Rapture's Delight

Last updated
"Rapture's Delight"
American Dad! episode
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 9
Directed by Joe Daniello
Written by Chris McKenna
Matt McKenna
Production code4AJN17
Original air dateDecember 13, 2009 (2009-12-13)
Running time21 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"G-String Circus"		Next →
"Don't Look a Smith Horse in the Mouth"
American Dad! season 6
List of episodes

"Rapture's Delight" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series American Dad! . It originally aired on Fox in the United States on December 13, 2009. This episode centers around Stan and Francine's life after the vast majority of the church, including Hayley and Steve, are raptured. When Stan begins to blame Francine for not getting into heaven, Francine ends their relationship and befriends a man whom she later finds out to be Jesus. Francine becomes his bride, leaving Stan behind to participate in the armageddon.

Contents

This episode was written by Chris and Matt McKenna and directed by Joe Daniello. It is the third American Dad! Christmas special, following "The Best Christmas Story Never Told" and "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever". It received acclaim upon its airing from television critics, with many going on to call it one of the best episodes of the series. This episode was watched by 6.2 million homes during its initial airing, and it acquired a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Paget Brewster returns to reprise her role of Michelle in the episode. Andy Samberg guest stars as both "Ricky the Raptor" of the "Christian Kids" video, and as the Anti-Christ in the episode. Other guest stars were Mike Barker, Will Forte, Skyler Gisondo, Tom Kenny, Matt McKenna, Murray Miller, Martin Mull, and Don Tai Theerathada.

Plot

Stan is upset when he cannot find his family a good seat for a standing-room only Christmas Day church service. To alleviate this, Francine takes him to have sex with her in the closet. When they come out, everybody in the church has gone, with their clothes left behind, except the priest and the slow janitor. Upon exiting the church, Stan discovers that he, along with the priest, slow janitor, Roger, and Francine, is among those left on Earth during the Rapture (Stan and Francine because they had sex in a holy place, Roger because he wasn't human to begin with, and the janitor because he never accepted Jesus), while every Christians, along with Steve and Hayley, have ascended. Eventually, Francine becomes upset when Stan cares more about ascending into Heaven than being with her and leaves him; she soon meets Jesus Christ in his second coming and becomes his girlfriend.

Seven years pass and the war between Jesus and the Anti-Christ reduces the world to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with the human race on the brink of extinction. The survivors have degenerated into savage bikers, militiamen, and prostitutes. Jesus travels by motorcycle to the war-torn city of Denver, Colorado and meets in a local bar with Stan, who has lost sight in one eye and replaced one hand with a blade. Jesus convinces him to help rescue Francine, who has recently been captured by the Anti-Christ. Stan agrees to do so on the condition that Jesus send him to Heaven afterwards. On their mission, they meet up with Roger, who for the past seven years has been trying to repair his spaceship in order to return to his home planet and escape the war. They get to the United Nations Building, where they find Francine bound in an upside-down manger.

Stan and Jesus meet with the Anti-Christ, depicted as an effeminate supervillain who claims to be the opposite of Jesus. When he tries to trap them, the container breaks apart; being the opposite of Jesus, he is a bad carpenter. After a drawn-out battle, Jesus jumps onto Anti's back and breaks his neck. Anti survives and attempts to shoot Jesus but Stan takes the bullet for him, giving Jesus enough time to throw a cross-shaped shuriken into the Anti-Christ's head, killing him. When Francine tears Stan's shirt away to look at the wound, she sees that he has always kept their wedding rings, and he admits that he had in fact come to save Francine. He activates a bomb to destroy the lair and end the war once and for all. Francine tries to rescue him but Stan asks her to leave lest the explosion kill her too. Stan dies in the blast and is sent to heaven. When Michelle guides him to his own "personalized heaven", Stan enters his home just the way it was at the beginning of the episode, the only difference being Klaus' dead fish body being mounted on a plaque hanging on the wall.

Production

Andy Samberg made a guest appearance on the episode, providing the voices of Ricky the Raptor and the Anti-Christ. Andy Samberg by David Shankbone.jpg
Andy Samberg made a guest appearance on the episode, providing the voices of Ricky the Raptor and the Anti-Christ.

"Rapture's Delight" was directed by series regular Joe Daniello, in his first episode of the season. This would be the first episode that he would direct since the season five episode "Delorean Story-an". [1] It was written by series regulars Chris and Matt McKenna, their first script for the show since the previous season's "Bar Mitzvah Hustle". [1] Seth MacFarlane, the creator and executive producer of American Dad!, as well as its sister shows Family Guy and The Cleveland Show , served as the executive producer for the episode, along with series veterans Mike Barker, Rick Wiener, Matt Weitzman, and Kenny Schwartz. [1] Diana Retchey was the animation producer for the episode, in her ninth episode of the season. [1] Amanda Bell served as the production manager, and this episode would be Bell's seventh episode of the season where she served as the production manager. [1]

Reception

"Rapture's Delight" was broadcast on December 13, 2009 as part of the animated television block on Fox. It was preceded by The Simpsons , and its sister shows The Cleveland Show and Family Guy . It was watched by 6.2 million homes during its initial airing, according to the Nielsen ratings, despite airing simultaneously with Sunday Night Football on NBC, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC, and Cold Case on CBS. [2] The episode garnered a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, slightly edging out over The Cleveland Show, but having a slight lower rating that The Simpsons and lower than Family Guy by a considerable margin. [2] The episode's total viewership and ratings decreased slightly from the previous episode, "G-String Circus", which was watched by 6.4 million homes during its original airing and received a 3.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic. [3]

"Rapture's Delight" was met with acclaim from many television critics upon its initial airing. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave it a very positive review. She opined: "And then after I was pretty well convinced that nothing could top The Simpsons, this came along and was one of the best American Dad episodes I've ever seen. It's entirely possible this is just because the show hit my sweet spot [...] but the way the show started out as a fairly standard American Dad episode and then just gradually went more and more batshit insane was definitely worth it." [4] She went on to give the episode an "A" grade, the highest grade of the night, beating out The Simpsons episode "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?", The Cleveland Show episode "A Cleveland Brown Christmas", and Family Guy episode "Business Guy". [4] Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave the episode a very positive review, and went on to write, "American Dad was always the one that stayed with the characters and avoided trips into fantasy. Wacky asides and over-the-top shenanigans are a staple of Family Guy and have proven a smaller, but still important, part of The Cleveland Show. So I was left with my jaw hanging open when the rapture kicked in and people started flying off to heaven. Admittedly, I've not seen every episode of American Dad, so maybe this isn't as surprising an episode as I thought it was. It was, however, a simply fantastic episode." [5] He also went on to comment on the controversy surrounding the episode, saying "I'd imagine this episode will be met with plenty of controversy, for their portrayal of Francine and Jesus having a relationship among many other things, but I still found myself laughing at Roger's hysteria over Christianity. Looking at it from his very outside perspective [...] the whole thing must seem as equally ridiculous as any of our science fiction and fantasy premises." [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>American Dad!</i> American animated sitcom

American Dad! is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series was moved to TBS in 2014 and continues to air new episodes to this day. American Dad! is the first television series made to premiere on Fox's Animation Domination block. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the rest of the first season airing three months later beginning May 1, 2005.

Steve Smith (<i>American Dad!</i>) Fictional character in the animated television series American Dad!

Steven Anita "Steve" Smith is a fictional character in the animated television series American Dad!, voiced by Scott Grimes. He is Stan and Francine Smith's 14-year-old son and Hayley's younger brother as well as the youngest of the series' six main characters.

"Moon Over Isla Island" is the second episode of the sixth season of American Dad!, an episode produced for Season 5. It first aired in the United States on Fox on October 4, 2009. This episode mainly centers around Stan, who starts taking advantage of his relationship with Roger on various occasions. Stan is later told to meet up with General Juanito Pequeño, the dictator of a small island nation in the Caribbean. The General suddenly dies of suffocating on a corn dog, so Stan convinces Roger to pretend to be General Pequeño by telling him that they are going on a "friends vacation". While on the island, Roger finds out that Stan has been taking advantage of him again for his own personal gain, and their friendship starts to hang in the balance.

"Bully for Steve" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of the animated comedy series American Dad!

"Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls" is the third episode of the sixth season of the animated comedy series American Dad! It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 7, 2010. The episode follows Stan as his title of having the best haunted house is threatened by a neighbor. To tempt people to come to his house, he uses serial killers as the house's main attraction. Meanwhile, Steve falls in love with Toshi's sister Akiko as they go trick-or-treating.

"Stan's Food Restaurant" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of American Dad!. It aired on Fox on November 14, 2010. This episode — which focused on Stan's dream of opening his own restaurant — is the 100th broadcast episode of American Dad!, an accolade currently bestowed on 100 A.D. for production order. It was written by Brian Boyle and directed by Josue Cervantes.

"White Rice" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of American Dad!. It first aired in the United States on Fox on November 21, 2010. This episode mostly centers around Francine, who has consistently been involved in various arguments with Stan about her bringing her parents into their home. Stan convinces Francine to go see a therapist to help smoothen their relationship, which turns out to be a hypnotist. The hypnotist, named Sal, eventually tells her to let go of the repressed memories she had from Stan. Later that day, Francine discovers a secret stash, which contain videos of her doing stand-up comedy when she was younger. Francine is enraged that Stan erased her memories of being a comedian. She later lands a role in a sitcom entitled "White Rice", and she vows to pursue her dream of being famous and rich.

"For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" is the eighth episode of the seventh season of American Dad!. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on December 12, 2010. The episode follows the events caused by Stan Smith, as he gives his son Steve a rifle for Christmas, even though his wife Francine forbade him to. When Steve is practicing shooting, he accidentally kills a mall Santa. The family decides to bury the body in the woods, but it then turns out that it was the real Santa, who wants revenge by killing the Smiths.

"Fart-Break Hotel" is the ninth episode of the seventh season of American Dad!. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 16, 2011. The episode follows housewife Francine as she becomes frustrated and bored with her daily routine of taking care of her family. But when Roger accidentally passes lethal gas in the house, the family moves into a luxury hotel for a week. While there, Francine decides to assume the identity and life of a familyless career woman, the CEO of a concrete company.

"Stanny Boy and Frantastic" is the tenth episode of the seventh season of American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on January 23, 2011. This episode centers around the couple of Stan and Francine, who are bored with their lives. In a desperate attempt to get out of the house, Stan and Francine take Hayley's tickets to a circus in order to invite and bond with a couple. While at the show, they both meet Tom and Cami, a young couple. All four go out on various outings, and Stan and Francine begin to have trouble keeping up with the fast-paced lifestyle of Cami and Tom.

"A Piñata Named Desire" is the eleventh episode of the seventh season of the animated comedy series American Dad!. It first aired on Fox in the United States on February 13, 2011. This episode mainly centers on Roger and Stan, who begin to experience tensions growing against each other for the dominant figure in the house. Roger becomes tired of Stan's stance as the authoritarian figure of the house, and he challenges Stan's leadership qualities. Stan insists that he is better than Roger at everything, and he tells him that he has a mission that involves acting. Unknown to Stan, Roger spies on him, only to find out that Stan is a terrible actor. Roger later boasts to the house that he is a better actor than Stan, but he eventually teaches him to improve his acting skills. Meanwhile, Steve and his friends plan to throw their last slumber party together.

"You Debt Your Life" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on February 20, 2011. The episode focuses on two of the show's main characters, Roger the Alien and Stan Smith. After he saves Roger from being run over by a bus, Stan has repaid what Hayley calls his "life debt", which forces Roger to moving out of the household, and Stan replaces him with Andy Dick. Roger intuitively figures out he can get reaccepted by Stan and move back in by forcing him into a new life debt, by getting him attacked by a polar bear at a zoo and then saving his life at Area 51. Meanwhile, Steve and his friends abuse the power of being public announcers at Pearl Bailey High School.

"I Am the Walrus" is the thirteenth episode of the Seventh season of American Dad!, first airing on Fox in the United States on March 27, 2011. It mainly centers around Stan and his son Steve, who are both competing for the dominant role of the house. Steve is the first person to finish his meal, much to Stan's dismay. Stan becomes intimidated by his son, and he is afraid that he will lose his status of alpha male. Meanwhile, Hayley and Jeff are suffering marital relationship problems, so they seek marriage counseling.

"Jenny Fromdabloc" is the sixteenth episode of the sixth season of the animated comedy series American Dad!. It first aired on Fox in the United States on April 17, 2011. This episode mainly centers around Steve, who tries to comfort his friend, Snot, after facing rejection from Hayley. Snot goes into a deep state of depression after realizing that Hayley does not have any feelings for him. Steve devises a plan that requires Roger to impersonate a teenage girl from New Jersey. Roger ends up developing a deeper relationship with Snot, much to the frustration of Steve. He begins to feel threatened, as Snot develops into a charismatic and arrogant individual that Steve's friends look up to. Meanwhile, Stan wishes to live a more urbane lifestyle and starts drinking martinis, but his low alcohol tolerance causes him to pass out on several occasions and run around Langley Falls in a drunk tangent.

"Hurricane!" is the second episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series American Dad!. It first aired on Fox in the United States on October 2, 2011. The episode's plot mainly revolves around the Smith family, who prepare for evacuation in response to an oncoming hurricane. Reluctant to leave his home, Stan encourages his family to ride out the storm in their house with him. The hurricane sends a flood to the city of Langley Falls, which puts the entire family in danger.

"Home Wrecker" is the seventeenth episode of the sixth season American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on May 8, 2011. This episode mainly centers around the couple of Stan and Francine, whom become divided over the architectural style wanted for the renovation of their kitchen. Greg and Terry, the Smiths' gay neighbors, intervene in the situation. Greg and Terry criticize the strength of Stan and Francine's marriage, much to their frustration. A bet is made in regard to the Smiths' rocky relationship: if Terry and Greg were to win the bet, they would receive the marriage license of Stan and Francine. Meanwhile, Steve, his friends, and Principal Lewis take advantage of Barry's proficient ability to count cards; however things become awry when they try to remove Lewis of his cut.

<i>Night of the Hurricane</i> 2011 American television crossover event

Night of the Hurricane is a 2011 crossover event on the Animation Domination lineup on Fox. The event involved the three animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane: The Cleveland Show,Family Guy andAmerican Dad!. The event depicts a hurricane which hits the towns of Stoolbend, Quahog and Langley Falls. The actual three-way crossover of the event occurs at the end on American Dad! with the three fathers of each family in the same scene.

"A Ward Show" is the third episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series American Dad! It aired on Fox in the United States on November 6, 2011. The episode's plot mainly revolves around Roger becoming Steve's legal guardian, but he gets a little overzealous in the parenting department. Meanwhile, Stan and Francine decide to go on a vacation to Flash Flood Acres, The Largest Water Park in the Universe. But after spending two hours there they go on every ride, so they decide to get a refund from the manager, but fail when they learn he would not be back until Thursday.

"Virtual In-Stanity" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of the animated comedy series American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on November 20, 2011. The episode plot mainly revolves around Stan making a desperate attempt to bond with his son, Steve by creating an avatar in the form of a teenage girl.

"The Scarlett Getter" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on November 27, 2011. The episode plot mainly revolves around Francine, who accidentally leads Roger to a dangerous alien hunter while trying to get revenge on Stan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Daniello, Joe; McKenna, Chris; McKenna, Matt; MacFarlane, Seth (2009-12-13). "Rapture's Delight". American Dad!. Season 06. Episode 9. Fox.
  2. 1 2 Gorman, Bill (2009-12-14). "TV Ratings Sunday: Football Wins, Oprah's Christmas Rates Below Brothers & Sisters". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2011-03-09.
  3. ↑ Bill Gorman (2009-11-30). "TV Ratings Sunday: Of Course Football Wins; Fox Animation Bounces Back; ABC Slumps". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2011-02-18.
  4. 1 2 VanDerWerff, Emily (December 14, 2009). "O, Brother, Where Bart Thou?"/"A Cleveland Brown Christmas"/"Business Guy"/"Rapture's Delight". The A.V. Club . Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  5. 1 2 Hughes, Jason (December 14, 2009). "Sundays With Seth: Christmas and the Rapture". TV Squad . Retrieved 2010-03-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.