YMMV / Family Guy S10 E2: "Seahorse Seashell Party"

• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Later seasons have started to tone down on Meg's abuse. There's also been an increase of Throw the Dog a Bone moments with her family and other characters, as well as some The Dog Bites Back. So Meg choosing to stay with her family instead of leaving forever didn't end up being so bad.
• Heartwarming Moments: Stewie helping Brian recover from his drug trip.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: During their clashing, Lois sarcastically goads Peter into eating at Bonnie’s house. He takes her up on that a decade later.
• Memetic Mutation: "You guys always act like you're better than me!"^ExplanationThe scene where Meg begins to call her family out, only for them to spontaneously wear fancy clothing, has been turned into a meme where one piece of media calls out three separate pieces of media that are typically considered superior, due to the former not getting enough respect.
• Moment of Awesome: Meg finally sticking up for herself and calling Peter, Lois, and Chris out for treating her like shit. Sadly, this doesn't last, but Brian calling her brave for putting up with Lois, Peter, and Chris' shit all the time makes it slightly better.
• Nausea Fuel: Brian scissoring off his own ear. On-screen, no less.
• Nightmare Fuel: Brian's drug trip. Though some may find it Nightmare Retardant for its sheer absurdity value, it's still scary. In particular, the shot of demons roasting Peter on an open fire while he sings "The Wheels on the Bus" is horrifying.
• Realism-Induced Horror: In stark contrast to Brian's drug trip, the main plot is far more down-to-earth and still just as scary. Meg, a victim of constant abuse is pushed to the breaking point and snaps at her abusers for the way they've treated her, then resigns herself to being the Butt-Monkey of the family because the rest of them can't cope unless they have someone to take all of their problems out on (most hypocritically, Lois is the one who accuses Meg of doing this to them when she calls them all out on their actions). Abuse victims staying in such a relationship (no matter how much it hurts the victim, or that it's not the victim's fault if the abuser(s) can't handle life unless they have someone to take their problems out on) is a heartbreaking Truth in Television that often ends with the victim psychologically damaged because other (much worse) people can't healthily deal with life as well as they can.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: As bad as it sounds, Meg falls into this trope, unfortunately. Although she goes through hell because of her abusive family, even after rightfully calling them all out, she still chooses to subject herself to their abuse because "they can't function without a lighting rod to absorb all of the dysfunction". At this point, it's been made pretty clear that the family is a lost cause, and it shouldn't matter that they can't function without Meg as their collective punching bag, because their feelings are clearly not worth it, yet Meg still chooses to make her life worse by resigning herself to this undeserved abuse for their sakes. As such, Meg never truly recovers from the effects of the abuse, while the rest of the family no longer have a reason to grow as people (since they can just keep taking all their problems out on Meg, who allows it to happen), and the Griffins are all worse off as a result.
• Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?: The biggest reason as to why the ending is so reviled is that Meg rightfully calls out her family for how dysfunctional they are, yet decides to keep being their punching bag for the sake of letting them be anywhere close to functional, when she fully knows that they're a lost cause, which some reviewers have accused of sending the moral that abuse victims should stay in abusive situations for their abusers' benefit even if it hurts them.
• The Woobie: Meg, especially by the end of the episode. She finally has the guts to stand up to Peter, Lois, and Chris for their mistreatment of her, only to realize they cannot function without a human punching bag to take their frustrations on. You definitely want her to leave that household regardless of their circumstances.
• Writer Cop Out: Many viewers were intrigued by the episode's Self-Deprecation that is delivered by Meg, which seemed to suggest that Seth MacFarlane was finally paying attention to complaints about the recent flanderization of the show and characters. With Meg finally having enough, many were expecting the story to climax with Meg leaving the family (and the show) and never coming back. Instead, Meg decides to continue being the "lightning rod" out of love for her family.

---