With the recent revival of The Twilight Zone just debuted, American Dad takes their stab at the genre this week. This episode presents a genuinely intriguing aura of mystery, and is one of my favorites in a long time.
"Rabbit Ears" starts off simple enough, as Stan and Roger root through trash, one of Stan's favorite pastimes. He finds all kinds of treasures, including a moldy old mattress and a seemingly broken fondue machine, but the real prize is a giant old TV set. I mean, just look at how deep it is, and how unevenly distributed the weight is! The family is completely uninterested, so Stan embarks on this endeavor alone, and discovers a show called "Nitehawk's Hideaway". In spite of not being interested in the show, which is kind of surprising given the subject matter, Stan goes to great lengths to discover more details about it. We get our weekly Tuttle appearance as he also investigates the show and ends up on it, and later, so does Stan. From here, the episode transitions from being standard with an interesting premise to full-on alternate dimension. Host Alistair Covax proves to be genuinely creepy, literally devouring all those who dare to leaves his paradise. The animation throughout this storyline is simple but elegant, and uses the lack of color to it's advantage, creating a very unsettling vibe.
Stan and Tuttle try to escape, but their first attempt is thwarted by Covax. Stan begins to lose all memory of his family, but the fondue set comes to the rescue, and Stan and Tuttle stage a second escape. This time proves to be much more successful, as Stan escapes through a hole in the wall and returns home. But in a somewhat obvious twist, he remains trapped by Covax, destined to live forever in the Smith Family basement television. I absolutely loved pretty much every second of Stan's investigation into this mysterious show, with the general aura and tone so different from just about anything else American Dad has ever made. Tuttle's inclusion felt forced, like always, but Alistair Covax was a legitimately terrifying villain and the animation was so beautiful. What a ride.
One thing the main storyline of this episode didn't offer is much charm or energy, but that can be found in the B-plot, as Roger becomes a baby. It's as stupid and as wonderful as it sounds, as Francine, Hayley, Klaus and Steve all try and take care of an alien pretending to be an admittedly cute child. It goes nowhere and has no resolution, but was more than worth it for Hayley trying to give the baby weed.
9.5/10
"Rabbit Ears" is one of my favorite episodes of American Dad since the move to TBS, and one I will likely rewatch when I get the chance. Now I'm off to root through my neighbor's garbage, there's a can opener I've had my eye on.
"Rabbit Ears" starts off simple enough, as Stan and Roger root through trash, one of Stan's favorite pastimes. He finds all kinds of treasures, including a moldy old mattress and a seemingly broken fondue machine, but the real prize is a giant old TV set. I mean, just look at how deep it is, and how unevenly distributed the weight is! The family is completely uninterested, so Stan embarks on this endeavor alone, and discovers a show called "Nitehawk's Hideaway". In spite of not being interested in the show, which is kind of surprising given the subject matter, Stan goes to great lengths to discover more details about it. We get our weekly Tuttle appearance as he also investigates the show and ends up on it, and later, so does Stan. From here, the episode transitions from being standard with an interesting premise to full-on alternate dimension. Host Alistair Covax proves to be genuinely creepy, literally devouring all those who dare to leaves his paradise. The animation throughout this storyline is simple but elegant, and uses the lack of color to it's advantage, creating a very unsettling vibe.
Stan and Tuttle try to escape, but their first attempt is thwarted by Covax. Stan begins to lose all memory of his family, but the fondue set comes to the rescue, and Stan and Tuttle stage a second escape. This time proves to be much more successful, as Stan escapes through a hole in the wall and returns home. But in a somewhat obvious twist, he remains trapped by Covax, destined to live forever in the Smith Family basement television. I absolutely loved pretty much every second of Stan's investigation into this mysterious show, with the general aura and tone so different from just about anything else American Dad has ever made. Tuttle's inclusion felt forced, like always, but Alistair Covax was a legitimately terrifying villain and the animation was so beautiful. What a ride.
One thing the main storyline of this episode didn't offer is much charm or energy, but that can be found in the B-plot, as Roger becomes a baby. It's as stupid and as wonderful as it sounds, as Francine, Hayley, Klaus and Steve all try and take care of an alien pretending to be an admittedly cute child. It goes nowhere and has no resolution, but was more than worth it for Hayley trying to give the baby weed.
9.5/10
"Rabbit Ears" is one of my favorite episodes of American Dad since the move to TBS, and one I will likely rewatch when I get the chance. Now I'm off to root through my neighbor's garbage, there's a can opener I've had my eye on.
Comments