- The title references the film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.
- The ending with Stewie's were-wolf yellow eyes and maniacal laughter is taken from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.
- Bonnie's revealing that the voicework is done to support her gambling addiction is a reference to Jennifer Tilly, her voice actress, who is also a professional poker player.
- The evil Stewie plot parallels the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within", in which a transporter accident splits Captain Kirk into a docile version and an evil version that appears when the crew leaves the transporter room. The docile Captain Kirk's weak will is mimicked when Stewie makes a poor attempt to insult Brian and ends up agreeing with him. The music playing when evil Stewie appears is also from "The Enemy Within".
- When dropping Meg off at the school, Joe asks about Lady Gaga. Later, when still in the car he makes a reference to her song "Born This Way".
- Stewie mentions Brian "going all Michael Hutchence" when he finds him being strangled with his collar. This is a reference to Hutchence's death, in which he hung himself with his belt.[1]
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