It's very odd to have a season finale take place just randomly while a show is airing, but such is the way American Dad is treated by TBS. Still, an episode like this one does stand out, and mostly for the right reasons.
"The Future is Borax" doesn't waste any time establishing the main conflict of the episode, as Stan and Francine bicker and Barry steps in to offer advice. I don't understand at all why they would just trust this overweight, clinically insane child to "save" their marriage, but considering that is part of the storyline, I guess just go with it. Stan and Francine take a trip to Rekindlings, the place Barry suggested, but it does little to reduce their arguments. Some various hijinks sees the couple stranded on a hot air balloon, fighting off condors and using sea water to stay alive. While most of the animation is fantastic, the problem is that only real identifying thread through all of this is Stan and Francine's continued survival. It's kind of hard to care about most of it, since the show is mostly just trying to shock you rather than provide any sort of emotion. After they end up landing in Australia and are saved by Travelocity, the two go right back to bickering, proving that nothing they did helped to fix their problems. The actual Craig Robinson tells Stan and Francine that some couples just need a challenge, and they head off to the Outback.
From here, it's an all-out blitz to the end of the episode. Stan and Francine argue over supplies and head to a supposedly dangerous cave mine. They end up countering creatures that look like they might be from The Descent, and somehow draw the conclusion that the problem in their marriage is that keep taking random people's advice. Then Stan goes full badass and kills the monsters to escape the cave- he was conserving his energy, after all. Ultimately, this storyline is quite fun, and certainly worthy of a season finale. The conclusion was obvious from the very start, since Barry obviously has no idea what he's talking about, but it was still interesting Stan and Francine's journey to it.
If the main storyline had any flaws, the episode's B-plot more than makes up for it. Roger, Steve, Hayley and Klaus try and come up with a new jingle for Pizza Overlord, and it's absolutely fantastic. Klaus' jingle is terrifically in-character, and Roger winning turns him into the most pretentious jingle writer you've ever seen. The true highlight of it all is when Roger puts a restaurant out of business with his ridiculous demands, then provides a jingle for it's close. Brilliant.
8/10
The actual emotional connection and character writing were a little suspect, but "The Future is Borax" provides a highly entertaining close to the latest season of American Dad. But honestly guys, that's all you're getting out of me for today. I'm the best goddamn blog writer in the world, and I am going to need at least a billion dollars to finish writing this sentence
"The Future is Borax" doesn't waste any time establishing the main conflict of the episode, as Stan and Francine bicker and Barry steps in to offer advice. I don't understand at all why they would just trust this overweight, clinically insane child to "save" their marriage, but considering that is part of the storyline, I guess just go with it. Stan and Francine take a trip to Rekindlings, the place Barry suggested, but it does little to reduce their arguments. Some various hijinks sees the couple stranded on a hot air balloon, fighting off condors and using sea water to stay alive. While most of the animation is fantastic, the problem is that only real identifying thread through all of this is Stan and Francine's continued survival. It's kind of hard to care about most of it, since the show is mostly just trying to shock you rather than provide any sort of emotion. After they end up landing in Australia and are saved by Travelocity, the two go right back to bickering, proving that nothing they did helped to fix their problems. The actual Craig Robinson tells Stan and Francine that some couples just need a challenge, and they head off to the Outback.
From here, it's an all-out blitz to the end of the episode. Stan and Francine argue over supplies and head to a supposedly dangerous cave mine. They end up countering creatures that look like they might be from The Descent, and somehow draw the conclusion that the problem in their marriage is that keep taking random people's advice. Then Stan goes full badass and kills the monsters to escape the cave- he was conserving his energy, after all. Ultimately, this storyline is quite fun, and certainly worthy of a season finale. The conclusion was obvious from the very start, since Barry obviously has no idea what he's talking about, but it was still interesting Stan and Francine's journey to it.
If the main storyline had any flaws, the episode's B-plot more than makes up for it. Roger, Steve, Hayley and Klaus try and come up with a new jingle for Pizza Overlord, and it's absolutely fantastic. Klaus' jingle is terrifically in-character, and Roger winning turns him into the most pretentious jingle writer you've ever seen. The true highlight of it all is when Roger puts a restaurant out of business with his ridiculous demands, then provides a jingle for it's close. Brilliant.
8/10
The actual emotional connection and character writing were a little suspect, but "The Future is Borax" provides a highly entertaining close to the latest season of American Dad. But honestly guys, that's all you're getting out of me for today. I'm the best goddamn blog writer in the world, and I am going to need at least a billion dollars to finish writing this sentence
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