Franny's Life Is Her Own Business

American Dad, S08E07

Francine found out that the fireman who had saved her from a well 35 years ago wasn't dead as everyone had thought.  She attempted to adapt him back into society.  Stan and Roger also tried to start up a male stripper shoe business, but their investment money was dependent on killing someone.

I was sort of annoyed that Terry and Greg were such assholes about trying to get Francine on their show.  They were pissed that she avoided them, and yet they clearly wanted to embarass her on TV.  I mean, they have an idea of what Francine has been doing with her life, so I have little faith that they were trying to do good.  I really hated them in this episode.  Sure, you could blame Steve and the others, but they seriously thought they were trying to help Francine.

Then I was annoyed at the rest of the people with such high expectations for Francine.  Henry was a firefighter--it's pretty much a given that he's going to save lives.  Why should any person he save, even if he dies, be responsible for living an incredible life?   It was such bullshit.  I just kept hoping Francine would come to the conclusion that she didn't have to feel guilty and didn't have to impress anyone with her life's accomplishments except herself.

I was sort of glad to see that Henry wanted to go back into the well (even if he ironically died after diving back in) because seeing him bite off a woman's nose, punch and kill a bird in midair, and nearly rape Klaus made me think that Francine would have been infinitely better off never having found him in the first place.   I mean, maybe it would have been nice if she could have returned the favor by getting his life back on track, but when you think about it, Henry living in a well for thirty-plus years would have never realistically gotten back into society (not without some intense therapy or something).  I didn't want to see what other disgusting things he was going to do next.  He just needed to go (not die, though).

The side story with Stan and Roger was pretty uneventful.  They only tried once to kill Hideki's wife and then found out their idea had already been stolen.  It all happened pretty much in what seemed one breath.  I was expecting something much more different.  There were, however, two interesting things from that story.  The first was seeing Roger hosting that Japanese game show:

I kept wondering what Roger was saying, but after listening a few times, I figured that he was just saying gibberish (or super fast and badly pronounced Japanese or something).  When seeing this, I was sort of reminded of the ridiculous shows I would happen upon while flipping through TV in Japan. 

The second thing I thought was interesting was that Stan and Roger were having coffee later at a place called "Coughy's Coffee."  I don't know why but that made me chuckle.  I think that's a pretty good name for a coffee shop.

In general, I don't think I liked this episode that much.  I would have much rather Roger and Stan's story had been extended and the "Baby Franny" story had been the side story.  I feel like lots of times I would switch the main and side story.  However, I'm just glad they didn't do another Christmas story.  Almost every one they've shown has been really violent and crazy.  I'd much rather be angry about a story like this than see another insane holiday episode.

Bobby Sees His Racist Side

Cougar Town, S03E10

Jules wanted Andy to run for Mayor so that he could get her a permit to have her wedding on the beach, which wasn't allowed.  Ellie despised the idea of her husband being in public officer since it would force her to interact with people more.  After making a comment to an Asian man, Bobby worried that he was racist, and Laurie put together a panel to help him.  Travis made out with Holly, and he and Grayson tried to teach Jules a lesson about cutting Holly a bit of slack.

Even though Jules suggested Andy run for Mayor for her own selfish reasons, I think she was right that he would be a good candidate (as least out of the people she knows).  I would be interested in seeing him win that position, although I doubt it will be very easy for him.  I'd condemn Jules further for making Ellie unhappy with her plan to get Andy to be mayor, but Ellie's reasons against it were too funny.  She really is a woman after my own heart.  I would be annoyed too by the idea of having to deal with more people than the few I can tolerate.  The best thing about her opposition of Andy running for mayor was when she told Andy in the car about her opinion on the matter.  Andy said he wouldn't be mad, but he purposely ran over a speed bump quickly so that her coffee would splash in her face.  It's great seeing Ellie on the receiving end of a joke at her expense.  I almost wish that she hadn't come to her senses and realized how selfish she was being to her husband.  I would have preferred to see how she could have gotten him back, though.

Bobby's realization of his racist nature was probably the funniest thing in this episode.  I just can't believe how stupid he was to tell that guy he would probably love a giant camera around his neck.  But you knew that he had no malice behind his words--only ignorance.  So when the guy got upset and Laurie looked at him with horror, it was really funny.  He also thought that all black guys could dunk and asked a man if he could in a later scene.  Bobby's too much of a bonehead for anyone to take his racist remarks seriously.  Plus, like Andy said, the fact that he was so bothered by the racial implications of his words and thoughts, made Bobby a decent guy with the potential to one day to realize when he was using stereotypes to make judgments about people.

It was also nice to see that in Laurie's panel she had included her boyfriend, Wade.  I wasn't sure if he would ever be mentioned again.  According to their routine of getting naked for each other on Skype calls, I would say that their relationship is still going on strong.  That means it's still possible he would visit Laurie once he's done with his service in Iraq.  I'm sure that would make for some really entertaining scenes, knowing how hyper Laurie is.

I never pictured Holly getting together with Travis, but when he later explained that he was just taking advantage of a woman, that made a lot of sense.  The only way Travis could go from small talk at a coffee shop to heavy making out had to be due to him being with a vulnerable woman.  Travis is a bit of a loser with no swagger to speak of, so a girl like Holly is probably his best bet.  I'll admit it's a little weird since she has had a baby with his future stepdad, though.  More than the baby, I would think that he would be a little disturbed by locking lips with someone that Grayson had once done the same.  I wouldn't even eat a piece of bread that he had eaten from.  Eww.  But I'm not sure if Travis really has any feelings for Holly or if he was just messing with Jules to make a point.  Someone as self-centered as Jules needed such an extreme measure to teach her to stop judging people.

I liked the Bobby story enough that I think this was a good episode overall.  I definitely laughed more times than I have compared to other episodes.  I hope that next time we get to see some of Andy's campaign ideas.  I could see the possibility of that being funny, especially if Bobby was his manager.  Almost anything that will take away the focus from Jules' wedding is welcome to me.  I already know that it's not going to be the dream wedding she wants, even if she does get to have it on the beach.