Overview:
Klaus finds himself at odds with the Smith family after a house sitting experience triggers complicated feelings that leave Klaus hungry for revenge. A battle for the Smith house creates a curious alliance between Klaus and Dick, who learn that they have more in common than they thought.
Meanwhile, vicious winds on the Eastern Seaboard put Roger on a quest to find its source: a giant.
Our Take:
Klaus has always been one of American Dad’s most polarizing characters who’s been difficult to crack. American Dad has developed a better rhythm with Klaus during its later seasons and he brings a unique element to the show as someone who’s never fully integrated into the Smith family. There’s an understated value that Klaus brings to American Dad and episodes that revolve around him are usually entertaining experiments, if nothing else. American Dad pairs Klaus with Stan’s CIA cohort, Dick, who are united through their like-minded loneliness and never-ending ambivalence. “A New Era For the Smith House” is an American Dad episode that tackles some important ideas and reminds audiences that it’s the photo that’s important, not the frame. However, a fractured narrative that can’t fully make up its mind somehow turns a Klaus-based character study into a broad look into squatters’ rights, Merry Poppins parodies, and an encounter with a literal giant.
“A New Era For the Smith House” has good intentions, but it comes across as an episode that’s at war with itself. This is Yolanda Carey’s second script for American Dad after last season’s satisfying, “Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” While that installment props up Hayley in a way that genuinely felt fresh, the same isn’t accomplished here with Klaus. Most of the episode’s strongest moments come from ancillary non-sequiturs, like the reveal that the Smiths are temporarily staying in a Candyland-esque AirBnB scenario or that Dick has altered a picture of Tommy Lee Jones to look like a tiger. The episode’s best joke is surprisingly the random digression about Hayley’s sexual appetite and Stan and Francine’s strange pride over this news.
It’s unfortunate that these focused bursts of comedy can’t steer the rest of the episode to success. These lighthearted periodic touches aren’t enough to salvage a messy and disjointed installment. This dissonance is disappointing since there’s actually quite a heartwarming message at the core of “A New Era for the Smith” that reiterates how much the family loves Klaus and the important role that he plays. This may be a sweet resolution, but it still feels incongruous to the rest of the episode. Of course Klaus patches up his relationship with the rest of the family by the episode’s end, but everything that the Smiths say to him beforehand reflects an intense hatred for the character.
“A New Era For the Smith House” could have genuinely been one of American Dad’s best Klaus installments and yet it feels incidental. This episode doesn’t get anywhere near the heights of “Mused and Abused,” “Klaustrastrophe.tv”, or “Kloger,” which remain American Dad’s strongest Klaus offerings to date. As someone who’s very pro-Klaus, “A New Era for the Smith House” feels like a missed opportunity for what could have been a special, poignant deconstruction of Klaus that gets lost in easy Dick jokes.
But hey, at least Principal Lewis gets that job at Orange Julius.