Review: American Dad “CIAPOW”

Spoilers Below

Hi, everybody! Welcome to another American Dad review. I don’t know if it was the move, but both episodes that aired on TBS were really entertaining to me. It really puts my worries to rest, but let me explain why I thought “CIAPOW” was such a good episode.

I have no doubt that a number of people are fatigued of American Dad. You don’t pass that ten season mark without losing viewers along the way. It gets increasingly difficult to keep the show fresh, but I always found American Dad managed to stay fresh well. After the move to TBS, I really thought I’d be putting out negative reviews for the show week after week, but instead here I am about to write my second positive review in a row. It seems to be picking up steam!

In “CIAPOW”, after a mission in Thailand is carried out by a drone, Stan feels devalued as an agent. He and his team then need to carry out a mission of their own to prove their worth. Meanwhile, the rest of the Smith family engages in an exhilarating slo-mo race from one side of the living room to the other.

“CIAPOW” really hit me the right now. I thought everything from the sub-plots to the humor was really clever, and they even introduced a pretty funny Thai villain. Each of the sub-plots were telling me a different kind of story, but in the end I found the two meshed well and kept me entertained and laughing. I liked that Stan had a group of buddies this episode. One thing I always wanted for the show was for Stan to have a group of friends, much like Peter has Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland. While Stan’s work friends weren’t nearly distinguishable as Peter’s friends in this episode, they still managed to maintain a lot of witty dialogue. I wouldn’t argue if they brought us more episodes with these four working together.

The race from one side of the living room to the other was also really funny. It’s such a simple concept, I was a little worried when I read about it in the synopsis, but they manage to make it really funny purely with character interaction. It was a pleasant surprise. I was sort of expecting Stan to show up by the end of the episode and join in on the race, but that didn’t happen. Would have been pretty funny though! Each of the stories also kept me on my toes. I like when these shows throw a little surprise at me here and there, and that’s what this episode provided. I never really knew what was going to happen next. I think that’s what contributed to the jokes being funnier. When I can predict what’s coming, it sort of ruins the jokes for me.

The antagonist for the episode was really funny. He was a little Thai general looking guy. If they bring him back later down the road, I won’t complain. I think he really stole the episode. Also the nudges to Burger King were fantastic.

The negatives for this episode are in short supply. Maybe it was too short. I noticed this episode was only twenty minutes long. Is this regular for TBS? They had to wrap up one of their stories with the credits rolling. I also think this episode could have been stretched into a two-part series. I think there was enough here to make who episodes with. That’s really my only complaint about the episode. It was too short. I’m nitpicking, but there is nothing else negative that really jumped out at me in this one. That’s a good thing though because it leaves me wanting more. I’m genuinely excited for next week’s episode of American Dad.

Overall, this was an excellent episode. If you didn’t have the chance to check it out yet, I encourage you to find it and watch it. It’s probably one of the funniest episodes in some time. TBS seems to be treating this show well. American Dad’s social media presence has become a lot more noticeable as of late, so you can tell TBS is really excited to have the show as part of their line-up. If they keep up this same quality of work for the rest of the season, I think this could work out to be the best episode of American Dad yet. I really don’t think it will end up being the best, but I’m just saying they’re on the right track.

So, how did you feel about “CIAPOW”? Am I being too generous here? Love it as much as I did? Let us know!