'American Dad' Season 8, Episode 14: 'Spelling Bee My Baby' Recap

“American Dad”, season 8, episode 14, “Spelling Bee My Baby”

Steve and Francine pay Toshi and Akiko a visit, hoping to invite them out for some ice cream and a little fun. However, Mrs. Yoshida strictly forbids it, saying they are far too busy with their extracurricular music lessons that will ensure them a placement in college, whereas having “fun” will likely get them wait listed for an online college. Francine finds this insulting.

Later, Francine vents to Greg and Terry. She notices that their daughter, a toddler, is already fluent in French and efficient in fencing, and they point out that you have to stand out if you want to get into a good school, and starting young is the best way. They then say that Hayley turned out fine, which Francine finds insulting as well.

In their backyard, Stan and Roger play badminton, with Steve as a line judge. Francine storms onto the scene and grabs Steve, dragging him off to find something he’s good at. This leaves Stan and Roger in need of a line judge. They ask Hayley, but she’s busy crafting a landing pad for the aliens for when they decide to bring her husband Jeff back. Roger says that she’s in the first stage of grief; denial. And they have to push her through the rest of the stages if they want her to be their line judge. They scheme.

Elsewhere, Francine forces Steve through a marathon session of activities trying to find something he’s good at. He fails at everything. She gives up, and attempts to get him to learn blackjack. When she tries to log in to her amazon account to order a book, she can’t remember how to spell her password; diarrhea. Steve spells it effortlessly, and she realizes he might be good at spelling.

Steve competes in his school’s spelling bee and wins, allowing him to advance to the all-city finals. Akiko tells him that he was awesome and she loved watching him. Francine boasts to Mrs. Yoshida, but she tells Francine that Akiko will win. They start a feud.

Later on, when Steve is playing a video game, Francine comes in and breaks his TV, telling him he must practice from now on.

Outside, Stan and Roger continue to try and convince Hayley that Jeff’s not coming back. Since she won’t get out of her denial phase, Roger pushes her into her anger phase, as she beats him.

Steve, trying to escape all the pressure, sneaks out of his house. At the top of a waterfall, he runs into Akiko. The bond over the fact they’re both under so much pressure, and then they make out.

At the all-city spelling bee and the regional spelling bee, Steve and Akiko have a spelling bee montage, which it cuts away and shows funny pictures from the internet instead. Then it informs us that Steve and Akiko have won “like… ten competitions”, and they’re both going to Nationals.

Later on, Steve and Akiko have a video chat online when Francine catches him. He tries to cover it up, but she sees right through it. She says that Akiko is just distracting him from his studying in order to win. She forbids Steve from seeing Akiko again. He says that if he can’t see her, then won’t go to the spelling bee. She gives in and lets him go.

Outside, Stan and Roger plot how to get Hayley from Anger into Bargaining. But neither knows what that means, so they decide to skip it and go into Depression. They call her outside for a presentation; a video montage of Jeff and Hayley’s happy moments. Hayley breaks down in tears, and they both celebrate her transition into depression.

At the waterfall, Steve finds a note from Akiko. He goes home and tells Francine that Akiko blew him off in order to rethink her priorities. Francine urges him to study and show Akiko what he’s made of. He runs off to study. Francine walks into the basement, where she has Akiko trapped in a cage. Francine wrote the note and laughs maniacally at her own evil scheme.

The next day, Steve is pumped for the spelling bee. Francine tells him to go wait in the car. She heads to the basement and tells Akiko she’ll free her once Steve wins, and gives her a Nintendo Wii to pass the time.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Yoshida has the Yakuza looking for Akiko, as well as Toshi and some bloodhounds. She gets a call from her cousin who works at Nintendo, saying Akiko just entered her name in a Nintendo Wii, and he has the location for her.

Mrs. Yoshida ninjas her way into the Smith house and frees Akiko, telling her they have to get to Regionals.

At Regionals, they take roll call, and Akiko arrives at the last second. Steve isn’t too happy to see her, and she tries to explain, but he won’t listen. She vows to beat him. Meanwhile Francine and Mrs. Yoshida meet in the lobby and get ready to fight to the death. Mrs. Yoshida boasts that she’s Asian, and she has the upper hand.

As Francine readies to destroy Mrs. Yoshida, Francine’s Chinese parents arrive. Mrs. Yoshida realizes that Francine is Chinese, and suddenly worries.

At home, Hayley talks to Roger and Stan, saying she got ninja darted in the neck, had an epiphany, and has accepted that Jeff is gone… and that he’s only gone because of Roger and Stan. So, she takes their shuttlecock and walks away.

In the lobby Francine and Mrs. Yoshida battle it out with rather impressive aerial maneuvers. Francine’s dad interrupts them saying that the spelling bee is down to two; Steve and Akiko. They rush inside to watch.

Akiko misses a word, and if Steve gets his word correct, he wins. Steve oversees Akiko and Mrs. Yoshida as she berates her. He is given the word ‘diarrhea’, and intentionally misspells it, allowing Akiko to remain in the competition.

Francine asks what Steve is doing, and he says that Akiko needs the win, otherwise her mother will kill her. Francine understands, and they hug. As they hug, she admits that she wrote the note and kidnapped Akiko. Steve regrets the way he treated Akiko.

On stage, Akiko intentionally flubs a word, telling Steve he deserves to win. Steve misses his word again, and this continues on well into the night.

The mothers watch on, amazed at the great kids they have. They share a moment, and then draw swords to finish their duel.