Literally more laughs in the first five minutes than the entire 26th season premiere of The Simpsons. All the jokes and gags actually made me laugh and felt cohesive. Though it felt rushed, the first section did set up the episode (and crossover) in a logical way. So far, so good. Returning after the commercial, the few gags before they entered Springfield were good as well. Loved the "You'll never have this, Meg" in the car. Also loved the line about everyone looking like they have hepatitis, that was actually funny. Cool interaction between the Griffins and Apu, Stewie asking if they were serious about not knowing about donuts was also genuinely funny.
The odd part here is that the FG writers seem to know how to actually write Homer but that's probably because Homer has been a cardboard, generic, stupid stereotype for how many seasons now? To see Homer actually be... I dunno, kinda funny and not mind-numbingly boring was a change. I can't wait to see how the other Simpsons characters are written in this episode. And Homer's line "be careful, I think some of them might be cops" just goes further to show what I'm trying to say. An actual joke coming from a Simpsons character's mouth? Shocking! I still vouch that the pause between Marge saying Bart was at camp and Bart coming in the door was odd. Love the interaction between Stewie and Bart and Lisa and Meg - great line from Ralph when he was hit with Bart's slingshot. Meg being shot down by Peter after saying she doesn't matter was also classic. Also a great (and unexpected) interaction between Marge and Brian and Santa's Little Helper and Brian. Love the monologues from Brian commenting on how the dog was eating. 10/10 cameo from Bob Belcher and Cleveland - unexpected and hilarious.
Really amusing chase scene as Brian and Chris trying to catch SLH, seeing Dr. Nick again (and actually be funny) is awesome. The writers are really trying to shoehorn all the iconic side characters we don't really see much in the ep and that's not really a bad thing because it's working really well so far. I'm really blown away by this crossover, halfway through and it's only been superb (perhaps besides the rape line, that was pretty stupid). You can tell the that FG writers actually cared about this and put their all into making it good.
The only gag that's fallen flat for me is Homer and Peter "filling up" at the gas station but I did like the german guy at the porn shop asking for the video of them doing it. Lame gag but funny follow-up to it. Also gotta say that the "cherry pie" car wash scene didn't sit well with me, either. But we're back on track with Lisa and Meg - "good thing we don't have a cat!" and the two birds talking outside Lisa's window made me laugh quite a bit. Saying it now, I think Stewie forcing Nelson to eat. his. shorts. is gonna be the best part of the episode. They set it up to make you think he's going to torture and maim Nelson with the weapons on the floor but then he forcefeeds him shorts, it caught me off guard.
Anticlimactic reveal of who stole the Griffin's car but it was funny. Moleman using the car as pants got a chuckle out of me. And conflict between Homer and Peter over Pawtucket Ale being a ripoff of Duff means the oncoming arrival of the already infamous fight. Loved the several, quick interactions between all the similar FG and Simpsons characters - also, JAMES WOODS! A quick sendoff of the Griffins back to Quahog. The dissonance between the edginess of the Simpsons and the Griffins come into play here - Lois not wearing a bra while Marge is more traditional, Meg literally carving Lisa's name into her arm, Stewie's threat of suicide if Bart didn't keep in touch; I think these weren't played for laughs, they're showing the contrast between the two shoes and saying that their interactions couldn't be a regular thing... but then again, I'm probably looking into it way too much.
And now, Homer's goodbye to Peter which I assume will turn sour to segue into their fight. I was apprehensive toward this fight being so long. However, the jokes interspersed between the fighting and the events which occur during it made it interesting and worthwhile. They probably felt like they needed a big finale to top off the crossover and this is what they settled for. I gotta say, because the the fight was actually planned out and was used as a vehicle for more extreme jokes, it actually worked. They got a few legitimate laughs from me during it, one of them namely being Homer throwing the Emmys. Made me smile seeing Kang and Kodos with Roger... honestly, it was just cool seeing Peter and Homer crashland a UFO so I can't complain too much about this even if it was really long. The ending, however, was odd in its grotesqueness... but the rivalry between the two shows, did we expect them not to fight and for the FG writers to not squeeze every drop from it? Overall, really cool fight with some good gags and awesome sequences in it. Great ending with Comic Book Guy, was wondering when we'd see him.
Ending with kind of a loose ending hinting at another crossover (which I'd love to see) and that's all, folks.
4/5. Overall, an awesome episode for Family Guy and it was refreshing to hear the Simpsons characters being funny again. I loved it.