Review: American Dad “The Fast & The Spurious”

Overview:

A series of accidents force Roger to finally confront one of his weaknesses and reckon with the fact that he might not be a very good driver. Roger struggles to view himself in this new light and his limited efforts to overcome this hurdle quickly peter out in favor of a more elaborate means of demonstration. The Smiths are forced to endure Roger’s unusual tactics, but the situation gets so out of control that his ability to properly parallel park and merge lanes is now the least of their concerns.

Our Take:

Roger’s ego-driven, unapologetic, shameless attitude is exactly why audiences have loved the character for two decades. In some respects, a natural degree of stasis is baked into Roger’s character and he’s never going to become a radically different individual (and it’s not a shift that’s even necessary due to his endless revolving door of personas). However, he has, in his own ways, demonstrated growth and that it’s not impossible for him to actually learn a lesson. “The Fast & The Spurious” is one of several American Dad episodes that narrows in on one of Roger’s inadequacies, his sensitivity over the topic, and if he can genuinely change. The stakes or loss of pride may not seem that substantial in “The Fast & The Spurious,” but this shameful exercise requires an intergalactic intervention to heal the Smiths. 

The first act of “The Fast & The Spurious” is its messiest and the script indulges in some unusual areas before a strong story emerges. Some of these earlier elements, like Klaus’ driving lessons with Roger, work best as minor diversions instead of the episode’s entire focus. Other distractions, like the return of Terry Crews’ insurance adjuster, Heinrich Brown, are a little more confusing. Heinrich’s return makes sense, but the extensive musical interlude that he delivers is considerably more of a surprise. These false flags are tolerable, but they do cause the viewer to lower their guard to some degree and presume that this episode is decidedly simpler than one that turns into an intergalactic hostage situation.

“The Fast & The Spurious” heads into territory that’s genuinely exciting and fresh (unlike the ingredients at Soso’s Pizza), all of which is set against an intergalactic canvas. It wouldn’t be difficult to picture a version of this episode where Roger and company do in fact spend seven years stranded in space, which allows them the necessary time to forgive and forget. That wouldn’t necessarily make for an uneventful episode, but American Dad benefits from its decision to instead turn this into well-developed time travel shenanigans. Paradoxes are avoided at every turn and these absurd complications push Roger to empathize with his family.

The Smiths exiting the planet’s orbit understandably dominates most of “The Fast & The Spurious,” but American Dad still finds ways to disperse its silliness. This space exodus leaves Jeff and Klaus stranded together, which never becomes anything more than some benign fun, but it’s still a helpful palette cleanser. It’s a storytelling development that’s naturally born out of the rest of the Smiths’ plight rather than a hackneyed scenario that forces these two to spend time together. It’s a smart way for American Dad to make the most out of the tools that it currently has to play around with. That being said, it wouldn’t have been hard to also incorporate Rogu into this silliness, especially since he does happen to show up earlier in the episode. His innocence could even be used for an excuse for why they shouldn’t submit to this disturbing sex ultimatum

There’s also some fun to be had with the recurring gag that’s born out of Jeff’s increasing medical calamities. It’s typically low-hanging fruit when a comedy creates laughs out of easy accidents, but there’s a certain grace to how “The Fast & The Spurious” handles this material. It’d be very easy for American Dad to poke fun at Jeff’s absolutely shattered legs in the cold open, only for them to have returned to normal the next time that he’s seen, so it’s appreciated that there’s some degree of continuity that keeps track of Jeff’s running tally of injuries. As a whole, “The Fast & The Spurious” lands its jokes, whether they’re reflections of character development and plotting, or odder, disconnected laughs. There’s an excellent non-sequitur about Woody Allen adopting a stretch of highway that hits just as hard as the several inexplicable Teslas that show up in space. Francine’s preexisting knowledge over “The Reckoning” and any hard sci-fi concept is also wonderful, and strangely, in character.