Poor Meg Griffin. Girl just can’t catch a romantic break . . . she’s dated a classmate with no legs, another classmate who was seduced by her mother, yet another classmate who was a girl when she went gay because she wanted to belong to a group of her peers (remember the ‘Super Mega Lesbians’?), a convict, a medical intern who saved her life, and of course Mayor West (don’t worry, it was never consummated . . . as far as we know). You can also kinda sorta make the argument that she has dated Brian (against his will) and even her brother Chris (remember the Halloween make-out session in the closet? Yeah, you do.)

This week’s episode of Family guy had the Griffins on yet another misadventure brought on by Peter’s inability to accept reality: when he can’t fit on a ride at Six Flags Quahog because of his excessive girth, he forces the family to take a trip to Ohio where they must let him on the rides because, well, everyone in Ohio is a fat ass and we all know it (take that, LeBron).

While in Ohio, the Griffins’ car breaks down in Amish country. Meg meets Eli, a handsome and sweet young Amish boy who falls in love with her, much to the chagrin of his father who deems her and her modern iPhone ways immoral and ill-suited for his offspring. Peter – being Peter – recruits Joe and Quagmire to take down the Amish leader and his 19th century technology, which ends predictably back where the story began.

The good thing about the episode was that it was a good balance of what the show does best (satire about things slightly unfamiliar to most mainstream viewers) and its recent push to allow the show to grow in a new direction (I will forgive the seemingly pointless Giraffe at the ballpark cutaway). It was pretty light on Stewie and Brian jokes, but it did make some pointed remarks on the nature of technology which should give you pause if you were watching the show on your iPhone via Hulu Plus . . .

I do hope, though, that the show eventually gives Meg a romance that lasts longer than 22 minutes. I mean, if Brian (an actual dog) can manage it, surely Meg (the proverbial dog) can do the same?