American Dad!: Season 12, Episode 4
“We’re the NSA. We know who goes to Applebee’s.” Almost immediately into the episode Stan addresses that he’s having computer issues at work, with it seeming like the logical move to bring Steve into the office to hook him up properly. This rather quickly turns into a whole CIA versus the NSA sort of thing, which is a welcome dynamic to add to all of this. This premise features a delightful educational film delineating the differences between the two organizations and their history. This ends up morphing into a great gag where the point of this film becomes more about Billy Bob Thornton, the film’s narrator. The joke only becomes stronger when we get the inverse of it later on from the opposite perspective, this time with George Takei narrating. In spite of the help that Steve is able to provide, Stan, in trademark Stan fashion, abandons Steve and his “Edward Sissyhands” handshake in favor of the cooler kids at the CIA, and in doing so ushers Steve right into the hands of the NSA in the process. Steve’s feeling mighty vengeful at his father — although not vengeful enough to ignore crucial Adobe updates, he’s not a monster after all — and so the rival agency seems like the perfect fit for him. With Roger egging Hailey on, what should be an innocuous B-plot starts ballooning pretty quickly. It’s a quick hop and a step from Roger and Hailey getting weird in Koreatown to them plotting to eat a gorilla that can do sign language. It’s also a strong example of what a phenomenal wild card Roger is in any sort of plot line. His presence here leads to constant deviations and reveals of fantasies and personal moments in a way that only he is capable of. They’re entirely independent from the story, but they flesh out the scenes so well and add such color to them. There’s a pretty great twist at the end of this that I won’t give away, but between this and the “It’s all pigs!” moment from last week’s entry, I’m all for the show embracing a more lucid reality — not that it’s ever been that rigid to begin with. It’s a nice, unexpected note to go out on though, which is certainly more than you’d expect from a plot about Hailey going on a “Vegetation Purge.” This might feel like fairly inconsequential American Dad! in the end. It falls back on the very tired dynamics that Steve and Stan often occupy, and while there might not be a lot of “huge” moments in this one, I strangely found it to be the most relaxed episode of the entire season. “N.S.A. (No Snoops Allowed)” feels very comfortable with itself, and sometimes just nailing some of the smaller character moments can make all the difference. Now everyone, let’s all begin writing scenes from Roger’s The Splurge, sooner rather than later, okay? Priorities.
