Airdate: April 25th of 2010
Stan's unhappy with Steve's passive nature, so, in a very misguided attempt to get Steve to learn to stand up for himself and fight his own battles, Stan starts bullying his own son. This episode also has two minor subplots:
- Reginald the Koala, one of Stan's CIA-coworkers, asks Hayley out on a date, which she accepts. However, when the two go to a carnival, they run into Hayley's previous boyfriend, Jeff Fischer, and it becomes obvious that Jeff and Hayley still have feelings for each other. Though he really likes Hayley, Reginald decides to let her be with Jeff if that's what she really wants.
- Roger takes up CSI-photography as a hobby, and he gets a job after taking some photographs of a really bad fight that Stan got into.
This episode includes examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Fed up with Steve's passive nature, Stan takes on the persona of a vicious bully to beat him until Steve learns to stand up for himself.
- Becoming the Mask: Stan gets a little too into the bully persona to put it lightly. He even neglects his job at the CIA to antagonise Steve full time.
- Broken Aesop: Reconstructed for laughs. For all of Stan's talk about wanting Steve to stand up for himself and learn to fight his own battles, Stan himself never learned to stand up to a bully he had at Steve's age, a Greek boy named Stelio Kontos — Stan lucked out on having to deal with Stelio because the Kontos family ended up moving away. Even as an adult (and working as a top field agent for the CIA), Stan's still unable to fight back against Stelio after Steve, realizing that he'll never be able to just avoid his dad, hires Stelio to beat up Stan until he agrees to stop bullying Steve.
- Chekhov's Gunman: After being confronted by Steve for his initial bullying, Stan tells him about his Greek bully from his own school days named Stelio Kontos. Having finally had enough of his father beating him, Steve contacts Stelio to deal with Stan. As foreshadowed by his blatantly expressed hypocrisy from earlier, Stan cowers against Stelio and doesn't even try to fight back as he elaborately kicks the crap out of him.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Steve hires Stelio to beat up Stan until the latter admits Steve's way of carrying a crate of oranges up the stairs was right.Stan: They're up the stairs! For the love of God, you got the oranges up the stairs!
- The Dog Bites Back: Stan invokes this with his bullying, hoping Steve will toughen up and beat him up in return. Steve downplays this, choosing instead to hire Stan's former bully to beat him up on his behalf.
- Fighting Back Is Wrong: Played with and subverted, where Steve is having bully troubles and Francine tells him that fighting back is not the answer... until she finds out that said bully is her own husband.Francine: Steve, I know I said violence was never the answer, but it has just become the answer.
- Hypocrite: Despite pressuring Steve to stand up for himself, Stan never actually stood up to his own bully, nonchalantly revealing he just moved away, and doesn't even make an effort to fight back when said bully returns to kick his ass.
- I Banged Your Mom: Stan as a bully likes making these kinds of double entendres in response to Steve's comments, which is funny because it's Not Hyperbole and grosses Steve out. Later, before she starts his training, Francine makes a similar joke about Stan, which just gives Steve a thousand yard stare.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Steve gets back at Stan by paying his childhood bully Stelio Kontos to beat the ever-loving crap out of him as revenge for all the abuse the latter gave his son.
- Latex Perfection: Steve was shown disguised as an old lady after Stan jumped out of nowhere by pouncing on him and pulled the mask off, much to Steve's chagrin.Stan: You can't have Roger dress you up just to avoid me.
Steve: Do you have any idea how long makeup took?! I was in the chair at 4am! - Left the Background Music On: Stelio beats the crap out of Stan while accompanied by a rather epic theme song. Then when he's done, Stelio turns off a boombox that had been playing it the whole time.
- Mama Bear: After realizing that Stan has been bullying Steve, Francine looks determined to kill him. She jumps out a window and keeps going even with glass in her hair. Then she rams Stan's car when he thinks he's escaped.Stan: Francine! You T-boned me, bro!
- Misery Builds Character: Stan invokes this, thinking bullying Steve will toughen him up. Steve just gets fed up with his father's abuse and has Stan's former bully, Stelio Kontos, beat up his father to get him to stop.
- Oh, Crap!: Stan when Stelio Kontos arrives.
- Pathetically Weak: Steve's fighting training lasts for nearly two and a half hours, after which Francine gives up because Steve couldn't even make a fist.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Francine vows to turn Steve into a vicious fighting machine, but gives up after only 2 hours and 23 minutes. She says she's going to SeaWorld to punch a dolphin in the face.
- Smart Ball: Stan was able to detect Steve in an old woman disguise.
- The Stoic: Stelio Kontos, who pummels Stan with an almost bored look on his face.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Stan is relieved when Steve finally agrees to confront him. Not because Steve is standing up for himself, but because his dedication to the bully persona has caused Stan to neglect his actual job at the CIA. He's missed a lot of work over the past weeks and, being the family's sole breadwinner, it isn't practical for him to keep this ruse going.
- Vicariously Ambitious: As with many cases, Stan seems to be living his childhood traumas through Steve by making him gain a backbone against his bully. Steve puts him on the spot about it by bringing in Stan's own bully to put an end to it, who Stan utterly fails to stand up against.
