Review:
The Cleveland Show: Episode Seven

107: A Brown Thanksgiving

‘What’s wrong, girl? You look lower than Clint Eastwood’s testicles!’ – Auntie Momma

This week’s episode brings another batch of character backstory ripe for the fleshing out. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as good as the previous weeks’ story.

It’s Thanksgiving, an American celebration which involves sitting down, eating turkey and watching men covered in pads push over other men covered in pads. For the Brown-Tubbs household, this means a dinner with the family and a little bit of feuding, as three important new characters are introduced – Cleveland’s mother, his father and Donna’s Auntie Momma. Unfortunately, half way through a day of gratitude and thanks, Cleveland discovers that Auntie Momma is actually a man.

Meanwhile, Roberta and Federline attempt to have their own Thanksgiving on the back seat of Federline’s car.

While the episode on its own isn’t really that great – there aren’t any particular moments that stand out as being exceptional – the three new characters are by and large excellent contributions to the show and deserve a deeper look.

First up is Cleveland’s mother, Cookie, a spineless woman who doesn’t speak up when her husband openly pursues another woman right in front of her. It’s the first time she’s been introduced to the Family Guy universe and it’s really great to finally see her. Cookie’s character, while not on screen long enough to be anything more than two-dimensional and perfunctory, finally explains a huge amount of details about Cleveland’s own character – after all, he is a man who apologised to his ex-wife after she had an affair.

Next character is Cleveland’s father, Lavar ‘Freight Train’ Brown, a horribly cruel man who ignores his wife and cheats on her with women he barely knows. He provides a nice dynamic in the relationship that also goes a long way to demonstrating Cleveland’s character.