Better Off Meg (Family Guy)

Better Off Meg is the 18th episode of the 18th season of Family Guy.

Plot
When Meg is erroneously reported to have died in a car crash, she decides to start a new life elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Griffins experience a life without Meg.

Why It's Better Off Unwatched

 * 1) The episode is extremely mean-spirited from beginning to end.
 * 2) The main problem with this episode is that it is a complete waste of the perfect excuse to write Meg out of the show. Furthermore, it makes absolutely no sense that Meg would become homesick and want to go back to Quahog given the abuse she suffered there and it was made clear that nobody cared about her, as nobody showed up to her funeral.
 * 3) *This isn't helping that is just to maintain to show's status quo.
 * 4) Nobody cares about Meg being "dead" (except Lois and Brian) and they just move on with their lives as if nothing happened.
 * 5) *It's not like the audience should've heard mourning church bells over Meg's apparent death, but at least seeing the characters show some sort of remorse for how they treated Meg would've been nice.
 * 6) *The school doesn't even seem to show any care about Meg having come back alive, when she comes back, the whole school cheers Chris for "saving her".
 * 7) Plot Hole: How were the Griffins stupid enough to believe a barrel with a hat to be Meg?
 * 8) Multiple characters (except Meg) are unlikable in this episode:
 * 9) *Chris is really at his absolute worst in this episode, as he is shown to be willing to betray his sister and have her kidnapped just so he can be exalted at school. Also, this is really rare to see Chris either be unlikable or despicable, even during this era where everyone in the show (except Stewie) practically lost all forms of likability in them. In fact, this episode takes the flanderization of his character up to eleven.
 * 10) *While not as much as Chris, Peter is also unlikable as he tells Lois and Brian to stop crying when Meg is presumed deceased, showing that he not only doesn't care, but also shows how awful he is.
 * 11) Bad attempts at making jokes:
 * 12) *Some students giving Chris a "Very loud chant".
 * 13) *Principal Shepherd tells the students to throw confetti and ruin the janitor's weekend.
 * 14) *The family tries to have a moment of silence while listening to some guy yelling at his barking dog.
 * 15) *Meg listening to "Kiss From a Rose" by Seal and later, Seals and Croft with seals barking.
 * 16) On a meta note, Family Guy writers have claimed that they "don't know how to write teenaged women" when asked about Meg's torture; Emily Towers is obviously a female, which can confuse those who questioned Meg's treatment.
 * 17) The episode seems like a rehash of "Dog Gone" from Season 8, where Stewie helps Brian fake his own death to prove a point about the value of a dog's life after he accidentally runs over another dog. That episode itself is no better.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Even though most of the characters have little care that Meg "died", Lois, Brian (to some extent) and even the employees at Quizno Subs actually show some care over "losing" Meg.
 * 2) There are some nice callbacks to classic episodes in the scene where Meg tries to remember key moments in her life.
 * 3) Meg is likable in this episode, because she faked her death and went to a new town, made some new friends, and had fun.
 * 4) *Meg’s new friends are also likable, since they treat her nicely and have fun with her.
 * 5) *Lois, Brian and Stewie are also tolerable, as Lois and Brian show that they do love Meg, and they least aren’t flanderized like they usually are.

Reception
The episode has a 6.6/10 rating on IMDb. PhantomStrider considers this to be the #1 worst modern Family Guy episode.

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