. Stevenson residence.
- Lois: Chris, honey, we've been over this a thousand times. It's pronounced "Griffin."
- Peter: How am I gonna come up with $50,000 by tomorrow?
- Quagmire: Well, you could whore yourself out to 1,000 fat chicks for $50 apiece. Or 50 really fat chicks for $1,000. What? Don't look at me like that. Fat chicks need love, too. But they got to pay.
- Quagmire: So, were you like, in an accident, or what?
- Seamus: No. Me father was a tree.
- Salty: And now I'm gonna give you $50,000 to be on your way.
- Peter: $50,000? For What?
- Salty: To keep your mouth shut. And because the longer we stay here, the more people'll question how a fisherman with no engineering background managed to build a sophisticated talking fish robot.
- Announcer: And now, back to Daggermouth and Boom Boom on Nickelodeon.
- Daggermouth: Boom Boom, did you do your exercises today?
- Boom Boom: Yes. I did 20 laps. And I'm about to do 20 more! [licks Daggermouth's milk bowl]
- Daggermouth: Oh, you! [Takes out a gun]
- Boom Boom: Yipes! [Both run out the door; cut to Lois and Peter]
- Lois: Oh, Peter, I'm so glad being a fisherman is working out for you. You know I gotta admit I half expected to come home, and all our stuff would be gone, and we'd owe somebody a whole lot of money.
- Peter: How can you "half expect" something?
- Lois: I don't know. It's just a turn of phrase.
- Peter: How do you "turn a phrase"?
- Lois: God, you're dumb! Thank God for that ass! Now, come here and kiss me. (Peter does so) Good night, honey.
- Peter: Good night, Lois. Good night, Jim and Abby. [Camera pans out to reveal Jim and Abby in bed with Lois and Peter]
- Jim & Abby: Good night.
- (After when the lights are out, We hear Abby blowing raspberries on Peter's belly)
- Peter: [laughing] Not now, Abby.
- Jim: A jackal! Jackal! It's a jackal! It looks like a jackal! Jackal? Jackal! It's a jackal! Jackal?
- Abby: Time!
- Stewie: It wasn't right the first time you said it, why the hell would it be right the next ten times?! God!
Trivia[]
- Starting from this episode until "The Perfect Castaway", Peter works as a fisherman for a Small Fishing Business on his boat the S.S. More Powerful Than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the Incredible Hulk Put Together.
- This episode marks the first appearances of Seamus Levine, the man with wooden limbs, Hennessey O'Callaghan, the owner of the fishing company Peter works at, and Santos & Pasquel, the Portuguese migrant workers that work for Peter.
- When Seamus is talking about how hard it was to see Daggermouth, he says one of the reasons was that it was the hour that his glasses were at Lenscrafters.
- Meg is seen reading the book The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Lois would later give her a copy of the same book in "Stew-Roids".
- There is a punk band from Vancouver, Canada called Daggermouth who are named after the robotic fish in this episode.[1]
- Alfonso Ribeiro moves the furniture out of the Griffins' house. He was introduced when Peter asked him if he was on Silver Spoons and Alfonso replies that he was. He also played Carlton in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
- MTV, CNN, and VH1 each had a Spring Break show at some point in their histories.
- When Peter, Cleveland, Joe and Quagmire are talking about which of any woman they could have in the world if they were not married, Joe chooses Mariel Hemingway, Cleveland chooses Margaret Thatcher, Peter chooses “the chick from Total Recall with the three knockers,” and Quagmire chooses Taylor Hanson, but freaks out when Peter and Joe reveal that Taylor Hanson is a male.
- In reality, Lois could not have exited the back seat of a police car for there are no handles. Inside back door handles of squad cars are removed so that prisoners cannot escape.
- When Tom Green is sucking the udder of a cow, the cow has six udders. Cows have four udders.
- Spuds MacKenzie is shown in the episode. In reality, Spuds MacKenzie died in 1993.
Cultural References[]
- A flashback shows Peter stranded on a raft, talking to a volley ball is a parody of the 2000 film Cast Away. He is yelling at the ball saying, "Wilson! Wilson! What are we gonna' do now!?". The volleyball shouts back, "My name is Voit, dumbass!" This is a reference to the Voit Corporation, another sporting goods company.
- Lois tells Meg “up your nose with a rubber hose,” the Sweathogs’ catch phrase from the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
- In Stewie’s imagination, Peter spontaneously combusts, a reference to Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House.
- A cutaway shows Peter using a katana to save Quagmire, Joe and Cleveland, who have just been sodomized by two men. This is a reference to a scene in the film Pulp Fiction.
- The man with elongated arms who eggs on the gang to find Daggermouth is from Monty Python’s 1983 film The Meaning of Life.
Season 3 | ||||||||
#01 | Brian Does Hollywood | #02 | Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington | #03 | Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater | |||
#04 | Peter Griffin's All-Stars | #05 | One if by Clam, Two if by Sea | #06 | And the Wiener Is ... | |||
#07 | Blind Ambition | #08 | Breaking Out is Hard to Do | #09 | Mr. Saturday Knight | |||
#10 | A Fish Out of Water | #11 | The Fat Man and the Sea | #12 | A Cheater Runs Through It | |||
#13 | A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas | #14 | From Method to Madness | #15 | Model Misbehavior | |||
#16 | The Fat Guy Strangler | #17 | I Take Thee Quagmire | #18 | Death Lives | |||
#19 | Ready, Willing, and Disabled | #20 | Brian Wallows, Peter Swallows | #21 | Family Guy Viewer Mail #1 |