Family Guy’s newest Halloween special hatches a passionate trick-or-treating scheme while also righting an age-old wrong that’s hung over the holiday’s head for years.

Halloween episodes are a tried and true television tradition that has thankfully only grown more creative over time. They’re a great opportunity for characters to try on new skins – figuratively and literally – during a time when it can often feel like reality’s rules don’t apply. Family Guy is no stranger to Halloween episodes, yet they’re hardly something that the series has run into the ground. Family Guy’s first Halloween episode didn’t occur until the show’s ninth season, and it’s been fairly selective on that front ever since. Corporate synergy and Hulu holiday specials have given Family Guy the chance to embrace Halloween in new ways. While the series is still finding its footing with how it approaches these specials, “A Little Fright Music” is a strong, silly Halloween episode that’s a great apéritif for this year’s spooky season. It turns to music and mischief to get to the very core of the holiday.

Brian and Stewie were front and center in Family Guy’s previous Halloween special, and “A Little Fright Music” unites this duo over a very relatable annoyance. There’s plenty that Brian and Stewie love about Halloween, yet they’ve developed a growing disdain for the holiday’s lackluster song catalogue. Trick-or-treaters have been forced to accept “The Monster Mash” as Halloween’s anthem. Disappointed with the state of Halloween’s musical affairs, Brian and Stewie pledge to craft the ultimate Halloween song instead of waiting for the holiday to create one on its own. 

This is a small-scale plot in concept, but the perfect type of story that has infinite room to grow as these characters get lost in the creative process. This idea could play out with so many potential outcomes that are all dependent on which characters are involved in the carol creation. Stewie and Brian are certainly the most satisfying duo to embark on this endeavor, which results in an entertaining episode that’s as much a love letter to everyone’s favorite autumnal holiday as it is a celebration of Brian and Stewie. It’s a playful story that explores the endless creativity that Halloween inspires, rather than an episode that opts for scares and suspense (although there’s a little of that, too). “A Little Fright Music” pursues an angle that represents an equally important part of the holiday that’s helped Halloween become a touching time for new traditions and personalized passion, regardless of age.

There’s plenty of fun to be had with the dissonance that’s created between Stewie and Brian as they get deeper in this project. Stewie gets lost in every aspect of song production except the song itself, while Brian loses his patience and grows to regret this creative collaboration. Curiously, there are quite a few sitcoms that attempt to create new musical anthems for holidays, albeit typically not with Halloween. That being said, the same principles are in place, and this turns into one of the more entertaining examples where two stubborn, creative forces attempt to work together and create something. There’s a moment in which Brian uses the term “bon mot” as an early indication of the turbulence that these two will have in their musical endeavor. While this is hardly a reference to Frasier, the dynamic that’s shared between Stewie and Brian here is very akin to Frasier and Niles and how they would go about such a pursuit. It’s a successful tone that helps both characters shine in their own ways, rather than pitting them against each other and punching down with them.

Brian and Stewie’s musical mission becomes a light-hearted balance for the rest of the episode’s exploits. Chris finds himself looking inward when he experiences malaise as a teenager who longs to continue trick-or-treating, while his older age suggests that he’s now banished to hand out candy at home with the rest of the joyless adults. Family Guy has something compelling to say with all this, especially once it turns into an opportunity for Chris to “become a man” with Peter. This – evidently – means learning how to comfortably lie to the women in his life while he does what he wants.

“A Little Fright Music” heads into a ludicrous third act that’s rich in car crashes, urban legends, and masked killers. It’s a heightened trope-filled turn of events, but it at least finds a way to justify all this and make sense of it all, rather than actual serial killers being in pursuit of Peter, Chris, and company. These holiday machinations push Lois to go all “get off my lawn” when it comes to Halloween’s mutation over the years, as it’s turned into yet another extended excuse for adults to regress and commandeer the holiday away from children. What’s supposed to be fun escapism becomes an opportunity for bragging rights, class disparity, and ego boosts. Lois is certainly a fitting Halloween Grinch, but this doesn’t necessarily become a storyline of its own. Lois’ irritation works as an obstacle to Peter and Chris’ pursuits. Her initially toxic perspective blossoms over the course of the episode until it becomes an unlikely inspiration to the rest of the cast, rather than something that impedes their holiday joy.

Chris and Peter’s night on the town is an innocuous enough story that reinforces the episode’s grander themes of Halloween’s societal expectations and how this is often bifurcated between kids and adults; creative freedom over the prison of monotony. In this sense, it’s appreciated that Family Guy attempts to say something a little deeper with this holiday. It’s the right move for a show that’s committed itself to multiple Hulu holiday specials at this point, and so it better have something about Halloween that goes beyond a surface level analysis. Family Guy’s previous Halloween special, “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater,” was much less successful because it indulged in hollow guest stars and an exaggerated storyline that strayed too close from home. “A Little Fright Music” finds a better balance that turns this into a significantly stronger Halloween special and a better Family Guy episode in general.

There’s also plenty to appreciate in “A Little Fright Music” outside of the core storytelling and character development. The episode’s non sequiturs land, for the most part, while the cutaway jokes are a cut above the norm. There’s a brilliant riff on “Who’s on First?” that’s filtered through Abbott Elementary that genuinely had me laughing. Another gag takes a ridiculous jab at FOX Animation Domination synergy through a Grimsburg shout-out. This is all accompanied by decent pacing and an episode that doesn’t waste time. “A Little Fright Music” isn’t anything revelatory, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do in this Halloween showcase.

Family Guy does solid work in this holiday installment. However, episodes that revolve so heavily around the debut of a big song – while admirable – are often set up to fail in some respects. “A Little Fright Music“ makes a decent argument that there aren’t any definitive Halloween songs. Granted, Halloween is not as song-heavy a holiday as Christmas, but the point still stands. An episode of this nature would really hammer its point in if Brian and Stewie’s song legitimately caught on in the real world and turned into a seasonal hit. Now, such a feat is nearly impossible, and something with even the cultural pull and legacy of Rick and Morty, The Simpsons, and South Park would struggle to pull this off. This doesn’t turn “A Little Fright Music“ into a failure by any means, but it does just underscore how an episode like this could really succeed on a meta level under the right circumstances. Family Guy doesn’t attempt anything nearly as lofty in “A Little Fright Music,“ but that’s more than okay. This is a Halloween special that features far more treats than tricks. Brian and Stewie’s song is unlikely to become an evergreen Halloween hit, but this Family Guy episode might become a part of many audiences’ annual Halloween watch list.

“A Little Fright Music” is available to stream now, as of October 6, on Hulu.