Even though they've already done a few "failed cutaway" gags this season, I'm surprised they didn't go for one here. It was the perfect setup for it; Peter gets amnesia. He can't "remember the time he _________"! I guess maybe they just felt they've done it too much? Too bad they couldn't have "saved it" for this episode.
This episode felt more like a season 5-8 style episode than the rest of this season has so far (not a good thing in my opinion), but I'd still say it was funnier on the whole. Still optimistic about the show's current direction. I did love seeing Dwayne Johnson (although I'd already heard about it before seeing it) and the simultaneous use and condemnation of an incest gag; Chris yelling "Yay!" after Peter's proclamation was hilarious and then Meg gets called out for her humor being too dark. I always find it inherently funny when someone on this show starts accusing someone else of tasteless humor. I think maybe in some weird way it's comforting to know that the writers are aware of the boundaries of taste, and it somehow lightens the mood a little. It takes away some of the sting when they do an absolutely brutal joke like the Gene Siskel thing, which was just subtle enough to have that real "holy crap" factor. Where you don't feel like they're trying way too hard to be offensive, like if they showed Gene Siskel walking around saying "duhrrr duhrrr duhrrr" or something. Truly good edgy humor doesn't just make you say "Wow, they're making fun of that" -- it makes you say "Wow, I'm laughing at that even though I never would've expected to, because the execution of the joke is just that good."
The Adult Swim thing was very unexpected and interesting, but not so much in the "hilarious" category. Which is how I felt about a lot of other things in the episode.
