American Dad, Season 8 Episode 6: Adventures In Hayleysitting, Review

In last night’s episode, the Smith family’s babysitter, Lindsay, breaks her leg while playing in a soccer match (a rather hefty girl slides into her leg and snaps it in half). Lindsay ends up dying, so Stan and Francine decide to give Hayley a chance at babysitting her little brother, Steve, because Stan and Francine don’t want to miss Cavalia (a horse show). Hayley pokes fun at Steve saying that he is a goody-two shoes, so Steve enlists his friends to help him prove Hayley wrong.

Steve’s mission: infiltrate a party with the cool kids. After Hayley forbids Steve from leaving the house, Steve and his friends sneak out the upstairs window. Hayley sees the kids sneaking out and a chase ensues. Hayley asks her boyfriend, Jeff, to help her chase down Steve and co., but he is stoned out of his mind, so he isn’t much help. Jeff…stoned…how unusual!

Meanwhile, Roger takes Francine and Stan on their date via a horse drawn carriage. Hilariously, Roger brings the carriage onto the highway. Before this episode of American Dad, I had never even imagined the super funny scenario of a horse drawn carriage on the highway. Well done, MacFarlane, well done. 

Anyway, Roger gets road rage and tries to pass a car with his horses and carriage. This maneuver causes Roger, Stan and Francine to crash off of the road. The horses are okay, though, so Stan and Francine hop aboard them and ride away. Roger, on the other hand, uses a canister of lube that he kept in the carriage to get home by rubbing it all over his body and using the road as a Slip ‘n Slide.

The horses bring Stan and Francine, who are oddly turned on by a horse performance, to a barn. Stan and Francine are disappointed that the couple were not able to see the horse show on their date, so the horses put on their own performance for them. Stan and Francine are excited and rumble with each other in the hay nearby.

Steve learns that the only way he will get into the cool party is if he brings liquor. He takes the bus to the liquor store. While waiting outside for someone to buy him liquor, Steve meets a meth-addicted man (voiced by Charlie Day from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) who says he will buy the boys liquor if the boys go to the drug store and buy medicine for him to make crystal meth with. Steve flirts with the cashier at the drug store and leaves his number for her on the back of his receipt–a receipt the meth addict needed. The meth addict makes the trade with the boys and then finds that the receipt is not there. He chases the boys down and threatens to kill them. Steve gets the cashier’s address, and brings the meth addict to her house to get back his receipt. The cashier’s father kills the meth addict.

Stan calls Steve and tells his son that he will be home within an hour. Hayley has to rush Steve home before their parents get back to the house or Stan will know Hayley isn’t responsible. They get home just fine; with the help of Lindsay’s and the meth-addict’s ghost.

American Dad continues to be what every animated series should be–completely ridiculous and silly. It is American Dad’s strong-point; the completely ridiculous and general silliness are what make the show so hilarious. People constantly compare American Dad to Family Guy, but American Dad doesn’t try to be Family Guy. American Dad is a unique take on the animated comedy series because it has shocking moments but doesn’t go over-the-top by offending just to offend. Hopefully, American Dad will continue for many seasons to come.