"Movin' Out (Brian's Song)" is the second episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series Family Guy. The 100th overall, it originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 30, 2007. It was written by John Viener and directed by Cyndi Tang. In the episode, Peter convinces Brian to move in with his girlfriend Jillian and Stewie tags along to help pay the rent. Meanwhile, Meg and Chris get jobs at the convenience store where Chris befriends the manager, prompting Meg to do all the hard work. The episode title is a reference to the Billy Joel song "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" and the film Brian's Song. This episode marks the end of Brian and Jillian's relationship, which started in season five.
"Movin' Out (Brian's Song)" was met with generally positive reviews from critics, who praised it for having a continuous storyline. Critics also praised Drew Barrymore's performance as Jillian and considered it sorrowful that her character was written out of the series. The episode was viewed by 7.95 million viewers in its original airing, according to Nielsen ratings. "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)" was released onto DVD along with five other episodes from the season on October 21, 2008.
Plot
Brian turns down a chance to see Disney on Ice with Jillian, so she decides to give his ticket to Peter. Brian claims to be relieved, telling Lois he has been feeling smothered lately and needs to focus on his writing. After Peter and Jillian spend the entire day together and greatly enjoy each other's company, Peter convinces Jillian to either force Brian to move in with her, or leave him. Brian is angry at Peter for doing this, as he feels it is too soon for them to have a committed relationship, but after Lois warns him that he is not being fair on Jillian, he agrees to get an apartment with her. Much to his surprise, Brian has a good time living with Jillian, but he realizes that he cannot pay the rent by himself and decides to allow Stewie, who now makes money with his own paper route, to move in with them.
When Brian does not tell Jillian that Stewie is helping with the rent, Stewie quickly gets in the way of Brian and Jillian's happiness living together. After arguing with Brian one night while he is having sex with Jillian, Stewie reveals that he is paying half the rent, prompting Brian to admit he never wanted to move in with Jillian at all. Heartbroken, Jillian leaves Brian, who blames Stewie for ruining the relationship until Stewie tells him it is himself that ruined the relationship due to his initial unwillingness to commit to Jillian. After many failed attempts to lift a saddened Brian's spirits, Stewie convinces Brian to try to get Jillian back. Brian goes to her apartment and asks her to take him back, only to find that she is on a date with Mayor West, who comforted her following their argument and is now living with her. As the two go their separate ways, Brian moves back in with the Griffins.
Meanwhile, Meg is given a job at a local convenience store. Meg is extremely happy with her job and she decides to help Chris get a job there, too. Chris immediately becomes friends with the store owner, Carl, and he is given a large promotion which Carl originally promised to Meg. When Meg takes issue with this, she is fired, and tells Lois of her plight. Lois explains the situation to Chris and tells him to stand up for Meg by getting her job back, which he does by threatening to withhold his opinions of movies he and Carl normally discuss until Carl re-hires her. Meg, in turn, rejects working at the store again, but thanks Chris for standing up for her.
Production
"Movin' Out (Brian's Song)" was written by series regular John Viener and directed by series regular Cyndi Tang. Brian's girlfriend Jillian was introduced in season five and this episode marked the end of what the staff called "the Jillian arc". Executive producer David A. Goodman praised Drew Barrymore's voice work as Jillian, saying that "she did such an amazing job with the voice", and was sorry that this was her final episode. The episode was at the time the only Family Guy episode to list the executive producer credits at the end of the episode, because MacFarlane wanted "to wrap it up in kind of a sad way and do it the old-fashioned way." In the original draft of the episode, Jillian had moved in with Quagmire at the end. It was later changed to Jesus, and then to Mayor West, which was kept for the episode.