Review: American Dad “Salute Your Sllort”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Steve and his friends feel the pressures of social labels and popularity rankings start to eat away at them after they befriend a new friend, the Swedish exchange student, Sllort. The gang has fostered a sweet relationship with Sllort over the course of winter break, but as the reality of school sets in, they begin to fear that their new friend will abandon them after she gets a taste of what else Langley has to offer. Steve and his friends’ feat mounts and they’re driven to make a rash decision, which they think will nip their problem in the bud, but only makes everything markedly worse. Stan and company are left to pick up the pieces and try to do what’s right before there isn’t a Sllort left to be friends with.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Smith family deals with an out of character “attitude adjustment” from Klaus that threatens to disrupt the entire equilibrium of the family.

Our Take:

People may believe that they have a reasonably good idea of who they are, but it’s not until individuals are put in a crisis or when pressure is applied that the truth really comes out. People can double down on being the best version of themselves or instead retreat into a less respectable version of who they are that typically remains closed off to the public. It’s the decisions that are made during these moments that are what really matter and define who people are. Steve and his friends certainly have their weaker moments and make their share of mistakes, but more than anything else, “Salute Your Sllort” reiterates that they’re good people, regardless of what others may think or say about them. This isn’t a very revelatory idea for Steve and his friends to reach, but American Dad goes about illustrating this point in a highly irregular and unbelievable way.

This season of American Dad has placed a lot of attention on the camaraderie that exists between Steve and his friends. One might think that this episode would lose some impact due to how the previous episode was so heavily focused on the dynamic between Steve and his friends. Impressively, even though the two installments cover comparable material, they ultimately venture into completely different territory. A less competent episode would have maybe felt more awkward here, but if anything “Salute Your Sllort” only highlights how much depth Steve and his friends can have as characters.

What really works with Steve’s storyline where he and his friends are worried that they’ll lose their new friend, Sllort is the authentic place that it comes from. These guys build a real friendship with Sllort over winter break and there’s a real tenderness to this material. The story works particularly well due to how Sllort is approached by Steve and company. It wouldn’t be out of place for these boys to want to keep Sllort “hidden’ because they’re sexually interested in her and want to keep her to themselves, but there’s not a hint of that dropped in the episode. Steve and his friends seem to genuinely enjoy Sllort’s company and are just happy to have a new friend that’s happy to spend time with them.

American Dad’s continually forced use of Billy never really works for me, but if there’s anyone that it hurts to get a reality check from, then it’s him. Billy’s properly utilized here as the personification of Steve’s nagging doubt over Sllort’s bond with them. That being said, he does kind of shoehorn his way into the middle of the episode and provide convenient solutions to the obstacles that they face in a way that’s not really necessary. The show’s recent and renewed fascination with Billy remains a strange element of American Dad’s newest seasons and we’ll see if it ever evolves to the point that Billy is a regular member of Steve’s group.

Many of the storylines that Steve and his friends get themselves involved in focus on their popularity and social standing, but “Salute Your Sllort” begins from such a wholesome place that really helps the episode work. They operate out of a place of fear and insecurity that makes sense for them. “Salute Your Sllort” takes a wild ride that only gets crazier the more it goes on. Right when American Dad makes it look like this will be an episode about social cliques, it turns into a situation where Steve inadvertently frames Sllort for murder and needs to solve a grisly crime so she can get her freedom back. It’s a gruesome and unexpected turn, but it works and it feels like it honors how Steve and his friends have a tendency to get in over their heads with situations, especially when they have noble intentions.

The episode’s plot remains surprising the entire time, but never in a way where it feels like all logic has been discarded and it’s making things up as it goes along. Much like Old Man Powell’s alleged murder scheme, there’s a lot of thought that’s gone into this story and script from American Dad regular, Parker Deay. “Salute Your Sllort” finds time for one more major twist and instead of a murder mystery taking up the episode’s final act, it shifts to the natural conclusion that the episode was building towards: that the boys’ new friend Sllort is actually a deadly Troll.

It goes without saying that this is a ridiculous conclusion, but that’s kind of been the timber for this season. Nearly every other episode has dealt with some kind of supernatural creature or unexpected massacre. It’s a decision that may completely ruin the episode for some people, but American Dad has done the work to properly condition this kind of madness. There was a point where episodes about sentient alien jeans seemed like a completely different series, but American Dad has gradually found its niche for incorporating the bizarre and supernatural into their episodes.

Despite the insane place that “Salute Your Sllort” reaches to make this point, the episode underscores the idea that Steve and his friends should be proud of the people that they are, rather than hide that truth. They’re not perfect, but at their cores they’re still good people who are willing to save a Troll’s life because they know it’s the right thing to do.

Steve and his friends’ anxiety over losing their new ally takes up most of the episode, but the rest of the Smith family find themselves stuck in the perfect kind of chaos. Klaus finds himself at odds with the family as he’s labeled “difficult,” in what becomes an escalating series of incidents. There’s a lot of potential in the idea of Klaus getting a bad streak and rebelling against everyone, while still inherently dependent on them in many ways. However, the angle in “Salute Your Sllort” is even more entertaining when Klaus’ “rebellion” is just a misunderstanding that avalanches out of control.

Klaus makes the innocent gesture to adjust the thermostat up two degrees and the act sets him on a warpath with the rest of the family. This whole storyline basically becomes a repeating joke that Klaus’ innocent bewilderment gets progressively twisted into aggression. The family’s growing concern over Klaus and if he’s become a lot cause just intensifies and even though it’s not the deepest storyline, it still ends in a satisfying manner. All of the animal behaviorist material works, largely because Klaus’ suspicion so quickly turns into jubilation. The family causes damage in Klaus and leaves him in a far worse place than when the episode begins. They build an addiction within him and give the fish compulsions that never existed in the first place. The way in which all of this comes full circle to the thermostat is the same clever attention to detail that rounds out Steve’s story with Sllort.

The larger story beats of “Salute Your Sllort” are strong, but there are also plenty of gems that take place in the more inconsequential dialogue and smaller moments in the episode. Francine thinking an episode of The Smurfs is a whodunit murder mystery, Barry’s fundamental misunderstanding of a decapitation, or Sllort casually referring to death as “the Land of 1000 Screams” is all great stuff. It’s also just always impressive when an episode that gives Roger less than fives lines can still manage to stand out, be engaging, and not feel like the wild card is even missed.

“Salute Your Sllort” is another weird and wild episode of American Dad from this season that finds a way to juxtapose thoughtful emotional truths with absurd fantasy and supernatural elements. The episode goes down a strange journey that simultaneously feels different and unexplored for Steve and his friends. Each act is able to push this story to change in drastic ways and as insane as the conclusion is it still feels like it belongs in the show. Add to that the intense reverse intervention situation that happens with Klaus and “Salute Your Sllort” is another strange, but highly satisfying installment from what’s shaping up to be American Dad’s weirdest and most experimental season yet.

Oh, and Billy’s got a new tongue now that looks like it could be serpentine in nature. Update your notes accordingly.