Review: American Dad “Epic Powder Dump”

Overview: 

The Smith family attempts to get away from it all with a rustic ski trip, but it turns out that Stan and his family have very different goals for what they hope to get out of this vacation. Stan gets lost in a desperate attempt to recreate the cherished family ski trips from his youth, but this desire to return to his past begins to jeopardize his future as the rest of his family’s patience wears thin.

Back at the Smith house, Klaus thinks that he’s maybe encountered his soulmate over a chance phone call. However, he fears fate may leave him on hold rather than allowing love to accept the charges.

Our Take:

Stan’s difficult childhood and how he prides himself in his rough exterior–even if that’s not actually the case–are often the focus of American Dad episodes. Stan has no qualms to force his family to follow in his formative footsteps, which is usually to their chagrin. In the case of “Epic Powder Dump,” they can’t even follow in said footsteps without strapping on some skis for the ride. 

The audience should never assume that they know all that there is to Stan Smith and this episode peels back the layers on Rustic Pines, a previously unexplored chapter of Stan’s childhood that speaks to his family’s frugal past. Stan’s family is excited for the many amenities that come along with skiing, but Stan is more excited for the “ruffing it” aspect of the trip, particularly when it comes to the use of rudimentary outhouses. This schism in vacation expectations becomes the overlying conflict in “Epic Powder Dump,” which isn’t necessarily a broken premise, but it’s an idea that drags its skis for more than half of the installment and it takes too long for the storyline to navigate through the necessary goalposts of this slalom.

Stan Smith has an endless amount of odd eccentricities that have a way of coming out of the woodwork and becoming major problems for his family, even when Stan has never been crippled by or expressed interest in such passing hobbies in the past. The past two seasons of American Dad have featured several episodes that go back to Stan’s childhood and slightly re-examine aspects of his life. 

“Epic Powder Dump” might feel clumsier with some of its broader strokes, but there are still some satisfying jokes that get made along the sidelines, a lot of which involve the Smiths being surrounded by snow, which is a nice change of pace on some level. There’s a strong gag where Roger sets up a punchline but is unable to deliver the joke because his repeated slip-and-falls throw off his timing. They’re all smaller moments that aren’t crucial to the episode’s grander story, but there’s plenty of character interactions and observations that work in “Epic Powder Dump,” even if most of Stan’s scenes are clunky and throw off the episode’s balance. The concept of MC Avalanche, a DJ whose high decibels of music sets avalanches in motion for atmospheric purposes, is also a fantastic slice of nonsense. It’s a ridiculous idea that somehow seems plausible. It manages to contribute to the episode’s conclusion in a way that justifies these silly digressions.

“Epic Powder Dump” gets the job done and there are certainly weaker episodes of American Dad, let alone television in general, but it results in a rather forgettable installment of the series. Episodes that focus so purely on Stan’s pigheadedness and position him against his family can be hit or miss, so it’s unfortunate that the pieces of this episode don’t fully come together. This is hardly a bad episode of American Dad and it’s still more fun than it’s not, but as it stands it’s the weakest entry in this season. Hopefully it’s just a temporary stumble and not a portent of an avalanche of mediocrity consuming the rest of the season.