All images used in this review are from FOXFLASH, Fox’s press release site. Family Guy ©2021 by Twentieth Television. They are used with their permission, as they are publicity images.

Episode summary (spoilers): While the Griffins try on new shoes, Brian shows an interest in the employee Holly, and they start dating. But Brian starts showing more interest in Holly’s son, Kyle, after he stands up to a group of bullies, to the point where Brian isn’t even romantically interested in Holly. When Holly breaks up with Brian after deciding to go back with her ex, Brian is heartbroken. But once Holly realizes that he really liked spending time with Kyle, she begins to let him babysit when she and her ex go out on dates.

Meanwhile, Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland want to ride in Joe’s uncle’s old car, after learning that he got it as an inheritance after his uncle passed, but Joe won’t allow them to. So they distract Joe with a phone call to take it for a joyride, but they total the car. They try to hide it from Joe, but they come clean and apologize for wrecking it. Joe says the old car was hard to maintain anyways, so he forgives them.

My thoughts: I was not very happy when Fox decided to show recaps of previous NASCAR games instead of Animation Domination while the 2021 Daytona 500 was delayed due to heavy rain, but I did see the episode on CityTV’s website on February 14. And by the time you’re reading this review, you would have already seen the episode for yourself.

I wasn’t looking forward to this episode at all at first because the logline sounded like a rehash of previous episodes; but I did think it was better than expected actually. The main story is the highlight of this episode. Even though the “Brian meets new girl” plot has been overdone, this one is able to shake it up a little bit by making it more about the girl’s kid more than their dating relationship. And I think that was a better turn for the show to make, because I enjoyed seeing Brian hang out with Kyle.

The subplot is a typical “the guys hang out”. But unlike many others, it doesn’t overstay its welcome either. I liked seeing the guys take a joyride at least and it’s an okay plot to relax and turn your brain off to. The episode does have that typical “I’m sorry” apology that Family Guy and American Dad! are known for, but here, it was bound to happen.

There are some funny jokes here. I liked seeing Peter make the car in even worse condition than it already was. The ending with the narrator revealing Brian made Kyle bread and butter was super funny to me. I also liked how he kept the pizza money. Seeing Joe pretend to drive the car got a good laugh out of me too. And I kinda liked when Peter mixed up the car and the uncle (he said he was happy the uncle died, but sorry that he got the car).

But man, some of the jokes were terrible. The one with Peter breaking Quagmire’s grill was plain boring, and The Cheesecake Factory one was fine up until the couple said they didn’t want to eat there. Plenty of people like the Cheesecake Factory for their extensive menu. I’ve been there at least 50 times and have tried many different options. They’re good at innovating and making cuisines appealing to American palates and they do it well. Plus the portions are huge for the price you pay, and you get table service, and endless bread and butter. Lucky there were only two or three of them. The non-cutaway jokes were just as bad. Herbert calling animal control out of pure jealously was an unfunny attempt that only showed what a hypocrite he is. Chris wanting Holly to measure his feet again is just a reminder of how disgusting he is. Oscar the Grouch appearing during the car accident was a lazy way to phone in a trash joke. And Meg randomly popping up at Kyle’s house claiming she hosts Family Guy reruns in Germany was incredibly stupid, and just a waste of time. And worse, she reappears at the end to do the same thing. I didn’t enjoy any of these jokes at all.

“Boy’s Best Friend” is certainly an improvement for the show in terms of storytelling and comedy. The comedy of this episode was mostly the highlight for me, as I found myself unexpectedly laughing at times. And the main story was good enough to keep me interested, despite it being tackled before in a different way. I hope the show can keep making episodes at least of this quality, since I am absolutely not looking forward to next week’s episode at all. I’d certainly like to give this episode a higher score, because I thought it was one of the better ones this season, but man, some of those jokes really dragged it down.

Overall rating: 6/10