In which the Smiths have a chaotic home life…

Lampshading means, per Wiktionary “To intentionally call attention to the improbable, incongruent, or clichéd nature of an element or situation featured in a work of fiction within the work itself.” Tonight AD! lampshades the fact that when you stop to think about it the Smith house is no place to raise a child.

At the lunch table, Steve and Friends start discussing their respective home lives with Barry apologizing that his parents don’t play more contemporary music (to cover up their love making) and Snot hating that his mother cuts his sandwiches into hearts and not lightning bolts. As Steve points out that his home is much wilder than anyone else’s, Snot warns him not to attract too much attention or have child services called on them. That’s exactly what happens and Steve has to prep the family on the impending child services visit of Jack Hardass.

The Smiths try to prep for the actual visit by making Beef Wellington and hiring actors to play Jeff and Hayley. But things go off the rails and they make a mistake on the time of Hardass’s arrival. Things seem to be headed for disaster between Stan’s attempt to sell Buckle (nice to see him again) the Lord of the Rings forced perspective ring and Roger’s drugs and porn. But They manage to hide it from Hardass for most of it and he goes away thinking Steve is a happy boy. But it falls apart when he goes back and Steve then decides to leave with him.

Turns out that the first Hardass was a fake when the actual Hardass shows up. Fake Hardass has sent a ransom for the Forced Perspective Ring. The Smiths leave behind the fake family with Hardass in order to track down Steve. They manage to track him to a cabin where it’s revealed Hardass was really Billy Boyd, one of the Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings who wanted to steal Stan’s Forced Perspective Ring. He along with Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan hold Steve captive for the Ring. The family manages to drug the gang, have Roger cause a distraction and grab Steve. They have Steve sneak back in the house and hug the fake family so that the real Hardass will leave them alone.

Stray Observations

• I did think Hardass would be Roger at first so that was a bit of a swerve.
• A callback to the worst AD! episode, Tapped Out saying that Child Services were in fact called and bribed.
• I suppose Return of the Bling made Stan a huge Lord of the Rings fan or maybe he just understands the value of memorabilia.

Final thoughts Solid if not spectacular episode I liked the inclusion of the actual voice actors who played the Hobbits from Lord of the Rings