(S05E10) When I checked the schedule and saw the title of this episode was "Peter's Two Dads" I was a little torn. First, the Peter-centric episodes generally have a much higher chance of going off the rails. On the other hand, the possibility that it would be a play on the 80's sit-com My Two Dads, which starred Greg Evigan, Paul Reiser, and Staci Keanan, was intriguing.

Unfortunately (probably only for me), that idea never materialized, and the episode that we did see still left me with something of a mixed reaction. On the good side, it was well constructed, and I give a lot of points to the writers for a well thought out plot. Chris got a bit of the short shrift, but using Meg's birthday as the setting for offing Francis was a good choice. It involved her in what was otherwise a mostly Peter affair.

We've been down this "We hate Meg and know nothing about her" road before, but I thought it worked again. Peter and Lois having no idea that it was her birthday, and then their scheme to try and trick her age out of her, were both funny. I also liked the scarf bit, Pee-Pants the clown, and the unicycle up the butt site-gag. Stewie opening the present and finding a Sister Sister DVD set, and then hearing Cleveland off camera, was good too.

That made for a nice tie-in to the Lois and Stewie subplot. That was also well done. I like that even though Stewie is operating on an adult level most of the time, they still have him dealing with baby issues like the "mine" phase. Not unlike how Brian the talking dog still has issues with dragging his butt on the carpet. There was a lot of funny stuff in the Lois and Stewie story.

Stewie repeatedly asking for more and more bizarre punishments, finding the Hot Monogamy game, and retelling the story of Lois striking him were all great. Lois as the Hulk beating the hell out of Stewie was hilarious. The topper moment for me though, was the line, "Step on my cubes." I fully realize that it's cheap, and most of the humor comes from being so inappropriate for a child to be saying such things, but that doesn't change the fact that it's laugh out loud funny.

The trip to Ireland came off well. It was something of a shocking move for Francis to not be Peter's father, given all of the Griffin family history we've seen. That said, Mickey McFinnigan sure makes a lot more sense as Peter's father. And I do look forward to learning more about Peter's McFinnigan heritage. The story had lots of nice touches that felt like classic Family Guy too. The pub being called Wifey McBeaty's, O'Brian, and even a lavish musical number. I'm not always a fan of the big song and dance productions, but I thought this one was particularly well done.

So, all of that was mostly good and had this episode heading for a nice score in my book. But what really held it up were the cut-aways. I think this was possibly the worst collection the show has ever had. Mother Theresa ODing in Stewie's car wasn't bad, but that's about it. I could possibly be convinced that Pet Cemetery was passable. On the other hand, Robert Loggia, Asian Santa, nuns and sweaters, Star Wars, Ben Affleck, and Failure to Launch... just dull.

Overall, I guess I'd call it a pretty good episode. I'm encouraged by the way the story was told and it did deliver a few great moments, but there were some real clunkers in there.