LogFAQs > #926359382

American Dad - "Rapture's Delight"
Nominated by: Xeybozn

I've generally found that Seth MacFarlane's animated work leaves me cold. Strangely, I enjoyed A Million Ways to Die in the West, and the sci fi nerd in me is absolutely head over heels for the love letter that is The Orville. I went in with relatively low expectations to American Dad here, given that I've always seen it as a B-list back-up to Family Guy. That low expectation may have helped the majority of this episode, which in a strange way plays on the It's a Wonderful Life theme while going in an entirely different direction.

Stan is left behind after the Rapture (a concept which feels extremely contrived), and hijinks ensue as the world turns into Escape From New York. The end of the episode brings the episode full circle and, in theory, sets up a new entire status quo for the show. I highly doubt the following episode maintained continuity, but still, it was a little bit interesting to see what should have been a major risk taken on such a light, fluff piece cartoon.

For me, there are aspects of satire in regards to Christianity at the start of the episode which are wicked and well-presented, but the episode lost momentum pretty consistently throughout the episode. In fact, the character of Jesus and, further along, the character of the Antichrist were so terribly presented that it ended up being a turn-off for me here. It was too schticky, and the consistency of Jesus in particular was all over the place. I think, for me, humor needs to have a straight man also, and there was none of that here. Alice in Wonderland, for example, works because Alice is a normal person. She asks the right questions. Here, everyone is just as ridiculous as the person before, and it makes the stakes feel less meaningful. When everyone is crazy, no one comes off as crazy.

The climax featuring the Antichrist was particularly bad in my estimation. The gimmick, the schtick, of being the opposite of Christ in every way could have played well, but it went for the obvious jokes in a hackeneyed way. There's a bit of a wink and a nod to the fact that these are the most contrived and unoriginal opposite aspects of Jesus, but that doesn't handwave the criticism. By the episode's end, the potential from the start felt fairly squandered, almost as if multiple writers divvied up sections of the episode so no theme could be carried through.

Very much a show that feels like a filler show.

Writing: 3/10
Characterization: 4/10
Scarlet Factor: 3/10
Overall Rating: 10/30
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"It is too easy being monsters. Let us try to be human." ~Victor Frankenstein, Penny Dreadful