I liked this episode more than I've liked an episode of Family Guy in a very long time.  It combines two of my favorite things: pointing out that psychics and mediums are full of crap, and pointing out that developmentally disabled people are just like everyone else.  Add in a musical number (something we haven't seen in a while) and what's not to like?

Best of all, the cut-aways were kept to a minimum of randomness, which I always appreciate.  And fortunately the most random cut-away was memorably bizarre: Peter's version of "Starlight Express," which entails Peter roller skating around in a circle on stage yelling "Starlight Express!" while wearing a Tron outfit.

Other bits of random cutaway fun included a queef joke at Meg's expense, Spock's "Live long and suck it!" skit, and a doggie dominatrix scene.  Which was disturbing, but not nearly as bad as scene where the masochistic cow is branded in "Boys Do Cry."  Less successful was the "Hu's On First" bit, although it was thankfully brief.

The Simpsons-style throwaway intro was also kept fairly brief.  Stewie and Chris get separated from the family while on a hike.  Stewie gets in a number of jokes about the intelligence of the audience, something which (remarkably) plays into the episode's overarching theme of intelligence - or rather, the lack thereof.  I wonder how many viewers actually got the "Stewie Defeats Truman" joke?

Their stranding kicks off the two story lines of the episode: Lois seeks the help of a psychic to locate them, and Chris vows that if he makes it home he'll ask out the girl he has a crush on.  

After Lois falls under the sway of the psychic, Brian (an outspoken atheist) is naturally outraged.  To convince her that it's bunk, he teaches Peter the basic principles of cold reading.  Watching Peter's "psychic routine," Lois is finally convinced.  Peter, however, decides that he must actually be psychic.

(South Park did this storyline better.  Which is a funny thing to say, give their "Simpsons Did It" episode.)

Meanwhile, the object of Chris's affections turns out to be a classmate with Down's Syndrome.  Surprisingly, Family Guy treats this subject with respect.  Stewie continues to get the funniest lines of the episodes, as when Ellen picks him up and hugs him half to death and he quips, "I'm guessing this one owned a bunny, but not anymore."

The musical number between Chris and Stewie was definitely the centerpiece of the episode.  It did an excellent job of blending in CGI work during the dancing sequences, but either the tap dancing went on too long, or not long enough. There was a point when I realized how ridiculous it was to watch cartoon characters tap dance (not much of a challenge for them) but then it was over.  Was that intentional?  Hard to say.

In the end, Ellen turns out to be a complete bitch.  Which is pretty refreshing, considering that developmentally disabled people are universally (by TV and movies) considered to be both kind and magical.  But as Chris says, "you're just a bunch of a**holes like everybody else."