Review: American Dad “Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas”

 

Spoilers Below

Leave it to American Dad to remind me that I really need to get a jump on my Christmas shopping! It’s the Holidays in Langley Falls once again, and it just seems like yesterday I was writing a review for last year’s Christmas episode of American Dad! 2014 really flew by didn’t it? I wouldn’t say I enjoyed last night’s episode as much as last year’s “Minstrel Krampus”, but it was a bit of fun. Let’s get into this review!

In “Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas” Stan is once again taking his family for granted and grows envious of Principle Lewis’s bachelor lifestyle. When Stan makes a wish on his Christmas tree, he gets what he wishes for and wakes up the next morning a single man.

“Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas” takes a plot we’ve seen a million times before and throws an American Dad spin on it. There is a twist towards the end of the episode that kept this from being a complete rip off of every other thing that has used the “careful what you wish for” plot device, but it wasn’t a complete save. What I liked about this episode was that it was aware of what it was, it acknowledged what it was doing and just tried to make the audience laugh, which I did quite a bit. The jokes were well timed, the Carly Rae Jepsen song being a consistent joke also didn’t get old for me. The episode also kept a good pace, there wasn’t a time in this episode where I felt like something dragged on for too long or they skimmed over something. One final thing I enjoyed about the episode was that this was clearly a Christmas episode and it was about family, but the first half of the episode took the time to show Stan having fun being a bachelor. I tend to get annoyed when things are overly sentimental; I found this episode had just enough heart to it.

Sadly, there were also a fair share of flaws. I appreciate how the episode was self-aware of it’s plot, but I would have preferred if they had strived for something more original. The American Dad Christmas episodes are some of my favorites because they usually tend to bring this sense of originality to the table. That feeling was missing for me this year. The Krampus episode from last year didn’t feel like anything I had ever seen, and that’s what I liked so much about it. “Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas” also felt generic for an American Dad episode. The plot notwithstanding, this feels like an American Dad episode I’ve seen many times before, just by the way Stan treats his family towards the beginning. These are my only two real complaints, but they do weigh heavy.

Overall, this was a pretty good episode though. I would consider this a slight stumble, but I still had a good enough time. The jokes were on point, it was self-aware, it didn’t drown us in sentimental moments, it also did enough to diverge from that initial plot towards the end and seem somewhat original. Ultimately, it was a weak start with an awesome finish. The complaints I mentioned above were somewhat remedied by the end of the episode, but I still think they were worth mentioning because they did shake my experience with the episode. American Dad was renewed for another season recently, so obviously TBS likes what’s been happening with the show so far. I agree with them, for the most part I think American Dad has had a strong season so far. By the way, “Dreaming of a White Porsche” also comes with it’s own drinking game!

How did you feel about last night’s episode of American Dad? Enjoy it? Hate it? Let us know!