Tearjerker (American Dad!)
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"Tearjerker" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the
animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...
comedy series ''
American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker (producer), Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the r ...
''. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 13, 2008. As the episode follows a story based entirely from a ''
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
'' film, each ''American Dad!'' character plays a role of another: Stan as Agent Stan Smith,
Francine Smith Francine Lee Smith (formerly Ling; née Dawson) is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom ''American Dad!''. She is married to the main character, Stan Smith and the mother of Hayley and Steve Smith. Francine is voiced by Wendy ...
as Sexpun T'Come, Hayley as Miss Peacenickel, Steve as S, Avery Bullock as B,
Roger Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...
as Tearjerker, Klaus as Tchochkie Schmear, Terry Bates as Mannie, Greg Corbin as Peddie, Chuck White as Professor, and Captain Monty as Gums. This episode follows Agent Stan Smith during his infiltration of a movie set, where he finds
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...
to be a robot, as well as
Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...
during his visit on Tearjerker's island. Tearjerker, the main antagonist of the episode, is a business tycoon who has been abducting celebrities from his spa and replacing them with robots that will star in his horrible movies. While in the meantime he is pressured to accept a marriage by Sexpun T'Come, Stan goes to stop Tearjerker from premiering his tragedy film in cinemas worldwide, making those who watch it cry to death literally. The sequel to "Tearjerker", "For Black Eyes Only", aired on Fox on March 10, 2013, as the 13th episode of the ninth season. "Tearjerker" was written by Jonathon Fener and directed by Albert Calleros. It was met with mostly positive reception from television critics, with much of the praise going into the character development of the antagonist. It features guest appearances from Seth Green and Don LaFontaine, along with several recurring voice actors and actresses for the series.


Plot

A British agent jumps out of a cable car, and the woman next to him tells her henchmen to follow him. After the agent kills one of them and prepares to shoot another, Agent Stan arrives to assist him. Stan blows up the henchmen, which creates an avalanche, causing the two agents to fall over a cliff. They open their parachutes, though the British agent and his parachute is crushed by Stan's falling snowmobile. Stan's boss, B (Bullock), assigns Stan to infiltrate a movie set produced by Tchochkie Schmear (Klaus). Stan travels to
Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
to investigate one of Tchochkie's movies, ''Bark of the Covenant''. There, he finds
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...
working on the set, only to find out he is a robot when Stan exposes him to milk. He also discovers that Schmear had been hired by Tearjerker (Roger). Suspicious, Stan arrives at a
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
casino, where he is introduced to Sexpun T'Come (Francine) and Tearjerker himself. Stan challenges Tearjerker to play a game in exchange for an invitation to an exclusive spa in the Teardrop Islands. Since he does not know how to play
Baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game. It is now mainly played at casinos, but formerly popular at house-parties and private gaming rooms. The game's origins are a mixture of precursors from China, Japan, and Korea, which then gained popularit ...
or
Craps Craps is a dice game in which players gambling, bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, " ...
, which are Tearjerker's expertise, Stan declares playing "highest number", in which the players name the highest number they can think of. Stan wins the game and leaves with an invitation to the spa. In the meantime, Sexpun gives Tearjerker Stan's wallet, containing his personal CIA information. On his way to Tearjerker's island, Stan meets
Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...
, who is later replaced by a robot replica that, like the McConaughey robot, malfunctions when given milk. Tearjerker orders Sexpun to seduce Stan, but when she approaches him, he proposes marriage to her, and she falls in love with him as well. Meanwhile, Tearjerker plans to use his masterpiece tragedy film, ''Oscar Gold'', depicting an
intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...
alcoholic
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
boy and his
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
-ridden puppy set during
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, to make the moviegoers literally cry themselves to death. Stan and Sexpun embark on a boat tour explaining Tearjerker's diabolical plans, which ends in Tearjerker's office room, where Tearjerker ties the two to a chair with ropes and forces them to watch his film, which simultaneously premieres in theaters throughout the world. With everyone on the verge of crying to death, Sexpun accepts Stan's proposal of marriage. Stan suddenly recalls the engagement ring given to him by S (Steve). He asks her to put it on, and Sexpun does so, which causes her breasts to swell, breaking the ropes. Discovering Adrien Brody and Halle Berry in Tearjerker's
dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably derives more from the Renaissance period. An oubliette (fr ...
below the floor, Stan records a video of their celebrity baby, posts it on the Internet, and makes a mass phone call, redirecting the moviegoers' attention from the film to the video. Enraged, Tearjerker unleashes his soldiers to kill Stan, though instead they end up plummeting through the poorly constructed floor to the bottom. Tearjerker attempts to flee in an escape pod in order to create an even sadder film (6 hours of a baby chimp trying to revive its dead mother). Shortly into the air though, his pod malfunctions and falls into a
volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
. After Stan and Sexpun are married, Tearjerker's hand rises from the lava pit briefly, but then falls back in.


Reception

"Tearjerker" was met with mostly positive reception from most television critics. In a simultaneous review with ''Family Guy'', Genevieve Koski of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave it a mixed review, going on to write, "I wasn't wild about tonight's "Tearjerker", though I did appreciate that it tweaked the ''Bond'' conventions into an original story rather than doing a straight-up recreation. It seems so easy to do a ''Bond'' parody, especially when your main character is a CIA agent." However, she went on to praise the Tearjerker character portrayed by
Roger Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...
, writing, "The most obvious inspiration–Roger as the arch-villain–was also the funniest. Sure, "Sexpun DeCome" and "Peacenickel" were chuckle-worthy throwaways, but Roger's–excuse me, "Tearjerker's"–plan to create the world's saddest movie ..being foiled by Mike, the world's worst contractor, provided for some nice Roger tantrums .." She went on to give the episode a C+, the highest grade of the night, scoring higher than the ''Family Guy'' episode " McStroke". Donald Campbell of '' U-Wire'' gave the episode a four out of five stars, going on to write, "
Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...
has brought laughter to quite a few Americans - most of them under the age of 30 - with his two series, ''Family Guy'' and ''American Dad''".


See also

*
Don (1978 film) ''Don'' is a 1978 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Chandra Barot, written by Salim–Javed and produced by Nariman Irani. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan in dual role, alongside Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Om Shi ...
featuring a song sampled in this episode. *'' A Kitten for Hitler'', a real film with a similar plot to the fictional one depicted in this episode *" The Tears of a Clown", the 1979 song by The Beat which two characters dance to in this episode.


References


External links

* {{American Dad!, 1 American Dad! season 4 episodes 2008 American television episodes