Finders Keepers (Family Guy)

"Finders Keepers" is the first episode of the twelfth season and the 211th overall episode of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It aired on Fox in the United States and Canada on September 29, 2013, and is written by Anthony Blasucci and Mike Desilets and directed by John Holmquist.^[1] In the episode, Peter is convinced that a placemat at a restaurant is a treasure map. The rumor of supposed treasure sparks a city-wide search, turning the residents of Quahog against each other.

Plot

Peter arrives from work with foul breath. It affects his relationships with his co-workers and family until Lois forces him to go to the dentist. The dentist discovers a shrimp left in Peter's mouth for an entire week. To celebrate the shrimp removal, Peter and the family go out to eat at The Founding Father restaurant. The waiter tells Stewie that his placemat is a real treasure map and spins a yarn about Miles "Chatterbox" Musket which impresses Peter, despite Lois' insistence that it is a joke. Peter tries to involve the guys in his hunt without luck. As Lois comes to fetch him while digging on his own, he digs up a treasure chest. Taking it home, the family discovers it contains a clue to more pieces of the puzzle. Despite Brian's urging to keep it secret, Peter had already gone public, launching a city-wide hunt for the treasure. When the guys try to join in, Peter sends them out on their own.

Following the clue, they join everyone else but Brian follows a slightly different angle on the clue. Peter and Lois start off to find the treasure and abandon the family. Splitting off, Meg and Chris head out as well as Stewie and Brian. Others also figure out the meaning and converge on Block Island. At the island cemetery, they locate the grave of Timmy Musket where Peter fights with the others including Chris to get the treasure resulting in Lois abandoning him. Digging up Timmy Musket, they discover another clue inside the lid of the casket which leads them to Pawtucket. At McCoy Stadium, Peter arrives to find everyone else fighting and realizes that Lois was right. Peter returns to Lois and apologizes. Peter explains where everyone is but Lois deduces that they are looking in the wrong place and takes Peter to The Drunken Clam instead. Seeing a painting, Peter pries it off to discover a treasure chest which contains an expired Founding Fathers restaurant coupon.

At home, the Griffins are pleased with what they have as they get a knock on the door with Peter suspecting the "Hurry Up Shrimp" delivery.

Reception

Eric Thurm of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C, saying "Toward the end of “Finders Keepers,” the cutaways mostly become about the cutaways themselves. Family Guy has been making that sort of self-referential joke for a while, but tonight’s versions actually work pretty well, particularly when Peter uses his cutaway power in the treasure hunt by traveling via douchey promo for the Suzuki Samurai or cutting into the closed Drunken Clam. Unfortunately, the effective cutaways don’t make up for the lackluster main plot, which is so formulaic it distracts from the rest of the show’s ample distraction. Family Guy’s cutaway-driven plasticity is kind of an all-or-nothing asset. The show’s best episodes are either insane and totally continuity-less or grounded more closely in a character or relationship (most of the Stewie and Brian episodes). “Finders Keepers” is stuck in the middle, where it gets the worst of both worlds."^[2]

The episode received a 2.6 rating and was watched by a total of 5.23 million people; this made it the second most watched show on Animation Domination that night, beating American Dad! and Bob's Burgers, but losing to The Simpsons with 6.37 million.^[3]

References

• The plot description was copied from Finders Keepers at Family Guy Wiki, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 license.