Review: American Dad “Hayley Was A Girl Scout?”

Overview:

Stan’s tendency to rebel against authority forces him into Hayley’s orbit as the father and daughter carefully co-lead a girl scout troop together. Hayley’s hopes to open Stan’s eyes towards an area that he’s been blind towards becomes a strange power struggle for control where feminism and independent thought is determined by robotic supremacy.

And Merlin the Mighty needs his magical robe cleaned post-haste and Steve’s the only one who can get it free of stains in time!

Our Take:

Hayley loves to portray herself as a one-dimensional figure who can hide behind her cool stoner exterior. However, American Dad has found interesting ways to unpack Hayley’s character, both in terms of a deconstruction of her femininity, but also as a rebellion of socially-approved activities and efforts to please “The Man.” American Dad has touched upon this territory before, but there have been more episodes that add to Hayley’s backstory and “origins,” like the new detail that she used to be a girl scout. 

“Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” isn’t just a Hayley episode, but more specifically it’s a Stan and Hayley episode, which are some of the heaviest installments when it comes to Hayley’s growth as a character and her development over the course of the series. There have been some satisfying explorations of this in the past, like when Hayley ascends the corporate ladder at Sub Hub, and “Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” is a worthy addition to Hayley’s maturity into adulthood. It’s an introspective look into Hayley that uses Stan’s own insecurities and his frayed relationship with Hayley to turn this into a rewarding installment for both characters.

“Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” is a top tier American Dad episode with an exceptional script by first-timer Yolanda Carney who immediately proves to be on the series’ wavelength and a rejuvenating voice for the long-running show. It’s an episode that features some inspired creative flourishes that go the extra mile instead of resting on the show’s laurels. They’re the type of risky touches that are only attempted by a show that’s been going on for as long as this one. 

There have been an increasing number of episodes that reflexively play around with the series’ opening credits to indicate that it’s a “live” segment that happens each episode rather than a sequence that’s always the same. It incentivizes watching the opening credits instead of skipping forward a minute each time. However, “Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” goes the extra mile here in the sense that Stan’s involvement with Hayley’s storyline is the direct result of a court sentence that he receives for crashing his car into the flagpole at CIA headquarters. It’s not just a cute joke about stasis, but it directly feeds into the episode’s storytelling. 

The episode employs the same clever tactic for its B-story, which involves Steve’s magical woes in an escapist fantasy. There are a myriad of scenarios that American Dad could turn to for a detached Steve fantasy plot, but it’s so smart to initiate this idea out of a tirade of insults that Stan launches at Steve. It initially feels like a silly gag, but it grows exponentially funnier as Steve continues to return to his imagination and the stresses that accompany it. No one would question if Steve were just writing in a diary and the episode suddenly cut away to his wizard worries. This material plays better since it’s born out of character-driven trauma and it’s funnier each time it gains complexity since it’s all inherently nonsense that lacks any actual stakes. Steve begins to welcome these disturbing scenarios simply because they become opportunities for him to disappear into his fantasies.

“Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” doesn’t break new ground for American Dad, but that almost makes the fact that it feels so fresh even more impressive. Yolanda Carney’s script finds fresh ground to explore with two of American Dad’s most stubborn characters. The broader strokes are nothing revelatory, but “Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” is consistently entertaining and finds ways to surprise its audience even when the story turns to familiar territory. It’s even an episode where Stan actually learns a lesson by the end of everything instead of just disappearing into the bliss of ignorance. “Hayley Was A Girl Scout?” proves that even American Dad’s most familiar dynamics can still result in satisfying, hilarious television.

Oh, and Roombas definitely can’t pick up crab detritus. That’s pulled right from real-life.