Ya'll Know Dr. Penguin Is Roger, Right?

American Dad, S07E13

Okay, so Roger or Steve explained in one episode that Roger has at least one character that each family member, for whatever reason, doesn't know that it's Roger in costume.  However, when it comes to Dr. Penguin, the family therapist, all of them clearly seem to know that it's Roger, but act as if they don't know.  It's amazing that Roger is a sort of jack of all trades and is fairly knowledgeable about a lot of professions that seem impossible for him, but for the most part, it is understood by everyone that he is playing pretend.  I just couldn't get over the fact that they were sharing their deepest secrets with Roger, who is known to screw with others for his own amusement or when it might benefit him.

I also thought Roger's Sergent Pepper character was random, even for him.  I guess he just likes to be well-rounded and do every kind of character he can.  He really commits to these personas--it's ridiculous.  He knows full well that he isn't really in the army or anything, yet when Klaus tricks him into thinking he got a draft letter for Iraq, Roger goes without a single thought.

I almost felt bad that no one listens to Klaus, and I thought he might be a better therapist than Roger.  I don't know why I thought it was funny when Roger, during one of his many moments of ignoring and belittling Klaus,  hit Klaus and said, "Punch a fish, make a wish."  I guess it was just amusing that Roger didn't take Klaus seriously even for a second.  My hopes that Klaus might give the Smith family a wake-up call about lying to each other were for not; it turned out that when the lies came out, everything turned to shit, and Klaus was to blame.

Everyone had pretty bad secrets, except for Hayley, whose was only hurtful to Jeff because he is a moron.  If the stories all interlocked (instead of being struck from the record each week), I doubt the family would be able to get over all that (despite that Klaus via Sergent Pepper's voice worked it all out).

I kinda liked White James.  I guess he was just in this episode so Klaus would have a way to travel to Iraq (why he used him, who knows?).  Before he showed us his business card that boasts he is a "purveyor of bitches" he has a nice line::

If you ever need bitches, remember: White James.

The story this time wasn't so bad, even though it focused on Klaus and how pathetic he is.  Roger wasn't too outrageous this time, but I didn't mind that as long as we didn't have to hear about the other family members too much, mostly Stan.  I would have liked to see better Roger characters, though.  With this show, Roger's characters are the best part of watching.