Another day, another Halloween episode recap right here on Car JoeMeZ! Thanks to everybody who has been coming here each weekday to see what I’ve been watching and please be sure to check out the new Car JoeMeZ YouTube channel where I’ve been posting some videos of toy unboxings, trying out new foods or some of my old wrestling matches from my past life as an independent wrestler! If you could be so kind as to even subscribe to it, that would be greatly appreciated!
Last week, we watched an episode of Family Guy and today, we’ll hit another Seth MacFarlane show, American Dad. I pretty much hated the former, but I’ve been a big fan of the latter for some time now. When American Dad debuted, I didn’t see myself enjoying it long-term, but as time went on and the characters and tone got fleshed out, I really liked it. One of the biggest things behind me getting more into it was the repeated airings on TBS as I’d find myself constantly laughing or shaking my head as they toed the line with a joke.
It’s something you should check out if you haven’t and something you should get back into if you’ve been away for a while. Thankfully, they have some Halloween stuff for us to indulge in during this season so let’s get right to it!
Season 6, Episode 3: Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls
Original Air Date: November 7, 2010
We open with Steve in mid-dream that he’s having a private tennis lesson with Maria Sharapova. It comes to an abrupt end when a devil beast jumps right up in his grill piece and lets loose a mighty roar causing him to wake up and jump out of his bedroom window where he lands in the hedges amid broken glass. Turns out, it was just his dad Stan getting into the Halloween spirit as mom Francine looks on admiringly at her husband and tells him he’s the scariest man she knows. The Smith family is planning is their annual haunted house and Stan takes great pride in having it be so scary that Francine always pees herself.
A thunderclap bellows out and the Smiths notice that a new neighbor has erected a much scarier haunted house that crushes Stan’s spirit. The neighborhood haunted house is supposed to be his thing and it just got usurped big time.
Steve – along with his friends Barry and Snot – head to pick up the last member of their crew, Toshi, but Toshi refuses to put on the samurai costume his mom bought for him because he refuses to be a cliche. Toshi’s mom asks the other three boys if they would mind taking Toshi’s sister Akiko trick-or-treating with them since Toshi’s being a dick. Akiko comes out dressed as Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series and…look, can we be honest here? I have totally made a girl dress as Chun-Li before and it led to some very intense bedroom escapades. No shame in my game. Steve obviously feels similar and he’s immediately tripping over his tongue to assure Akiko that she can join them.
Stan is still working on setting up his haunted house when Francine walks in. She’s been checking out the neighbor’s haunted house again and Stan is aghast that she would visit another man’s haunted house. She relays all the terrifying elements of the house and pours herself a shot to calm her nerves. It’s then that Stan notices a squishing sound when she walks and the smell of pee-pee in the air. Francine doesn’t even hide it: she pissed herself at the haunted house and there’s no way Stan’s house will compete this year. To Stan’s credit, he takes this news about as horribly as one can take news.
Stan decides to consult Roger, the alien that lives in his attic who adds in a musical number to convince Stan that, not only should he keep his haunted house plans, but make it REAL. No more effects, but real elements to scare the bejesus out of the neighbors.
It’s getting late and Steve has to get Akiko home before dark, but he doesn’t feel like letting the new object of his affection go so soon. He suggests they go to a cool kids bonfire and tells Akiko not to worry about her brother, Toshi. He’s protective of Akiko, but there’s no way he’d come after them. Toshi, for his part, watches the sun set as he pulls his samurai sword from it’s sheath. Once it is drawn, it must taste blood. Steve is fucked.
Stan, realizing what Roger meant, uses his connections at the CIA to have a collection of real serial killers flown in to be put on display at his haunted house. Hey, nothing says frightening like walking by a group of convicted murderers in a plexiglass case that I would use to display old He-Man figures. Stan will certainly win back Francine’s terror with serial killers!
Stan’s haunted house opens, but nobody is scared by the serial killers. They’re just kind of sitting around in their cell. Roger decides to appeal to their “rapey-side” by stripping Francine to her underwear which gets the killers riled up, but still not scary while locked in their cells. Roger solves this by…freeing the serial killers. Now that’s scary! And, also, a completely terrible idea. Stan calls out to the people on the street that the killers are on the loose and to call the police. The people respond by all thinking they should go check out Stan’s haunted house since it now sounds extra spooky. This could prove to be an egregious error in judgment.
Toshi, now embracing his inner samurai, hunts down Steve and Akiko. Eventually, Steve – facing imminent extinction as he stares at Toshi’s drawn blade – presents a soliloquy about Toshi needing to loosen the grip on Akiko before he loses her forever. Toshi sees the light and apologizes to Akiko before walking away. Akiko, incredibly grateful, thanks Steve for sticking up for her and says now she won’t have to worry about her brother so she can date. Steve gets super excited thinking of all the cute couple shit they can do, but Akiki follows that right back up by saying she has a crush on Doug, a younger kid who can really dance. Suck it, Steve.
While this is going on, people of all ages are running frantically through the Smith home while being chased by the freed serial killers. The family jumps through the kitchen window and heads for the woods since nothing bad ever happens there and is trailed by all the killers. Backed against a locked gate with nowhere else to go, it looks as if Stan, Francine and Roger are about to meet their maker when, out of nowhere, Samurai Toshi, who just happened to be walking by, puts his samurai skills to use and becomes a serial killer himself as he slices through all of the convicted felons using his sweet, sweet steel. Everybody is saved and they enjoy the happiest of Halloweens.
Final Thoughts
American Dad is preposterous in the best of ways. I already announced my affinity for this series and this show was a really good example of why I like it. By this point in Season 6, the main players are well-established and the writing team has a great sense of how to present them. Stan, the overbearing man’s man still gets hurt at his wife preferring someone else’s haunted house and then endangs the entire town just to impress her. That’s sweet. Deranged, but sweet.
Steve is similar, thinking he’s now found love after standing up for Akiko, only to be devastated when she announces her crush on another kid is perfect. Hey man, life sucks and lots of girls you like won’t like you back. Welcome to the team.
Really good episode that captured the fun of trick-or-treating and haunted houses and why guys do a lot of the dumb shit we tend to do: we just want to impress girls. At the end of the day, every dude reading this blog or watching this episode can relate. We will do plenty of dumb shit if it means we can get cute girls to like us. No matter how old you are, what you act like, what you taste like, what you like or what you don’t like, we will continue to make stupid choices if we think it will impress a girl.
Until next time.
Joe
Twitter: @MaxSexPow
Email: ShoesOnSports@gmail.com
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