Review: American Dad “Camp Campawanda”

Ooooh, there’s a place I know that’s tucked away…

Steve and Snot’s friendship has been the topic of several episodes, from witness protection to indie film homages to preserving a timeline with naked dancing, they have been tested many times. In Steve’s nerdy clique, Snot usually stands as the right-hand man, or at least that’s how Steve would like it to stay. But there’s been at least a few occasions where young Schmuely (that being Snot’s actual birth name) has gained an edge on Steve, much to his chagrin. Though thanks to the status quo, this…does not usually end well.

On the way to dropping off Steve at a Camp Campawanda, Francine hits a red light in the aptly named Despairtown, full of disgruntled people. Steve, excited as hell to get to camp, starts riling the townsfolk up. At the camp, Steve finds out that Snot is now a counselor in training (the only way he could afford to go), putting him over Steve in authority, but he promises this won’t get in the way of their plans to hang out. Guess what happens. If you guessed that Snot having authority and getting a taste of maturity and responsibility gets in the way of their plans and dividing them as friends, leading to a Steve’s desperate attempts be the cool kid to his younger camp peers, getting kicked out of the camp as a result, then leading the townsfolk in a vengeful riot that ends up destroying said camp…then you probably watched the episode, because that is exactly what happens. Good work, reader!

Back at the house in the B-Plot, Jeff falls into that old sitcom husband cliché of forgetting the anniversary with Haley. To help out, Roger decides to hold a mini version of Burning Man in an attempt to be completely altruistic. Because this is so out of character, Haley immediately suspects foul play, especially after finding a home made surgery room in Roger’s attic, coming to the conclusion that this is a ploy to steal their organs (which is admittedly not out of his wheelhouse). This turns out to not be the case, as Roger was just trying to do something nice to be nice, and the organs being taken out were, in fact, his own. Also, Klaus trips balls.

As previously stated, this is not the first…or second time that Steve has reacted badly to Snot getting a one up on him in some way. In Season 7’s “Jenny Fromdabloc”, Snot hooks up with one of Roger’s personas and believes he has finally lost his virginity, giving him a major confidence boost and usurping Steve’s place in the group before things are cleared up. In Season 12’s “Scents and Sensei-bility”, Snot becomes a bit too intense with karate classes, as well as using it to finally escape Steve’s hold over him and his influence…leading to him going completely out of control. And this is all without going into the borderline homoerotic moments the two have had over the course of the series. With all of that in mind, I can tell you that this relationship was handled a lot better in those previous episodes, because both of the subplots in this episode basically just stop flat without much actual resolution, and seem too similar to other ones to really stand on their own. I can understand that coming up with new story ideas after 14 seasons can be difficult, but seeing how it’s my job to think about and discuss these shows, it’s hard not bringing it up. It’s probably too much to ask for, but some progression towards something different would be nice…but at this point, why should I expect it?

 

SCORE
6/10