text: breaking out is hard to do " breaking out is hard to do " is the ninth episode of the fourth season of family guy . it originally broadcast on july 17 , 2005 , guest - starred dat phan and brian tochi , and was written by tom devanney . the episode sees lois becoming addicted to the rush of shoplifting ; she , however , is soon arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment . peter successfully smuggles her out of the prison , and the griffins begin a new life in " asiantown " away from where they are high profile fugitives , only for joe to track them down and attempt to arrest them . overall , the episode was received positively by critics and media sources . plot during a grocery shopping trip , lois realizes she is short on money to pay for food . she pretends to return a ham to the meat department but decides to hide it in her purse instead . hooked on the thrill of shoplifting , she begins stealing other items , quickly becoming addicted to theft . she begins to indulge in large shoplifting sprees , including stealing a matisse painting , which arouses the suspicion of brian . while attempting to steal from an auto parts store , lois is caught by brian , who tells her she is doing wrong and that her stealing is not going to solve problems . lois accepts his reasoning , but as she loads up the car to return her stolen goods , she is caught by joe and arrested . in court , lois is sentenced to serve three years in prison . the griffin household turns to chaos in lois ' absence , and the family realizes they need to break lois out of jail . during a visit to lois in the prison , peter smuggles her out by stuffing her into his mouth . as lois ' escape is realized , the griffins jump into a laundry van , where they escape to quahog 's asiantown ( which evokes the traits of chinatown and japantown ) and rent a run - down apartment to begin new lives . chris begins a career as a rickshaw driver , stewie takes a job at sewing shoes ( but is fired after sewing a shoe to his hand , and replaced with a baby ) . peter becomes a sumo wrestler , but is spotted by joe on the television shortly afterward . joe successfully tracks the family down and pursues them through asiantown , leading them into the city sewers . lois decides to surrender and face the consequences so that the rest of the family won 't have to , but as joe attempts to detain her , he slips in the sewer and is almost swept off a nearby ledge . lois pulls joe to safety , and in gratitude , joe manages to get lois ' sentence cancelled , and life returns to normal for the family . production " breaking out is hard to do " is the first family guy episode to be written by tom devanney . when stewie attempts to asphyxiate himself in the supermarket , he was originally meant to state " either i was a c - section or you 're stretch " , which would have been a reference to the stretch armstrong action figure , but broadcasting standards prohibited them from showing it . during the " take on me " sequence , family guy had obtained full rights to use the " take on me " music video completely , but animators re - produced the video to make it easier for production . originally , a joke had been drafted showing brian standing next to a tabloid newspaper with a picture of kirstie alley and commenting on her weight , only for her to enter the grocery shop in godzilla - like size and throw items from the shelves , but the sketch was removed to save time during the episode . the matisse painting shown in the griffins ' dining room is only animated similar to an actual matisse painting due to a legal issue with the paintings . the episode production staff spent a lot of time deciding what would be lois ' motivation for stealing en masse . an unused scene was drafted showing chris , directly after hearing lois ' prison term , back to him watching six feet under , seeing a same - sex couple kissing , and exclaiming " oh , come on ! " the song based around glen quagmire was sung and recorded by professional studio singers who sing at events such as the academy awards . the scene following peter saying to lois : " i had to do , well you know , that thing that you usually do for me every thursday night " showing peter attempting to give himself fellatio , hitting his head on the wall and falling down the stairs was repeatedly fought by broadcasting standards , but they eventually allowed the scene . in the original episode draft , peter was to be seen falling down the stairs , and stewie 's foot was to be lodged inside peter 's anus , where he was to lose his shoe . peter breaks the fourth wall and begins to speak with viewers during his interview with the sumo wrestling employee ; executive producer david a. goodman comments in the episode dvd commentary that this is " one of the few times , maybe the only time , when [ the show ] can step out of format and point out the format . " the " cbs asiantown " logo shown on the griffins ' television was prohibited from broadcast on the televised version of the episode . cultural references chris is shown participating in the video " take on me " — a song released by a - ha in 1985 — while fetching milk for lois . he then breaks out on the other side , with no understanding of what just happened . lois calls on brian saying he was too busy eye - balling glenn close on redbook magazine . peter riding the is a reference to fantasy novel the neverending story . the chase sequence between lois and joe is a reference to a sequence from raiders of the lost ark as joe is pulled along by the attached garden hose and pulls himself under the moving car . peter goes to a book club while lois is gone , where the members are reading the lovely bones . the griffins escaping out of their apartment to evade joe is a reference to butch cassidy and the sundance kids , with the rest of the chase through asiantown being a reference to revenge of the pink panther . the police helicopter pilot in asiantown stating he pretends he is shooting at jamie farr and alan alda when firing rockets is a reference to the actors of m * a * s * h. joe shooting down two tie fighters while flying through the sewer is a reference to star wars . characters from 1985 adventure – comedy film the goonies are seen talking with the griffins in the sewer . the episode title is a reference to the neil sedaka song , " breaking up is hard to do . " reception this episode was the most - watched fox program on its airdate among adults 18 to 49 ; 5 . 75 million viewers watched . in his review of the family guy volume 3 dvd , francis rizzo iii of dvd talk wrote " but if any moment stands out among this run , it 's the supermarket scene in " breaking out is hard to do . " when chris is pulled into the " take on me " video by a - ha , it 's a perfect blend of what this show does best , combining nonsense , the ' 80s and some neat animation . the lead - in , the punchline and the execution of the whole scene is handled so well that it might be one of the show 's most memorable ever . " in her review of the episode , kim of tv squad wrote " this was , overall , a very funny episode . lots of funny references — the trix rabbit , karl malden , mash , star wars , " three 's company " the funniest moment for me , was the bit with stewie walking in on brian cross - dressing . that alone was worth the price of admission . "