REVIEW: AMERICAN DAD “THE WRESTLER”

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Episode Synopsis: Steve’s pal Barry threatens Stan’s high-school wrestling record, so Stan enlists Roger to keep that from happening. Bad move. Original Air Date: Mar 4, 2012

Guest Cast Eddie Kaye Thomas: Barry

 

Spoilers Below

Despite being a very good school student, Stan thinks Steve needs to get more into sports but more specifically to walk in his father’s foot steps as an amateur wrestler. With no wrestling team available in Pearl Bailey HS, Stan decides to start one of his own, but the pickings are pretty slim and as such Steve and all his friends get their asses handed to them…except Barry who just pulverizes his super-heavyweight class and quickly threatens Stan’s winning record.

Stan enlists the help of his museum curator, Roger, who opts to help him by taking out Barry in an attempted murder plot. However, Stan discovers that Roger has really powerful legs and trains him to beat Barry, but after 15 wins now Roger is closing in on Stan’s record! As expected, Stan is PISSED and rejoins high school to take on his new nemesis in a Rocky/The Wrestler type event that no one actually cares about…except Francine!

I love wrestling(both amateur and pro) and I love American Dad, so this week’s episode was a no brainer for me. Yes, there were some inaccuracies in terms of some of the rules(like in high school wresting, you get pinned on a one count, not a three count), but I was able to put all that aside and enjoy “The Wrestler.” However, if you are looking for this episode to be similar to the film of the same name, you are far off, as instead of a story about a broken down man way past his wrestling prime whom finds his true self in the ring, you get a humorous story about a dad gloating about his high school records in the most extreme ways possible, including building himself a museum of all his accomplishments complete with Roger as acting curator, a spider named Charlotte who scribbles obscenities in her webbing, and after hours shenanigans reminiscent of Night at the Museum. Also, we might have had the best cutaway in American Dad, and I don’t want to give it away because I really want you to see it, let’s put it this way…the scene involves an old man, a pane of glass, and a legless wrestler who like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump gets new legs. Add this with a twist ending, and we had another solid episode for American Dad!

 

 

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