Recap: American Dad Season Finale – ‘West To Mexico’

American Dad‘s season finale, ‘West To Mexico,’  goes extremely in-depth with its story this week. The episode is a Western parody where Stan is a wanted man and Roger is the bounty hunter determined to capture the outlaw.

The episode is another dud in American Dad‘s recent string of unfunny episodes. Some have focused too primarily on shallow humor and fart jokes, which thankfully isn’t the case with ‘West to Mexico.’ This episode bogs itself down in its non-canon setting and story, engrossing itself into the Western genre so deeply that humor is abandoned. If American Dad were a Western animated show, ‘West To Mexico’ would still likely be an average episode, but seeing as it’s actually an animated comedy, the episode is just a disappointment.

Throughout the episode, the entire Smith family makes an appearance in the old West town, from Francine being an entertainer, Steve being a piano player, Klaus working at the saloon, and Hayley being on a journey to see her family. Interestingly enough, Klaus is the least problematic part of this episode. His brief appearance has the same amount of humor as the rest of ‘West to Mexico.’

In short summary, Roger hunts Stan and quickly finds him, many Western shoot-outs occur, and eventually Roger dies before disguising himself as Stan so that Stan can turn Roger’s body in and collect the bounty. Meh.

Hopefully this signals the last of American Dad‘s desire to do drawn out parodies and will see the series shifting itself back to the political focus that once made it so strong. Because as is, American Dad just isn’t funny very often anymore, and ‘West to Mexico’ sends the season off on a dull note.