Meg Griffin - Family Life

Family Life

Though Meg was no different from any other member of the family in the first two seasons of the show, this began to change as the show started to flesh out the characters to the point where it seems that most of the population of Quahog, including her own family, despise her for no reason other than her simply being "Meg".

Meg is also the most misunderstood, at least by Peter, Chris, and others who are shown avoiding her company, disparaging her in person, gathering in her bedroom to read her diary for laughs, etc. Peter reminds Lois, "We agreed that if we could only save two, we'd leave Meg!" even randomly shooting her when she simply said "Hi Dad" ("Peter's Daughter") but despite this he also was going to say "I love you" in "Hell Comes to Quahog", and in "Road to Rupert" he stated they were 'secret best friends' before throwing lemonade in her face, saying he would have to continue to treat her badly in public in order to maintain his reputation due to "peer pressure", thus giving hope that they may be on good terms. Occasionally, when Meg asks a question to Peter or just speaks when he is in the room, Peter responds by saying "Shut up, Meg"-immediately followed by a line from another character.

When the family tries an anger management technique of writing letters and not sending them, Meg finds Peter's letter to her, which says, "Dear Meg, for the first four years of your life, I thought that you were a house cat." And in Peter's short story of her birth, they had to go back to get her once they realized they grabbed the afterbirth. In the episode "Stewie Kills Lois", Peter tells guests on a cruise ship about how he and Lois had gone to get an abortion but decided against it when they arrived at the clinic and found out the abortionist had one hand. He then says "2 months later, our daughter Meg was born" – indicating that they had tried to abort her when Lois was already 7 months pregnant. Another hint to this is when Meg is in the car with Lois and at an attempt to make civilized conversation, says, "Hey Meg, did you know that if you're on birth control and you take an antibiotic it makes it not work? 'Cause no one told me! I just thought you should know" and laughs awkwardly. On Meg's 17th birthday, her mother and father both try to hide from Meg that they do not remember her age. Peter openly states that Meg sucks in the episode "PTV", and Chris says the same thing about her in "Long John Peter". In "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", Brian says to Meg's face that she lives in a home "where nobody respects or cares about, not even enough to get a damn mumps shot!" Chris, however, seems to have more of a typical brother-sister relationship with Meg. Although they fight and argue from time to time, he tends to go to her for advice. Chris even once threatened to quit his job if his boss didn't re-hire Meg (at the insistence of Lois). Like Chris, Meg has an anthropomorphic monkey in her closet, and although she has proved it, her family coldly state that they were talking about Chris', not hers. Cleveland comments to Peter "Meg is my least favorite of your children."

Apparently, a double standard also exists against Meg, further underscoring the mistreatment she suffers from the people around her. In "Big Man on Hippocampus", an episode wherein Peter loses his memory, as he reacquaints himself with the pleasures of sex, Lois tells him that it is inappropriate to have sex with his own children; in response, Meg attempts an incest joke. Most of the family lambaste her for this and Chris kicks her out of the room. However, in the season finale "Partial Terms of Endearment", Lois tells a joke that implies that it was Meg that gave birth to Stewie, and apart from a shocked reaction from the latter, Lois receives no such violent reaction.Additionally, in "Model Misbehavior", when Lois starts a modeling career, Peter states that he will pleasure himself to Lois' pictures, followed by Chris and Meg both exclaiming "Me too!" to which Peter shouts "Oh God, Meg, that's sick! That's your mother!", ignoring the fact that Chris said the same thing. Meg responded by saying "I was only trying to fit in!"

Brian's attention softens the lack of respect from Peter and the neighbors; he admits that he cares for Meg when she goes out with Mayor Adam West. Lois has also often shown sympathy for Meg, for example, taking her to Spring Break at the beach. Lois very often comforts Meg when she is down; however, she gives up one attempt after 45 minutes and gives her a Sylvia Plath novel and a bottle of Ambien, and with a "Whatever happens, happens," leaves Meg to her misery.

The family's treatment of Meg finally reaches her limit in Dial Meg for Murder when Meg emerges from a short stint in a Young Offenders Institution as a hardened criminal, abusing her family and beating up anyone who makes fun of her. It is only after a conversation with Brian that she changes her ways. However, it comes to a head once again in Seahorse Seashell Party, when Meg finally grows tired of her mistreatment and lashes out against Chris, Lois, and Peter, informing them of their own flaws. All of them become very offended, and everyone begins bickering with each other. Brian is proud that Meg stood up for herself, but she sadly tells him that even though she meant every word, seeing her family turn on each other like wild animals has made her think that it is ultimately her non-ideal role to serve as the Griffins' lightning rod and "absorb all the dysfunction". He commends her on her maturity, and she apologizes to the others and says that she is the one at fault; Chris calls her a bitch, to which she proudly responds "Yes, yes I am," and the family reconciles.

In an interview, Mila Kunis stated: "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in perpetual mode of humiliation, and it's fun."