Recap / Family Guy S 3 E 1 The Thin White Line

Original air date: 7/11/2001 (produced in 2000)

Production code: 2ACX-17

In the first half of this two-part episode, Brian becomes a drug dog for the Quahog police to combat with the boredom in his life, but soon becomes addicted to cocaine and ends up in rehab. Meanwhile, Peter wins a vacation during Happy-Go-Lucky Toys' company picnic, but ends up in rehab as well after Lois cancels the trip because of Brian.

Of note, this is the first episode shown after the series was Un-Cancelled for the first time.

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Tropes appearing in this episode.

• Accidentally Real Fake Address: Peter comes up with a Line-of-Sight Name by looking at a pea, then someone crying a single tear, and finally a gryphon. He calls himself Peter Griffin, then has an Oh, Crap! moment when he realizes that he just said his real name.
• Bad Impressionists: "Look at me, I'm Joe! My legs don't work, but I make up for it by having a very strong upper body!"
  Joe: [laughs] Well, I do say that.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Early in the episode, Brian wishes to find some sort of rush in his life. At first he finds it in a new police job, only to end up addicted to cocaine.
• Calling Me a Logarithm:
  Rehab Center Overseer: (speaking to Brian and referring to Peter) You know this degenerate?
  Peter: A degenerate huh? Well you are a festizio. See? I can make up words too.
• Depraved Dwarf: During one drug bust, Brian and Joe intrudes on what appears to be a harmless Sunday School, but Brian quickly uncovers that the childlike students are actually adult midgets. Once Brian ends up finding their drug-producing den, they all gang up on the duo, only to be knocked down and arrested.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Much of the episode is driven by Brian feeling stuck in a mid-life emotional rut, leading him to take on various volunteer jobs on advice by his therapist. He gets a successful stint working for the police, but he ends up developing a drug habit in search of a deeper thrill, costing him his job and alienating himself from his family. He goes to rehab and eventually comes out clean, but by the end of the episode, he's still lacking in fulfillment, inspiring him to leave Quahog for Hollywood.
• Dirty Cop: Brian starts off perfectly heroic and capable at his new police job, but he ends up secretly using the confiscated drugs for himself and slowly develops an attitude problem, assaulting an innocent old man for nonexistent drugs, bringing a prostitute to the Griffin house, etc. Joe eventually confronts him on having a drug problem, and once Brian lashes out at him in response, Joe forces him to turn in his badge.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even Stewie's disgusted by Brian's abusive attitude and calls him out on attacking Meg.
• Evil Old Folks: Brian is playing with an old lady who then begs him for a Mercy Kill because apparently she's in too much pain. When Brian goes to do it, the old lady is shocked he's going to actually do it and tries to get the orderlies on him, making them think that he was gonna kill her. Brian calls her a twisted bitch as he flees.
• Friendship Moment: When the director says that Peter is the root cause of his problems, an outraged Brian says that Peter rescued him from the streets and is his best friend. From this, he comes to realize that his actions are entirely his own responsibility, and after coming out clean, decides to leave rehab with Peter.
  Peter: Brian, it's moments like this that make me sad you're gonna die 50 years before I do.
• Furry Reminder: One of the volunteer jobs Brian takes up at the start of the episode is as a service dog for a blind man. With him being fully sapient, however, this leads to a gag of him guiding said blind man to a movie theatre and describing everything that's happening on screen for him.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: At the teen pregnancy clinic, Peter and Brian sneak in and stick the sleeping girls' hands in water to get them to pee themselves. Instead, Peter and Brian accidentally induce labor; fourteen girls prematurely give birth.
• Handicapped Badass: During a drug bust, Joe manages to kick just as much ass along with Brian despite being wheelchair-bound. He even briefly makes use of his legs by bucking his wheelchair backward to "kick" an incoming assailant.
• Harmful to Minors: Brian turns to the erotic channel that Lois "doesn't know about", much to the shock of the Griffin family. Lois immediately orders her children out of the room (even though Stewie protests) and chastises Brian and his prostitute.
  Stewie: Wait, wait! That man seems to have suffered a serious snakebite!
• Heel Realization: Brian, after the Griffin family give him an intervention.
• Hello, Sailor!: A fantasy sequence shows Stewie and a group of sailors singing a parody of “My Gallant Crew” from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Non-lethal, but still just as crazy: during the company picnic, Mr. Weed begins a competition among his workers, with the prize being a full-paid vacation. The objective? Survive getting hunted down by Mr. Weed, coming after them with potent tranquilizer darts. Despite tanking at least a half-dozen darts, Peter is the last man literally standing, and is declared the winner before he finaly passes out.
• Ironic Echo: "This is the kind of rush that I was looking for."
• Line-of-Sight Alias: Parodied. When the director of the rehab clinic asks for Peter's name, he panics and starts looking around. The first thing he sees is a leftover pea on someone's tray, followed by a crying woman's tear and finally a griffon flying through the room. He then tells her his name is "Pea-tear Griffon."
  Peter: Yeah, yeah. Peter Griffin...aw, crap.
• Never My Fault: Subverted with Brian. When the director blames Peter for being a Toxic Friend Influence, Brian claims that while Peter does talk him into doing stupid things, he makes his own decisions and he's to blame for them.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Peter after being shot by multiple tranquilizer darts. Once he's declared the last one still standing, Peter warbles, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" before passing out.
• The Nose Knows: The episode kicks off with Brian getting recognized for his high sense of smell, earning him a job at the Quahog police as both a drug-sniffing dog and a cop. Unfortunately, his ability to sniff out drugs ends up leading him to develop a taste for it as well.
• Officer O'Hara: Parodied - the Irish cop is actually a Jewish guy named Horowitz who's just good at impressions.
• Out Giving Birth, Back in Two Minutes: Peter and Brian prank the occupants of a Teen Pregnancy Center by putting their hands in bowls of warm water while they are sleeping. They quickly leave the room and start giggling to each other as the sounds of many crying babies are suddenly heard from offscreen.
• Pet the Dog: During the scene with Tina, Stewie chastises Brian for insulting Meg.
  Stewie: You know just because you can't feel your teeth doesn't mean the girl can't feel your insults.
• Policeman Dog: Brian is recognized for his sharp sense of smell and becomes a drug-sniffing dog for the Quahog police but soon becomes addicted to cocaine and ends up in rehab.
• Precision F-Strike: When Brian breaks down crying during the intervention, Stewie mockingly calls him a melan-collie. Everyone just stares at him with disappointed looks and his second attempt at a joke doesn't go any better.
  Stewie: I don't have to [beep]-in' impress you!
• Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Brian has seen Leif Garrett's episode of Behind the Music enough times that he knows it by heart. A cutway shows him mouthing along to the scene where Leif reunites with Roland.
• Shout-Out:
  • The way in which Mr. Weed hunts his employees is reminiscent of the famous 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell.
  • After Brian makes Quagmire realize he has made love to a man, he screams and runs away, similar to the scene in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective where Ace realizes Lt Einhorn is actually Ray Finkel, whom Ace had kissed.
  • The next scene in which Brian and Joe catch a perp with cocaine is a reference to CHiPs. The opening theme is also heard.
  • At the school assembly Brian is called "McGriffin, the Drug Dog", a reference to the anti-crime mascot McGruff the Crime Dog.
  • After seeing some cocaine on his nose, Brian exclaims "Got Milk?", a reference to the ad campaign. "Got Milk?" is also referenced near the beginning of "Holy Crap".
  • While time traveling, Chris finds himself in "the Bible days" and encounters an angry lion, a reference to the early persecution of Christians.
  • After Peter pulls a lion out of the tanning bed, Rocky the Flying Squirrel shows up and says, "And now, here's something we hope you'll really like", a frequent segué in The Rocky And Bullwinkle Show.
  • Brian refers to Lois as a "Stepford wife".
  • Peter trying to make up his name in the rehab clinic by referencing random objects he sees references the plot of The Usual Suspects.
  • A flashback shows Peter as a security guard for George Harrison, watching Charles in Charge while an intruder invades the home. Harrison was attacked in his home on December 30, 1999.
• So Okay, It's Average: The family's in-universe feelings about their vacation to Purgatory.
  Lois: This isn't bad. It's not that good, but it's not that bad.
  Brian: It's so-so.
  Peter: Yeah, more or less.
• Staging an Intervention: After developing increasingly alienating behavior over time, Brian suddenly walks into the Griffin house with his family doing this for them. In a rare sight for this trope, Brian's therapist is present, guiding the family members in explaining their feelings and concerns for him. The effort works, and Brian allows himself to be taken to rehab.
• Stimulant Speedtalk: Brian shows up at dinner while high and fires off a thirty-second-long monologue that begins with the awful things he saw at work and ends with a bizarre digression on "a damn oil spot on your cracked driveway, staring at you", resulting in a Stunned Silence.
• Sudden Downer Ending: Brian ends up recovering from his drug addiction, with his friends and family throwing a party to celebrate him returning home. He happily ruminates to them how his latest experiences affirmed to him that they are all in charge of their own destiny... which is why he's leaving. The episode ends with him hailing a cab for the airport, everyone too stunned to stop him as he leaves to find himself.
• Take That!:
  • Brian is a guide dog for a blind man watching The Blair Witch Project:
    Brian: Okay, they're-they're in the woods... the camera keeps on moving... Uh, I think they're, they're looking for some witch or something, I-I don't know, I wasn't listening... nothing's happening, nothing's happening, something about a map, nothing's happening, it's over. A lot of people in the audience look pissed.
  • Mr. Weed says he has enough tranquilizer darts "to take-out Robert Downey Jr.", a reference to the actor’s drug problems. A rare self-chastising meta reference has Weed's audience reacting with umbrage to the remark.
• To Be Continued: Just as he gets clean, Brian decides to leave home and heads to the airport.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Brian because of his cocaine addiction.
• Toxic Friend Influence: The director believes that Peter is the one responsible for Brian's downward spiral, but Brian won't hear it. Peter did talk him into the prank at the teen pregnancy center, but Brian says he still chose to go along with it and that's no one's fault but his own.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: At the airport, Brian sniffs Quagmire and determines he (among other things) slept with two Filipino women and a man.
  Quagmire: You mean three Filipino women. [beat, as Quagmire thinks about it] NOOOOOO!
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: At the end, when Brian leaves for Hollywood, Stewie runs after him and says, "Brian, wait!" This is notably the first time Stewie calls Brian by his name. Prior to this, he only called him disparaging names like "Dog" or popular dog names like "Fido" or "Spot". He would continue to call Brian by his real name for the rest of the series.

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