Review: American Dad “Exquisite Corpses”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

American Dad sets some time aside for Jeff, Francine, and Roger who manage to step into the spotlight after they begin to experience palpable feelings of inadequacy. The three decide to stop being so helpless and they pool their efforts together to start their own business, albeit in a very unexpected niche venture, a murder mystery bus tour. Roger, Jeff, and Francine have a lot on the line as they haphazardly blaze new trails, but as they get fully into the swing of things they may need to worry more about their mortality than bankruptcy.

Our Take:

Many of the adventures that take place in American Dad grow out of the situations that the characters’ daily routines throw them into, whether that’s school or work. These environments cater themselves to unpredictable developments, but “Exquisite Corpses” forms its story together from out of inactivity and it makes for a compelling entry point to the episode’s main story.

There are other episodes of American Dad that follow the exploits of the characters who stay home every day, but ”Exquisite Corpses” pointedly wants itself to feel different by how it exits Stan’s on-the-way-to-work theme song in favor of keeping the focus on the Smith household. It’s an interesting dynamic to explore and it’s a creative and justified way to bring together the episode’s core trio of Francine, Roger, and Jeff. This “collection of neglected misfits” mentality helps make “Exquisite Corpses” an especially enjoyable and memorable installment of American Dad.

Roger, Jeff, and Francine all recognize that they share feelings of inferiority over how none of them have jobs. The situation is prompted when Hayley makes a romantic gesture to Jeff and is finally able to get a wedding ring. Jeff is belittled by how Hayley doesn’t expect him to reciprocate the gesture, but this truth also eats away at Francine and Roger as they also begin to feel inadequate, especially in reference to their significant others. The fact that Roger treats Steve like his partner is also a great way to internalize Roger’s complicated feelings and also get him to share common ground with Francine and Jeff. It’s a strong unifying force between them all. It may come from a misguided place by the three of them ride this wave of emotions to form their own business so they can not only have jobs, but also be their own bosses and not have to worry about being hired or fired.

Something that’s so interesting about “Exquisite Corpses” is that it’s episode where the B-story is allowed to take the lead as more important stuff is going on elsewhere. It made me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “The Zeppo” more than anything else, which utilizes the same approach to great effect. It’s appreciated how the episode’s meant to take place adjacent to the typical workdays of the rest of the characters and because this episodes is not about them there are never moments where it’s cutting away to Stan or Steve’s exploits.

Not only that, but the rest of the Smith family are practically treated like the villains of this story as they mock and doubt what their partners can accomplish. It’s an occasion where a focus on just one story is used to the episode’s advantage and it’s fun to hypothesize on what everyone else is up to while this supporting story takes the spotlight.

Jeff, Francine, and Roger’s enthusiasm gets a little ahead of them all and they end up drunkenly buying a bus, but they decide to embrace this decision and prove to everyone that that hey can do something successful together. Their plan is to turn the bus into a vehicle for murder tours, since the RB Burger Killer has been leaving a string of murders around Langley. This is a fun and current world for the three of them to get tied up in, which forces these characters to intermingle with some exceptional weirdoes in addition to their frustrations over their new business.

This true crime filter for the episode works well and leads to some wild and entertaining set pieces, but the episode also has some more tender moments to balance out the weirdness. Jeff’s desperate efforts to pawn his new wedding ring so he can help fund his new business is a real bummer, but it helps establish that this new venture is supposed to have some weight to it. This shouldn’t feel as if it’s business as usual. This adds an extra wrinkle to everything because as much as this story is about giving Roger, Jeff, and Francine a purpose independent of the rest of the family, it’s also about proving them wrong and rubbing their accomplishments in their faces.

Roger, Jeff, and Francine have plenty of enthusiasm, but they soon learn how difficult it is to execute a business from out of thin air. It’s fascinating to see just how dysfunctional and out of their depth they are right from the start. There are some wonderful attempts to roll with the punches here, like Roger’s improvisation to scratch out eyeholes through the reverse hinting that Francine erroneously installed on the bus windows. They’re not just failures, but they’re extremely weird and unique ones. The gang is eventually able to gain a captive audience, but only after they start to rampantly tamper crime scenes and lie to the public.

The final act of “Exquisite Corpses” apes Agatha Christie a little when the RB Burger Killer turns out to be on the bus with everyone and eager to find his next victim. Francine and company need to gracefully avoid a messy homicide while also not sinking the success that they’ve finally gotten a taste of. It’s a minor detail during these proceedings, but there’s some incredible score work during the introduction of the alleged RB Burger Killer. A Pixar-like score compliments the bout of good luck that the Smiths have had, only for the appearance of the killer to trigger the aggressive kind of score that you’d hear in a slasher film. It definitely gives this frightening development a little more impact.

This third act twist for “Exquisite Corpses” is a little flimsy in the sense that the obvious, sensible thing to do is to just notify the police, but their concerns over bad reviews and being proven wrong force them to hold back on such a decision until the last moment. It’s a weak way to drag out the final act, but it’s far from the most foolish thing someone on the series has done before and up until this point “Exquisite Corpses” effectively establishes how important this job is to Roger, Jeff, and Francine.

Francine, Roger, and Jeff’s murder mystery tour literally goes off the rails as the killer commandeers the bus and takes everyone to his underground murder layer. This situation is deeply intimidating, but this serial killer gets deflated some when it turns out all of his bloodshed has just been an extreme gesture so that RB Burger will bring back a discontinued menu item. This is obviously ridiculous on some level, but it’s honestly something that could happen nowadays, which is terrifying for all sorts of other reasons.

“Exquisite Corpses’” conclusion is actually rather morbid and feels slightly off base here. All of the murder fans decide to overpower the RB Burger Killer and murder him themselves. It’s another development that misses the mark, but Roger, Francine, and Jeff are all at least deeply disturbed by the vicious act that they’ve witnessed. While this may technically be presented as a happy ending, it seems even more malicious that RB Burger would finally bring back the killer’s desired item, only for him to be dead and unable to appreciate it.

“Exquisite Corpses” skirts a dark line through the entire episode and it’s really the enjoyable chemistry between Francine, Roger, and Jeff that makes this entry work. Despite the murder-focused material, there are also plenty of strong non sequiturs. Jeff’s aside that he drives a bus according to Speed logic is a hilarious, albeit distressing gag. There’s also some fun incorporation of Craig Robinson, who’s slowly become a presence in the reality of American Dad’s universe.

The strongest gag in the episode was one that was alluded to earlier, but it’s where it’s revealed that Steve has a “Good Morning USA!”-esque song that he sings every morning as he heads to school. For a moment here his song briefly interrupts and takes over Stan’s theme song for the episode. Later on in the episode it’s revealed that Klaus also has a song for his journey to work each morning. It’s not the first time that American Dad has had some fun by playing around with the opening credits, but this is a particularly enjoyable example. “Exquisite Corpses” actually treats the opening theme like a running joke as it’s used and interrupted several times throughout the episode to reflect Francine, Jeff, and Roger’s ascent into the workforce.

There’s also a steady throughline in the episode that’s all about police incompetence that allows Roger and company to get so far on their tours of crime scenes. “Exquisite Corpses” treats this material lightly and it’s meant to be a riff on the slapstick hijinks of the Police Academy pictures, but it certainly takes on a different connotation in this current climate. There are several moments in the episode where the foolish and ineffective nature of cops leads to their deaths for the sake of a punchline.

Overall, “Exquisite Corpses” isn’t the strongest episode of the season, but it’s one with good bones and deserves credit for a focused installment that tries to mix things up and go against the typical patterns that the show has grown used to. The second half of the installment isn’t as strong as the first, but it still delivers a shocking conclusion to this well-intended story.

And please, someone buy that poor pawn shop owner’s chalice so that he can finally get some sleep.