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The One That Got Away (American Dad!)
Encyclopedia
"The One That Got Away" is the second episode of the fourth season
of the animated television series American Dad!
It originally aired on Fox
in the United States on October 5, 2008. In the episode, Roger's credit card is maxed out and he is certain it is identity theft
. He vows revenge and discovers that a man named Sidney Huffman is responsible. When he is about to burn down Sidney's apartment, he realizes that Sidney is not who he seems to be. Meanwhile, the rest of the Smith family gets sucked into a game of Simon
.
The episode was written by Chris and Matt McKenna and directed by Tim Parsons. It was the first episode to have a Roger-centric main story. The episode's story came from the writer's obsession with The Big Lebowski
, and the original concept would include Jeff Lebowski being Roger's alter ego
. "The One That Got Away" received positive reviews from critics and was viewed by 6.85 million viewers in its original airing. The episode features guest performances of Diana Delano, John DiMaggio
and J.K. Simmons.
. They also express concern that he may have an inferiority complex
because he spends so much time in disguises. Roger dismisses their concerns, but shortly afterwards discovers that someone has maxed out his credit card. Vowing revenge, he discovers that one Sidney Huffman is responsible. Roger begins to destroy Sidney's life by ruining his employment and telling lies to Huffman's girlfriend Judy Panawits, resulting in her breaking off the relationship. He then sneaks into Sidney's apartment one night, and begins pouring fuel everywhere, intending to burn the apartment to the ground. He then sees a photograph of Sidney and Judy, which shows that Sidney and Roger are the same person.
Four days earlier, Sidney wakes up in bed. He is shown to be a lovable, humble and polite Bible
salesman, soon to be proposing to Judy. However over the next few days he discovers the trail of destruction that Roger has set for him. Calling Roger to tell him to stop, Sidney only encounters an abusive message, and realizes that Roger is not going to stop until he is done with Sidney.
The scene then returns to the point where Roger realized that he and Sidney were the same person. At this point a hitman, hired by Sidney, enters and attempts to kill Roger. Desperate, Roger locates Judy at her department store workplace, and admits to her that he is both Roger and Sidney together. While trying to determine what the password was to call off the hit, the hitman enters the store and takes aim at Roger again. Roger hides in a dressing room while the hitman threatens Judy. Glad of the distraction, Roger attempts to make an escape but is stopped when he is confronted by his Sidney personality in the mirror. Once they are face to face, Roger suddenly remembers how this split-personality came about - it was part of a convoluted scheme to steal a pair of black leather gloves from Judy's department store. He spent $700 to buy a necklace as part of the plan to get the ten dollar pair of gloves. To do this he took out a credit card in the name of Sidney, which was the name the employees at the store knew him by; but after the theft was discovered and Judy was fired for it, Roger's guilt forced the personality split, causing him to live as "clean" Sidney through the daytime, and his normal self at night-times. Admitting all of this to Sidney, Roger accepts Sidney's suggestion that together they can bring out the best in each other. They embrace, and Sidney calls out the correct password to the hitman, stopping the hit. Roger then stabs Sidney in the back, causing the death of his persona. He confronts Judy, and decides to resume his relationship with her, but as Roger this time. The episode ends with them walking off together, hand in hand with Judy revealing she is a hermaphrodite
.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family becomes obsessed with playing a game of Simon
. Unable to move, even to eat or relieve themselves, Klaus rescues them by setting off a smoke bomb, causing both the Simon game and Klaus himself disappear. Seconds later Klaus re-appears, fighting and killing a monster from another dimension. Klaus then says that he was gone for sixty years to him and asks how long it had been back at home.
, imaging how funny it would be if someone urinated on Roger's rug and then he had to figure out who had come after him. Jeff Lebowski would turn out to be an alter ego
of Roger, and that got them thinking of storylines involving Roger and his multiple persona
s, and if "one of them got away." The original story for the episode was that Roger would wake up in Shanghai and in trouble, caused by an evil persona. Chris and Matt McKenna pitched it to Barker, who declined it. They later rewrote it, this time making his persona "the good guy", and the opposite of Roger. Director Tim Parsons tried to make a difference between Roger's world and his alter ego Sidney's world, making the colors in Sidney's world "pastelly
" and the backgrounds softer.
Co-creator Seth MacFarlane
, who provides the voice of Roger, also provided the voice of Sidney. MacFarlane is often very busy and does not have time to read the script before the table read. However, before voicing Sidney, the producers asked him if he could read the script the night before, to come up with a voice that sounded like an "old-fashioned Dick Powell
." Rachael MacFarlane
provided the voice of Judy Panawits. Diane Delano
, John DiMaggio
and J.K. Simmons guest starred in the episode.
. It finished first in its timeslot, acquiring a 3.5 rating in the 18–49 demographic. The episode finished third in total viewership among the shows in the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox.
Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
enjoyed the Roger story, but criticized the B-story involving the Smiths and Klaus, saying that it "didn't fit with what was going on, and thus distracted from the story." However, he praised the episode for being "great, albeit slightly imperfect" and "surprisingly solid" to be a Roger-centric story. He gave the episode a B rating, the best grade of the night, beating the Family Guy
, King of the Hill
and The Simpsons
. While reviewing the American Dad! Volume 4
DVD set, Thomas Spurlin of DVD Talk
, wrote that the episode, alongside "Spring Break-Up" and "Escape from Pearl Bailey
", "deliver[s] laughs [...] along with offering bizarrely compelling stories in their compact time." Also reviewing the DVD set, Clark Douglas of DVD Verdict
deemed the episode to be one of the highlights.
American Dad! (season 4)
American Dad!s fourth season originally aired on the Fox network from September 28, 2008 to May 27, 2009. The season consisted of twenty episodes and was released as two DVD box sets and in syndication...
of the animated television series American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
It originally aired on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on October 5, 2008. In the episode, Roger's credit card is maxed out and he is certain it is identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
. He vows revenge and discovers that a man named Sidney Huffman is responsible. When he is about to burn down Sidney's apartment, he realizes that Sidney is not who he seems to be. Meanwhile, the rest of the Smith family gets sucked into a game of Simon
Simon (game)
Simon is an electronic game of memory skill invented by Ralph H. Baer and Howard J. Morrison, with the software programming being done by Lenny Cope and manufactured and distributed by Milton Bradley. Simon was launched in 1978 at Studio 54 in New York City and became an immediate success. It...
.
The episode was written by Chris and Matt McKenna and directed by Tim Parsons. It was the first episode to have a Roger-centric main story. The episode's story came from the writer's obsession with The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
, and the original concept would include Jeff Lebowski being Roger's alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
. "The One That Got Away" received positive reviews from critics and was viewed by 6.85 million viewers in its original airing. The episode features guest performances of Diana Delano, John DiMaggio
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio is an American voice actor. A native of North Plainfield, New Jersey, he is known for his gruff, deep voice and New Jersey accent, which he uses to voice mainly villains and anti-heroes.-Filmography:...
and J.K. Simmons.
Plot
The episode begins with the family staging an intervention with Roger about his alcoholismAlcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. They also express concern that he may have an inferiority complex
Inferiority complex
An inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person...
because he spends so much time in disguises. Roger dismisses their concerns, but shortly afterwards discovers that someone has maxed out his credit card. Vowing revenge, he discovers that one Sidney Huffman is responsible. Roger begins to destroy Sidney's life by ruining his employment and telling lies to Huffman's girlfriend Judy Panawits, resulting in her breaking off the relationship. He then sneaks into Sidney's apartment one night, and begins pouring fuel everywhere, intending to burn the apartment to the ground. He then sees a photograph of Sidney and Judy, which shows that Sidney and Roger are the same person.
Four days earlier, Sidney wakes up in bed. He is shown to be a lovable, humble and polite Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
salesman, soon to be proposing to Judy. However over the next few days he discovers the trail of destruction that Roger has set for him. Calling Roger to tell him to stop, Sidney only encounters an abusive message, and realizes that Roger is not going to stop until he is done with Sidney.
The scene then returns to the point where Roger realized that he and Sidney were the same person. At this point a hitman, hired by Sidney, enters and attempts to kill Roger. Desperate, Roger locates Judy at her department store workplace, and admits to her that he is both Roger and Sidney together. While trying to determine what the password was to call off the hit, the hitman enters the store and takes aim at Roger again. Roger hides in a dressing room while the hitman threatens Judy. Glad of the distraction, Roger attempts to make an escape but is stopped when he is confronted by his Sidney personality in the mirror. Once they are face to face, Roger suddenly remembers how this split-personality came about - it was part of a convoluted scheme to steal a pair of black leather gloves from Judy's department store. He spent $700 to buy a necklace as part of the plan to get the ten dollar pair of gloves. To do this he took out a credit card in the name of Sidney, which was the name the employees at the store knew him by; but after the theft was discovered and Judy was fired for it, Roger's guilt forced the personality split, causing him to live as "clean" Sidney through the daytime, and his normal self at night-times. Admitting all of this to Sidney, Roger accepts Sidney's suggestion that together they can bring out the best in each other. They embrace, and Sidney calls out the correct password to the hitman, stopping the hit. Roger then stabs Sidney in the back, causing the death of his persona. He confronts Judy, and decides to resume his relationship with her, but as Roger this time. The episode ends with them walking off together, hand in hand with Judy revealing she is a hermaphrodite
Hermaphrodite
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family becomes obsessed with playing a game of Simon
Simon (game)
Simon is an electronic game of memory skill invented by Ralph H. Baer and Howard J. Morrison, with the software programming being done by Lenny Cope and manufactured and distributed by Milton Bradley. Simon was launched in 1978 at Studio 54 in New York City and became an immediate success. It...
. Unable to move, even to eat or relieve themselves, Klaus rescues them by setting off a smoke bomb, causing both the Simon game and Klaus himself disappear. Seconds later Klaus re-appears, fighting and killing a monster from another dimension. Klaus then says that he was gone for sixty years to him and asks how long it had been back at home.
Production
"The One That Got Away" was written by Chris and Matt McKenna and directed by Tim Parsons. Jennifer Graves served as the assistant director. Co-creator Mike Barker considered it "maybe our most ambiguous episode to date", being the first episode to feature just Roger in the A-story. It was also the first nonlinear episode they had done, with Chris McKenna noting that the second act take place in the same place as the first. Chris and Matt McKenna came up with the storyline via their "obsession" with The Big LebowskiThe Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
, imaging how funny it would be if someone urinated on Roger's rug and then he had to figure out who had come after him. Jeff Lebowski would turn out to be an alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
of Roger, and that got them thinking of storylines involving Roger and his multiple persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
s, and if "one of them got away." The original story for the episode was that Roger would wake up in Shanghai and in trouble, caused by an evil persona. Chris and Matt McKenna pitched it to Barker, who declined it. They later rewrote it, this time making his persona "the good guy", and the opposite of Roger. Director Tim Parsons tried to make a difference between Roger's world and his alter ego Sidney's world, making the colors in Sidney's world "pastelly
Pastel
Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
" and the backgrounds softer.
Co-creator Seth MacFarlane
Seth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American animator, writer, comedian, producer, actor, singer, voice actor, and director best known for creating the animated sitcoms Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, for which he also voices many of the shows' various characters.A native of Kent,...
, who provides the voice of Roger, also provided the voice of Sidney. MacFarlane is often very busy and does not have time to read the script before the table read. However, before voicing Sidney, the producers asked him if he could read the script the night before, to come up with a voice that sounded like an "old-fashioned Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
." Rachael MacFarlane
Rachael MacFarlane
Rachael Ann MacFarlane is an American voice actress best known for her appearances in Codename: Kids Next Door as supreme leader Numbuh 362 and the FOX animated series Family Guy and American Dad!, both created and executive-produced by her older brother Seth MacFarlane.Aside from voice acting,...
provided the voice of Judy Panawits. Diane Delano
Diane Delano
Diane A. Delano is an American character actress, sometimes credited as Diana Delano. Her best known roles might be "Bobbi Glass" as well as her twin sister nurse "Jessi Glass "on the 1999 series Popular and the recurring character "Barbara Semanski" on Northern Exposure...
, John DiMaggio
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio is an American voice actor. A native of North Plainfield, New Jersey, he is known for his gruff, deep voice and New Jersey accent, which he uses to voice mainly villains and anti-heroes.-Filmography:...
and J.K. Simmons guest starred in the episode.
Reception
In its original broadcast on October 5, 2008, "The One That Got Away" was viewed by 6.85 million viewers, according to the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. It finished first in its timeslot, acquiring a 3.5 rating in the 18–49 demographic. The episode finished third in total viewership among the shows in the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox.
Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
enjoyed the Roger story, but criticized the B-story involving the Smiths and Klaus, saying that it "didn't fit with what was going on, and thus distracted from the story." However, he praised the episode for being "great, albeit slightly imperfect" and "surprisingly solid" to be a Roger-centric story. He gave the episode a B rating, the best grade of the night, beating the Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
and The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. While reviewing the American Dad! Volume 4
American Dad! (season 4)
American Dad!s fourth season originally aired on the Fox network from September 28, 2008 to May 27, 2009. The season consisted of twenty episodes and was released as two DVD box sets and in syndication...
DVD set, Thomas Spurlin of DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
, wrote that the episode, alongside "Spring Break-Up" and "Escape from Pearl Bailey
Escape from Pearl Bailey
"Escape from Pearl Bailey" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on November 9, 2008...
", "deliver[s] laughs [...] along with offering bizarrely compelling stories in their compact time." Also reviewing the DVD set, Clark Douglas of DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict is a judicial themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. Current editor in chief is Michael Stailey, who also reviews for Rotten Tomatoes...
deemed the episode to be one of the highlights.