Pappa Wheelie Is A Failure

Sunday brought an almost on point episode of American Dad.  S07E10 was mostly about Roger and Steve's fake detective agency where they took on real cases.  Steve has a problem telling people bad news and can't seem to do so with their clients nor with Stan, who is so bored that he wants to join their fun.  I think that when they first introduced the duo, Wheels and the Legman, I liked the idea, but this time I felt a groan coming on.  I'm not sure if it had to do with Stan getting involved as Poppa Wheelie.  He is a terrible addition to the duo, somehow more useless in the group than Teddy Bonkers, the teddy bear secretary.
Francine, Haley, and Claus are also trying to get a picture up on Cute Pet Pics, but that story only had value as a mild distraction from the main story.  I smiled a little when Claus was having a photo shoot and J-Pop was playing.  He even had one photo where he looked like a typical anime girl.  The music made me feel like I was hanging out decorating purikura (photo booth).

The best part of the episode was the end, really.  Papa Wheelie was kidnapped by Bonkers, but it all turns out to be a plan that Stan came up with all along.  Steve unravels the fake detective facade by yelling at Roger that Bonkers couldn't have done it because he was just a stuffed animal.  I laughed when he said that they had missed several calls thanks to letting an inanimate object handle their front desk.  Another good moment was when Stan revealed that the severed finger he had sent to them was just a fishstick without the breadcrumbs on it.  Ha.  Steve goes on to tell everyone the bad news after that, starting with Stan and ending with Dane Cook.  However, Stan tells Cook that he is hilarious, to my surprise.  What?  That just had to be a joke of the unexpected, rather than the show's real opinion.  Because Seth MacFarlane just hates everything.  I mean, he has a few things that he deems incredible enough to be worthy of his respect, but those are rare. 

Lastly, I'll report a small smile when Steve tells one client that his grandfather's legacy is just a bag that glows when you open it.  I'll give you writers points for that one.  I knew it had to be something stupid (other than something actually valuable), but that one was out of my range of expectations.

American Dad is usually the weakest of the 3 MacFarlane shows for me, and this week's episode was no exception.  I think Roger is a strong character, but the rest of them are usually a bore that he doesn't shine as much.  What wacky costume will Roger wear next week?  There's no telling, but you know that at some point he going to make a sexual reference and probably creep us out in an amusing way.  We better see more of that in the 11th episode.