Plot
A hacker shuts down a hydroelectric power plant. When the man who is the “single most effective weapon in the war against terror”, tragically collides against the dam, all of the CIA’s remaining resources are focused on catching the hacker. But first the practice for the father-son softball game. Stan talks up Steve as an “absolute warrior”, which Steve of course is not, outside of Dungeons & Dragons. He takes Steve to the batting cage to polish his skills, only to have the “big slugger” show that he isn’t the athlete that Stan thinks he is. So Steve can see how professionals hit the ball, Stan takes Steve and his friends to a Yankees game and to the locker room to meet Derek Jeter. But when the four nerds take off their baseball jackets to reveal not Yankees uniforms but Star Trek uniforms, Jeter tells Stan that his son is a geek.
In denial, Stan runs home. He finds Steve’s nerd toys and an advanced algebra book hidden inside a porn magazine. Horrified, he tells his wife Francine that he would prefer Steve to be the product of a torrid affair than for such a nerd be his own child. He breaks out in a stress rash and grinds his teeth into misalignment. Stan ditches Steve and brings a mid-20s-aged African-American ringer instead to the softball game. Steve figures out he’s been ditched and becomes angry. Stan goes to the dentist, because he now needs to get braces due to his being a “class A grinder.” Now that Stan has zits and braces, the other CIA agents beat him up and make fun of him. They ditch him when they go on a mosque raid, in the exact same way that Stan ditched Steve. Stan returns home to the basement and finds that the hacker’s language is the same language used in Steve’s card game, “Elvish.” Steve’s friend Snot adjusts Stan’s “rear bracket” to get rid of his lisp, and they translate the hacker’s notes, discovering who the hacker is. Stan’s stress zits go away. They go to the sci-fi convention to find the hacker, Dan Vebber, a J.R.R. Tolkien fan who “hopes to create a middle-earth in the here and now.”
Roger feels cooped in the house, like it is a prison without the thrill of a daily cavity search. Hayley’s first idea, going to the beach in a burka like a Saudi exchange student, doesn’t satisfy Roger. The next idea is for Roger to get a job, the only one available, as a Jumbo Juice costumed advertising man. The Taco King costumed man thinks Roger is in his territory, and savagely beats him up. Hayley overhears Stan going to the sci fi convention and tells Roger he could go there and fit in.
At the convention, Roger finds that the one human he probed is at the convention and went insane after the abduction. Roger spends the next two hours in the bathroom hiding from him, both because the probing is presented with the undertone of a one night stand and because he wants to show Roger to his ex-wife to prove aliens exist, which would blow Roger’s cover.
Stan with the four nerds look for Dan Vebber. Dan is giving a keynote on Frodo Baggins v. Luke Skywalker. After a fight and chase, Stan and Steve corner Dan. Steve burns a pair of Peter Jackson’s underwear to distract Dan, then Stan shoots Dan in the leg. Stan tells Bullock that the credit belongs to Steve.
The dynamic between Stan and Steve ranks among my favorite relationships in the series, second only to the bond between Stan and Roger. Watching Stan, embodying toughness and masculinity, earnestly trying to embrace his nerdy, less imposing son is genuinely touching. It’s evident Stan loves Steve deeply, yet he wrestles with his own overblown expectations for his son. This episode highlights Stan’s initial denial of Steve’s geekiness, a trait that has been glaringly apparent to viewers from the start. It seems Stan has been unwilling to confront this reality, preferring instead to cling to an idealized vision of his family, ignoring their actual, more complex nature.
My feelings towards ‘All About Steve’ mirror my sentiments on many first-season episodes: it’s competently made but lacks the humor, ingenuity, and edge that later seasons achieve. However, the episode efficiently sets up its premise from the beginning, with the cyber terrorist introduced in the opening scene. The lack of hints about the terrorist’s identity until the reveal might typically detract from the story, but in this context, it’s effective. The cyber terrorist serves merely as a backdrop to the evolving relationship between Stan and Steve, emphasizing character development over plot intricacies, a formula that often results in some of the most memorable “American Dad” episodes.
The storyline follows a predictable path with Stan embarrassed by Steve’s lack of athleticism, leading Stan to walk a mile in his son’s shoes, which in turn leads to a newfound humility. Then, in a twist, Stan finds himself in need of Steve’s unique talents. A standout moment for me was when Stan attempts a cringeworthy “Lord of the Rings” joke at a sci-fi convention, only to be met with groans, flipping the embarrassment onto him from Steve. This reversal from the episode’s earlier dynamic is subtly handled, avoiding heavy-handed emphasis. The episode concludes with Stan possibly learning a lesson, yet he remains somewhat embarrassed by Steve’s geeky interests. This ongoing conflict feels authentic and sets the stage for further exploration in later episodes, reaffirming the show’s commitment to revisiting and developing these character arcs.