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"The Heartbreak Dog" is the sixteenth episode of the fourteenth season of Family Guy, and the 265th episode overall.
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 Would you look at that, another episode where Brian steals someone’s wife.
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Plot
Brian and Bonnie run away together after declaring their love for each other; Meg and Chris team up to steal from the residents in a retirement home.
Why It's Heartbroken
- Many characters except Stewie are unlikable here:
- Brian is incredibly unlikable in this episode, being almost as bad as he was in "Brian Writes a Bestseller"; he steals Bonnie from Joe after they kiss at the party. The episode itself is essentially a rehash of "Play It Again, Brian".
- He was cruel to Bonnie in the second half of the episode as he constantly insulting her in the diner. Apparently, Brian gets derailed into a total snob in the second half only for Bonnie to go back to Joe just for the sake of status quo.
- Just like the aforementioned episode, bestiality is promoted by this episode since Brian, a male dog kisses Bonnie, a human woman.
- Joe is also unlikeable for the whole episode, since he tortures Brian even though he didn't mean to kiss Bonnie, like taking his car away, using illegal drugs (roofies) to knock Brian out in a bar so he could make and upload an embarrassing video of him online, and using his gun to shoot Brian when Brian was not acting violent to him in any way. He even pretends to forgive Brian after Brian apologizes to him, only to reveal his deception and insincerity by getting Brian’s Prius towed.
- Joe is also out of character in this episode as he constantly breaks the law. He engages in police corruption when he is supposed to be seen as a "by the book cop" and law-abiding citizen.
- Bonnie is rather unlikeable too, since she constantly insults her and Joe’s relationship, when it is not his fault he is handicapped. It shows the terrible state of her character in later season.
- Meg and Chris are also unlikeable, they steal elderly peoples’ things from a nursing home. Which is cruel, especially against the elderly.
- Peter, Lois, Cleveland, and Quagmire are no better, while they we're trying to help Brian and stop Joe for taking revenge on him, they criticise and insult Brian and Bonnie for no reason.
- Brian is incredibly unlikable in this episode, being almost as bad as he was in "Brian Writes a Bestseller"; he steals Bonnie from Joe after they kiss at the party. The episode itself is essentially a rehash of "Play It Again, Brian".
- “The Unfair Sex Trope” is used in this episode as Bonnie causes the conflict in this episode by luring Brian in with her frustration with Joe. Kissing him but the episode treats Brian as 100 percent in the wrong for this when Bonnie deserves equal blame. All Bonnie gets in this episode is tongue lashing criticisms from other neighbors, but Brian gets his car towed, drugged, humiliated on the internet, and then shot in the leg.
- The subplot with Meg and Chris is not much better since the old people are just really mean for the whole episode, and both of them steal things from them.
- There are some unfunny jokes, such as the Griffins rushing the ending, Principal Shepherd making fun of kids with autism, and constantly stating that Juliette Lewis made out with dogs.
- The episode can’t decide whether Joe is in the right or not when he decides to give multiple punishments to Brian. It first portrays Joe’s revenge on Brian as bad during the revenge montage and then as good when Joe shot Brian.
- This episode also can’t decide whether Brian and Bonnie getting together is a good or bad thing as the episode first portrayed their affair as bad, then good when Joe gets excessive on his revenge on Brian, and then back to bad again when Joe reconciles with Bonnie.
- The episode completely undermines the ending of “Internal Arfairs” as that episode has Joe and Bonnie reconcile for being unfaithful and cold to each other. This episode on the other hand makes Bonnie’s apology to Joe look insincere.
- A very bad lesson is taught in this episode through both the plot and subplot: it is okay to hurt, steal from, blackmail, and abuse people if said people are mean and hurtful to you. It also seems to promote animal abuse by teaching that it's okay to hurt your pets and other animals if they misbehave and bullying since it shows Joe constantly bullying Brian and portrays Joe as being justified in doing so.
- Joe and Bonnie are never punished for their misdeeds in this episode. Chris and Meg on the other hand are given a very light punishment by being forced to spend even more time with the elderly people, which is not really a good punishment for repeated theft and larceny. If one stops to think about Chris and Meg’s punishment, it is actually blackmail since the old people threatened to call the police on them if they refused to spend time with them every single afternoon and blackmail is not really a good way to punish someone either.
- Plot hole: Joe had Brian’s Prius car towed, yet when Brian and Bonnie run away together later on, we see Brian driving his Prius with Bonnie in the passenger seat. The episode never reveals how Brian got his Prius back.
- The episode is also a complete rehash of ''Foreign Affairs'' as that episode too has Bonnie getting sick of Joe because of his handicaps, cheats on him with another man, then in the end Joe shows up out of nowhere and apologizes to Bonnie, and then Bonnie forgives Joe and goes back to him. Because of this, it makes this episode feel completely cliched.
- This episode not only uses the unfair sex trope but also uses “The Unfair Species” trope too as Bonnie had sex with Quagmire and Father Monahan before and after this episode and dated Francois. However, Joe never punished these three men but when Brian kisses Bonnie, that is when Joe decides to go after the person his wife cheated with. Even worse was when Quagmire had sex with Bonnie and Joe was tricked into letting him do it, Joe treated all of this as no big deal.
- Continuity error: Joe claims in this episode during the scene of Bonnie’s birthday that he has a birth video of Susie. However, the episode “Ocean’s Three and a Half”, which is the episode where Susie is born shows that none of the characters who were present at Susie’s birth were holding a camera to record such a video.
- Cruel ending: Joe shoots Brian in the leg, even though Joe is a police officer, what he did was illegal as it could be considered animal cruelty. The ending is also extremely cliché, with Joe appearing out of nowhere and suddenly reconciling with Bonnie.
Redeeming Qualities
- A couple of jokes are funny, like Peter's "Bonnie has an Ex, but Brian marks the spot" one, the cutaway gag about couples who meet on Craigslist and Stewie video calling Brian.
- Brian does apologize to Joe for stealing Bonnie, although it doesn't make him any better.
- Stewie is the only likable character.
Reception
The episode has a 6.7/10 rating on IMDb.
References
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