Review: American Dad “Russian Doll”

Overview:

Concerns over Russia lead to an unconventional CIA mission that centers around an American Doll that doubles as a piece of surveillance that the United States hopes to use to spy on Russia’s top intel. Stan volunteers for this mission with aspirations to get one over on Russia, but the toy-based endeavor triggers latent memories in Stan. Suddenly this valuable piece of technology becomes compromised by Stan’s questionable actions and the safety of both USA and Russia is left in question. 

And because it’s tax season, Klaus tries to lend Roger a fin with his bookkeeping, only to find himself involved with something much more complicated. 

Our Take:

Some of the most popular Stan-centric storylines in American Dad revolve around the character’s staunch, stubborn values and often the events that have instilled these ideals in him in the first place. Stan is a character that thrives on his ignorant nature and while he incrementally improves he’s destined to remain perpetually stunted in this area. “Russian Doll” is an episode that benefits from how it takes a personal event from Stan’s past and uses it as an obstacle for an important mission at work. American Dad often gets away from an episodic structure where Stan gets sent on new CIA missions, but here this formulaic nature works in the benefit of “Russian Doll.” It’s a very fun and fulfilling adventure for Stan, but it’s also just a genuinely hilarious entry that’s American Dad at its best. 

What’s even more impressive is how the B12 serial killer thread gets perfectly executed. It’s a gonzo idea where the needle gets threaded so subtly, right down to its elegant “Chekhov’s Trampoline” conclusion. I actually would have loved for this storyline to bubble in the background of the entire season, but its introduction and resolution here is still satisfying and immediately makes me want to rewatch “Can I Be Frank (With You)” to look for early signs of madness in Abraham H. It’s crazy how much gets packed into these dense, sparse scenes. Additionally, there are throwaway gags where Hayley and Jeff have swapped bodies for the purpose of martial therapy that feels like a continuation of the themes from the previous episode. I highly doubt it, but it’d actually be great if this season of American Dad heavily experimented with more serialization like other series have adopted in some of their later seasons.

“Russian Doll” is a completely regular episode of American Dad that doesn’t stoop to elaborate stunts or egregious guest stars, but it’s such a well-paced and hilariously written installment of the series. Zack Rosenblatt’s script is near perfect and it takes an average idea to fantastic and surreal places while it also quietly juggles many other plates in the background. It’s a deceptively busy episode that is filled with brilliant dialogue and ridiculous visuals. The episode sets a strong standard for what’s to come and hopefully the rest of this season maintains the same manic, feverish energy.