Review: American Dad “Shell Game”

Well, I guess the yolks on me. *sad trumpet*

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Steve and Roger go bird watching for the day, but spy a weird guy stealing eggs from nests. They tail him back to a lavish mansion where he reveals the egg to other weird guys, apparently a society obsessed with eggs. Their concern leads them to Professor Elizabeth Hadley at Groff college, who tells them about her ongoing rivalry with Commodore Francis Stoat and the Order of the Hand and Nest, who illegally collect endangered bird eggs. They are all victims of “egg madness”, which occurs when one becomes too focused on the circular shape of the egg. Roger soon falls prey to this and joins the Order, much to Steve’s dismay. Betrayed, he turns to Prof Hadley to organize a counter effort with her own group: The Egg Protectors. While small in comparison, the fledgling team manages to cut the Order off at the pass at every turn. Though all is not lost for them; The Century Eagle has finally laid a big one, and the Order kidnaps Steve to prevent further interference. They plan to kill Steve in a gruesome egg-themed way, but Roger manages to lead them all to their deaths. Steve then gets the “egg madness” and almost get the egg squashed, if not for the Century Eagle saving it. Friendship and bird watching passion restored, Steve and Roger return home as they pass the corpses of the Order members.

Also, Francine gets a sauce that causes the family to become progressively more Italian.

OUR TAKE

This episode…exists. There is a beginning, middle, and end. Characters do things. Those things have consequences. There is a feeling of general bemusement when it is over.

I honestly can’t come up with much further analysis. It was a generally weird plot that had decent jokes a generally benign B-plot padded things out nicely. Generally.

To be blunt, if we’re going with the egg theme, this episode was more Denny’s quality. Not bad, but could use some salt.

Also, while I think this episode earns a higher rating than another episode of another TBS show, I should note that my ratings are more about expectation, which differs from show to show. So, with that in mind…