I guess Brian is dead?

I just don't quite get it.

I am a huge fan of Seth McFarlene... but why?

I'm one of many fans that are just confused by what happened on Family Guy. Brian, the dog, one of my favorite characters on the show is just dead. He was hit by a car and just died. No jokes, no time machine to bring him back. Just dead.

And if you're one of the people who are getting angry because people are spoiling it for you, calm the F down. It's Family Guy not Game of Thrones.

The writers simply explained that it was an idea that was tossed around and it turned up being something they liked. They thought it would shake things up having the characters react to a world where Brian is dead.

As much as I understand the reasoning, I don't quite agree with the choice.

There are a lot of characters you could have killed that would have had the same effect. Characters reacting to death is a way to put characters in a new environment I just don't think Brian was the right choice.

Look at the main cast of Family Guy. You've got Peter, a fat stupid, alcoholic father. Lois a housewife putting up with that idiot but has a wild side of her own. Chris, a self conscious, disgusting fat highschooler. Meg, a disgusting unattractive high school girl, and Stewie, a sexually curious psychopathic baby.

The main cast needs a voice of reason. That was always Brian. Sure Brian had his quirks. He was an alcoholic, but who wouldn't be while living in that family. He's a talking dog. That's funny. He was just sensible one and often created a bridge between the stable minded audience and this idiotic hilarious family.

And whats his replacement you may ask?

Vinnie, a talking Italian dog. Why? Because fuck you thats why.

I was watching the 11th season to catch up and they were actually doing a really good job. I was laughing, I was enjoying the season. And then they threw this in there.

And the way it was done was very rushed.

The episode starts off well enough, Stewie and Brian are fleeing a band of Native Americans chasing them in SUVs. Turns out, Stewie thought it would be a good idea to go back in time and give the Native Americans in Jamestown guns.

So they show that world for a little bit, then return to Jamestown, get the guns and everything is fixed. Stewie then decides to destroy his time machine. (conveniently enough) and they bring it to the dump. At that point, Brian finds a hockey net and they decide to play with it back at the house. While doing that, Brian gets hit by a car. Very graphically.

There's nothing funny about that scene. Brian just gets ravaged by the car.

At that point the Griffins rush him to the hospital but its too late. Brian says they had given him a good life and then he dies.

The rest of the episode is Stewie realizing his time machine is broken so he can't go back and fix the past, the funeral, them buying Vinnie and getting used to him. Obviously its not that good.

But the death of Brian wasn't even that great. Why take a lovable character like that and kill him off so abruptly and violently? Brian, though the voice of reason, was never that serious of a character. So why give him a serious death? It was just very unlike Family Guy to not give him one last joke or one last hoorah.

Some may say, that's not how life works. People leave us abruptly and there's not much we can do about it. To that I say this isn't real life. When has Family Guy ever portrayed real life?

I just think, if the writers were deadset on killing off Brian, at least give him one more goodbye. Show him in heaven, or have Stewie actually go back in time, try to save him but fail.

The way the show had Stewie cope with the loss was have a stupid conversation with Vinnie.

I think it is necessary if they're going to continue with this to have Stewie be friends with Vinnie but that could have been a whole other episode.

Life of Brian could have been an episode of Stewie coping with Brian's death. Isn't comedy just tragedy rewritten?

And then have a whole episode about how Stewie doesn't like Vinnie because he replaced Brian so quickly.

But its essential for Stewie and Vinnie to be best pals.

I think this may be the part I'm most bummed about when I think about Brian dying. The relationship he had with Stewie. It was so good that they made an entire episode with just those two in a bank vault. No cutaways, just them talking. And I personally loved it. The two just play off each other so well and now we won't see that ever again. Stewie is one of my favorite characters from the show and he needs that counter to react to his strangeness. I don't quite see it yet coming from Vinnie but its gotta come somewhere.

Overall I feel like Life of Brian was too rushed and not a tribute to Brian the way it should have been.

I trust Seth McFarlene. I've been watching Family Guy basically since its beginnings. If they really think this is a good idea, maybe it is a good idea.

I personally am hoping they decide to bring Brian but I'll keep watching. I do want to see this new world but Seth McFarlene is on thin ice.

So what do you think of Brian getting killed off? Are you going to use the hashtag #bringbackbrian?

I'll leave you with this. One of many tributes to Brian.