Tears of a Clooney
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| American Dad! Episode |
| "Tears of a Clooney" | |
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| Episode no.: | 23 |
| Prod. code: | 2AJN04 |
| Airdate: | May 14, 2006 |
| Writer(s): | |
| Director: | |
| Guest star(s): | |
| Headline: | Rob Schneider, Dead at 62 |
"Tears of a Clooney" is an episode of the animated series American Dad! Season 1 Finale.
[edit] Plot
On Francine's 39th birthday, she becomes depressed while watching her only TV appearance - a bit part that was interrupted by a young George Clooney, whom she deeply loathes.
Stan attempts to fulfill Francine's dream of fame by arranging for her to be attacked by a swarm of paparazzi at the grocery store, but she informs him that her real dream is to destroy Clooney. Her plan is to woo him, win his heart, then break it, and "watch him cry until his eyeballs bleed". Stan thinks her dream is the craziest, most unsettling thing he's ever heard, but he's happy to do it. Stan and Francine fly to Prague, where Clooney is staying for the production of his new movie, "Dr. Love". When they get to their hotel, Stan reveals that he has hired mercenaries to gather info on Clooney, which Francine uses to her advantage. They start out with Stan becoming friends with Clooney after sending his other friends on a freighter to China. Through the course of a year, Clooney meets Francine (who has learned and mastered everything Clooney loves) and falls in love with her. By the next year, Francine has total control over Clooney's heart, but Stan has developed a closer friendship with Clooney and warns him. Now becoming psychotic, Francine plans to kill him if she can't break his heart. To stop her, Stan handcuffs her to a pipe in the hotel room, but she gets free by cutting off her own hand. The two engage in a motorcycle chase to a spa where Clooney is relaxing. Francine beats Stan, who is left hanging from a cliff. Stan asks her what the real reason is behind her hatred of Clooney, and it turns out this is just her way of having a mid-life crisis. Stan talks her out of killing Clooney, and the two head back to the hotel (where Francine's hand has been put on ice to be re-attached). Stan breaks Clooney's heart himself by breaking off their friendship, while a gleeful Francine watches through video cameras hidden in Clooney's room. Stan wishes Francine a happy 40th birthday.
In a side story, while Francine and Stan are in Prague, Roger has the pool drained and filled with soil to grow a vineyard. But because he's too weak to tend it himself, he adopts some foster children and treats them like his slaves. Steve hates having to share his room with them, so Roger has two cute girls be his "personal assistants". Steve and Roger then live a priveledged life: growing mutton chops and smoking pipes while the children work in the snow. Hayley tries to get Roger to let the children go, despite being weakened from a disease (unnamed, but possibly cancer); in the end, she beats the disease and (obeying a promise she made to God) calls Child Services to save the kids from Roger. Roger lets them go anyway, after he tastes the wine they made and finds it horrible.
[edit] Cultural References
- Stan mentions that he thought Francine's dream had something to do with a muffin kiosk, and says "what ever happened to that". This is a reference to the episode "Finances With Wolves" in which Francine says that her dream is to own a muffin kiosk.
- Steve and Roger's outfits change as they subjugate the children more over time.
- In the final vineyard scene, Steve's "assistants" wear the slave girl outfit worn by Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi. When the foster children are taken away from them, the girls use their chains to strangle Steve in a similar manner to how Leia killed Jabba the Hutt in the same movie.
- Francine has mentioned that her one kill would be George Clooney, mention in the episode "Deacon Stan, Jesus Man", but in that episode, Francine wanted Clooney dead because he's single.
- A bumper sticker on Stan's car says "Cheney-Quayle '08".
- Francine wears the Bride's yellow jumpsuit from Kill Bill.
- Francine's method of getting free from the pipe is possibly a reference to Saw.
- The delivery boy tells Hayley that Costco now has Doctors in store, later Hayley gets a phone call from Doctor Kirkland at Costco, Kirkland Signature being Costco's store brand.
- In the reference to George Clooney ruining Francine's chance at stardom, one of the actors in the scene is Bruce Boxleitner.
- The scene in which Francine chops off Stan's mutton chop while wearing night vision goggles is a parody of the climax of The Silence of the Lambs
[edit] Notes
- At the spa, the song to which George Clooney listens is "Who Will Save Your Soul" by Jewel.
- Stan sends George Clooney's friends to an ocean freighter headed to China. The Czech Republic has no ocean near it.
| Preceded by: "With Friends Like Steve's" |
American Dad! Episodes | Followed by: "Camp Refoogee" |
