Francine took the spotlight in last night’s American Dad! episode “Now and Gwen,” which was fairly unmemorable and, again, not as “edgy” as TBS keeps promising (I heard a “shit” and a “God damn,” which would have been bleeped on broadcast, but otherwise …)
We start with Francine having a nightmare in which she’s back in high school, trying to run away from her sister Gwen (voiced by Uma Thurman), who transforms into a fiery monster that burns down the school. In the dream, Francine is led to safety by Scott Baio, and upon awakening, admits to Stan that she’s worried about her sister’s impending visit. Francine also says she ought to stop thinking about Scott Baio so much, to which Stan responds, “Good luck!” before pulling down his Charles in Charge sleep mask, which had me chuckling.
Before Gwen’s arrival, we hear some backstory among the family about how Gwen is always in trouble, to which Roger adds some dramatic elements by flicking the lights on and off, and waving a piece of sheet metal to re-create a sound of thunder. Roger is taking it upon himself to punctuate any drama in the family with these things, but before he can continue, he takes off on a subplot of his own, trying to track down a comatose former treasure-hunting partner (Roger gets Google alerts when former acquaintances are in comas) with whom he had a standoff about a pirate treasure. So Roger leaves Klaus in charge of adding the drama, which, of course, is a challenge for the fish in terms of reaching up to get the lights, and waving the heavy piece of sheet metal. Through the remainder of the episode, Klaus fumbles with various aspects of his task, not aided by the fact that he is wasted most of the time because Francine had poured some vodka in his tank after taking some swigs herself to gear up for Gwen’s arrival.
Roger visits who he thinks his his partner at the hospital, and throughout the episode is seen trying everything he can to awaken the man from his coma, even hooking up a motorbike engine to the guy’s nipples and revving the engine. Finally, the man awakens, and Roger realizes it is not, in fact, his onetime partner. The hospital mentions the man left a few days ago, after paying with the pirate treasure he was somehow able to hope despite Roger’s confidence that he alone had the key (which turns out to be just his house key).
While Francine is nervous about Gwen’s arrival, Stan is anticipating it, as it gives him a good chance to “perv” on the attractive woman through a seemingly innocuous hug. Steve is also keen on seeing and “accidentally” feeling up his hot aunt, reminding us that she’s not biologically related to him, since Francine was adopted.
When Gwen does arrive, Stan puts his hug plan into action, and Steve watches in awe as his dad holds Gwen for a while in a friendly hug, pressing his chest up against her breasts. When Gwen asks Steve for a hug, he chickens out and runs away. Later, Stan tries teach Steve the art of hugging, which involves KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid), but not actual kissing. Stan’s lecture leaves Steve even more confused.
Living up to her reputation, Gwen immediately brings trouble, as her probation officer is right on her tail. Gwen had told her officer that she has been living with the Smiths for 18 months, and is teaching Francine to walk again following a trolley accident. Francine goes along with the act, and Hayley begins to seem troubled that her mom can’t say no to her sister.
The officer buys it, and realizes that based on this, Gwen could not have been the one suspected of selling fake cellphones in Arizona. As soon as the probation officer drives away, a truck pulls up with a bunch of knockoff cellphones, and Gwen sets up a sweatshop in the Smiths’ garage, with illegal workers putting together the merchandise.
Along with this operation, Gwen shows up with a human liver, and gets Francine to drive her into a bad neighborhood, where she plans to sell it. Suddenly, Gwen bursts out of the meeting and tells Francine to drive away, as she took the buyers’ money without giving them the liver.
Seeing that her mom is worn down, Hayley confronts Gwen, who agrees to leave, but warns that Francine will soon know what it’s like to be her. When Hayley mentions this to Francine, Francine admits that it was she who accidentally burned down their school as a youngster. Francine was trying to smoke cigarettes to be cool like Gwen, and started the blaze. Gwen took the fall for her little sister, and Francine has felt indebted to her (and been enabling her) ever since. Before Gwen departs, Steve makes a last effort to hug her/cop a feel. When he falls down in the process, Gwen assumes he is a special-needs kid, so Steve plays that to his advantage, eventually getting close enough to where he can give her the hug that Stan did, and then some. He even touches Gwen’s butt, much to Stan’s surprise and pride.
Realizing that Gwen’s warning meant that she was going to burn down the school and frame Francine, Hayley and Francine race to the school and catch Gwen pouring gasoline. Gwen and Francine realize that their actions (Gwen originally taking the fall, and Francine enabling Gwen) were each done out of love. Gwen suggests they have a cigarette to celebrate their newfound peace (while still surrounded by gasoline), and before Hayley can stop them, the school goes up in flames again. This time, Francine stands up and admits to the act.
We later cut to prison, with Gwen in prison garb, and Francine visiting her. Despite her confession, Francine was given a suspended sentence (thanks to Stan calling in a favor to the judge), while Gwen was arrested for breaking her parole. As Gwen vows vengeance when she gets out, Klaus finally gets the handle on making the dramatic thunder sounds and flicking the lights — only to have Roger show up as a prison guard and yell at him for playing with the lights.
It was a fairly weak ending to an episode in what has not been a standout season so far, and I’m kind of seeing why FOX may have opted out of the series. Coming up soon will be a Christmas-themed episode of the series, which have been among the standouts from previous seasons (see “Rapture’s Delight,” “The Most Adequate Christmas Ever,” and more). If American Dad! can return to form with “Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas” on Dec. 1 there could still be hope for the season.
UPDATE: Of course, I could be among the few who are somewhat disappointed. A few hours after I initially posted this, TBS announced that it has ordered a new, 22-episode season of American Dad! According to TBS, since coming to the network in October, American Dad! has ranked as one of basic cable’s Top 3 entertainment programs in the Monday 9pm timeslot with Adults 18-34, and one of the Top 5 entertainment programs in its timeslot with Adults 18-49.
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