American Dad! Season 14, Episode 5
Bahama Mama
Grade: B
This was a hard one to grade. On one hand I love the ‘Off Screen Motors’ type gags, some of the anti-humor (‘Even my Smorfs,’ ‘Unincorporated Candy Township’), and the random, evocative line intonations scattered throughout the episode (‘Yes, the wallet Jeff. The wallet.’). On the other hand, we have an apparent infomercial for the Atlantis resort and some uncomfortable racial politics in the form of the drug gang that runs the dilapidated rest of the island. The sole laugh out loud moment for me was the line about KlausRazor and shoes, and that was all in the great line reading.
There weren’t drawn out resolutions to any of the B-Plots this week- usually there’d be more than a still of Roger twitching in the water or a conversation between Steve and the Kids Klub guy about the virtues of staying a kid, but that’s a useful economy for the show to have and saves more room for the jokes. I have a hard time believing that Roger’s never done a Baywatch riff, but maybe that’s partially the point of Roger- he never pays attention to or remembers anything that he does.
Given how aggressive the show sometimes is at ignoring its continuity regarding Roger’s identities and Stan’s ‘never learn anything’ attitude, it was a genuine surprise when they reintroduced the whole ‘Jeff’s a brainwashed alien’ angle that’d been bothering me the moment I read the plot for this episode. I’d love to see them come back to the Jeff saga or do some more long form serialization- the time travel and the singing and the outer space stuff were great highlights and actually gave purpose to Jeff’s character. Throw some Principal Lewis riding a dinosaur or some more Christmas chaos in there and you’ve got yourself an instant classic. If there’s one thing this season is light on- it’s Principal Lewis
Random Observations:
Well suck me through a hole and call me Rick Steve.
Do you dare me to put my wiener in the jet?
I do.
Ok- shoes on, everyone! Razor’s in one of his moods.
…and maybe Reginald will come back!