Meg Can't Let Go Of The Fantasy

Family Guy, S11E07

Meg finally went out with the boy she's been fantasizing about, Kent, to find out that he was gay and liked Chris.  Wanting to live through Chris, Meg schemed to roofie Chris so that Kent could have sex with him and Meg could hear the details later.

Well, for an episode about Meg, this one wasn't too bad.  I think that's mainly because even though she still couldn't catch a break, the one who made things worse for her was Meg herself instead of someone victimizing her.  Yeah, it sucked that Kent ended up being gay after she finally asked him out, but her refusal to accept reality was really pathetic.  She could have easily been Kent's friend, at least--that was better than him hating her like he did at the end.  Meg was also pretty selfish, wanting to disregard Chris's feelings just to fulfill her fantasy.  I don't know.  Meg should really take the small victories when she can.  She wanted the gold prize (a real relationship with Kent), when she could have been really content with bronze (friendship).

Also, Meg was really rude when she kept denying that Kent was gay because he didn't act like a stereotypical gay man.  I would think that she would be smarter to know that you can't cook-cut people like that.  But maybe she was too blinded by her desire for Kent to use her brain.  Just one more reason that Meg looked like a horrible person who sort of deserved to be bullied upon like she always is.

Anyway, there were a few moments that I liked.  My second favorite was when Meg was squealing with joy about successfully asking out Kent.  Stewie came to the door and before closing it said:

I’m gonna go ahead and shut this for you.

Stewie's irritation at her loud voice just made me laugh.  It's like he was doing something so important that Meg was interrupting or something.

My favorite part, though, was when Meg told Kent that Chris had a dark side.  I wasn't sure if she was making it up (because she was lying about Chris being gay in the first place), but that cutaway was so creepy!  Chris was sitting in their room in the dark, sitting in a rocking chair or something.  Then he got up started to gently stroke Peter's face while Peter was trembling in the bed.  I don't know what the hell was going on, but it was so uncomfortable that it was hilarious.

I also thought it was kind of funny that one of Meg's teachers informed her and her friends that he would be in the park later, which was one of his technically not illegal invitations.  That teacher is like intentionally being the bare minimum sleaze-bag that he's allowed.

There were some disturbing things as well in this episode.  The number one thing was the plant that kept raping things.  First it raped a roofied plant, and then it raped a roofied Stewie.  Eww!  It was almost funny because you wouldn't expect a plant to do that, but instead it was just a frightening thought to imagine a plant attacking a person like that.

Another thing was when Meg went to get roofies from Quagmire.  That wasn't too weird because it was Quagmire, but his comment after she left was a bit unsettling:

That’s what it’s all about, Glenn.  Don’t rape it back, rape it forward.

Yeah, let's not rape it forward or back or at all.  I can see why Quagmire would be willing to be Meg's contact if she got arrested for those roofies because he has no business having them nor giving them to unbalanced teenagers.

There was this moment when Peter was on the slip-n-slide and a giant spider was pulling him away wrapped in a web.  That wasn't disturbing, but more like what the hell was going on??  I almost wish that it had come back later in the episode to sort of answer that question because it was so random (but not unwelcome).

Finally, the last thing I wanted to comment on was how I was a little annoyed with that cutaway about how women and men differ in friendships.  I don't think that the difference is as simple as women use half-insult compliments to their friends, while men are straightforward.  I guess what bothers me the most is that whenever there are gender-difference jokes, it's always to paint women in a worse light than men.  I can't think of time when it was the other way around.  Just gets a little tiring to see that constantly.

I liked this episode, even though Meg was being an obsessive jackass. It's not the first time she's let her fantasies run wild, nor will it be the last.  For someone who is so desperate like her, these sort of stories are kind of a given.  She doesn't get affection or positive attention, so if she has a chance for it, she's definitely going to use unorthodox methods to get it and not give up easily.  Luckily, there were quite a few jokes to distract you from Meg trying to help someone unknowingly date rape her brother.  I can't imagine how horrible it would have been if there wasn't some good comedy to shift the focus away from that.

Spinnetods Are Cool

 This week's Grimm delivered!  All of my questions weren't answered this time, but we had a great story about spiders, which would usually make me squeamish.  Now at episode 11, I feel like I could keep watching this show.

This one had the best opening scene there has been in a while.  You see some fox-looking creature on the prowl for some unsuspecting lady at an art gallery.  From the lady's angled hat, I felt that she was something too, but not sure what.  She did the smart thing and left before she got involved with the guy of dubious character, but somehow she is not shaken by the guy following her outside.  Whoa!  If anyone did that to me, I'd be walking to the nearest place with plenty of light and witnesses.  Instead, she ends up going to his place.  I was sure she had to be one of those creatures then because how dumb could a girl be?  She kept saying that she couldn't stay--bitch, why did you come in the first place??  Well, we soon find out that she came to feed on his internal goo after she vomits some acid down his throat.  Gruesome, but attention-grabbing.  My eyes were locked on the screen, opposed to other episodes where I didn't pay much attention until Monroe made an appearance.

Later, some creature kids are egging Nick's house.  He doesn't know who it is at first, but he grabs his gun to find out.  Take it down a notch, Nick!  We know you're a cop, but do you need to shoot at people who are armed with eggs?  I'm glad that he realizes this is overkill, despite that a little beaver or otter kid is vandalizing his house.  This turn of invents makes me giggle, as Nick is apparently becoming the neighborhood boogeyman.  Before children and mothers start running screaming from Nick on the street, he really ought to tell Juliette what's going on.  I can't imagine that he could just explain his way out of that.

What makes his new status as the local monster even funnier is when he pays a visit to his ex-plumber/handyman who happens to be a beaver creature of some sorts.  He harasses him and his other creature friend, threatening them not to let any more people get wind of his whereabouts, or he might have to come back again.  OK, Nick, it's a good thing that the legend of Grimms precedes you because you are anything but menacing.  He may be a cop and all, but I don't recall that cops can freely go around shooting at people even if they are "creatures" that the rest of us can't see.  If these creatures were any smarter, they'd figure out that when it comes to Grimm stuff, Nick is about as capable as legless man in a foot race.

The woman-spider (she's what they call a "Spinnetod" or "Death Spider"), strikes again, but Nick and Hank are no closer to finding her.  They make her character even more interesting to reveal that she is a soccer mom with a loving husband.  When I saw her get out of her van, I thought she might be looking for her next victim.  The Rolex she stole from the art gallery guy was given to her husband.  I was unsure if the rest of her family were spiders or knew what she was up to (I mean, she was missing a finger and no one seemed to be questioning that).

Another moment of interest was when Monroe takes Nick to the "rest home" for creatures.  What the...  Now why would Nick be welcomed there?  It sounds like he'd be everyone's nightmare.  However, they only meet one creature, another spider named Charlotte (OK, you writers are terrible).  I enjoyed Charlotte's explanation of how the spiders age if they don't feed on the life of others.  After all, she looked like she was 70-something but she was only 26!  Guess being a creature isn't as glamorous as this show tries to make it.

Eventually, the Spinnetod daughter takes the father's Rolex, and it gets traded around the schoolyard before the principal gets involved.  This gets back to the police, and they arrest the father.  I thought this would be the end for the lady now that Nick and Hank had caught sight of her bandaged finger.  I was delighted to see that when she took it off, the finger had grown back!  Not so easy to catch her.  Excellent.  But Nick gets her fingerprint anyway and matches it to the prints left behind at the other crimes.  Guess that little ability isn't as helpful as I had thought.

At the end, when the Spinnetod is being captured on the boat, I was surprised at the almost-victim.  Hank suddenly grabs him and says, "I'm a cop.  Don't move and come with me."  Hank had a gun next to his head and a hand over his mouth--who would believe him??  A thief/killer would say anything to get your guard down!  After that, Hank was just gone (guess he had to stay with the owner of that boat?), and Nick captures the lady all by himself.  How convenient since she was leaping through the air and crawling on things like the spider she was.  Seriously.  Why wouldn't Hank or anyone else be backing him up?

I wonder what will become of that daughter.  She was revealed to be a Spinnetod too, so one day she will be compelled to suck the life out of some young men or become like her incarcerated mother who had become a fossil within hours.  I doubt that they will ever show what happens to her unless the show makes it to several seasons (I'm not holding my breath on that).

The next episode needs to be like this one.  And Nick needs to hurry up and tell Juliette.  One day the creature kids are throwing eggs at you, the next day they might be throwing bricks and burning your shrubbery.  With any luck, we will see more of Nick's boogeyman status next Friday.