Back to the Woods (Family Guy)

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"Back to the Woods (Family Guy)"
Of all the episodes to kick off Digital eMation's animation career on Family Guy, they picked a real stinker.
Series: Family Guy Part of Season: 6 (Volume 7) Episode Number: 9 Air Date: February 17, 2008 Writer: Tom Devanney Director: Brian Iles Previous episode: McStroke Next episode: Play It Again, Brian

"Back to the Woods" is the 9th episode of the 6th season of Family Guy.

Plot

James Woods returns to seek revenge against Peter. He finds Peter's wallet, which he lost at a Barry Manilow concert, and proceeds to steal his identity and his family.

Bad Qualities

1. This episode is a big torture episode for Peter as he has his family taken away from him as well as his house and everything that he owns. It doesn't help that the Griffin family, with the exception of Brian, barely do anything to stop James Woods. Some could also consider this a torture episode for Brian as he is treated horribly and forced to live outside.
2. Some characters were unlikeable:
   • Joe is unlikeable as he thinks James Woods is "Peter Griffin" and he kicked Peter out of his house and makes him take off his clothes. He was also out of character too because he believes James Woods even though Joe knew Peter for years and Joe uncharacteristically engages in police corruption through harassing Peter by making him strip naked in public, which goes against Joe’s by the book cop philosophy.
   • Stewie is also unlikeable as he refused to help Brian to escape his leash because the latter showed Stewie "2 Girls 1 Cup", though this is justified since Stewie is a baby and is not supposed to be shown that video.
3. The part where Peter and his friends go to the Barry Manilow concert, while decent, was there for filler.
4. Plot hole: When James Woods says that they don't allow hats on the table, Meg and Chris keeps their hats on. And why didn't Lois do anything to stop James?
5. The 9/11 "two thousand fun" joke is kind of offensive and tasteless, although this was most likely intentional as Peter said that as part of his revenge plan against James Woods. What also doesn't help is that in later seasons, they repeat offensive and tasteless 9/11 jokes to the point of being unfunny.
   • Not helping matters is the fact that series creator and major voice actor Seth MacFarlane almost died in the attack, with the only thing keeping alive being a hangover that caused him to miss the boarding of Flight 11, the plane that crashed into the North Tower.
6. The ending is basically the show repeating the ending to "Peter's Got Woods", with Peter and Brian using Reese's Pieces to lure James Woods into a trap, leading to the Raiders of the Lost Ark parody at the end.
7. Due to the reasons above, it is not a good way to bring back James Woods due to how mean-spirited he is.
   • It was also, again, a poor way to start Family Guy: Volume Seven DVD.
8. It's also a very mean-spirited way to started Digital eMation's animation career, since this is their first time.
   • As for their animation started to feel little stiffer, despite they used hand-drawn animation in Season 6-7.

Good Qualities

1. Peter, Brian, Lois, and lesser extents, Chris and Meg are the only likeable characters in this episode.
2. Some jokes, cutaways, and quotes are funny and hilarious.
   • The GI Jose cutaway was pretty funny.
   • The cutaway involving Brian showing Stewie "2 Girls 1 Cup" is funny, despite the fact that the latter is a baby.
   • "All I can smell is your ass."
   • "DAMN IT, BONNIE! YOU LIED TO ME ABOUT THE POOP SACK!"
3. The ending where James Woods is sent back in the crate to the Government Warehouse to be studied by "Top Men" yet again.
4. James Woods does get his comeuppance in this episode for terrorizing the Griffin family when Peter gets his revenge on James Woods by ruining his career.
5. The segment where Peter not only impersonates Woods on David Letterman's talk show, but also ruins his public image by discussing an offensive 9/11 film, is both enjoyable and satisfying payback, despite kind of offensive and tasteless.

Reception

"Back to the Woods" was given a 7.5/10 on IMDb.

Trivia

• This is the first episode that was animated by famously "Digital eMation".
• As mentioned above, the episode started Family Guy: Volume Seven DVD.

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