Review: American Dad “The Sinister Fate!!”

Overview:

Hayley is forced to come face-to-face with a discouraging vision of her future when she begins to consider how much she and her mother are actually alike. Hayley is determined to prove that she’s her own individual and that her future is anything but set in stone, yet she’s confronted with increasing evidence towards the contrary the more that she prods at the issue. Francine is excited that she and her daughter will inevitably grow closer, but it’s this confidence on the issue that pushes Hayley into the clutches of a new friend who is potentially as dangerous as she is old. 

Roger is also desperate for fresh blood in his improv troupe, but the contrasting comedy skills of Steve and his friends only create greater turmoil in the alien’s efforts to penetrate the alternative comedy scene.

Our Take:

All of the relationships in American Dad have significant nuance to them and different character pairings allow certain traits to get amplified or diminished in enlightening ways. One character combination that American Dad has largely avoided or reserved to dismissive non-sequiturs is Hayley and Francine’s relationship. This season of American Dad has taken great strides to dig into their chemistry and highlight how as much as they’re different, they’re also deeply similar. The contentious connection between these two has been a bit of a through-line to this season, which doesn’t just help “The Sinister Fate!!” hit a little harder, but also function as a culmination to a lot of the storytelling that’s been present in American Dad this year. “The Sinister Fate!!” holds up a mirror to Hayley and Francine more than any other episode of the series and it results in a very fulfilling and hilarious character study.

It’s been a while since there’s been a highly stylized American Dad episode in the mode of “Hot Water” or “West to Mexico” where the case can be made that they’re genre experiments that exist outside of canon. One of the stronger elements within “The Sinister Fate!!” is that it plays as a light homage to Golden Age cinema from the likes of RKO Productions. The episode doesn’t fully immerse itself in the past or mess with the basic DNA of the episode so that this genre shift feels abrasive. However, the examples of this that do occur, like the altered credits and title card do enough heavy lifting to sell the broader inspirations and tonal aberrations that are played around with in “The Sinister Fate!!” The moments are initially few and far between, but it’s when the episode engages in these heightened horror pastiches that “The Sinister Fate!!” is at its best. 

“The Sinister Fate!!” restrains its wilder genre impulses until its final act where it goes full blown ‘50s sci-fi. The development that Eunice and her husband are actually body swapping mad scientists might come across as too broad for some, but the hints are all there earlier in the episode. American Dad has also gradually established precedent for these types of stories. “Who Smarted?” from this season alone places Francine and Jeff in similar peril and introduces the wild range of homicidal weirdos that occupy the fringes of Langley. The B-movie flourishes that accompany the episode’s final act all work in its favor and help all of this silliness coalesce into something that makes sense. 

The majority of conflict in “The Sinister Fate!!” revolves around the women of the Smith family, but there are also wildly entertaining B-story shenanigans in the form of Steve and his friends’ efforts to join Roger’s improv troupe, Pizza Party Weekend. This is the type of storyline that could really go either way, but the episode finds the right balance for this detour. Roger is also the right wild card to be in charge here. His unpredictable presence makes this type of plot as rewarding as possible as opposed to the direction that this story would take if improv were one of Jeff or Klaus’ niche hobbies. There’s a very cyclical nature to this plot–not unlike a round of “Splooch Magooch”–as the makeup of Pizza Party Weekend continues to change. This doesn’t amount to anything special, but it’s a satisfying enough B-story for the episode. It mostly results in a critical eye towards the nonsensical nature of improv games, but it still finds a way to connect together with the rest of the episode. It plays better than if Stan’s man cave were given the secondary story position. 

“The Sinister Fate!!” is very plot focused, but it’s an episode that’s full of smart jokes that fly by and don’t steal focus from the larger story. Groff Community College’s “Sience Bilding” is a quick gag that’s almost too smart for its own good. Tiny details that develop in the background, like the crush that Hayley’s friend has on Eunice or Stan’s growing man cave that steals his attention make sure that even the episode’s more muted moments are still deeply funny. ‘90s kids will also certainly appreciate the shout-outs to both Wario and Beakman’s World.

American Dad taps into the perfect balance of weird and poignant with “The Sinister Fate!!” It’s an episode that’s able to push its characters to a very exaggerated place, but also one that genuinely examines its cast and how they’ve grown over the course of the series. There’s likely too much craziness for the more traditional fans of American Dad, yet “The Sinister Fate!!” arrives at a conclusion that’s one of the sweeter moments between Francine and Hayley. The circumstances behind this epiphany are beyond outrageous. It never comes at the expense of the episode’s characters and the women of the Smith family do seem to leave “The Sinister Fate!!” in a place that’s stronger than where they started.