With Steve and Hayley away for the summer, Stan is dreading spending time alone with Francine out of fear that she'll discover how boring he is. Luckily they have a pansexual, alcoholic, drug addicted, disguise wearing alien in the attic. As Francine tries to get Roger to move on with his life, Stan interferes and sends Roger into a coma. The episode is goofy and takes a bizarre trip into Roger's mind which is as horrifying as you might imagine. A lot of people consider season 5 to be the show's best (an assessment I don't disagree with) and I think it's because the season achieves an inspired level of absurdity but with some real emotional stakes. This episode is a great example of that.
This is another strong Stan-Francine-Roger episode with Fran and Rog going on a wine tour, getting twisted-drunk and accidentally kissing. But when Stan surprises by joining them, hilarity ensues. The writing on this episode is remarkably strong. Also, this episode maintains a frantic pace with Roger trying to keep Stan from finding out about the kiss. Then he tries to get Stan to kiss bartender Mia whom Roger is attracted to and repulsed by (this leads to one of my favorite moments in the show, Roger singing "lips are for kissing, uh, uh, uh"). The lucid dream plot with Steve, Hayley and Klaus is funny but ends in some gruesome dark comedy, which I'm not sure the episode needed. But that's a small blemish on this near perfect episode.
Season 5 concludes with Roger 1601st birthday and he wants a roast. Of course, being Roger, he can't take the jokes and goes on a murderous rampage against the Smiths. They are forced to go to Space to escape, leading to an inspired Alien parody. This is another especially well-written episode with the two roast sequences being major highlights. What I like about this episode is that there isn't a B-plot and it has the Smith family all together. These four plus Roger and Klaus have a zany chemistry together, a comic well that the show doesn't turn to as often as it could.
Other season 5 highlights: In Country...Club, Rapture's Delight, A Jones for a Smith, Don't Look a Smith Horse in the Mouth and Bully for Steve.
Stan and Francine search for another couple to hang out with and end up trying to keep up with an active, younger couple. It's a funny episode, one that gives Stan and Francine a lot of material where they can bounce off each other and do crazy stuff together. That's one thing that Family Guy or The Cleveland Show misses out on because those shows always have the dumb husband/nagging wife combo. The B plot, with Steve and Roger put on hold for two weeks when calling a customer service line for a faulty product, is hysterical--especially when it interacts with the A plot a few times.
This episode has become one of my favorites because it is jam-packed. A lot goes on in this episode and it features many comic set pieces, each funnier than the last. Even so, the episode doesn't feel frantic or rushed. With Stan and Roger competing for the lead role in the pseudo-intellectual play Pinata Man and Steve and his friends planning one last sleepover, the show mines a lot of great jokes about male friendships and competitiveness. The Stan and Roger plot has a lot of great stuff but the final play scene is just perfect. The women on the show don't really get much to do except deliver a few solid one-liners but overall, this episode is an exceptionally strong half-hour.
Stan and Steve have a father-son relationship that I at first didn't find all that interesting but now has become one of my favorite dynamics on the show. Stan is all about traditional norms of masculinity and Steve continues to fail to live up to that and it makes for some great material throughout the show. This episode has the two of them competing for masculine dominance in the animal kingdom that is the Smith home. It's hysterical, some truly rich jokes. The B plot has Hayley and husband Jeff go to marriage counseling with reliable funnyman Principal Lewis and their interactions are pretty funny. Even Francine has a lot of great stuff to work with in this Steve/Stan heavy episode, which makes it even better.
Other season 6 highlights: Stan's Food Restaurant, School Lies, Jenny Fromdabloc, Home Wrecker and Gorillas in the Mist.
One thing I touched upon a few times in the last American Dad blog post was that AD pulls off edgy, weird, racy humor quite well and Virtual In-Stanity, in which Stan makes himself a hot blond teenage girl robot avatar and seduces Steve in an effort to bond with his son, is just an out-there plot that only this show could pull it off. It features some excellent jokes, some of which really come out of nowhere and gives each character a few good moments. The whole thing ends with a random Avatar homage and a truly funny/exciting fight scene. The B plot has limo driver Roger stalking and murdering a group of frat boys who stiffed him the bill. It is one of my favorite late-season Roger plots because it is so ridiculous and over-the-top, these horrific murders become just hysterical.
When Stan's old CIA crush Scarlett Reynolds (probably named after Tony winner Scarlett Johansson, formerly Reynolds) comes back to town, those old feelings come rushing back. Jealous Francine gets Roger to put on his most charming disguise, Dan Andsome-Handsome, and seduce Scarlett away from Stan. Stan can be such a jerk that it's easy to forget what a great, funny character he is. This episode is really strong for him as his jealous act when Scarlett and Dan Andsome-Handsome are together is a total riot. The end of the episode is super strong also even though it gets a little gruesome. Steve's "lucky panties" B plot is also terrific, giving him, Snot and Hayley some really fun stuff to work with.
I can imagine this episode being somewhat controversial as it makes a case for euthanasia, itself a controversial subject. And this episode features a lot of laughs but it does feature a strong emotional throughline about pets and the unconditional love they give. Stan's Best Friend also features a terrific one-shot character Dr. Lizzie, the psychotic lesbian alt-medicine veterinarian. Her character is truly awful but the writers made her kooky enough to be funny and memorable. There is some nice meta-commentary about the show's wobbly continuity and Steve's constant crying is another good running gag. The B plot with Jeff and Hayley is throwaway and is not all that memorable but it doesn't ruin the episode.
Other season 7 highlights: The Unbrave One, Stanny Tendergrass, Wheels & the Legman and the Case of Grandpa's Key, Old Stan in the Mountain and Ricky Spanish.
Stan's hard and fast rules for manhood have been touched on a lot in the show and there have been some great episodes where Stan gets to be a kid again (most notably in Season 5's Man in the Moonbounce). Here, Stan gets to know what it's like having a truly awesome best friend when he sends Steve's BFF Snot to a fake witness protection program but then becomes friends with Snot himself. It's a great episode about friendship, but what makes it even more remarkable is that the friendship between Steve and Snot is rich in unique but relatable details. The episode makes the effort to demonstrate why Steve and Stan value Snot so much as a friend. The episode is elevated to classic status with the B plot of Roger paying Jeff to clean the attic then robbing him later. It's classic AD B plot with the escalation of events getting even more ridiculous until a great over-the-top finale.
Once the show dried up the well of political comedy and focused more on character-based sitcom hijinks, Hayley was given B plots, running gags or wasn't even featured at all. Part of that was due to Hayley's voice actress Rachael MacFarlane taking time off to raise her family. In this episode, Steve sneaks out to a party when Hayley makes fun of him and his friends, then she chases them all over town because she wants to show her parents that she's responsible. It's a great setup and the writing lives up to it. Nonstop gags, memorable supporting characters and some really solid one-liners make this one of the zaniest episodes yet. I didn't even mention the funny B plot with Stan and Francine being unable to keep their hands off each other while going to a Cavalia show .
American Dad invites you to become invested in the characters' personal journey, something missing from the other animated shows on Fox. Lost in Space is a terrifically moving episode. A few episodes before, Jeff had been beamed up to a spaceship from Roger's home planet, and this episode finds him trying to make his way back to Earth, by proving to Roger's home planet's Emperor that Hayley is his true love. The episode is very funny, even without most of the Smith characters. It features light parodies of sci-fi with some other clever jokes and fun characters. Such a big departure from the show's regular format was a huge risk but the episode works beautifully. Jeff escapes from the spaceship but still doesn't make it back to Earth at the end. This opens the door for the exciting prospect of a sequel episode or two.
Other season 8 highlights: American Stepdad, The Adventures of Twill Ongenbone and His Boy Jabari, Blood Crieth Unto Heaven, Max Jets and Spelling Bee My Baby.
So there you have it, the 12 best episodes of American Dad seasons 5-8. The 9th season of American Dad premieres Sunday, Sept. 29th at 9:30 pm on Fox. This will be the last season of the show to air on Fox; TBS has bought the show from the network and will air 15 original episodes starting in 2014.
3 comments:
Very good choices. There's a few I probably would have chosen differently (no "The One That Got Away" at all even in mention for one), but overall this exceptional show has SO many great episodes I don't dispute any of the ones you picked. Season 5 is nearly a flawless season of television, but it's a shame so many people lump this show in with Family Guy and it's ADD style of humor.
Also kudos on picking "Jack's Back", easily one of my top 5 episodes. Definitely more down to earth then some other episodes but the characters all shine so strongly.
Really, good. I am so happy to see it.
www.khojapp.com
Post a Comment