Reviewing every episode of American Dad!

The animation for current family guy is an improvement over this era of both shows
not sure if AD also improved it, i haven't paid much attention to it
all i know is the line-art and frequency of fluid moments has upgraded from about s19+ Family Guy
 
The animation for current family guy is an improvement over this era of both shows
not sure if AD also improved it, i haven't paid much attention to it
all i know is the line-art and frequency of fluid moments has upgraded from about s19+ Family Guy

I personally disagree. There is just less charm to the facial expressions and character animation, often recycling the same few stock ones. There was still a bit of expressiveness left here, even if it wasn't on the same level as before.
 
At the end of the day, I wish people would stop saying AD!'s animation is "Better" when it's honestly the same quality as FG's which they're bashing. Another case of them hating FG for doing the same thing they're praising this show for doing.
 
89 - A Jones For a Smith
Season 5, Episode 11


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Original air date: January 31, 2010

What other sitcom could do an episode about their main character becoming addicted to crack? (Well, besides Always Sunny, because they did) Yes, this is the one where Stan develops a crack addiction, but that’s just a symptom of his real problem: his refusal to accept help. Stan’s politics briefly resurface in this episode as a springboard for the plot, as he’s angry that there are so many social programs now that the Democrats are in charge. It’s been so long that AD was consistently about politics that I’d forgotten there had been election in between ‘A Bush Comes to Dinner’ and this, and the show didn’t even care to comment on it. This is the first instance of Stan reacting to living under a left-wing government.

A stereotype of conservatives (which Stan is) is that they’re uncompassionate and believe that people don’t need/deserve “government hand-outs”. According to Stan helping people makes them weak, which leads naturally into the crack plot. Admittedly, the episode doesn’t start out great, with Hayley choking on some food and Stan refusing to help her, even preventing Francine and Steve from doing so, and he then eats the food she spits out (blecch!). I don’t think they needed to make Stan this much of a monster in order to stress the point that he doesn’t believing in helping people, but fortunately the episode picks up soon after. The idea of Stan Smith, of all people, becoming a crack addict is as hilarious as it is ironic, and while drug addiction is a very serious and dark subject to be taking in such a comical direction, it works because of who it’s happening to, the episode straddling a similar line as ‘The American Dad After School Special’ did with anorexia.

The deterioration of Stan is surprisingly realistic and brutal, but never to the point where the episode gets too real. He steals from his family and attempts to perform oral sex on Jeanine’s dad, but the writers expect us to understand that addiction makes people do things that are wildly out-of-character. The way Stan learns his lesson is also deliciously dark, with a Columbian street kid successfully mugging him after asking for help from passers by, who are all too willing to help him in his crime. But even after Stan admits to Francine he needs help, that doesn’t solve his problem, and he immediately runs out to get more crack because addiction isn’t solved after a neatly sitcom-packaged character arc. This episode is absurd, but it’s well-structured insanity. “Stan learns a lesson” is one of the most repeated plots in AD, but this one involves crack, so… yeah, it was quite the ride.

  • The sort-of B-plot is about Steve getting a girlfriend who’s into nerds. It’s basically Steve’s dream come true and they take it to comical lengths, with even the girl’s father giving Steve his blessing to take his daughter’s virginity. Obviously, this was setting things up to end in disaster, as it merges with the A-plot and a crack addicted Stan makes a scene when the girl’s father invites them over for dinner. I also like that while Francine and Hayley are sympathetic over Stan’s problem, Steve just stays super pissed at him for the rest of the episode. I mean, can you blame him?
  • In a strange bit of continuity, morbidly obese Tuttle is still in his garage after Horse Stan pulled him there in the last episode. Maybe they were planning to have this be a regular thing but he won’t appear again for a long time.
  • “Can’t you just give me a break pigf**cker?” “That is not my name, ma’am.” “Oh! Forgive me Officer Figpucker!”
  • “This is my soup! You’ll have to find something else to spill on the outermost of your five coats.”
  • The episode awkwardly cuts away whenever a character takes a hit from the crack pipe. Obviously Standards & Practices wouldn’t let them show that but it’s very noticeable that they had to censor this.
  • Hey, they remembered that the C.I.A. distributes crack to the inner cities.
  • “Roger, you’re not being helpful.” “Did you really expect me to be?”
  • I don’t know why these simple Roger gags keep getting me, but I laughed at him completely failing to do a cartwheel. Roger the Clumsy Alien!
  • Malcolm Hathaway is a pretty great one-time character.
  • “I will hate you until the day I die.” “Sure thing, kiddo. Camping sounds great!”
  • GET DOWN! GET DOWN!
8.5/10
 
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Even though my pick for least favorite of the season is either Shallow Vows or The Great Space Roaster, this episode for me was the point where the days of the show being mostly decent were officially over and would just decline further and further each year afterwards (especially after moving to TBS). Yet in spite of this, I'd still kept up with the show regularly until after Little Bonnie Ramirez where I was finally able to just skip whole episodes after only being able to turn them off after wasting at least 10 minutes on them.

Episode sucks, and unlike you where you say it got off to a bad start and gets better, I think it starts off bad and only gets worse as the episode progresses. The ending in yet another failed attempt at dark humor with Steve still hating Stan who appears to be oblivious and Hayley's plea for being entered into rehab for her own drug problem being ignored kinda sums up the faux-FG mean spiritedness that'll start to creep in more and more going forward.

At least the next few episodes are just "Meh" at worst.
 
I honestly don't think you can be a fan of American Dad if you don't like this episode. This is legitimately a masterclass in comedy, from start to finish. Even the idea is hilarious. "Stan gets addicted to crack." You laugh just thinking about it. If this isn't a top ten American Dad episode, it's at least the best episode of season five.

I think the best scene has to be Stan trying to suck the guy off for crack money. The ridiculousness of them using "Jungle Boogie," the fact that Stan actually thought that could work, and him continuing to put it in play even when he gets confronted about what he's doing. Saying he'll be on crack as soon as the pervert pays him. 🤣

I need to watch this episode again or at least look up some clips on YouTube.
 
@Dr. Nihilistic If the show was only three or four seasons, I'd consider myself a fan. But as is, I'm more of a fairweather viewer who sees this show as the worst of the three he still watches who have entered zombie status and no longer fully keeps up with (this show and FG) or is close to calling it quits on (The Simpsons after it's current season). And this episode is a key one for my status as such.

@Snowy I'm blanking on actual jokes from this episode. But then again, this was around the time when show stopped telling good ones in favor of weird/random for the sake of it.
 
I personally have quite a fondness for it cuz I owned the first two seasons on DVD when I was younger and would watch them a lot.
 
@The Element Of SurPrice I haven't really watched it in a long time but it was alright. I actually preferred it over AD! for it's entire run (especially the 2011/2012 season which was a complete shit show) even if I thought it tapered off by it's final season. Though it's weird for me to say that besides Donna & Roberta, a lot of the characters who really stood out were usually one-offs or recurring ones like both Cleveland and Donna's moms (who have since been shamefully axed off-screen) while I couldn't stand the likes of others such as Freight Train (Francis 2.0 except if he wasn't a religious freak and more abusive) or even Junior.

And just like @Snowy, I also have the DVDs of the first two seasons which I got from my local Kmart (RIP) during the 2015 holiday season.
 
It did have quite a few weak characters. Donna's likability was mostly destroyed after Gone With The Wind (Which is still her most annoying episode), while others like Federline, Coach McFall, Dwayne Meighan and Holt are mostly boring or painfully unfunny. However, Cleveland is a fairly solid protagonist and Cleveland Jr. is my favorite overall. Rallo gets quite a few laughs out of me as well. Lester, Gus and Freight Train stand out the most from the secondaries.
 
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@The Element Of SurPrice Federline and Coach McFall were "Meh", I'll give you Dwayne Meighan as he was simply a boring one-joke character and I'd take Holt over Lester even if he never was better than "OK". I'm also suddenly remembering Terry & Tim who I also thought were alright characters.

While I'd take Cleveland over Stan, I didn't really care for him suffering what I call "The Cleveland Effect" where a main character from one show is dumbed down considerably for it's spinoff. Another example of this would be Bobby Santaigo from The Loud House versus him in The Casagrandes.

Rallo was OK, definitely the best of the male leads though that isn't saying much when your competition is Cleveland and his son.
 
90 - May the Best Stan Win
Season 5, Episode 12


90. May the Best Stan Win.jpg

Original air date: February 14, 2010

I’m such a sucker for the sci-fi episodes, I don’t even care if we’ve already had several episodes about Stan taking Francine for granted. Yeah, it’s hardly the most original marriage crisis story, but AD’s strength is taking tired sitcom tropes and doing something new and creative with them, in this case a cyborg Stan from the future coming back in time to steal Francine for himself.

This episode isn’t high-up in the hilarity department, but it’s still so much fun. I love the design of Future Stan with the cobalt blue, very fitting, and his half-Mexican half-Canadian accent is such a creatively weird choice. The episode takes some liberties with Stan, overemphasising his selfishness more than usual just to stress the point (and to justify Francine eventually leaving him… for himself), but I don’t mind it because the episode is so well paced with some very enjoyable sequences, such as the montage of Future Stan and Francine bonding to Japanese funk (everyone loves it in the future, mayn), and another well-choreographed fight scene between Stan and Future Stan at Hershey Park. I also appreciate the twist, that Future Stan tricks Present Stan into thinking he’s come back in time to train him for a future war against technology, but really its always been about Francine, a fun subversion on your typical time-travelling story. The stakes may not be as high as humanity being wiped out, but they’re a lot more personable.

I’m always satisfied when the show utilizes their C.I.A. agent premise to tell stories which their piers can’t, it helps gives the show a unique selling point and distinguishes it from FOX’s other animated family shows. This episode shows that it doesn’t matter how unoriginal your core conflict is, if you throw in a Mexican cyborg from the future anything can feel fresh.

  • The B-plot is about Roger, Steve and his friends shooting a remake of The Goonies with a sex doll they find in Toshi’s parent’s closet. It’s fine. It’s only four scenes and the main joke is Roger forgetting that they’re shooting a movie so he keeps stealing the treasure map for himself, and that’s how it ends. Pretty fillerish.
  • Maybe it’s just me, but I find Francine’s Couple’s Coffin pretty creepy. I mean, chances are they won’t die at the same time, so they bury the one who dies first and then open it up several years later when the other one dies? What the hell? Also, who the hell gets someone a burial plot for Valentine’s Day?
  • Roger named his persona after his seagull from ‘Choosey Wives Choose Smith’. That’s a nice little callback.
  • Francine’s face getting pushed back by the force of wind while flying with Future Stan is really freaky.
  • “I remember that dream. It’s a puppy dream. Eat those puppies, Stan. Eat until you’re full.”
  • Francine technically cheats on Stan, but they use the loophole of her cheating on him with him, which I’ve seen other shows do (it works with clones too).
  • Damn, how many jokes are they going to make about Snot or Barry getting preyed on by uncles/coaches/therapists/councillors.
8/10
 
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Another very "Meh" episode. The subplot feels like one that wouldn't feel out of place if part of an episode during the TBS era.
 
I love how excited Stan gets when he talks about the CIA's plans to turn him into a cyborg when he dies. The way his eyes shift, the colors he picked out. It's hilarious.
 
91 - The Return of the Bling
Season 5, Episode 13


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Original air date: February 21, 2010

Roger’s personas have opened up so many story possibilities for the show. They must feel so unrestricted, having this multi-purpose character that can be anything or anyone, for whatever kind of story they want to tell. In this episode, one of his personas was a member of the 1980 US Olympics hockey team. And this isn’t a fabricated backstory for a character, this actually happened (“You know how I go out of town once a year?” “No. I don’t like to think about you. It’s confusing.”). And because the team are Stan’s heroes, therefore this makes Roger one of Stan’s heroes too. We’re expected to ignore that despite Stan knowing Roger for a while now this revelation has never come about before, even though Stan has a shrine to the team in his study, but each episode does sort-of take place in its own semi-continuity so it doesn’t bother me that much.

Switching up character dynamics is always fun, as Stan flips from hating Roger to worshipping him, until Stan learns that Roger was on steroids. This leads to Stan and Steve trying to return Roger’s medal to the Olympic committee (which is apparently atop a mountain?). The significantly long final act is mainly a parody of ‘The Return of the King’, with Roger naturally assuming the role of Golem and trying to get his precious medal back before they reach the top. Steve has been dropping TLOTR references since the start of the episode so this doesn’t come out of nowhere, even if there’s no point any show doing this now, not after South Park did it to perfection back in 2002. It’s a surface level homage at best, and things take a truly strange and random turn when Roger leads them into a youth hostel, which he somehow knew was there and is for some reason on this random mountain. Yeah, this is the stupidest part of the episode and completely inconsequential. You can skip the hostel scene and the episode still makes sense, so why is it here?

The internal conflict of the episode is Stan learning to accept that his heroes are not perfect (with a little help from Steve), and it’s executed well enough, including a dream sequence where Stan talks to his other hero, Ronald Regan, but it takes a backseat to Roger’s antics (crashing planes and biting fingers, you know, the usual Roger stuff). It’s a fun episode that’s not trying to do anything too deep or have a meaningful character arc, but the third act is not as strong or as funny as the first two, merely trying to coast on their TLOTR parody, and that bizarre youth hostel stuff completely breaks the immersion.

  • The B-plot is noteworthy because it’s the start of a three episode mini-arc about Hayley dating Reginald. It’s interesting because this is where AD starts to experiment with some light serialization and status quo changes, which I’ll talk more about in the coming episodes, and they’re finally trying to do something with Hayley, who has sat on the shelf for the better part of the last two seasons. The weak part though is that there are no jokes in these B-plots, unless you find Reginald riffing funny, which I don’t. He’s a street smart black guy in the body of a koala, and there’s very little else to him besides that. Honestly, he’s a little annoying.
  • I’ll mention this once. Reginald is a koala. The show completely brushes past the fact that Hayley is attracted to an animal, you know, bestiality. But since Family Guy never addresses this with Brian I don’t know why I expected American Dad to. Anyway, it’s a cartoon, it’s not a big deal, I’ll never bring this up again.
  • I don’t get the gag of Klaus pretending to be a school kid. I mean, I understand that Klaus is slowly going mad trapped in a fish’s body, but why is he decked out in Family Guy gear? Also, pretty sure this is the first reference AD’s ever made to its older brother. Surprised it took them until season 5.
  • “I was born into an upper middle class white family in the suburbs. No one gave me a chance!”
  • “You’re fat, Helen!”
  • So Helen apparently kissed and/or banged a naked Roger and didn’t realize he’s an alien. At least this can be explained away as her being too drunk to notice, I guess. But then later at the hostel Roger is barely wearing a disguise and no one there clocks him as an alien.
  • “You just gave me another hole for your glory to shine through. A glory hole in my face.”
7/10
 
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Fun fact: This was originally the season finale. FOX took American Dad off the schedule to make room for Sons of Tucson, but it only lasted four episodes before getting cancelled. After that, season five continued for five more episodes.

This isn't going to be the last time American Dad gets its schedule messed with. I don't think it ever gets more than 19 episodes a season.
 
Season 1 had 23, season 4 had 20, season 9 either 20 or 23 depending on which season you consider the holdovers to be part of, while season 11 and up have at least 20 each, one of them even 24. So they did find a more consistent order of episodes eventually.
 
A slightly better episode than the previous, but as you said it's brought down by it's random shift into being a Lord of the Rings parody. Yes it's set up, but in the same way that some episodes now barely set up what the twist will be so that it doesn't come off as completely random and stupid even though it still does (Salute Your Sllort). And honestly, I thought Roger biting Stan's finger off because "They did it in the movie!" was even stupider than the entire hostle scene. Though I honestly would've preferred this as the intended season finale versus what we actually got...

I actually prefer the subplot over the main, if only because this was the only time where I felt that the show was somewhat successful in doing a multi-episode arc especially when compared to the later "Jeff in space" which dragged it's heals out for nearly four years and ended in a way that was like them giving everyone watching the middle finger!

Speaking of multi-episode arcs, there were plans to do another one with Hayley next season but I'll get more into that when we get there.

@Dr. Nihilistic I actually remember watching the first two episodes of that show when it launched. Don't really know why looking back.
 
92 - Cops and Roger
Season 5, Episode 14


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Original air date: April 11, 2010

You get to a point in shows like AD when the characters are so well defined that episodes practically write themselves. Where you can take a premise like “Roger becomes a cop” and just run with it. It’s entertainment in its purest form. Roger’s already lost any redeeming qualities by this point, but I’m okay with that. I don’t have to empathize with a character to enjoy watching them, I just need to be entertained, and Roger does that consistently, whether he’s being a crybaby or a psychopath, or in this case both. It’s impressive how an episode can play up both of these traits but still stay true to the character, probably due to how bi-polar Roger often comes across. It means that whenever Roger’s personality appears to contradict itself the show can get away with it purely because of his history of disorder and multiple personalities, which I imagine makes him extremely easy to write for.

Roger usually exudes so much self-confidence (or more accurately arrogance) but this is always destroyed so easily, usually by a member of the family giving him a few home truths, which sends him running from the room crying and into a depressive, self-deprecating state. A lot of Roger episodes follow this same formula. He goes through a roller-coaster of emotions and overreactions, often culminating in him doing something reckless and over-the-top. After Stan calls Roger out for his cowardliness because he ran away while Francine was mugged, he joins the police academy in order to become brave, but as soon as he accomplishes this goal the power goes to his head (“Roger’s a dirty cop? He’s been on the force for three hours!”). This is all based on Roger’s most consistent trait: his selfishness. He abandoned Francine because he’s selfish, he became a dirty cop because he wanted revenge on the mugger, and he immediately uses his newfound power to do whatever he wants. Roger only cares about himself. You could also say it’s also in part down to his second most consistent trait: his laziness. Helping Francine would be too much work, as would being an honest cop.

Because Roger is the wild card (every show’s got one), his personality is lot more flexible. You still go along with Roger being manipulated by Chas even though you could argue that Roger is too calculated to be led by someone else, because Roger is the most unpredictable character on the show. From the way I’m describing him one might think I hate Roger, but no, he’s arguably the most fun character to watch, I’d just never want to meet him in real life. This is a good example of how Roger’s changed. It would be out of place in season 1 or 2; Roger is lot scarier here, dare I say disturbing, such as the scene where he threatens Snot and Barry, and they’ve also started to play up his sexual deviancy. Ultimately, this episode draws most of its comedy from having four previous seasons of content (even though we don’t see or hear Bullock, the phone call Stan has with him is filled with so much pre-established character). It’s not a good first episode, but it’s great if you already know Roger well. Even then his jokes and dialogue don’t hit as hard as they do in other episodes, but it’s a fine episode for a character they sometimes take a little too far, but in this episode he goes up to my line, yet doesn’t cross it.

  • The B-plot is a continuation of Hayley and Reginald’s story from last episode, as they go on a double date with their respective partners. Hayley apparently has a boyfriend called Ian (who was mentioned in ‘The Return of the Bling’). Where did this guy come from and how long have they been dating? We have no idea because the show has neglected Hayley. She has an entire life going on off-screen, with college and dating, but we don’t get to see that. The writers don’t think she’s interesting enough, but hey, it’s your job to fix that, writers. Even here, when they’re actually using her, it feels like they’re struggling or don’t really want to. Which brings me to the same issue I had last episode, these B-plots are bereft of humour, but at least when I was watching this for the first time I was intrigued because the show had never tried serialization like this before (unless you count Steve and Debbie).
  • As mentioned by @Dr. Nihilistic , this is the first episode to air after FOX preempted the show following ‘The Return of the Bling’ and replaced it with a crappy live-action sitcom called Sons of Tuscon. How, uhm… how did that work out for you, FOX? Oh, after four episodes they brought AD back because Sons of Tuscon got low ratings. That’s karma for you. But this change in schedule really messed with the upcoming continuity in AD, resulting in episodes being aired out of order. Typical FOX would pull something like this just as AD was beginning to introduce serialized elements. Still, if they hadn’t tried this maybe they wouldn’t have realized they were safer sticking with AD and we wouldn’t have gotten 4 more FOX seasons.
  • “My name is Clive Trotter and I am an American and I am in trouble!”
  • Nice to see the book gags return, this time Stan’s reading “Nude From the Waist Down”. I have this on DVD so…. I saw this uncensored.
  • “Looks like I’m the best looking one in the group. Nope, this guy. Why don’t you find another group, handsome?”
  • Obviously I have to mention this episode’s most infamous moment, when Roger crushes Chas’s head. It’s the most graphic and violent thing to happen in the show (so far), and, as Roger says straight afterwards, very unexpected. I imagine they wrote themselves into a corner with this climactic scene and just decided to go with the most shocking thing they could think of, and you know what? I like it. Maybe this is a hot take, but this is before AD began overusing gore as resolution to stories, so here it’s so weird and out of left field that it sticks in your mind and comes back around to being funny.
  • “Is Chas gonna be okay?” “No.” “Okay.”
7.5/10
 
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And with that, this is truly the last episode I can point to where Roger was actually a decent character. It's all downhill from here for him.

As for the writers continuing to neglect Hayley, I feel like that may be part of why the planned multi-episode arc for her they were planning the following season was ultimately scrapped and condensed into a single episode. And you may as well get used to that for the next two seasons when the show devolves into The Stan & Roger Show which sometimes features Francine and/or Steve while Hayley & Klaus feel like guest stars.

Roberta went through something similar on The Cleveland Show at the same time showing that all three of MacFarlane's shows didn't really know how to write for the daughter characters nor did they make an attempt to. Though in that show's defense they had an excuse as her VA spent a good portion of it's run on maternity leave.

As for the infamous scene, while I don't think it's funny it's fine as a one-off moment. Though I think the reception to it went to their heads and they decided to keep doing more scenes like it in the future (especially in the TBS era) as a way to justify shitty writing normally in the non-existent filler subplots knowing they'd be eaten up by the show's most adamant bootlickers who go gaga over stuff like that or pointless pandery callbacks to past episodes.
 
93 - Merlot Down Dirty Shame
Season 5, Episode 15


93. Merlot Down Dirty Shame.jpg

Original air date: April 18, 2010

I’m a little conflicted about this episode. I think the idea is good and it hits most of the right beats, but it’s held back by its so-so comedy, rushed resolution and a not great B-plot. The episode quickly establishes that, for the purpose of this episode and this episode only, Stan and Roger are best friends (having a fake “Previously on American Dad” (not a bad way of playing with the formula) inform us that they bonded while trapped in an elevator). I guess they felt that Stan and Roger needed to have a closer relationship than usual in order for some of the events which transpire later to be believable, because the core conflict of this episode is Roger drunkenly kissing Francine during a trip to wine country and then trying desperately to stop her from telling Stan.

As a result of Stan now being his best friend (right down to high five necklaces), Roger’s main fear and motivation is not losing him, as opposed to Stan just kicking his ass, which is his concern in most episodes where he does something bad. I have to ask, did we really need the best friend stuff in order for this plot to work? Wouldn’t the results still be very similar if it was their usual semi-antagonistic relationship? I mean even in standard episodes Stan reluctantly loves Roger, it would still be a betrayal. Although, I suppose they also felt the need to go this extra mile to justify Stan believing Roger over Francine when Roger lies and says that she kissed him (it was a “high five truth” after all). The episode is trying to do so much, they don't even broach the subject of why Roger kissed Francine in the first place or if he's potentially attracted to her.

My nitpicking aside, this is another classic Roger shenanigans episode. He’s an agent of chaos, who constantly messes up and goes to extreme lengths to protect himself because he’s a selfish bastard. In this case, he joins Barry in the camp of characters who’ve buried Francine alive. Surprisingly I don’t have a problem with this. I think I’m getting better at deciphering when this sort of stuff works and when it doesn’t (like in ‘Shallow Vows’). Roger needs to reach a breaking point where he falls off the mental wagon, and then his behaviour becomes wild and unpredictable. The resolution is also rooted in his selfishness, as he decides that keeping his attic is more important than his friendship with Stan, so he decides to tell him the truth in order to save it (but not until after he’s buried Stan alive too, remember Roger’s also a massive coward). My biggest gripe is that they deciding to root this episode around the Stan-Roger relationship instead of a Stan-Francine. They try to do a little of both, with Francine upset that Stan decided not to go to wine country (only for him to show up later with a romantic surprise, his sudden change of heart completely unexplained), and because they’d run out of time, they brush right past the fact that Stan believed Roger over Francine and the damage that could’ve done to their marriage. The next time we see Francine she appears to have already forgiven him, as he presents her with the high-five necklaces, now fashioned into earrings, and they try to end on a sweet note between them, even though their relationship was barely a factor in this episode at all. I guess my point is this episode has a decent premise, with a weird and arguably bungled execution that needed simplifying.

  • The B-plot is about Hayley and Klaus getting revenge on Steve by making him think he’s having a lucid dream. It’s honestly not the best. I always enjoy it when events escalate out of control (which they certainly do), but much like the A-plot is have several issues. First, it takes a massive liberty with Steve’s intelligence, which isn’t that big a deal, because the B-plot in ‘Dope & Faith’ did the same and I loved that. They also throw him under the bus by making him be a dick to Hayley and Klaus for no reason. But then, tricking Steve into thinking he’s dreaming is also a very stupid form of revenge, because Steve just spends it bossing them around (making them drive him, getting Hayley to give him money and ask out Snot). How is this good revenge?
  • Hayley and Klaus are apparently best friends and communicate telepathically. I kind of dig that the two most underused main characters have bonded. I suppose they’ve had a lot of time to hang out while not being used for stories.
  • My favourite joke of the episode is Roger giving a really long order at the diner only to find out at the end that they don’t serve alcohol. It then immediately smash cuts to them at another restaurant. It’s a really well executed character based gag that also plays with our expectations.
  • The episode makes an unexpected callback to Stan’s ice-skating from ‘Of Ice and Men’. While I appreciate the rare times the show honours continuity, of all the secrets Stan has kept from Francine I’m surprised Roger whipped out that as his go-to example. Random choice.
  • This is the first episode to show that Snot has a crush on Hayley. I feel like this is a common trope, the best friend character having a crush on the main kid’s older sister, like an idea you’d think the show would’ve established in the earlier seasons, but better late than never. I will say though, as this is the first episode where we learn about this, it’s a pretty clumsily introduction, as if we were already expected to know, with Hayley calling him up to ask him out (in order to trick Steve), and Snot reacting as if this were a moment we’d seen him striving for for the past 4 seasons.
  • The weakest part of the A-plot (and this isn’t even that big a deal because it’s so brief) is the random wine guy Mark from earlier in the episode showing up just so Roger has someone to talk to other than Stan and Francine in order to push the story along. It’s very clunky. We don’t know this guy. It would’ve felt more natural if he’d called up Klaus to ask for his advice instead.
  • Stan is completely unbothered by Roger having a human girlfriend even though, how could he feasibly date someone while keeping his secret? The writers just ignore the whole “Roger’s an alien the Smiths are hiding” in so many of these episodes.
  • “Go kiss him while he’s on the toilet. Give him a San Diego thank you.”
  • How did Francine get out of the crate? Just dug her way out with pure force and willpower?
  • Another great joke comes at the end, when it cuts to “Next time on American Dad”, and it’s just Stan beating the ever-loving shit out of Roger (very satisfying), who is dressed as… I assume Tom from Tom & Jerry, considering that was referenced earlier. And I love the fact that his outfit goes unexplained.
6.5/10
 
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This is an episode where the subplot is it's savior as otherwise you're left with a shitty Roger episode that becomes more annoying the further it drags it's heals. I remember feeling very fustrated once the episode was over the first time I watched it when it premiered (and I might be misremembering, but I believe the during credits scene was missing).

The only thing I will give this episode is the recap to the non-existent prior episode which is honestly the route they should've taken for the Daesong Heavy Industries "Two-parter" since both episodes didn't really have much to do with one another to the point where "Part two" doesn't really resolve everything that was set up in the first which ultimately ends up being nothing more than this show's take on the stock MacFarlaneverse religion bashing episode.

Also, there's a deleted scene for this episode that involved a talking snail or something that would've served no purpose other than being the "LOL!! Random!" shit that the show was beginning to feature more and more.
 
94 - Bully For Steve
Season 5, Episode 16

94. Bully For Steve.jpg


Original air date: April 25, 2010

This is an episode where Stan repeatedly beats up his son. On paper this sounds terrible, but I ultimately end up letting it slide because I’m having too much fun. We once again revisit Stan being disappointed in Steve for being a nerd/wimp/baby, so he decides to “fix” him (overlooking the fact that Stan has learned to accept Steve for who he is several times before). We know that Stan is not above emotionally or physically hurting his family if he thinks it’s for their own good. He’s only bullying Steve because he genuinely thinks it will teach Steve to stand up for himself, it’s tough love. Very tough love. And if you consider how headstrong, masculine and traditionalist Stan is (or at least that’s how he tries to present himself), plus his history of convoluted schemes which only make sense from his warped perspective, I don’t think his behaviour here is out of the remits of his character (they further attempt to justify it by having Stan believe his own childhood bully problem toughened him up). Add in the fact that Stan’s bully persona, complete with a teenage hairstyle and attitude (“Yeah that’s what your mom said last night!” “You’re a gaylord!”), is so absurd and comical it’s impossible to take this seriously, even though this episode is technically about domestic violence.

Speaking off which, the episode makes the wise decision to not show Stan physically assaulting Steve on screen, although it clearly happens because in the next scene Steve is always beaten up. I’m guessing they had some reservations about doing this, and even I, if I stop to think about it for too long, feel a little uncomfortable, which is why I’m glad the story is balanced out by how likeable both Steve and Francine are in this, especially Francine, who is my favourite iteration of her here. A genuinely caring mom who has a normal, human reaction to finding out her husband is beating up their son (if you can call crashing her car into his normal, but her reaction is both believable and entertaining). I guess the episode saves itself by treating Stan’s behaviour with a degree of seriousness once the truth comes out, and via the beautiful comeuppance he ends up receiving by the end.

I do have to complain about how Francine trying to help Steve goes nowhere. She gives up and goes to “punch a dolphin in the face”, which is a funny bit, but why introduce this plot point at all just for Francine to exit the episode and then jump right back to Stan still bullying Steve, even though Francine told him to stop? (I guess she’s too busy at Seaworld to step in a stop Stan herself?) At least find a way to lead it seamlessly into Stelio Contos. But I can’t stay mad at an episode which has one of show’s most iconic moments: Stan’s high school bully Stelio Contos (“As mean as he was Greek”) mercilessly beating Stan, made even more beautiful by its accompanying music. You’re not an American Dad fan if you don’t know the melody to the Stelio Contos song, even if it is just his name over and over again to a Greek rhythm. Stelio…. Stelio Contos!

  • The B-plot is the next instalment of the ongoing Hayley/Reginald story. After this episode and on reflection, I really feel like this should’ve been a whole episode of its own instead of spread over three B-plots, although I still applaud them for trying something new. Reginald finally asks Hayley out (too late in the storyline), only for them to immediately run into Jeff on their first date (who makes his first appearance since ‘Phantom of the Telethon’, 29 episodes ago). This brings me back to my belaboured point of how little we’ve seen of Hayley’s personal life, as I’m guessing she and Jeff never got back together after he dumped her in ‘Pulling Double Booty’ (despite it being implied that they always get back together in between episodes), and he’s been in Jerusalem, which is why he’s been absent from the show for so long (rather than, you know, the writers just not needing him because they haven’t been writing any Hayley-centric episodes). Of course we never saw any of this, we learn it through exposition. So Hayley and Reginald go on one date and conflict has already been introduced in the form of her ex-boyfriend and Reginald declares his love for her? And this all happens over three short scenes. Again, this needed an entire episode. But I’m trying not to go too in depth about all this because I’m saving it for ‘100 A.D.’.
  • Another book gag: “How to Read with One Hand”
  • I love the look on Steve’s face every time Stan’s makes a “Your Mom” joke.
  • I thought we moved on long ago from German stereotype jokes with Klaus, but here he claims to be in favour of a “racially pure Europe”. Even back in season 1 Klaus never espoused any pro-Nazi sentiments. Way to throw him under the bus for a lazy gag.
  • “Come on, that was your left hand, drama queen!” But Francine is a lefty. Boy, I sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder!
  • “You better not say a f**king word or I’ll kill you” is especially funny in Principal Lewis’s office.
  • “Francine! You T-boned me, bro!”
  • In a previous episode Francine claimed to have killed her college roommate by stabbing her. In this episode we get a flashback to Francine killing a woman called Becky by stabbing her. Coincidence? Or was Becky the roommate?
  • I respect them for how long the old lady bit goes on for. It was a risk but I think it works.
  • There’s very little comedy to be found in any of these Reginald B-plots, but I admit to using “Koala-ty time” quite a lot.
  • The ending joke is mind-bogglingly random, with Roger being hired as a crime scene photographer by…. Captain Crunch? I don’t get it.
8/10
 
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The Captain Crunch joke was actually extended in the deleted scenes for the episode which would've revealed that Roger was just dreaming that part. But I guess it was more important to keep that stupid FG-esque werewolf janitor bit than make that aforementioned bit not feel as also FG-esque as it does in the final episode.

Also, there was a different ending to the subplot which was fully animated too. From what I remember, Reginald breaks it off with Hayley (who doesn't react violently in case you're wondering) but breaks down sobbing once he's sure she can't see him. Dang, just realized that's now two episodes with subplots featuring Reginald that had their endings changed (though at least he still ended up being in this one).

Episode sucks and Stan getting the ever-loving shit beat out of him by the end doesn't make up for how terribly fucked up this premise is and was the beginning of how my hatred for Stan would only worsen as the show went on.

There'll also be another very annoying "Joke" regarding Klaus being stereotyped because he's German in She Swill Survive so stay tuned for that...
 
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They made a joke about Klaus having Nazi leanings in season three. I thought it was funny and it's not like they rely on it. "You came back from Jewish camp?" is the undisputed best one.

One thing I love about American Dad is that it goes out of its way to justify the weird plots as much as it can. The idea of Stan bullying Steve is fucked up, but the context and the characterization is what saves it. Stan isn't bullying Steve because he's malicious or hates him. He genuinely believes that he's doing the right thing because he doesn't want Steve to go through life without challenging himself. And the episode doesn't portray Stan as being in the right, either. He's over compensating because he never stood up to his own bully and he doesn't even realize it. And he gets his ass beat as he deserves for his actions. I have to give the writers credit for trying to cover their bases as much as they could with a story like this.

It also helps that this episode is fucking hilarious. "My anus was frothing like a cappuccino," Stan listening to Train right before he gets clipped by Francine, him talking about all the work he's missed just to bully Steve, Principal Lewis' reaction to the werewolf. The show was already operating at a high level this season, but once it went HD, it became possessed. The comedy has shined in damn near every episode.
 
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