Review: American Dad “Z.O.I.N.C.S.”

Overview:

It’s Halloween in Langley, which means it’s the perfect time to put on costumes and get lost in something that defies reality. The Smith family find themselves deep in the bowels of the CIA after hours to find one of their own, but they stumble upon the type of monstrous conspiracy that Mystery Inc. would love to investigate. As a growing mystery mounts, the larger question becomes not whether monsters are real, but how much guilt the human soul can handle.

Oh, and Roger blows his big break to finally be in Cats. Drats.

Our Take:

Halloween is a freeing time of year for television that some series completely avoid while others heavily embrace as a chance to play things fast and loose with the show’s canon. American Dad had a longstanding history with radical Christmas episodes, but this focus has slowly shifted towards heightened Halloween installments when it comes to American Dad’s holiday seasonal experiments. Past Halloween episodes have unpacked haunted houses, ghosts, witches, and even zombies in last season’s “Steve’s Franken Out.” There’s even an increasing number of unnerving episodes that dip their toes in the supernatural but aren’t specifically connected to Halloween, like “Hot Water” and “Rabbit Ears.” “Z.O.I.N.C.S.” has big Halloween costume shoes to fill, but this is easily one of American Dad’s strongest Halloween adventures that’s wisely indebted to a cherished genre classic.

Scooby-Doo parodies are hardly original and they’ve been around for nearly as long as the classic cartoon. Many of these parodies go off for low-hanging fruit and it’s very rare that something genuinely new and progressive gets said on these playful archetypes. Thankfully, American Dad defies expectations and proves to be more Venture Bros. and then Velma through its original material that lightheartedly lampoons this animated mystery staple. It’s unclear if a Scooby-Doo episode is something that American Dad has wanted to do for a while, but Jeff Kauffman’s script is such a natural, hilarious mix of parody and standard American Dad absurdity that makes it feel like such a labor of love. It’s too funny that American Dad delivers this episode the same year that Max releases their modern Scooby-Doo reboot that was attacked by critics and fans alike. Watch out Velma, you just got Dadded!

“Z.O.I.N.C.S.” goes far beyond its inciting incident of Stan’s disappearance, but the urgency of this missing character provides a valid excuse for everyone to maintain their Scooby-Doo costumes for the episode’s duration, which further amplifies this story as it progressively goes “full Scooby” while they’re helpless to do otherwise. It’s a lot of fun to see American Dad’s typical minutiae suddenly take on a spooky new light under this Scooby-Doo Saturday morning mystery filter. “Z.O.I.N.C.S.” taps into an effortless balance where this story is dense in Scooby-Doo reference points and iconography, yet maintains a grounded realism for as long as possible. American Dad creates genuine tension out of whether an actual monster is loose in this scenario or if they’ve just gotten overzealous with the Halloween season. American Dad’s CIA setting certainly means that a Scooby-Doo-esque monster is hardly out of the realm of possibilities and “Z.O.I.N.C.S.” finds a lot of strength in keeping its audience on their toes over which direction this Halloween episode will ultimately take. 

”Z.O.I.N.C.S.” effortlessly shifts from Scooby-Doo to I Know What You Did Last Summer once the family is united through this murder pact and Jeff begins to crack under the pressure and guilt. “Z.O.I.N.C.S.” crams a whole episode’s worth of chaos into its final act, which settles into an even wilder tone than what preceded it as Jeff heads deeper into this emotional black hole. As far as American Dad Halloween episodes are concerned, “Z.O.I.N.C.S.” is hard to top. It’s a playful tribute to a cherished genre legend that still finds the right way to place its own American Dad stamp on it all. Z.O.I.N.C.S. may not turn into a recurring plot device for American Dad, but if nothing else it’s a highlight of this season.

Now, Jeff and Nerfer shippers, it’s time to get moving!