Review: American Dad! “Bahama Mama”

The whole Smith family is involved in the cold open, watching TV together, as Roger discovers his new obsession. Then, Hayley and Jeff announce their news– they’re going to have a baby. Of course, Francine and Steve (and Klaus) are excited, but Stan just walks out of the room at the prospect of being a grandfather and promptly begins a midlife crisis.

So the Smith family goes on vacation (again)– Roger becomes a lifeguard, Steve gets kidnapped by drug dealers and falls into their lifestyle with Klaus (how many Breaking Bad parodies can we honestly have..?) and Stan becomes obsessed with stopping Hayley and Jeff’s baby by any (even creepy) means possible.

Of course, hilarity ensues– Francine and Klaus party heavily with different substances, Steve gets his biz going, but eventually Stan comes to terms with being a grandfather– just as Roger drops the biggest bombshell at the end of the episode (that maybe many of us forgot?)

American Dad! episodes where the Smiths go on vacation are almost always winners. And I think this episode works really well in many ways. However, I found the ending to be really weak and anti-climactic. Why? Because it announced too many things in an overly-obvious manner and was generally unfunny. The only real downside to “Bahama Mama”. Everything else was great, like classic AD episodes we all know and love.

Hopefully, more of this caliber of episodes will follow this season. I hope the writers continue to remember that what makes American Dad! great is its weirdness– and not only what it claims to be its new “edgier” style.