Review: American Dad “A Starboy is Born”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Celebrity fever catches Langley Falls—specifically the Smith family—when The Weeknd comes to town and causes a major stir. Most of the Smith family has nothing but staunch respect for the musical performer, but the dedication that they show towards the star only fills Stan with jealousy and confusion. In perfect Stan fashion, his insecurities get the better of him and he’s taking part in a mission to rob the world of The Weeknd and teach everyone a lesson in the process.

Stan’s misguided plan leads to a dangerous domino effect that unexpectedly sees Roger and The Weeknd switch places. Roger’s new lifestyle quickly gets the better of him and even though he’s able to swallow his pride enough to turn to Stan for help, he’s refused it and pushed down a destructive path. As Roger learns about responsibility the hard way, Hayley also develops a strong appreciation for The Weeknd, but she’s interested in something other than his voice.

Our Take:

American Dad has an interesting reputation when it comes to celebrity. While Family Guy has gone so far to embrace the idea of celebrity that personalities like Adam West and James Woods appear in the series as heightened versions of themselves, American Dad has been much more careful with turning to that side of pop culture. American Dad isn’t entirely averse to the idea and the most blatant and desperate examples of this are likely CeeLo Green’s appearance in “Hot Water” or Kim Kardashian’s cameo on “Blagsnarst, A Love Story.” Maybe you could lump in Roger’s brief encounter with Kevin Bacon into the same camp. These aren’t the only examples, but they’re the few occasions where American Dad has leaned hard into its guest stars and used them to reach a larger audience.

Both “Hot Water” and “Blagsnarst” still find clever ways to subvert the idea of celebrity guest spots. They still feel natural and justified. “A Starboy is Born” is a different story and it’s an episode of American Dad that doesn’t just incorporate a guest star, but “A Starboy is Born” heavily revolves around The Weeknd and he even goes so far as to compose original music for the episode and co-write the script! It’s a higher level of celebrity integration than ever before. This is all a great get for the series and it’s easy to understand their excitement behind The Weeknd’s participation in all of this. It’s a move that may seem desperate on a less popular series, but American Dad has earned the right to experiment in this way.

“A Starboy is Born” is a little less natural than previous episodes, but if you’re completely disinterested in The Weeknd then this episode really doesn’t suffer. Roger is much more the centerpiece here than anyone else. “A Starboy is Born” still turns its celebrity into the punchline and has fun with all of this, rather than this episode resembling the soulless kind of corporate synergy that might happen on an episode of The Simpsons as a means to appeal to the low-hanging fruit of an audience.

Better yet, The Weeknd seems to have a very strong understanding of the series. He co-wrote this episode with American Dad regular Joel Hurwitz and it’s unclear exactly what the divide was between them, but it’s impressive to see how well of a grasp that The Weeknd has with the show’s characters. This feels like an instance where he’s actually been a devoted fan of the show for a while and not just a celebrity that the show has randomly selected.

“A Starboy is Born” really wastes no time with its premise and The Weeknd winds up in the Smith household in a matter of minutes due to some teachable moments via the musings of Alec Baldwin. Stan decides that the best way to break his family’s admiration of The Weeknd is to bring him down to their level. There’s a lot of entertainment to be had with how The Weeknd meshes with the Smiths and takes a very laid back approach to his time with them. It’s not long before a Prince and the Pauper-esque scenario plays out between The Weeknd and Roger where Stan seems to be more worried than anyone else.

Roger quickly gets arrested and becomes cognizant of how perhaps Stan and Alec Baldwin’s idea that rules and restrictions aren’t a bad thing. Roger considers that his regular life that’s full of order and limits where he’s an alien-in-hiding could actually be helpful for him. “A Starboy is Born” cleverly has Roger learn his lesson early on, but Stan’s refusal to acknowledge this due to his own twisted logic ends up sending Roger further down the wrong path. What could have been a helpful experience turns into a much more chaotic disaster as a result. The final act involves Roger headed to Festival Island, a deserted stretch of land with an active volcano that makes for a markedly dangerous party destination.

“A Starboy is Born” really doesn’t give any reprieve from The Weeknd’s presence since the episode’s B-story also involves Hayley’s obsession with the singer. Some secondary story that incorporates members of the Smith family who are completely indifferent to The Weeknd could have provided some helpful alternatives here, but this actually turns out to be some of the best material in the episode. Since The Weeknd is now in such close proximity to Hayley she concurs that it’d be downright irresponsible if she didn’t try to sleep with him during this time. This only comes a week after Jeff gets into some morally ambiguous territory regarding his commitment to Hayley, but it’s probably better to not over-analyze these recent plot points. Hayley still obviously loves Jeff, but this hormonal burst over the music legend that’s around her still feels appropriate for her character. In fact, Jeff becomes the biggest champion for the affair and his enthusiasm towards it is a very funny development that fits the character so well.

Hayley’s efforts to hook up with The Weeknd don’t go exactly as planned, but they produce some embarrassingly comic results for the distracted would-be groupie. The whole situation is ultimately defused after The Weeknd delivers an entertaining musical number that reveals that he’s a virgin (but for reasons that involve fantastical time travel and special powers). It’s a solution that definitely works and the fact that Jeff seems more frustrated about this than anyone else is the right way to play it. I’d also love it if The Weeknd actually is a virgin and the way that he decides to reveal that to the world is through the script of a long-running animated comedy.

“A Starboy is Born” heads into a roundabout conclusion that looks like it will validate Stan’s negligent impulses, but the episode’s storylines then dovetail together in a very effective way. The bizarre ending is maybe the best part of the whole episode and it comes full circle to Stan’s original Make-A-Wish foundation plan, too. Stan’s obliviously malicious treatment of Francine is fantastic, as is her complete hatred towards him over it. The utter confusion that plays out as these two storylines intersect is also a lot of fun. It very much nails American Dad’s ability to blend together nonsense with reality and create a kind of absurdity that still makes sense in its own way. Every beat during the conclusion gets progressively crazier and the deadpan explanation that Klaus receives continues to heighten it. The final gag where the installment ends with an apology that this episode of American Dad was accidentally aired instead of Step Brothers is also an excellent note to go out on and a very clever meta joke.

The main story of this episode is surprisingly tame in many ways, especially with an untethered Roger at the center of it (although there are some unfortunate clown fatalities that he’s responsible for). In spite of this, there are still some outrageous visuals that come out of “A Starboy is Born.” The use of a Komodo dragon rather than something more common like a shark or alligator is such a specific touch that makes one joke somehow exponentially funnier. The episode’s obsession with Breckin Meyer also gains more weight with the knowledge that he regularly voices ancillary characters in the show and is a member of the American Dad family. Regardless of anything wrong that this episode does, the entire thing justifies its existence through the bonkers visual of Breckin Meyer bursting out of a cop’s body like it’s a moment from Wishmaster. That alone may be the highlight so far from this season of American Dad.

“A Starboy is Born” could have been a disaster that feels “mass-produced” and inauthentic, but it turns out to be a victory that never abuses its privilege or wrecks the atmosphere that the show has developed over 300 episodes. It’s an entry that doesn’t dig too deep with its characters and the lessons learned have been covered before, but there’s still lots to love in this one. This episode might feel a little less awkward if it kicked off or concluded this season, but it still works as is. The Weeknd’s overwhelming presence in the episode may be a hurdle for some to get over, but there’s plenty of vintage Roger and Stan present to balance this one out. I don’t need American Dad to regularly turn to “stunt episodes” of this nature, but “A Starboy is Born” succeeds as an unusual experiment for a series that’s often at its best when it breaks from the mold.

The only cardinal sin that’s committed here is that Scott Grimes didn’t get the opportunity to sing backup and give the world a duet between Steve Smith and The Weeknd.