Review: American Dad “The Shrink”

SPOILERS BELOW

Twelve episodes into it’s first season on TBS, American Dad seems to be still be going strong. TBS has been very welcoming of the show, and even renewed it for a thirteenth season after this one wraps up. It’s been a joy to review this season, because so much of it has been enjoyable. That isn’t to say there hasn’t been any hiccups along the way, but for the most part, season twelve has been one of my favorites for the show. Not many people followed the show over to TBS, but it still has a dedicated audience. I still think some of the episodes of American Dad are still ahead of us, ones with memorable stories and interactions, and I think this won’t ever be considered one of the great American Dad episodes, but I think it can be a memorable one.

In “The Shrink” Stan has a near brush with death when rushing to a meeting. Traumatized, Stan begins to look at the world in a different light. Chaotic, dangerous, unpredictable. When Stan takes direction from a shrink to start a hobby in miniatures, Stan takes it a little too far. Meanwhile, Roger and Clause become committed to becoming the most cultured and experienced wine tasters ever.

One of my problems with the last few seasons on Fox was that were a lot of episodes that took a very interesting concept, and used it in a very boring way. I haven’t noticed it much this season, but this episode is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Shrinking people down is a really cool concept, admittedly we’ve seen it so many times before, but I thought American Dad could find a way to make it seem more original. Unfortunately, it fell short of doing that. The danger that presents itself to Stan and his family is an army of ants that have come to eat a mountain of food Stan planned on surviving on in his miniature form.

There were still plenty of laughs to be had in the episode, but ultimately seeing shrunken characters and ants just made me think more about Marvel’s upcoming “Ant-Man” movie. I got excited for the episode when I read it’s synopsis and watched it’s preview, I thought a lot of cool things could be brought to the table, but it just seems like a lot of stuff I’ve seen before. The episode was basically “I am Legend” meets “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. Doesn’t make for a good episode.

It wasn’t all bad, like I mentioned, it was pretty funny. That’s what counts the most, and the miniature town had some unique qualities that were pretty cool. Food Mountain was awesome, and I liked the toy train Stan set up.

Ultimately, I’m a little disappointed with this episode. I still liked it, but after a few really strong episodes, this one fell a little short for me. Hopefully when they approach cool concepts in the future, they think a little more outside the box.

How did you guys like “The Shrink”? Like it? Not so much? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!