The unhealthy scab that is Stan and Steve’s relationship begins to get picked at this week when Stan begins to worry that his lack of time together with Steve might cause him to grow up into a ruthless serial killer that murders him in his sleep. Not a second of time is wasted here as we’re immediately treated to a togetherness montage between the two of them that only seems to make their differences become more prominent. That is until Steve idiot savants his way into being a natural bowler.

I’m a little surprised that American Dad hasn’t checked “bowling” off its hundred-page long checklist, but the episode finds plenty to do with the topic. There is some wonderful comedy mined by the ever abstract “strike visualizations” that happen in bowling alleys. This is such a ripe ground for comedy that I haven’t seen explored anywhere else outside of a brilliant episode of Moonbeam City (points if you remember that show!), that I’m glad the episode digs into it a little. As Stan nurtures Steve’s burgeoning bowling skills the two continue to grow closer together. They even reach the point where sharing the gesture of—gasp—a hug is commonplace between them.

Of course things would be far too easy if this dynamic was allowed to continue untainted, so it’s at this point that a mysterious bowling coach gets between the two of them, and right after they’ve won the Father/Son Tournament, no less! Suddenly this symbol of their love is polluted with professionalism and pressure, turning it into something much less special. What works with this storyline is that it at no point becomes a story about Stan feeling replaced by Steve’s coach as the alpha-male or parental figure. That sort of story has been told countless times before on this show, so the focus instead being on something much more wholesome between the two of them works quite well.

The episode also dips into a nice “Gift of the Magi” territory where Stan endlessly supports Steve’s professional bowling as a fan in order to make him happy, and Steve continues to bowl because he thinks it’s what Stan wants. The two of them would both be happier just bowling together, but their desire to make the other one happy blinds them.

Outside of the bowling alleys, Hailey accuses the constantly plate-smashing Roger of having a short attention span, which he of course naturally throws back in her face. Klaus takes the opportunity to host a competition to see who truly has the shortest attention span, and suddenly this plotline of nothing rockets to the forefront. This is exactly the sort of non-story that I love, and Hailey and Roger are formidable adversaries when pushed to the extreme.