Recap / Family Guy 8 E 7 Jerome Is The New Black

Airdate: November 22, 2009

Peter, Joe, and Quagmire are still sad about Cleveland leaving for Virginia, and decide to find a new friend to fill the void Cleveland left...and meet Jerome, a cool black guy who turns out to be one of Lois' hook-ups from her days as a promiscuous party girl. Meanwhile, Brian is hurt to find that Quagmire doesn't like him and tries to be his friend, only to learn why Quagmire hates him in a now-infamous speech.

---

"Jerome Is The New Black" contains examples of (YMMV goes here):

• The Ace: Jerome.
• Aroused by Idiocy: Discussed; Quagmire claims that Brian only dates bimbos despite claiming to like women for their minds.
• At Least I Admit It: Quagmire calls Brian out on only dating bimbos, then states that he does the same thing, but he at least doesn't pretend to be an intellectual to get in girl's pants.
  Quagmire: Yeah, I date women for their bodies, but at least I'm honest about it!
• Boring Insult: Quagmire concludes his rant against Brian by saying that all his other flaws could be negligible if he wasn't such a "big, sad, alcoholic bore".
• Brutal Honesty: After getting nowhere trying to change Quagmire's viewpoint on him, Brian finally asks Quagmire just where the disdain comes from. Quagmire complies in a minute and a half long rant.
• Call-Back:
  • All of Quagmire's complaints about Brian are previous history about his life.
  • Jerome refers to Lois as 'Loose Lois', the same nickname Gene Simmons used in "Road to Europe".
• Cerebus Retcon: Quagmire reveals that his womanizing and near-rapist behavior is the end result of losing his one true love, Cheryl Tiegs. A lot of past episodes, such as "Emission Impossible" and "The Perfect Castaway" did have Quagmire allude to Cheryl Tiegs, but before this point, the viewer thinks that Tiegs could be Quagmire's Celebrity Crush.
• Continuity Nod: During his "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Brian, Quagmire mentions various events from past episodes:
  • He mentions how Peter rescued Brian from certain death, yet Brian still tries to hit on Lois, and defecates on the lawn.
  • He accuses Brian of pretending to be a deep, sensitive guy who loves women for who they are, yet he only dates bimbos to make himself seem smarter.
  • He points out Brian's "liberal agenda", saying how pot should be legalized, and how big businesses are crushing the underclass, among other things.
  • He calls Brian out for being smug and pretentious, even saying how religion is stupid.
  • He brings up Brian's failures as a writer, at college and as a father.
  • Finally, he calls Brian "a big, sad, alcoholic bore".
• Copycat Mockery: Quagmire mocks Brian three times during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the latter.
• Domestic Abuse: This episode reveals that Quagmire has a sister who's being abused by her boyfriend, which gets touched on in more dramatic detail in season 10's "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q."
• Fowl-Mouthed Parrot: One cutaway has Joe buy a talking parrot. Peter immediately teaches it the word "cripple", much to Joe's dismay.
• Gasshole: Brian, after he gets in bed with Stewie.
  Stewie: Aw, come on, man!
• House Fire: In a fit of jealousy, Peter throws a projectile through the window of Jerome's house, knocking over a lamp and starting a fire. Fortunately, Jerome is able to escape unharmed, but the house burns to the ground.
  Peter: Dear God and Black Jesus!
• Hypocrite: At least twice against Quagmire during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Brian:
  • First, he calls him out for hitting on Lois when this is the same guy who's done the same thing to an equal if not higher degree and has gone as far as digging though the Griffins' trash for her toenail clippings and shoved her discarded makeup sponges down his throat, among other things.
  • He uses the line "How's that son of yours you never see?" in referencing Brian's failure as a father. Quagmire himself encountered several children that resembled him in "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing" and promptly ran away. He also gave his daughter up for adoption in the episode literally right before this one while Dylan himself chose to leave Brian in order to take care of his mother.
  • But in the end, the difference is that Quagmire knows he is a nasty piece of work, and doesn't ever pretend to have the moral high ground, like Brian does. He said himself that he could forgive all the flaws he pointed about Brian (having many of them himself) if not for Brian's attitude.
• Informed Ability: Quagmire seemingly only discovered the internet in "Family Goy" and primarily was only interested in porn, yet knows you can find out all about the economy.
• Karma Houdini: While Peter is made to feel bad for mistrusting Jerome, he is never found out as the one who burned down his house in the first place.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Quagmire rightfully points out how Brian deludes himself into thinking he's a deep, intellectual guy with amazing writing skills, when he's really a pretentious idiot who's not only failed college twice, he thought there was an "A" in the word "definite."
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Prior to the second break, an animation of the Macintosh "working" cursor appears mid-sentence, with Peter stating they'll have to wait for it to go away before he can finish the sentence.
• Love Father, Love Son: Jerome previously dated Lois years ago when she was a party girl and at some point manages to have sex with her daughter Meg. Despite this, Peter obviously doesn't care about that last part.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Unlike most of his other Jerkass antics, Peter genuinely feels bad about what he did to Jerome.
• Pet the Dog: Stewie letting Brian sleep in his room after his disastrous dinner with Quagmire.
• Precision F-Strike: After Quagmire finishes his speech.
  Quagmire: Well, see you, Brian. Thanks for the fucking steak.^note bleeped-out on TV, but not on DVD
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Quagmire's famous tirade on why Brian is a bad person.
  Brian: I'm trying to establish a friendship with you. All I've done is try to be nice to you, and you still don't like me. How can you not like me?
  Quagmire: Ok, I'll tell ya. You are the worst person I know. You constantly hit on your best friend's wife. The man pays for your food and rescued you from certain death and this is how you repay him? And to add insult to injury, you defecate all over his yard. And you're such a sponge. You pay for nothing. You always say, "Ooh, I'll get you later," but later never comes. And what really bothers me is you pretend that you're this deep guy who loves women for their souls, when all you do is date bimbos. Yeah, I date women for their bodies, but at least I'm honest about it. I don't buy them a copy of Catcher in the Rye and then lecture them with some seventh-grade interpretation of how Holden Caulfield is some profound intellectual. He wasn't! He was a spoiled brat! And that's why you like him so much: he's you! God, you're pretentious! And you delude yourself by thinking you're some great writer, even though you're terrible! You know, I should've known Cheryl Tiegs didn't write me that note; she would've known there's no "A" in the word "definite!" And- I-I think what I hate most about you is your textbook liberal agenda. How we should "Legalize Pot, man," how big business is crushing the underclass, how homelessness is the biggest tragedy in America - well, what have you done to help?! I work down at the soup kitchen, Brian! Never seen you down there! You wanna help? Grab a ladle! And by the way, driving a Prius doesn't make you Jesus Christ. Oh, wait! You don't believe in Jesus Christ, or any religion, for that matter, because "religion is for idiots!" Well, who the hell are you to talk down to anyone?! You failed college twice, which isn't nearly as bad as your failure as a father - how's that son of yours you never see? But you know what? I could forgive all of that - all of it - if you weren't such a bore! That's the worst of it, Brian. You're just a big, sad, alcoholic bore. (sigh) ...Well, see ya, Brian. Thanks for the fucking steak.
• Series Continuity Error: This episode features what's possibly the first time in the series that the events of The Former Life of Brian were interpreted as Brian having abandoned his biological son Dylan, when the latter actually chose to leave Brian on his own account in order to take care of his mother, Brian's ex-girlfriend... but what Quagmire specifically called out is how Brian never once visited his son afterwards, and in later episodes it's shown that Brian actively avoids contacting Dylan.
• Shout-Out: Statler appears in this episode, saying how The Muppet Show is pretty good without Waldorf, referencing their constant in-universe put-down of the show.
  • Peter refers to The D.C. sniper attacks that took place in 2002. The mastermind, John Allen Muhammad, was executed on November 10th 2009, 12 days before the episode aired.
  • While interviewing Cleveland replacements, Quagmire makes a deal with Kevin Connolly that he be in the group if Quagmire can have some of his Kevin Connolly Charms cereal. He responds to the deal with "Oh No! They're after me Kevin Connolly Charms!", promptly running off with Quagmire behind, chasing him. This is an obvious reference to the advertising campaign of the cereal Lucky Charms, where Lucky the Leprechaun, the owner of the cereal, is constantly chased by children who want his Lucky Charms, saying a phrase very similar to what Connolly said. The box art on the Kevin Connolly Charms cereal box is even similar to the box art on the Lucky Charms cereal box.
  • Jerome and Quagmire quote jive from the film Airplane!.
  • Jerome uses Gary Coleman's catchphrase from Diff'rent Strokes "What 'chou talking about?", prompting a laugh from Peter who recognizes the reference.
  • When Stewie is talking to Brian about Chris Farley, they are talking about the film Tommy Boy. However, Stewie mentions tapping on the glass causing him to fall down the hill which happens in the film Black Sheep which also stars David Spade and Chris Farley.
• Soapbox Sadie: Quagmire calls Brian out on being one of these with his "textbook liberal agenda." For all his talk about ongoing political issues, he doesn't do a damn thing to actually help anyone.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Brian tries to be friends with Quagmire and fails. And, unlike most "Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond" plots, Quagmire has a very detailed reason about why he finds Brian so repugnant.
• Take That!: During his "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Quagmire says that The Catcher in the Rye protagonist Holden Caulfield isn't a "profound intellectual" but a "Spoiled Brat".