Family Guy/Blind Ambition

Blind Ambition
Season 4, Episode 3
Airdate	May 15, 2005
Production Number	4ACX04
Written by	Steve Callaghan
Directed by	Chuck Klein
← 4x02 Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High	4x04 → Don't Make Me Over
Family Guy — Season Four

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Blind Ambition is the third episode of the fourth season of Family Guy, and the fifty-third episode overall.

In this episode, Peter becomes jealous of the notability and attention showered on his friends and family members, prompting him to do something important so he, too, can be remembered. But it may come at a big cost: his eyesight.

Cast

Guest Stars: Gary Cole (Various), Rachael MacFarlane (Various), Judd Hirsch (Judd Hirsch), Gina Gershon (Gina Gershon)

Plot Overview

During an outing at the bowling alley, Mort Goldman (despite an apparent lack of ability) bowls a 300 game, and his accomplishment is published in the next day's newspaper. Peter becomes jealous over more and more of his friends having been recognized and/or honored for their accomplishments and/or actions. Meanwhile, Lois - who has come to the bowling alley to pick up Peter - uses the restroom, only to realize a peeping Tom is spying on her; it turns out to be Quagmire, who is trying to watch Lois go to the restroom. Quagmire is arrested on misdemeanor charges, but Joe is able to get the charges dropped.

Lois, Bonnie and Loretta are outraged that Quagmire is out of jail and, concerned for their safety, want Quagmire to move out of the neighborhood. Just as Peter is trying to persuade Lois that Quagmire meant no harm, Ernie the Giant Chicken suddenly attacks Peter, resulting in an extended fight scene that ends with Peter getting the upper hand ... but only after he and the Giant Chicken cause a cruise liner to run aground and destroy much of downtown Quahog, and the Chicken meets his death when he backs into the rotor blades of an airplane.

As Peter is regaining his senses, Lois and the other women agree that Quagmire can stay, under the condition that he learn to control his sexual urges. Peter (along with Mort, Cleveland and Joe) help Cleveland control his impulses through operant conditioning; they lower a ceiling fan turned to high speed, and give a naked Quagmire a Victoria's Secret lingerie catalog to read. Eventually, the guys take Quagmire to the mall to check his progress. Quagmire tries to control himself, but when he sees three teen-aged girls wearing bra tops playing in a water fountain (they had hopped in the fountain to retrieve a pompom, and taken off their sweaters so they wouldn't get wet), Quagmire panics and runs into the mall security office, where he sees a security officer monitoring the women's dressing rooms through a bank of closed-circuit televisions. One of the women suffers a heart attack, and Quagmire rushes to save the woman's life using CPR. Quagmire is hailed as a hero, even though he admits he doesn't know how to administer CPR properly (possibly alluding to less-than-honorable intentions).

Peter becomes even more upset and vows to do whatever it takes to be remembered. After a series of failed attempts, Peter settles on setting a world record for eating the most nickels. However, he realizes one morning that he has lost his eyesight due to nickel poisoning. Peter panics, but eventually learns to live with his disability ... even though he makes a few mistakes at first - such as inadvertently walking into Chris' bedroom one night and prepares to make love to who he thinks is Lois. Depressed, Peter goes to the Drunken Clam to drown his sorrows. However, just before he arrived, the bar catches fire (thanks to "God" trying to light a woman's cigarette; he calls for Jesus, and the two flee the scene). Peter - unaware of the danger surrounding him - demands service, even as Hoarce the bartender, trapped under a burning beam, cries out for help. Peter eventually grabs Hoarce's arm and the two escape in time. Channel 5 newsman Tom Tucker immediately interviews Peter, who just then realizes what was going on.

Thanks to Peter's inadvertent actions, he is hailed as a hero. During the ceremony (attended by Peter's family and friends, and characters from the Star Wars movies), it is revealed that Peter regained his eyesight; the donor was a homeless man dragged to death by Peter's guide dog, which runs off after Peter arrived at the Drunken Clam.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Rice Krispies — Crackle and Pop drunkenly pay their final respects to their fallen comrade, Snap, at the Drunken Clam (after the Keebler Elves kill Snap off).
• Speed 2: Cruise Control — The fight between Peter and Ernie the Giant Chicken culminates with a large cruise liner crashing through Quahog (after Peter bumps the navigation computers), copying a similar scene in the climatic act of the 1997 action movie starring Sandra Bullock.
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope — Several characters from the 1977 movie (originally titled simply Star Wars) appear in the climatic scene in the episode, to congratulate Peter for his heroism.
• Woodsy Owl — One of Peter's failed efforts to become famous involves playing "Gary, The No Trash Cougar," a violent takeoff of the United States Forest Service mascot.

Reviews

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