Review: American Dad “The Chilly Thrillies”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Consumed over a black swirling void of emptiness, Francine forms an unhealthy reliance on Roger and how his ability to endlessly drone on over his problems—both real and fictional—manages to provide her with a strange sense of relief and an endorphin high for her body. While Roger believes that he and Francine are growing closer than they’ve ever been before, she continues to transform him into a means to an end so she achieve bliss and tune out the darkness. Francine learns that she’s developed an affinity for ASMR and that Roger’s hushed murmurs provide her with the necessary relief that she’s been lacking. However, as Roger clues into the truth behind their friendship, he tests Francine in a drastic way that literally takes her to Chernobyl and back.

Meanwhile, Steve becomes convinced that he has a secret admirer after he suffers a major brain injury that affects his memory. Trauma is so vogue right now.

Our Take:

American Dad is a show that’s able to create very different stories depending on which characters it has paired together for a given situation. Roger and Francine storylines are typically gold due to how they can both be very oblivious characters, albeit in contrasting ways. There’s a lot of potential in Francine and Roger antics when they’re done right and they’re a combination that doesn’t happen nearly often enough. “The Chilly Thrillies” is an episode that tests their strength as a team and demonstrates that the two may need each other more than they think, but it takes a lot of big risks on some wild ideas, not all of which pay off.

If there was ever any doubt that American Dad has been running for nearly two decades, the fact that episodes are unpacking more modern phenomena like ASMR should settle the debate. To be clear, this isn’t a jab at the show, but merely a reflection of just how much the world has changed since its debut back in 2005. ASMR becomes the foundation for the fragile relationship that Francine and Roger head into wherein he believes that Francine is actually interested in his ideas and the drama that fills his life. Francine on the other hand struggles to only engage with Roger in environments where he’s forced to whisper and send her neurons into pure bliss.

The episode’s finale is especially broad and features plenty of radiation and tumor humor that’s just on the verge of being offensive. It also makes Roger more alien than he’s ever been before in a scene that’s distressing for a handful of different reasons. It feels like a fairly random complication in a conclusion that should be more concerned about emotional catharsis than absurdist visuals. The episode also features a heavy reliance on pop culture with both Chernobyl and Bird Box playing major roles in the resolution. It’s all very strange and doesn’t necessarily feel earned, even if Klaus’ opinion that The Simpsons is just now hitting its stride is a solid laugh.

I’ve repeatedly discussed how American Dad’s weirder and non sequitur B-storylines have led to some of the show’s funniest material in recent seasons. There’s something deeply admirable about mining gold out of something that’s barely a plot or when some piece of minutiae can fuel an entire episode. “The Chilly Thrillies” takes this route with Steve, in what’s one of the character’s stranger misadventures of the season when a piece of rebar goes through his head and leaves him seriously impaired. While there’s much potential in such a ridiculous premise, this one doesn’t come together quite as well as it should.

“The Chilly Thrillies” is an episode that struggles to find the right balance and it doesn’t prioritize the right material to make these stories as strong as they could be. It’s still an episode that features plenty of decent laughs, like Hayley’s confession that she’s been gone for most of the episode because she hit somebody with her car, which might be the best joke of the whole episode. That being said, it’s also a little too reckless with its comedy. American Dad is far from a ground series and this season has taken some particularly big swings towards the fantastical, but “The Chilly Thrillies” goes all over the place, whether it’s with jokes that break the fourth wall or pushing most of the cast to the brink of death. However, despite how “The Chilly Thrillies” is rough around the edges, it still highlights some worthwhile character dynamics and tries to challenge the cast, even if it’s not entirely successful.

Oh, and someone please check in on Jennifer. Girl has seen better days…