Review: American Dad “Smooshed: A Love Story”

Overview:

Hopeless romantic, Steve Smith, sets his sights on the greatest love that he’s ever known after he becomes smitten over a tenth-grader with a passion for dairy. A two-day field trip to Philadelphia turns into the perfect scenario for Steve to profess his love. However, when Cupid’s arrow takes an unexpected trajectory, Steve learns that he might have feelings for someone else and he decides to open his heart up to whatever life–and Philly–throws at him. 

Our Take:

All of American Dad’s characters have evolved into layered individuals, but there are still certain traits that continue to define them. Steve Smith’s messy relationship with romance has been entrenched since the series’ very first episode and continues to be a popular well that American Dad draws from. “Smooshed: A Love Story” doesn’t exactly explore any fresh territory for the series and functions more as a greatest hits of Steve’s awkward dating habits. The episode doesn’t reflect American Dad’s most adventurous and ambitious sensibilities, but it’s still a satisfying enough installment that proves that American Dad can still work when it doesn’t stray far from its comfort zone and decides to play things safe.

For instance, the entire episode is structured around talking head testimonials as if this is all a big documentary on love. It’s a unique idea that attempts to do something different, but it never really stylistically comes together. It wouldn’t have been difficult to push this device a little further and turn it into the episode’s saving grace. Perhaps there could have been a way to tell this story entirely through the Bachgrunds (which is an excellent joke that doesn’t really go anywhere), which could have become a fascinating exercise. The talking head material could have also been concluded with some joke about how it’s all a twisted documentary that Roger is putting together. It’s an easy conclusion, but it’d still be a choice, rather than the episode just leaving this idea hanging and up to the audience’s interpretation. As it stands, it’s a structural choice that clutters “Smooshed: A Love Story,” despite the promise of something bigger that it teases.

There’s an earnestness towards Steve’s field trip to the City of Brotherly Love and the love story that he’s already written for himself, even if the audience knows better than to get their hopes up at this point. There are a multitude of reasons for why Steve’s empty crush on Milk Girl fizzles out, so it’s appreciated that the episode decides to embrace something as outlandish as this tenth-grader actually being Reese Witherspoon. As silly as this revelation is, it doesn’t really make a difference in the grander scheme of things. It also helps that Milk Girl is drawn with an uncanny resemblance to Election era Reese Witherspoon, which oddly validates this bizarre plotting. 

The most interesting material that comes out of “Smooshed: A Love Story” involves Ali’s disaffected nature and how this blasé way of life might dramatically open up possibilities for Steve. It’s encouraging to see Steve process his feelings and vocalize them by the end of the episode, but any emotional epiphany that he experiences here feels slightly disingenuous since he’s more or less likely to revert to his old awkward self by the next episode. Ali’s subdued attitude actually being a reaction to her own heartbreak helps expand upon her character, but it’s still predictable plotting. “Smooshed: A Love Story” so easily distills Steve’s crushes to milk and ghost peppers because there’s not much more to grab onto here beyond these broad quirks.

In “Smooshed: A Love Story,” all of these Philly-based storylines literally crash into each other by the episode’s end. However, this resolution shouldn’t be confused with clever writing where these plots naturally dovetail together. Snot’s dangerous paramour and the cyclone of chaos that Principal Lewis creates are par for the course. It’s a sweet idea to contain all of the episode’s plotting to Philadelphia, but it’s hard to not feel like a completely disconnected storyline with Stan, Francine, Hayley, or Jeff wouldn’t improve this entry. Even the idea that Philly’s Rocky statue has always been one of Roger’s many personas is a decent joke that doesn’t really go anywhere. It amounts to just one, of many, easy Philadelphia jokes. Snot’s constant awe over everything that Philly has to offer, even if they’re just basic amenities of living, is a joke that continues to deliver. This has more to do with Snot’s inherent pathetic nature rather than anything that’s specific to Philadelphia.  

“Smooshed: A Love Story” turns to one of American Dad’s most established dynamics for a well-intentioned episode that ultimately doesn’t do enough with its decent ideas. The individual pieces of “Smooshed” are satisfying, but they don’t come together as fluidly as they should, nor does the episode say anything that hasn’t already been more effectively explored. There’s enough in Ali to make her a fun addition to American Dad and hopefully “Smooshed: A Love Story” is just the messy start to something beautiful as opposed to the full extent of this spicy romance. 

And Election 2: Ohama Drift definitely has longer legs than Legally Blonde 3. Just saying…