Original air date: October 7, 2007
Joe alienates everyone after getting new working legs.
This episode contains examples of:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Joe becomes more exercise-obsessed than ever, leading him to abandon his lazy friends and leave Bonnie.
- Adolf Hitlarious: Hitler, on a unicycle, juggling fish. See Brick Joke.
- Amusingly Awful Aim: In "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air", Joe Swanson regains his ability to walk again, but also becomes more of a jerk. His wife Bonnie repeatedly shoots Joe in an attempt to make him a paraplegic again, hoping to make him more humble. She injures him everywhere except his spine, prompting him to cripple himself just to make her stop.Bonnie: Joe, I'm so sorry! I'm a terrible shot!
Joe: For God's sake, just give me the gun! I'll do it myself! - Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Joe makes his friends participate in the activities he couldn't do without legs: mountain-climbing, karate, and performing a choreographed dance to "Good Morning" from Singin' in the Rain.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Lampshaded. Bonnie admits to being a terrible shot.
- As Himself: Comedian Jamie Farr appears as himself hosting an instructional video on the surgery Dr. Hartman is about to perform on Joe.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Spider-Man saving Cleveland's life following a rock climbing slip.
- Subverted with Bonnie coming out of nowhere with a gun to help Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland re-cripple Joe. After several misfires, Joe takes the gun and shoots himself instead.
- Brick Joke: After Cleveland says that he hates shows that pull away from the story for something stupid, a cutaway shows Hitler juggling fish on a unicycle. When Peter later says that "recrippling" Joe would be the right thing to do like taking out Hitler, we return to the same cutaway except Peter punches Hitler off the unicycle.Peter: See, we had a plan for that all along.
- Call-Back: Spider-Man saves Cleveland with a web, telling him that everyone gets one. He asks Peter to back him up, Peter says that apparently everyone gets one.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Peter, Cleveland, and Quagmire's attempt to "recripple" Joe ends with them getting their asses handed to them.
- Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: Inverted as Joe was nice until he was able to walk again.
- Everyone Has Standards: Peter is disgusted by Joe intending to leave his pregnant wife.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Bonnie tries to recripple Joe by shooting his spine. She hits him with six bullets but misses with each one. This prompts Joe to do it himself.
- Freak Out: Stewie has one after Peter tore out a huge chunk of the house where his bedroom was to build his men's club.Stewie: What is this?! There's something wrong with the house! I don't like change!
- Halfway Plot Switch: The episode starts off being about the ladies wanting to hang out at the Clam and Peter and the guys forming their own men's club, before being about Joe getting new legs.
- Jerkass Ball: Joe after being able to walk again. He's verbally abusive, dumps his friends, and plans to leave Bonnie.
- Lame Pun Reaction: At the Quahog Men's Club, Fred tells Barney that he saw Betty naked and got an "e-rock-tion". The scene then cuts to Stewie saying he got a headache.
- Lampshade Hanging: Peter notes the similarity between the voices of Dr. Hartman and Carter Pewtersmidt — both played by Seth MacFarlane — who do indeed sound nearly identical. Hartman and Carter then converse about this, with Carter noting it as being a bit lazy, whereas Hartman figures that there are only so many voices out there, with some bound to sound similar.
- Limb-Sensation Fascination: After acquiring new functional legs, Joe proceeds to show off his old athletic and martial arts abilities to the point of becoming arrogant.
- Mood Whiplash: Played for laughs when Joe forces Peter, Cleveland and Quagmire to rehearse "Good Morning". First Joe goes from angrily commanding them to make no mistakes to smiling happily when Cleveland begins on the piano, and again after he yells at Quagmire and makes him cry.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Joe is shot seven times. He manages to survive with serious injuries and becoming paralyzed from the waist down again.
- Outclassed at the Gym: Joe recovers his mobility after a leg transplant and forces Peter, Cleveland and Quagmire to partake in extreme exercises they cannot handle, such as rock climbing, karate and dancing to a Judy Garland song. He eventually grows annoyed by the gang's lack of fitness and abandons them for a new group of friends.
- Ow, My Body Part!: Happens to Joe after Bonnie shoots him the first time. "AAH! MY PERFECT ASS!"
- Remember the New Guy?: In this episode, Cleveland has a kind-of girlfriend named Bernice who only appears in this episode before being Put on a Bus, and essentially replaced by Donna in the spinoff.
- Reset Button: Joe shoots his spine so he can be paraplegic again.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: When Peter realizes that they all talk about sex, he decides to start a "Would You Rather" about whom they would rather start a small business with. While the conversation is interesting, it doesn't have the same energy as the ones about sex.Joe: This is stupid, I wanna talk about VAGINAS!!!!
- Suddenly Shouting: How Joe brings "Good Morning" back to the final chorus. It terrifies Quagmire and brings him to tears.
- Token Minority: Joe's new friends include a counterpart to Cleveland named Portland.Cleveland: Is Portland the Black one?
Joe: [matter-of-factly] Portland is the Black one. - Toxic Friend Influence: Joe remarks that being crippled meant that Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland's inherent laziness enabled him to do the same. Of course, by this point, Joe has been acting so obnoxious that the guys were arguably more of a Positive Friend Influence.
