American Dad dives headlong into the wacky world of dog racing this week in an episode that produces very mixed results.
Right away, you can see that "Fleabiscuit" is going to be one of "those" episodes, as the show just shoves all of it's characters into one location and hopes for the best. Jeff's a star dog racing trainer now, for some reason, and Hayley starts off supportive. But then Roger, with almost no effort, quickly turns her against her husband, and their conflict represents the bulk of the emotional drama of this episode. It's the type of story we've seen hundreds of times with Stan and Francine, and I just don't care about any of it. The absolute best part of this mess is Roger becoming Hayley's racing dog(is there a better term for that?), as the two characters play off each other exceptionally. In fact, this plot likely would've worked a lot better if Jeff wasn't involved in any of it, which is tough for me to admit as a big Jeff fan. The guy just seems to have no reason to be there, beyond just winning races and being successful, which he's never really cared about before. Even Jeff's dog Fleabiscuit is given more character motivation, as Roger sleeps with his girlfriend to gain a psychological advantage. Just in general, a lot of high jinks in this storyline are pretty great, it's just a shame that Hayley and Jeff's roles were so dull.
There are a lot of random secondary parts to this episode, from Stan and Francine's time spent gambling and then living at the racetrack, to Klaus as a decoy rabbit and Steve running around naked in the Smith House. There's a lot of good here, since most of these stories are just silly diversions all tied to the main plot. I particularly enjoyed Klaus taunting the dogs and then later getting his comeuppance, then somehow diverting from there to actual death by the episode's end. Stan and Francine living as vagrants and then Burger King royalty was also pretty great, and Steve's role in this episode was mostly for one great sequence as he tries to sneak past Hayley and Jeff whilst in the nude.
5/10
For as much fun as "Fleabiscuit" provides, it doesn't make up for the fact that there's very little justification for the episode's main conflict. At least to me, it feel's like the writers came up with an episode built around dog racing, and then just shoehorned Hayley and Jeff into the plot. Oh well, at least I have the house to myself. It's time for a little preview of my............................
Right away, you can see that "Fleabiscuit" is going to be one of "those" episodes, as the show just shoves all of it's characters into one location and hopes for the best. Jeff's a star dog racing trainer now, for some reason, and Hayley starts off supportive. But then Roger, with almost no effort, quickly turns her against her husband, and their conflict represents the bulk of the emotional drama of this episode. It's the type of story we've seen hundreds of times with Stan and Francine, and I just don't care about any of it. The absolute best part of this mess is Roger becoming Hayley's racing dog(is there a better term for that?), as the two characters play off each other exceptionally. In fact, this plot likely would've worked a lot better if Jeff wasn't involved in any of it, which is tough for me to admit as a big Jeff fan. The guy just seems to have no reason to be there, beyond just winning races and being successful, which he's never really cared about before. Even Jeff's dog Fleabiscuit is given more character motivation, as Roger sleeps with his girlfriend to gain a psychological advantage. Just in general, a lot of high jinks in this storyline are pretty great, it's just a shame that Hayley and Jeff's roles were so dull.
There are a lot of random secondary parts to this episode, from Stan and Francine's time spent gambling and then living at the racetrack, to Klaus as a decoy rabbit and Steve running around naked in the Smith House. There's a lot of good here, since most of these stories are just silly diversions all tied to the main plot. I particularly enjoyed Klaus taunting the dogs and then later getting his comeuppance, then somehow diverting from there to actual death by the episode's end. Stan and Francine living as vagrants and then Burger King royalty was also pretty great, and Steve's role in this episode was mostly for one great sequence as he tries to sneak past Hayley and Jeff whilst in the nude.
5/10
For as much fun as "Fleabiscuit" provides, it doesn't make up for the fact that there's very little justification for the episode's main conflict. At least to me, it feel's like the writers came up with an episode built around dog racing, and then just shoehorned Hayley and Jeff into the plot. Oh well, at least I have the house to myself. It's time for a little preview of my............................
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