McStroke
Encyclopedia
"McStroke" is the eighth episode of season six of the FOX
animated series Family Guy
, which originally aired on January 13, 2008. The title is a play on McDonald's
terminology of putting "Mc" in front of common words. It guest stars Ricardo Montalbán
as a genetically engineered cow
.
This was the first new episode of the show in more than a month due to the writers’ strike and was the last episode to air without Seth MacFarlane's permission (the strike ended on February 12, 2008, four weeks after this episode first aired). On the DVD commentary, Seth MacFarlane stated that the producers tweaked the episode after the strike.
's mail, Peter
discovers a magazine
about mustaches. This fascinates Peter, who decides to grow a mustache himself, and then has an obsession about it. Later, Peter and Brian stop at an Italian deli where Peter attempts to speak Italian to the hairy guy behind the counter. This fails miserably as the guy asks Peter to leave in Italian. After the deli scene, while walking down the street, he sees that the local fast food
restaurant McBurgertown (Parody of McDonald's
and possibly Burger King
) is on fire. The mustachioed firemen
recruit Peter to help because of his mustache. Peter enters the blaze and saves a man (who is revealed to be the owner of the restaurant) trapped inside at the cost of having his mustache being burned off.
When Lois comes into the kitchen wondering where Brian is, she realizes that Peter had taped Brian to his face as a replacement mustache until his mustache grows back. Shortly thereafter, the owner of McBurgertown comes to the Griffins' home and wants to offer Peter a lifetime supply of hamburger
s as a reward for his heroism. Peter takes off Brian (his replacement mustache) and accepts this offer, but after eating 30 burgers in one sitting, he suffers a severe stroke
that paralyzes the entire left side of his body. Three months later, after constant suffering from doing simple, everyday tasks, he gives stem cell research a try, which completely heals him in five minutes, causing him to question why the Government doesn't fund the research.
Peter blames McBurgertown for the stroke (despite the fact that he ate 30 burgers that caused the stroke, stated by Brian) and tries to sue the franchise, but loses, due to the McBurgertown franchise having so many lawyers. Not wanting to give up, he brings Brian along and infiltrates the company headquarters to find incriminating evidence and expose it to the public, There they discover a secret slaughterhouse
filled with cows, one of which has the ability to talk (voiced by Ricardo Montalbán
), explaining the evils the company has committed against his species. Realizing this is the evidence Peter's looking for, Brian suggests that he and Peter release this cow and have him give testimony about the atrocities. They do so after escaping the security guards in a comical Monkees-like fashion (set to the song "Pleasant Valley Sunday
" by the Monkees.) Later, as the cow gives his testimony to the public, the McBurgertown franchise is left in ruins for good. At that point, the cow thanks Peter for his help to ensure a better future for his species, but the Griffins are faced with the problem of keeping the cow now that he has nowhere else to go.
Meanwhile, Stewie
complains about the teen drama
s on TV, saying that anyone can become popular. So he and Brian wager that Stewie can disguise himself as a high-schooler
and become the most popular kid in less than a week. Taking on the name "Zac Sawyer", he starts hanging out with Connie D'Amico and her friends and easily wins them over with his cool antics, thus winning his bet with Brian. Connie and Zac drive to Anal Point to have sex, but when Zac takes off his pants, Connie laughs at the size of his penis
and drives off. The next day at school, he is ostracised by the popular kids for his "baby penis", ending his reign of popularity. Realizing that Connie was the one who revealed this to everyone, Zac asks Connie for one last kiss. Connie accepts, but when Connie's eyes are closed, Stewie angrily takes off his clothes and kisses her, making her look like a paedophile, thus having Connie arrested by school security in revenge for ending his reign of popularity. The song he walks away to is "Hurricane
" by Bob Dylan
.
quote.
called the episode "very haphazard" and wrote that there were only "a couple of solid gags sprinkled throughout". She graded "McStroke" C-. Ahsan Haque of IGN
praised the episode, saying that it "turns out to be much more entertaining than one would expect" and grading it 8.8 out of 10.
The Parents Television Council
, a frequent critic of the show, condemned it as the "Worst TV Show of the Week" for January 25, 2008. The central point of criticism concerned the subplot involving Stewie and Connie D'Amico.
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
animated series Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, which originally aired on January 13, 2008. The title is a play on McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
terminology of putting "Mc" in front of common words. It guest stars Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
as a genetically engineered cow
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
.
This was the first new episode of the show in more than a month due to the writers’ strike and was the last episode to air without Seth MacFarlane's permission (the strike ended on February 12, 2008, four weeks after this episode first aired). On the DVD commentary, Seth MacFarlane stated that the producers tweaked the episode after the strike.
Plot summary
While looking through ClevelandCleveland Brown
Cleveland Orenthal Brown is a character from the animated television series Family Guy, and its spin-off series The Cleveland Show. He is voiced by Mike Henry. In the first seven seasons of Family Guy, Brown is a frequently recurring character. As one of Peter Griffin's neighbors and friends,...
's mail, Peter
Peter Griffin
Peter Griffin is a fictional character and the protagonist of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarch of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998....
discovers a magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
about mustaches. This fascinates Peter, who decides to grow a mustache himself, and then has an obsession about it. Later, Peter and Brian stop at an Italian deli where Peter attempts to speak Italian to the hairy guy behind the counter. This fails miserably as the guy asks Peter to leave in Italian. After the deli scene, while walking down the street, he sees that the local fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
restaurant McBurgertown (Parody of McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
and possibly Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
) is on fire. The mustachioed firemen
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
recruit Peter to help because of his mustache. Peter enters the blaze and saves a man (who is revealed to be the owner of the restaurant) trapped inside at the cost of having his mustache being burned off.
When Lois comes into the kitchen wondering where Brian is, she realizes that Peter had taped Brian to his face as a replacement mustache until his mustache grows back. Shortly thereafter, the owner of McBurgertown comes to the Griffins' home and wants to offer Peter a lifetime supply of hamburger
Hamburger
A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...
s as a reward for his heroism. Peter takes off Brian (his replacement mustache) and accepts this offer, but after eating 30 burgers in one sitting, he suffers a severe stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
that paralyzes the entire left side of his body. Three months later, after constant suffering from doing simple, everyday tasks, he gives stem cell research a try, which completely heals him in five minutes, causing him to question why the Government doesn't fund the research.
Peter blames McBurgertown for the stroke (despite the fact that he ate 30 burgers that caused the stroke, stated by Brian) and tries to sue the franchise, but loses, due to the McBurgertown franchise having so many lawyers. Not wanting to give up, he brings Brian along and infiltrates the company headquarters to find incriminating evidence and expose it to the public, There they discover a secret slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
filled with cows, one of which has the ability to talk (voiced by Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
), explaining the evils the company has committed against his species. Realizing this is the evidence Peter's looking for, Brian suggests that he and Peter release this cow and have him give testimony about the atrocities. They do so after escaping the security guards in a comical Monkees-like fashion (set to the song "Pleasant Valley Sunday
Pleasant Valley Sunday
"Pleasant Valley Sunday" is a song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, most famous for the version recorded by The Monkees in 1967. Goffin's and King's inspiration for the name was a street named , in West Orange, New Jersey where they were living at the time. The road follows a valley through several...
" by the Monkees.) Later, as the cow gives his testimony to the public, the McBurgertown franchise is left in ruins for good. At that point, the cow thanks Peter for his help to ensure a better future for his species, but the Griffins are faced with the problem of keeping the cow now that he has nowhere else to go.
Meanwhile, Stewie
Stewie Griffin
Stewie Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy. Once obsessed with world domination and matricide, Stewie is the youngest child of Peter and Lois Griffin, and the brother of Chris and Meg....
complains about the teen drama
Teen drama
A teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s...
s on TV, saying that anyone can become popular. So he and Brian wager that Stewie can disguise himself as a high-schooler
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
and become the most popular kid in less than a week. Taking on the name "Zac Sawyer", he starts hanging out with Connie D'Amico and her friends and easily wins them over with his cool antics, thus winning his bet with Brian. Connie and Zac drive to Anal Point to have sex, but when Zac takes off his pants, Connie laughs at the size of his penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
and drives off. The next day at school, he is ostracised by the popular kids for his "baby penis", ending his reign of popularity. Realizing that Connie was the one who revealed this to everyone, Zac asks Connie for one last kiss. Connie accepts, but when Connie's eyes are closed, Stewie angrily takes off his clothes and kisses her, making her look like a paedophile, thus having Connie arrested by school security in revenge for ending his reign of popularity. The song he walks away to is "Hurricane
Hurricane (song)
"Hurricane" is a protest song by Bob Dylan co-written with Jacques Levy, about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It compiles alleged acts of racism and profiling against Carter, which Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction....
" by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
.
Cultural references
During the fire at the restaurant, where Peter loses his moustache, the fire helmets say "57" on them in a badge that is shaped like a Heinz ketchup label, referring to the "57 varieties" referred to in the brand's promotions. In the same scene, Peter says "with great moustache comes great responsibility," paraphrasing a well known Spider-ManSpider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
quote.
Critical reception
Brad Trechak of TV Squad wrote that there were "hints of really good ideas in the episode but those were superseded by some hack writing and poorly executed material" and blamed the WGA strike for the episode's perceived poor quality. Genevieve Koski of The A.V. ClubThe A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
called the episode "very haphazard" and wrote that there were only "a couple of solid gags sprinkled throughout". She graded "McStroke" C-. Ahsan Haque of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
praised the episode, saying that it "turns out to be much more entertaining than one would expect" and grading it 8.8 out of 10.
The Parents Television Council
Parents Television Council
The Parents Television Council is a U.S. based advocacy group founded by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995 using the National Legion of Decency as a model...
, a frequent critic of the show, condemned it as the "Worst TV Show of the Week" for January 25, 2008. The central point of criticism concerned the subplot involving Stewie and Connie D'Amico.