The series revolves around the Smiling Friends, a small charity dedicated to spreading happiness. The episode follows employee Allan, who is tasked with buying more paperclips by his boss, Mr. Boss. However, due to a series of mishaps, he is repeatedly unable to obtain the paperclips. The episode contains a reference to the game Burnout Revenge, but the game referenced was originally supposed to be Shadow of the Colossus; this was changed after a suggestion by Cusack.
The episode received positive reviews from critics following its release, with praise going towards its absurd humor and focus on Allan. It has been featured on lists of the series' best episodes.
Plot
After completing his morning routine, Allan is greeted by his landlord, who invites him to hang out and play Burnout Revenge for the PS2 with him while smoking marijuana and drinking diet soda, to which Allan declines. He heads to work, where his employer, Mr. Boss, assigns him the task of purchasing more paperclips for the office, promising a reward upon completion. Allan visits the office supply store OfficeCrap, where an irritated employee yells at him for asking where the paperclips are. He then asks the store's manager, who informs him they are sold out, prompting Allan to leave. He next visits a small electronics shop, where he finds a box of paperclips. The owner gives them to him for free after Allan helps him configure some electronics. Upon leaving the shop, a thief snatches the paperclips from Allan's hands. Allan chases him, pursuing the thief to a rooftop, where the thief hijacks a helicopter. Allan manages to grab onto the underside as it takes off. The thief tells Allan he plans to take him to Tijuana, but government helicopters soon arrive and open fire. Their shots strike the helicopter carrying Allan and the thief.
After crash-landing on an island, Allan discovers the paperclips buried in the sand, only for a yeti to appear and steal them, hiding them inside a cave. When the yeti leaves to urinate, Allan sneaks inside and retrieves the paperclips, but accidentally drops them onto a pile of bones. The bones reanimate into a skeleton pirate, who steals the paperclips and boards a ship crewed by other skeleton pirates. Allan follows in a rowboat, but both he and the pirate crew are swallowed by a giant sea monster. The creature later spits Allan out onto the shore—along with the paperclips. When Allan opens the paperclip box, he finds a letter directing him to a specific location to obtain the real paperclips. He realizes the address listed is his own apartment complex. Returning home, he confronts his landlord, who reveals he orchestrated all of Allan's misadventures so they could hang out and play Burnout Revenge together. Allan initially refuses, but relents when the landlord threatens to bomb the city if he declines again. Allan manages to use a paperclip to disarm the bomb, prompting the landlord to stab himself with a katana. Back at work, Allan presents the paperclips to Mr. Boss, who rewards him with a miniature version of himself. Allan declines the gift, and his coworker Charlie happily takes it instead.
Production
A storyboard of the episode, as released by director Paul ter Voorde.
Throughout the episode, Allan's landlord repeatedly asks him to play the PlayStation 2 game Burnout Revenge with him. Series creators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack revealed at the 2024 San Diego Comic Con convention that the game Shadow of the Colossus was originally intended to appear instead, but Cusack suggested using Burnout Revenge because the former did not support multiplayer gameplay, making the narrative more "engaging". Cusack noted that one of the Burnout games was the first title he ever played on the PS2 with a friend.[1] Following the episode's release, director Paul ter Voorde tweeted about its development, stating that for the scene set at the OfficeCrap building, several animators were assigned to it to complete the "lengthy" scene as quickly as possible.[2]
Release and reception
A preview of the episode was released onto Adult Swim's YouTube channel prior to its release.[3] In the United States, the episode was watched by 0.18 million viewers during its original broadcast on May 20, 2024. It received a 0.09% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 0.09% of all households in that demographic.[4]
In his review of season two, Lex Briscuso of TheWrap highlighted "A Allan Adventure", positively noting it as an example of the season branching out and expanding the series' characters.[5] Daniel Kurland of BubbleBlabber gave the episode an 8.5/10, praising its outlandish humor and use of multiple different animation styles. Kurland also reacted positively to the stop-motion skeleton pirates, calling it one of Smiling Friends' best gags.[6]Collider writer S.K. Sapiano ranked the episode as the eighth best of the entire series, writing highly of its ability to make such an absurd plot feel coherent and for adding onto Allan's character.[7]Paste's Dianna Shen listed it as her third favorite episode, calling it an expansion on the show's "trademark nonsense", and writing that the episode made her want a version of each episode told from Allan's perspective.[8]
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