Personally, I thought I loved the majority of the episode, though I agree that the ORB being broken was a huge copout, as well as the weird little segue that was Dean Venture being the Guild's Leader. This episode has a breakneck pace as far as plotting is concerned, which seems to be pretty divisive amongst the fans.
Bananahands hated it, as I'm sure you'll hear soon enough.
Me, personally, I think it's one of the best episodes of the season. I loved the triumphant return of Phantom Limb as a crackpot (the beginning with the toaster was amazing). I think this episode is going to be looked at more fondly on the reruns to come, as more of the densely layered jokes become more and more apparent. I love how this episode expanded on the Guild mythos (fucking Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and--Brian Eno?). I have to disagree and thought Bowie was done fucking awesome, from him talking about Hours to the "Diamond Dogs" to the eagle-morphing.
I also that that Quizboy was fucking brilliant in the sack too. No, no Sargent Hatred joke here.
Speaking of which, I think most everybody thinks that Hatred just doesn't compare to Brock as the body guard. However, I do understand that for character-building purposes the safety net had to be removed. I'm loving the development of the boys, the relationship that Dr V. is getting with Dean, and what they're doing with 21 and 24.
But, WHERE THE FUCK IS ORPHEUS!? Besides getting shot by one of the lasers and getting legal system on Venture's ass.