'Family Guy' Season 10, Episode 11 Recap - 'The Blind Side'

Ah, a return to form. Did this episode of "Family Guy," titled "The Blind Side," have its share of borderline offensive jokes? Sure it did. But most of the time they were funny, and the primary rule of comedy is this: you can go anywhere you want with a joke, as long as it's funny.

"The Blind Side" had everything a "Family Guy" episode needs: a focus on Brian and/or Stewie, a little bit of romance, Peter doing something ridiculous in a side plot, and tons of great cutaways. Really, some of the best cutaways in recent memory. Scroll down for reviews of all of them.

It all starts when Opie gets fired from the brewery (eh, the writers weren't using him anyway) and replaced by a deaf woman, voiced by Marlee Matlin... yes, she still likes the show despite the shots they've taken at her in the past, because she's a good sport. Bravo, Marlee. I still think you should have won "Celebrity Apprentice."

That leads Quagmire to create a "Disabled Ladies' Night" at the Clam, which leads Brian to meet a lovely blind women named Kate. Kate is beautiful, smart, kind, and totally into Brian, but there's just one problem: she hates dogs.

So, in our very sitcomy main plot, Brian spends most of his time impressing Kate by fabricating heroic and romantic moments, like beating up a group of imaginary thugs or taking her on a trip to the Eiffel Tower, which in fact is actually just a stairmaster in the front yard.

This is where the episode falters... we like Kate and we don't particularly like to see Brian taking advantage of her. But to be fair, that bit with the coughing and the iPhone was pretty good.

So Brian avoids physical contact for as long as he can, but soon finds he has to meet her parents, which brings on a classic Brian/Stewie plot to have him show up in bandages from saving some imaginary children from an imaginary burning building with Stewie as his nurse. It works about as well as you'd expect it to.

Side note: how many times has Brian lost body parts or been shot or stabbed in this show?

Of course things don't work out for Brian, but we're used to that by now. But at least when Brian is our protagonist for the episode, we always get a good dose of Stewie. In this case, he provided us with a pretty good bit about the Dominican Republic and how "this guy... this guy's gonna get it right."

Peter, in his side plot, also provided a few good gags, though in a much more lowbrow way (of course). There were his subtle fart movements, which were inexplicably funny, and his repeated falling down the new slippery stairs, which were a bit of a laugh the first time, funny the second time, predictable but funny the third time, and a bit of extra color for the scene the fourth time.

And now, those delightful cutaways of the week:

-Japanese guys watching a schoolgirl bang an octopus: B-, a little tired but saved by the weirdness

-Quagmire banging a turtle: B, pretty good visual

-Hispanic lady working at the drugstore: B-, a little long but we've all been there, haven't we?

-Blind person's view of "Titanic": A+++++!! Good lord, was that brilliant.

-Annoying dog people: B-, 'tis true, but could have been executed better.

-Perfectly functioning time machine: B, good point fellas. Of course, you've also had a malfunctioning time machine...

-Workers who built the Batcave: B+, the lazy susan for the nuclear car sealed it

-True Blood "and that's the show!": A-, that seriously is the show.

-Easily startled wallpaper: A-, nice timing and wtf factor

-Ask any sloth: C+, needed another layer, I think

-Choreography for "Showgirls": A-, anytime you have Stewie saying "1, 2, 3, 4, I'm dancing from my vagina," you have a winner.