'Family Guy' Season 10, Episode 21 Recap - 'Tea Peter'

It's no secret that the writing staff of "Family Guy" generally leans to the Left, politically. So, as you can imagine, when Peter decides to join the Tea Party, it doesn't end so well.

It all starts when Mort has the grand re-opening of his pharmacy, and Peter gets an extra "come in, we're open" sign. He hangs it on the front door of the house, which brings in customers to buy... well, pretty much anything. Peter does anything from wedding dress alterations to key copying, much to Lois' protesting. Luckily for her, Joe shows up to inform Peter that he has to be shut down, since he's running an unlicensed business.

Rather than admit his mistake, Peter takes his anger out on the government. When he learns about the Tea Party, he immediately joins, only to find that Carter (in costume), is running the show. He convinces Peter that the key is to disband the government entirely, which Peter sets out to do.

Despite Brian's protests, Peter succeeds in drumming up support to get Mayor West to shut down Quahog's government, which allows Carter to build a big, rather polluting new plant in town. It also allows for complete lawlessness in town, with Peter taking "the yards" home instead of the streets. As it turns out, when the government is shut down, things go south, and all the services we use and take for granted every day go away.

When Peter realizes this, he very reasonably tells everyone in town that they should maybe consider this "crazy new thing" where they elect a few people and pay a little bit of money every year to keep their basic services going. Weird idea, huh?

It's all a roundabout way to make a point that, on occasion, needs to be reminded to those who ardently support the Tea Party: we use a great number of government services every day. Are our tax dollars wasted on occasion as well? Yes. Regularly, in fact. But police, fire fighters, road maintenance, and other services are necessary every day.

Cut-Aways of the Week:

- Hooking up in Russia: B, nicely timed, nicely absurd

- Just for Eagles: C+, not so nicely absurd

- Knitting club: C-, speaking of absurd....

- Giggling Asian girls: C-, mostly just racist

- First fish on land: C+, something there, but not much of a punchline

- Gathering of Indian chief, policeman, and construction guy: B-, pretty good second beat

- Half asleep construction worker: B, relatable