Review: American Dad “Pride Before the Fail”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Haley is the big woman on campus at Groff Community College. The students love her antics, the faculty loves her can-do spirit, and we love her because she is Stan’s daughter from American Dad. On her first day back after an extended holiday break, her faculty advisor informs her she’s only one credit away from graduation. This becomes devastating news when Stan reads from the family rulebook and states that his children must vacate the family house once they complete college.

Roger’s helpful bartender persona, “Roger,” wants to help her stay in school, while his unhelpful, regular alien persona, “Roger,” wants to help Stan hoist her so he can take over her room. After Haley decides to fail her only course on purpose, Roger enters Groff as a new student named Lacey Crinklehole, a straight-shooting, multi-talented girl who will stop at nothing to help her good friend Haley graduate.

Meanwhile, Francine’s car has a small dent and Klaus volunteers to buff it out. Klaus—who’s a fish, don’t forget—gets really into the mechanic lifestyle but not so much into fixing the car. Within a month, he’s hired a full staff, greased up the garage, taught Steve Spanish (don’t ask), and souped-up Francine’s whip with more than a dozen unwanted features. The one thing he doesn’t fix is the damn dent.

Back at the paper chase, Lacey is doing everything to counter Haley’s attempts to fail. When she tries to skip, Lacey drives her sleeping body into class. When she tanks the midterm, Lacey sweet-talks their hangdog professor into making their final exam count for one hundred percent of the grade. And when Haley tries to bomb the final, Lacey becomes her partner. Desperate to fail, Haley invites Lacey to a party the night before the final and gets her loaded! Seven guys later, and Lacey is all oral-ed out before the oral final.

With Haley looking like the clear victor, Lacey does a header off the community college’s surprisingly fancy bell tower and “kills” herself. This unfortunate suicide gives Haley an undeserved “A.” Not willing to accept defeat, Haley calls Lacey out during her graduation popular-girl speech. She mocks Lacey for being boring and a liar and even doubts the silly little girl’s prowess in her beloved high school production of The Pirates of Penzance. Roger, whose pride and ego are larger than his humanoid desires, reemerges as Lacey to prove Haley wrong.

Oops, this causes Haley’s grade to plummet back down to an “F,” and our favorite stoner earns at least one more glorious semester in slacker paradise.

 

Our Take

At this point, Haley and Roger are perfectly suitable to steer this American Dad ship all by themselves. The bits with Francine and Klaus were welcome, but by no means necessary. I was happy to see Haley back in college since it’s been a long time and her part-time job at Sub Hub has been dominating too many narratives as of late. According to Roger, Haley is only supposed to be nineteen or twenty years old and therefore shouldn’t have to waste away at a job she despises—even though she probably will.

While Roger is a pan-sexual alien, he’s always much more compelling whenever he goes after and becomes aggressive around other guys. This Lacey Crinklehole creation was a great excuse for Roger to fall back into his comfortable ways in which he can comfort seven guys (but not the one he was initially pursuing) in one night without the slightest bit of strain. And pitting him against Haley was a fine idea since they’re both formidable opponents and are willing to do anything to get what they want but certainly, don’t need.

The B-plot was serviceable. Francine is absent-minded, reckless, and carefree, while Klaus is an asshole. This is information we already have but might as well get a refresher for every now and again. Steve’s cameo was true to his character because when has the boy not committed to a bit?

Relying on the “if somebody in college dies, their closest friend get an automatic A” trope was a little on the lazy side. However, since it led to a big and satisfying final scene, how Roger and Haley got to that point wasn’t as important as what followed. When writing a 22-minute show, sometimes shortcuts become a necessity when working toward a fleshed-out, funny, and entertaining conclusion. More Haley and Roger storylines, please!