Review: American Dad “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers”

Overview:

A night of teenage mischief that’s untethered by parental intervention turns into a stressful test of friendship between two of Steve’s closest chums.  Barry’s father’s pristine speakers get blown out and it’s up to Snot to help Barry solve the problem and avoid his swanky parents’ wrath. What begins as a simple quest for new speakers turns into a character-building journey to find something that’s much more important: confidence and self-worth. However, a rigid Roger persona stands in the way of Barry and Snot’s internal and audio-based progress.

And Stan’s long-standing desire to perform a backflip ends up driving the rest of his family up the walls.

Plus, remember to stay off the Freak Fuel, y’all.

Our Take:

American Dad is a series that’s rich in supporting characters, but Steve’s team of misfit virgins–Snot, Barry, and Toshi–have received some of the most character development over the show’s run. It’s increasingly common for one of Steve’s friends to wind up in an elaborate Roger scheme, but what’s less likely is when Steve’s presence doesn’t even amount to an afterthought and the adventure plays out completely independent of his character. “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” is an American Dad episode that really gets to explore Barry and Snot–independently, in contrast to each other, and who they are outside of Steve’s shadow. 

It’s rare that American Dad ditches Steve to focus purely on the oddballs that surround him. However, this instills “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” with a certain freshness. It’s appreciated that the episode doesn’t abandon its initial premise or slowly lose its confidence by bringing Steve into the picture. Even the episode’s bare-bones B-story is firmly removed from Snot and Barry’s speaker exploits so that they can marinate in their own weirdness without compromise. For two polarizing characters like Snot and Barry, “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” is likely to become a trying exercise for some that doesn’t include American Dad’s typical creature comforts. However, the risks that this episode takes are worth it and they result in an unpredictable change of pace that celebrates American Dad’s typical mania, but with a different set of players.

There is no shortage of American Dad episodes where Steve learns some valuable life lessons and comes a little more out of his shell. What’s so atypical about “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” is that it’s about growth for Barry, not Steve. At its core, this is an episode about Barry’s passivity and reputation as a pushover. This has been present in most of American Dad’s past Barry-based humor and it’s what kicks off the episode’s main obstacle in the first place here. However, these past examples are content to prey upon Barry and laugh at him while “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” hopes to prompt change in this simplistic character.

Curiously, “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” doesn’t attempt a similar epiphany in its other major player, Snot. Snot has admittedly received more attention than Barry in the past and this episode’s aim is purely interested in Barry’s growth. Snot backs Barry up for moral support rather than this turning into an episode where they both emerge as better people (although they suffer equal ear trauma). 

Meanwhile, in B-Story Land, Stan finds himself occupied with the perfect brand of nonsense: an unadulterated backflip. This feat is apparently something that Stan has “always wanted to do” and he goes so far in this pursuit that he dons the ideal athletic gear and determines the best surface to perform jumps. This seems like it’s not going to amount to much, but in the end it’s a wild “be careful what you wish for” scenario that involves broken bones, ice crystals, and patents. All of this becomes mad enough to work, although it wouldn’t if it was the episode’s central storyline, but it’s bliss when reserved to a few minutes of manic life-changing silliness. The whole “infinite slip” angle that this storyline falls into is incredible and exactly the variety of weirdness that American Dad does best. A benign backflip can lead to secret slip cult conspiracies. The mock quotation that concludes this three month-long insane conflict is the absurd icing on the cake. None of this should work, but it oddly does, especially once Steve and Toshi’s Shark Tank digression feeds into it all.

“I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” is a clever, unpredictable American Dad episode that covers a lot of ground (including Barry’s incarceration) and has a solid plot that continues to evolve instead of just repeating the same point. It begins in territory that feels regressive, but then it only continues to grow weirder. American Dad loves to indulge in unexpected violence and “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers” engages in a gruesome Brian De Palma-esque dream sequence of disembowelment. Oddly, the final gag that the episode goes out on also carries an air of De Palma and seemingly ties together these random thriller references even if that’s not quite the intention of the episode’s themes or this final punchline. There’s still a De Palma energy that coasts through Barry’s plight in “I Heard You Wanna Buy Some Speakers.” There’s a smart structure to this American Dad entry that manages to successfully connect all of its dots, even when they shouldn’t, and justifies its nonsense. And boy is it glorious nonsense.