The 2000-Year-Old Virgin
| "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" | |
|---|---|
| Family Guy episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 13 Episode 6 |
| Directed by | Joseph Lee |
| Written by | Ted Jessup |
| Production code | CACX03 |
| Original air date | December 7, 2014 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
"The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" is the sixth episode of the thirteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 237th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on December 7, 2014, and is written by Ted Jessup and directed by Joseph Lee.[1] The title is a play on the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
In the episode, Peter lets Jesus have sex with his wife Lois after Jesus repeats his annual tradition of lying to a friend that he is still a virgin. Due to its portrayal of Jesus as a lying sex crazed adulterer, the episode had a mixed reception, with some viewers pleased by the episode and others offended.
Plot
On a trip to the Quahog Mall before Christmas, Peter and Lois bump into Jesus and discover that he is still hanging around Quahog due to not being entirely comfortable dealing with his own home life with God. Jesus invites Peter over to his place. However, since it is a depressing bachelor apartment, Peter invites him out with Glenn Quagmire, Cleveland Brown, and Joe Swanson to have a drink. At the Drunken Clam, they start planning a birthday party for Jesus, and Jesus tells them that he has never had sex: to make his birthday special, they promise to help him lose his virginity. Their attempts to achieve this through speed dating fails, upsetting Peter. Lois tries to find out what Jesus likes, but her nice manners cause him to want to sleep with her. Approaching Peter about his issue to help him, Peter is shocked but agrees to help when Jesus promises him an expensive massage chair in return for sleeping with Lois. He lets Lois know about Jesus' interest in her and she reluctantly agrees.
As they head out together, Peter enjoys his chair at the Drunken Clam. During this time, Peter has a fantasy of Lois and Jesus having sex and has second thoughts. Other men at the bar confirm to Peter that Jesus is not a virgin, but pulls this annual stunt every Christmas by bribing men with gifts just so he can sleep with their wives. Peter tries multiple ways to get to their liaison to stop things. Peter rushes to the room to find that no cheating took place as Lois decided that their marriage was too good. Despite being caught for lying, Jesus applauds them for learning their “lesson” that he intended, making the excuse that he concocted this charade as a tale of appreciating loved ones and resisting temptation on the holiest of days. After Peter thanks Jesus for saving their marriage, Jesus leaves saying "Who cares? I'm not even real, Merry Christmas".
Earlier, when Jesus asked Peter if he could sleep with Lois, Peter stated that he wasn't as outraged as the millions of Christians watching this episode and looked at the screen telling viewers to stop these "hollywood jew writers" from ruining his marriage and their religion.
On Christmas Day, Rupert gives Stewie a Joni Mitchell CD for Christmas, disappointing him because Stewie had observed Rupert picking out a heart-shaped necklace. As Stewie tearfully listens to "Both Sides, Now" on the CD, he wonders whom the necklace was for, and it is revealed to be for Mayor Adam West.
Reception
The episode received an audience of 4.44 million, making it the second most watched show on Fox that night after The Simpsons episode "I Won't Be Home for Christmas".[2]
Controversy
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In an interview ahead of the start of the thirteenth season, Family Guy executive producer Steve Callaghan, when asked in an interview with Entertainment Weekly whether the episode would provoke a negative backlash “We have a joke that addresses that exact point, that we’re probably going to irritate some people with that episode”.[3] TheBlaze's Billy Hallowell noted that viewer reaction on Twitter to the episode's portrayal of Jesus ranged from highly positive to highly negative: while some users appreciated the comedy and were surprised at opposition to it, others found it lazy or criticized what they saw as unfair portrayals of Jesus compared to other deities.[4]
Tianna DiMartino of the Media Research Center was strongly critical of the episode, saying "MacFarlane, the liberal atheist behind “Family Guy,” seems to be feeling especially spiteful this Christmas, going above and beyond the usual sacrilege...“Family Guy” is known for constantly crossing the lines with vulgarity and blasphemy but thus far this latest “Christmas” episode takes the cake for most blasphemous and vulgar".[5]
References
- ↑ "Listings - FAMILY GUY on FOX - TheFutonCritic.com". thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ↑ Bibel, Amanda (December 9, 2014). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'The SImpsons' & 'Family Guy' Adjusted Up, '60 Minutes' Adjusted Down & Final Football Numbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
- ↑ Snierson, Dan (September 28, 2014). "Peter gets 'Taken,' Stewie gets pregnant, and more 'Family Guy' scoop". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
- ↑ Hallowell, Billy (December 8, 2014). "'The 2,000-Year-Old Virgin': 'Family Guy' Christmas Episode Portrays Jesus as a Lying, Sex-Crazed Adulterer". TheBlaze. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- ↑ DiMartino, Tianna (December 8, 2014). "'Family Guy' Christmas: 'The 2000 Year-Old Virgin'". Media Research Center. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
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The plot description was adapted from The 2000-Year-Old Virgin at Family Guy Wiki, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.