In which Steve gets over his hero worship

Stan as written is the very idea of the kind of toxic alpha jerk who believes he’s better than everyone, including his family. How that is often played for laughs on AD! is it’s demonstrated that Stan in fact sucks at the thing he thinks he’s great at and eventually he’s knocked down a peg and humbled (for that episode at least). This week does very little to change the formula and it suffers for it.

Stan and Francine head to the CIA softball game where Steve is there to write an essay about his hero, Stan. Steve is in full hero-worship mode despite Hayley pointing out that Stan is avoiding doing anything. While visiting Stan at work to work on the essay, the kids are approached by Dick, who says to look into Stan’s records. They discover his records show that he avoids playing. When challenged, Stan tries to play but he badly botches every play, getting hit in the crotch and attacked by a raccoon. Steve is now over his hero worship.

When confronted with the shame of it all, Stan runs away. Hayley wants to find him and with the help of Roger tracks him to Florida. There they find out he sucks at baseball because he’s scared of being injured like his little league coach. With the help of Mudcat Ranelli, one of Stan’s childhood idols, the kids help Stan gain confidence back. Stan gets back in the game, makes a few bad errors and ruins Bullock’s shut out. The kids respect him again and everything goes back the way it was before.

Over on the B-Plot, Francine gets trapped in a Port-a-John. She manages to break leg holes in it and goes on a journey across America, escaping the pursuit of someone who believes he lost the port-a-john of the back of his truck. She eventually ends up in a warehouse, Indiana Jones-style, along with someone else. It’s a light plot but it’s not terrible.

Stray Observations

Bullock sings Centerfield and we’re all better for having heard it.

Mr. Fritz, Steve’s teacher is voiced by Jay Pharaoh

Mr. Fritz doesn’t like Billy and I think we can all agree with that.

Thoughts

This one had very little in it for me. Non-descript.