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'Blind Ambition' is the third episode of the fourth season of the American animated sitcom Family Guy. It was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on May 15, 2005.^[1] In the episode, Peter swallows an excessive number of nickels, causing him to become blind. He later becomes a hero after unwittingly saving Horace the bartender from a fire at his bar, The Drunken Clam, and then regains his sight. Meanwhile, Quagmire is forced to refrain from perverse sexual behavior or risk being driven out of the neighborhood following his arrest for spying on Lois in a ladies' lavatory.^[2]

Plot[edit]

At the bowling alley, Mort Goldman bowls a perfect game and becomes an overnight celebrity. Lois arrives to pick Peter up from the bowling alley, but discovers Quagmirespying on her from the ceiling of the ladies' toilet. Quagmire is arrested, but released shortly after by Joe. On his return, Lois, Bonnie and Loretta reveal that they're petitioning the city of Quahog to have Quagmire removed from their neighborhood. As Peter and the other guys are defending Quagmire, Ernie the Giant Chicken attacks Peter and starts a fight that causes huge casualties inside and outside of Quahog. After the fight, Peter returns to the neighborhood to return to the conversation and tells the women that 'Quagmire's a good guy, he's just a little mixed up, that's all!' Eventually, the women agree to let Quagmire stay in the neighborhood so long as he manages to control his perverse behavior. Quagmire's taught self-control through operant conditioning by Peter and his friends, and is eventually allowed out in public. Soon, however, he is distracted by three cheerleaders playing in a fountain in the shopping mall and panics, running into a CCTV camera operation room monitoring women's changing rooms. Discovering that an attractive blonde lady in a fitting room is having a heart attack, he appears to rush to her aid, performing CPR and saving her life. Quagmire is congratulated for his heroism, but his intention had been to molest the woman while she was unconscious (which he reveals by asking 'What the hell is CPR?').^[2]

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This upsets Peter, who is disappointed to notice that he is the one amongst his friends who hasn't been successful. In the hope of becoming famous, Peter attempts to set a world record for eating the largest number of nickels, but develops nickel poisoning and loses his vision. Attempting to drown his sorrows, Peter visits his local bar, The Drunken Clam, with his guide dog, unaware that the bar is on fire (caused by God trying to impress a woman). Discovering the bartender Horace trapped under debris, Peter saves his life and is proclaimed a hero by local newsman Tom Tucker. When told that he saved Horace from a burning building, Peter replies with disbelief, 'That freakin' place was on fire?!' For his inadvertent bravery, Peter is awarded a medal by the mayor and receives an eye transplant, the replacement eyes coming from a homeless man dragged to death when Peter accidentally tied his guide dog's leash around the man's neck, thinking he was a parking meter. The end of this episode is an unconnected parody of the closing scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Production[edit]

During Family Guy's third season, the show was cancelled by its network. In preparation in case the show was revived and began broadcasting again, five short scripts were written in 2001 for future episodes.^[3]Blind Ambition was developed from one of those scripts.^[3] A number of scenes in the episode were removed before broadcast and one, the reappearance of Ernie the Giant Chicken, had originally been set to broadcast in 'The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire'. The scene was moved to this episode because 'The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire' already contained a lengthy fight sequence and overran its time allowance.^[3][4][5] Several of the removed scenes focused on gags showing Peter and his friends attempting to rehabilitate Quagmire, one of which saw Brian Griffin transporting a fork-lift truck load of porn magazines away from Quagmire's house.^[3] Since the episode aired, a selection of action figures have been created of Peter acting as Gary, The No Trash Cougar.^[6]

Show producer David Goodman received many telephone calls complaining about the scene where Peter attempts to seduce his son Chris, mistakenly believing him to be his wife, Lois. The scene was believed by some viewers to be encouraging child molestation.^[3] The show also received at least one letter of complaint regarding the scene where Quagmire watches Lois going to the toilet;^[3] screenwriter Chris Sheridan comments on the DVD commentary that the number of complaints about this scene exceeded one.^[6] It is prohibited on Fox to use the term 'Jesus Christ' without actually referring to the person himself, and so in the scene in which God vaporises a person and exclaims 'Jesus Christ', it was necessary for Jesus to physically appear before the two run away in order for the scene to be suitable for television airing.^[3][4]

In addition to the regular cast, actor Gary Cole, actress Gina Gershon, actor Judd Hirsch, voice actress Rachael MacFarlane and actress Lisa Wilhoit guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Lori Alan, actor John G. Brennan, writer Danny Smith, and actress Jennifer Tilly made minor appearances.

Cultural references[edit]

• Stewie discovers the Keebler Elves after crashing into the tree, who plan to kill their competition: Snap, Crackle and Pop, with the help of Judd Hirsch's nuclear weapon, which Peter views while peeking through a ball return at the bowling alley.^[4] Later on in the bar, Crackle and Pop are seen discussing an attack by the Keebler Elves which apparently resulted in Snap's death.
• Beforehand, a ship crashes through Quahog buildings, a reference to Speed 2: Cruise Control.^[3][4]
• In one cutaway scene, W. Frederick Gerhardt's Cycleplane crashing is parodied.
• Peter discusses Scrubs with Horace in the bar, a show for which both Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan have written.^[3]
• In another cutaway scene, Peter recalls living at Superman's Fortress of Solitude with Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Aquaman, and being annoyed that they have run out of Mr. PiBB and Cheez-Its.
• The entire scene in which Peter receives his award from Mayor West is a reenactment of the ending of the original 1977 Star Wars film, A New Hope; Lucasfilm permitted the reproduction of the characters, music and sounds.^[4]
• The airplane that defeats Ernie the Giant Chicken in the fight is a mirror reference to the climatic scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.^[5]
• Stewie being launched into a tree is a reference to The Brady Bunch.^[3]
• In the scene where the Griffins are in the car and Peter tells them he is setting a world record, he points out two guys morbidly obese guys riding motorbikes nearby. This is a reference to real life pro wrestlers, Billy and Benny McCrary, known professionally as The McGuire Twins, who legitimately hold the Guinness World Record for heaviest twins, weighing in at 723 and 745 pounds respectively, or 1,468 pounds combined.

Reception[edit]

PopMatters' Kevin Wong gave the episode a positive review, feeling it was better than the two previous episodes of the season. He commented on the fight scene between Peter and Ernie the Giant Chicken as 'a cartoon action sequence to end all cartoon action sequences: vehicles explode and limbs flail as Peter and the chicken beat each other senseless.'^[7] 'Blind Ambition' was criticized by Mike Drucker of IGN, who found that 'the long fight with the chicken in Blind Ambition was funny once before, but borderline tiring here'. However, Drucker also noted that the Star Wars ending was 'one of my favorite jokes in the series'.^[8]

References[edit]

1. ^Blind AmbitionArchived December 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine tv.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
2. ^ ^abPlot synopsis information for the episode 'Blind Ambition' (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 2005.
3. ^ ^abcdefghijGoodman, David (2005). Family Guy volume 4 Region 1 (Season 4) DVD commentary for the episode 'Blind Ambition' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
4. ^ ^abcdeCommentators (2005). Family Guy volume 4 Region 1 DVD commentary for the episode 'Blind Ambition' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
5. ^ ^abCallaghan, Steve (2005). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode 'Blind Ambition' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
6. ^ ^abSheridan, Chris (2005). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode 'Blind Ambition' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
7. ^Wong, Kevin (June 13, 2005). 'Family Guy'. Popmatters.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
8. ^Drucker, MikeMike (November 29, 2005). 'Family Guy – Volume 3'. IGN. Archived from the original on December 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-15.

External links[edit]

• 'Blind Ambition' at TV.com
• 'Blind Ambition' at IMDb

'The Target' is the series premiere of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by David Simon from a story by Simon and Ed Burns and was directed by Clark Johnson. It originally aired on June 2, 2002. The title refers to Detective Jimmy McNulty setting his sights on Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale's drug-dealing organization as the target of an investigation.

Plot summary[edit]

The episode opens with a seemingly routine discussion between Baltimore detective Jimmy McNulty and an indignant, shocked witness to a murder, while sitting on the stoop of a West Baltimore building multiple people have tagged with their names. In the street before them lies the body of Omar Isaiah Betts, a 'rip and run' kid nicknamed 'Snot Boogie', who was fatally shot by a newcomer to the back alley craps game Betts played in and then robbed each week when the cash pot grew sufficiently large. The conversation emphasizes the significance of the name by which the victim was known. The witness also describes the illogical, but to that point accepted, pattern of the regulars allowing Snot Boogie to join the game each week, knowing in advance he would rob it, followed by their chasing him down to beat him and retrieve their money. Until now, observes the witness, 'ain’t nobody ever go past that'. When McNulty asks, given the established pattern, 'Why’d you even let him in the game?' the reluctant witness, who declares he will not testify in court, responds, 'You got to. This America, man.' McNulty, using a soft touch and 'soft eyes' approach, ultimately flips the witness, securing his testimony 'in exchange for some Grape Nehi and a few Newports'.^[1]

McNulty observes the courtroom trial of D'Angelo Barksdale, a young drug dealer charged with the murder of a low-ranking gang member. One of the two eyewitnesses, a security guard named Nakeesha Lyles, changes her story on the stand and refuses to identify D'Angelo, resulting in an acquittal.

McNulty vents his frustration to JudgeDaniel Phelan about the Baltimore Police Department's failure to investigate D'Angelo's uncle Avon and his right-hand man Stringer Bell, who are major players in West Baltimore's drug trade. Phelan makes a call to Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell. Later, Major William Rawls, incensed that McNulty went around the chain of command, forces him to write a report for Burrell about the Barksdale murders. Sergeant Jay Landsman warns McNulty that his behavior could end with a reassignment. He asks where McNulty would not want to be reassigned, and McNulty admits he dreads being posted to the harbor patrol unit.

Wee-Bey Brice drives D'Angelo to Orlando's strip club, a front for the Barksdale Organization. When D'Angelo discusses the trial in Wee-Bey's car, Wee-Bey curtly reminds him not to discuss business in the car or on the phone, in case both are being monitored. Avon chides D'Angelo for committing a needless public murder, costing the organization time, effort, and money. D'Angelo also meets a stripper called Shardene Innes. When D'Angelo arrives at the high-rise Franklin Terrace housing projects, Stringer tells him he has been demoted to heading a crew in the low-rise projects, dubbed 'the Pit.' This new crew includes Bodie Broadus, Poot Carr, and young Wallace.

Narcotics Lieutenant Cedric Daniels is tasked by Burrell with organizing a detail to investigate the Barksdales. Burrell wants to keep the investigation quick and simple, appeasing Phelan without becoming drawn into a protracted case. Daniels brings Narcotics detectives Kima Greggs, Thomas 'Herc' Hauk, and Ellis Carver with him. Rawls sends McNulty and Michael Santangelo, one of Homicide's more inept detectives. McNulty's FBI contact, Agent Terrance 'Fitz' Fitzhugh, shows him the Bureau's far superior surveillance equipment, but explains that their drug investigations are winding down due to the War on Terror. McNulty objects to Daniels' plan of buy busts and suggests using a wiretap to get a conviction. However, Daniels insists on a fast-paced investigation, suggesting that the detail look at old murders tied to the Barksdales.

McNulty goes drinking with his Homicide partner Bunk Moreland and complains about his ex-wife, who makes it difficult for him to see his two sons. Greggs returns home to her partner Cheryl. A heroin addict called Bubbles and his protege, Johnny Weeks, buy drugs with counterfeit money, but when they try to repeat the scam, Bodie leads the crew in beating Johnny. Bubbles is also a confidential informant for Greggs, and agrees to give her information on the Barksdales as revenge for the beating. At the start of his second day working the Pit, D'Angelo is shocked to find the murdered body of William Gant, another witness at his trial, lying in the street.^[2][3][4]

Production[edit]

Epigraph[edit]

...when it's not your turn – McNulty

This line is taken from a conversation in which McNulty criticizes his colleague Bunk Moreland for taking on a homicide case that he could have avoided – it not being his turn in the rotation to take the next case. Bunk took the case because he knew the corpse was found in a house, which statistically gave him a much better chance of solving the case than if the victim had been found outdoors. The conversation is ironic since McNulty has broken the rules in a much more serious fashion by circumventing the chain of command.^[5]

Commentary[edit]

The DVD release featured a commentary track recorded by creator and writer/producer David Simon. Simon discusses the season's novelistic structure and the theme of the corrupting influence of the institutions that the characters have committed to. He mentions many real life inspirations for events and characters on the show.

He discusses the technique of using surveillance methods within shots (TV monitors, security cameras etc.) to give the sense of always being watched and a need to process the vast amount of information available to the show's detective characters. He also talks about trying to ground the show in realism by using only diegetic music.

Throughout the commentary, Simon tries to distinguish The Wire from other television crime dramas. He makes the point that the detectives are motivated not by a desire to protect and serve but by the intellectual vanity of believing they are smarter than the criminals they are chasing.

At the end of the episode, when the body of Gant is found, there is a brief flashback to the trial, re-identifying the character for the audience. David Simon cites it as one of the few things HBO urged them to do, to make sure audiences recognized the character. Although Simon concedes that 'maybe they were right', he says that they were reluctant to put it in as it broke from the style of the show. The show's storytelling has been entirely linear ever since.^[5]

Non-fictional elements[edit]

Both the Snot Boogie murder story and Bunk's tale of shooting a mouse in his kitchen are anecdotes from Simon's time researching his non-fiction book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991).^[5] A real police officer named Jay Landsman is also a character in the book.

Reviewers have noted the pilot's grounding in the non-fiction political climate. The San Francisco Chronicle commented that the show had forecast a reduction of the FBI's attention to the War on Drugs because of the competing War on Terror.^[6] Simon confirms that the pilot was shot only a few weeks after 9/11, but that the writers correctly predicted what the FBI's response would be.^[5]

Locations[edit]

The opening scene (the Snot Boogie crime scene) was filmed at the corner of Fulton and Lexington in West Baltimore. The scenes set at Orlando's gentleman's club were filmed at the Ritz Cabaret in Fells Point.^[5]

Credits[edit]

Starring cast[edit]

The credited starring cast consists of Dominic West (Jimmy McNulty), John Doman (William Rawls), Idris Elba (Stringer Bell), Frankie Faison (Ervin Burrell), Larry Gilliard, Jr. (D'Angelo Barksdale), Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale), Deirdre Lovejoy (Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman), Wendell Pierce (Bunk Moreland), Lance Reddick (Cedric Daniels), Andre Royo (Bubbles), and Sonja Sohn (Kima Greggs).^[7]

Guest stars[edit]

The episode introduces many characters who are important over the course of the series, despite only being credited as guest stars. Domenick Lombardozzi plays Herc. Leo Fitzpatrick plays homeless, hapless drug addict Johnny Weeks. Hassan Johnson plays criminal enforcer Wee-Bey Brice. Michael B. Jordan plays naive sixteen-year-old drug dealer Wallace. Melanie Nicholls-King plays Detective Greggs' domestic partner Cheryl. Doug Olear plays FBI Special Agent Terrence 'Fitz' Fitzhugh. Richard DeAngelis plays Major Raymond Foerster. Wendy Grantham plays stripper Shardene Innes. Michael Kostroff plays defense lawyer Maurice Levy. Michael Salconi plays Detective Michael Santangelo.

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Reviewers have noted that several actors appearing in the series have previously appeared in Homicide: Life on the Street and Oz.^[7] In addition to Reddick and Harris, Oz alumni include Seth Gilliam (Ellis Carver) and J.D. Williams (Bodie Broadus). Peter Gerety (Judge Phelan) and Clayton LeBouef (Orlando) were both major characters on Homicide, on which Delaney Williams (Sgt. Jay Landsman) had also appeared.^[7][8] This episode was the first of several directed by Clark Johnson, also an alumnus of Homicide. The Corner star Larry Hull appears as maintenance man and witness William Gant.

Uncredited appearances[edit]

• Chris Clanton as Savino
• Tray Chaney as Malik 'Poot' Carr
• Brandon Price as Anton 'Stinkum' Artis
• Robert F. Colesberry as Detective Ray Cole
• Bobby J. Brown as Officer Bobby Brown
• Kamal Bostic-Smith as Snot Boogie's friend

Brandon Price and Chris Clanton appeared as Barksdale crew soldiers Anton 'Stinkum' Artis and Savino Bratton in the courtroom scene but had no lines and were not credited. Tray Chaney appeared as Poot Carr in the pit, notably being told by Bodie Broadus to chase down Johnny Weeks, but he has few lines and no credit. This begins a trend of minor roles and appearances remaining uncredited on the show. Producer Robert F. Colesberry makes an uncredited cameo appearance as homicide detective Ray Cole, whom he plays over the course of the first two seasons.

Reception[edit]

The Guardian Unlimited review noted the pilot episode established the series' themes of institutional dysfunction, the ineffectiveness of the War on Drugs and novelistic structure. The review compared the series to Richard Price's 1992 novel Clockers and wondered if the pace could be sustained for an entire season. The review picked out the characters of Jimmy and Avon as particularly significant.^[9] An Entertainment Weekly reviewer praised Johnson's direction of the episode and credited him with drawing subtle performances out of Gerety and Reddick.^[7]Tim Goodman of The San Francisco Chronicle characterized the show as another success for the HBO network and a well-produced and complex subversion of the cops and robbers genre. He credited Simon's reporter's eye for detail for the series' verisimilitude. He also noted the series themes of institutional dysfunction, the ineffectiveness of the War on Drugs and novelistic structure.^[6] A separate Chronicle article highlighted the theme of institutional dysfunction through the comparable experience of characters on opposite sides of the law using Jimmy and D'Angelo as examples.^[10] The review also made favourable comparisons between the show and Simon's previous work on Homicide: Life on the Street, attributing the improvement to the switch to cable television for The Wire from the NBC network who produced Homicide.^[10]

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was more critical of the show. They stated that the producers' expectations that the audience would have the patience for a complex, morally ambiguous, and slowly unfolding story might prove unfounded. They noted the cast members from Homicide and Oz and described The Wire as less accessible than either of these shows and also compared the pacing to Farscape. They praised the performances of some of the cast and said that the show had moments that drew the viewer in but ultimately required too much of its audience.^[8]The New York Times also felt that the show 'went out of its way to be choppy and confusing' and eschewed conventions of signposting the introduction of characters and obvious exposition but commented that while some viewers may be alienated others would find this refreshing.^[11] They noted the theme of institutional dysfunction and the use of parallel storylines for characters in different organizations to highlight this, citing the pariah status of Jimmy and D'Angelo.^[11] The review also criticised the show's attempts at realistic dialogue, saying that it often seemed self-conscious, and the examination of the detectives' personal lives, saying that it had been done before.^[11] The review stated that the show's success would hinge not on its apparent high quality but on the tolerance of the viewer for the complexity of the continuing narrative, which they characterized as considerably more downbeat than high-octane shows like 24.^[11]

The opening scene at the Snot Boogie crime scene has been praised as being a 'perfectly crafted set-up' for the series' themes of institutional dysfunction, devaluing human life and as epitomizing the bleak humor of the show.^[12]

References[edit]

1. ^Honig, Peter (June 4, 2012). '1.1: The Snotboogie Paradox'. The Wire Blog.
2. ^'Episode guide - episode 01 The Target'. HBO. 2004. Retrieved July 24, 2006.
3. ^David Simon, Ed Burns (June 2, 2002). 'The Target'. The Wire. Season 1. Episode 1. HBO.
4. ^Alvarez, Rafael (2004). The Wire: Truth Be Told. New York: Pocket Books.
5. ^ ^abcdeDavid Simon (2005). The Wire 'The Target' commentary track (DVD). HBO.
6. ^ ^abTim Goodman (May 31, 2002). 'HBO fleshes out all sides of drug war in 'The Wire''. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
7. ^ ^abcd'Wire Power'. Entertainment Weekly. June 28, 2002. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
8. ^ ^abRob Owen (June 1, 2002). 'TV Reviews: Networks aren't taking it easy this summer'. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
9. ^Marshall, Ben (February 4, 2005). 'Call the cops'. The Guardian. London.
10. ^ ^abPeter Hartlaub (June 5, 2002). 'Fighting crime, and bureaucrats. Creator of HBO's 'Wire' takes police drama in new direction'. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
11. ^ ^abcdNeil Genzlinger (May 31, 2002). 'TV WEEKEND; A Gritty Drug World, From All Sides'. The New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2007.
12. ^Margaret Talbot (2007). 'Stealing Life'. The New Yorker. Retrieved October 14, 2007. 'It was a perfectly crafted setup for Simon's themes: how inner-city life could be replete with both casual cruelty and unexpected comedy; how the police and the policed could, at moments, share the same jaundiced view of the world; how some dollar-store, off-brand version of American capitalism could trickle down, with melancholy effect, into the most forsaken corners of American society. But, as it happened, the Snot Boogie story was real — Simon had heard it, down to the line about America, from a police detective, and it appears in 'Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.' Simon's gift is in recognizing an anecdote like that for the found parable that it is — 'stealing life,' as he once described it to me—and knowing which parts to steal.'

External links[edit]

Back Alley Craps

• 'The Target' at HBO.com
• 'The Target' at IMDb
• 'The Target' at TV.com