It's Good to Be Queen

Unreferenced|date=October 2007|section called "Cultural references"Infobox American Dad! episode
Title =It's Good to Be Queen
Series =American Dad!


Caption =Stan with his Homecoming Queen
Season =1
Episode =19
Airdate =February 26, 2006
Production =1AJN19
Writer =Alison McDonald
Director =Rodney Clouden
Guests =
newspaper_headline = "Michelle Kwan Finally Dishonors Family"
Episode list =List of American Dad! episodes
Season list = Infobox_American_Dad!_Season_1
Prev =Finances with Wolves
Next =Roger 'n' Me

__NOTOC__"It's Good to be Queen" is an episode of the animated series "American Dad!".

Plot

The episode begins with a flashback to Stan's high school years, when he was tricked by three mean guys who assure him that the Homecoming Queen wants to dance with him. However, they pull a prank on him by dropping pigs on him (the boy in charge of obtaining pig's blood never finished reading Carrie). Humiliated, Stan swears one day he will get back at them by bringing his own Homecoming Queen.

In the present, Stan comes close to realizing his dream, planning to attend Francine's reunion - Francine was voted Homecoming Queen of her school, winning by one vote. Stan proudly attends Francine's reunion, where various items from their high-school years are brought out of storage. Among them is the Homecoming ballot box, which contains two previously uncounted votes for Francine's opponent, Betty Sue. Francine graciously concedes victory and gives her crown to the real queen, but Stan is furious to have his dream of going to a high-school reunion with the Homecoming Queen taken away from him. He starts overreacting by getting rid of anything "queen" in their hotel.

Francine is annoyed at Stan's reaction, and sarcastically suggests that he should take the real Homecoming Queen to the reunion instead of her. Unfortunately for her, Stan takes her seriously. Francine is angry at him, so to save his marriage, Stan sends his CIA double Bill to take her out to dinner while he goes to the dance with the Queen. The plan backfires when Francine decides to go to the reunion with the double. Stan realizes that Francine is what is important in his life and abandons Betty Sue before they enter the dance. He races to the restaurant where Bill took Francine only to find they've already left. He hurries back to the reunion. When Francine sees two Stans she becomes furious and steals Stan's gun. However, she is unable to tell the two Stans apart. One of them tries to calm her by apologizing and telling her he loves her, so Francine assumes the other Stan is the real one and shoots him. But it turns out that the apologizing Stan was the real Stan, and Francine is so touched by the unexpected display of emotion that she forgives him. As his double is being taken into a medical copter, Stan tells Francine that he tipped the pilots to shine their light on them while dancing.

In the meantime, Steve and Roger play water balloon pranks with Stan's mortar. They then encounter a charismatic philosopher pizza delivery man named Mitch, who shows great deals of wisdom. When Roger "accidentally" destroys his car, they allow him to use Francine's car without Hayley's knowledge (she, Klaus and her boyfriend Jeff are inside the house getting high on marijuana brownies). Steve gains personal wisdom from Mitch at each delivery. However, when Mitch takes Roger on a delivery and imparts wisdom to him, Steve feels betrayed. In anger, he throws all the pizzas into the river. Upon arriving home, he learns that Mitch has lost his job. Steve gets the real picture; that Mitch didn't fail him, he failed Mitch. With the lesson learned, Mitch walks down the street and disappears. Yet Steve believes he will be back in three days (to move his car for street sweeping.)

Cultural references

* The title is a reference to Mel Brooks's catchphrase "It's good to be king", from the movie "History of the World, Part I".
* The names Mary Kate Olsen, Markie Post, Hugh Hefner, Frank Langella, Andy Rooney, Danny Bonaduce, Charlton Heston, Tara Reid, and Stockard Channing can be seen on the CIA Death Pool.
* Stan attended the John De Lorean high school. The doors of the high school opened upwards, like the doors of the De Lorean DMC-12.
* In the restaurant scene, Stan's double requests that the waiter hire a violin player who can play Francine's favorite song, "Little Red Corvette" by Prince (though it was established in "Francine's Flashback" that Francine's favorite song was "The Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston).
* The maitre d' of the restaurant is modeled after the maitre d' in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
* Stan, or rather Stan's double, attempts to impress Francine by holding Peter Gabriel, voiced by Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd (badly singing "In your eyes" along to a boombox) above his head, alluding to the movie "Say Anything". However, the character is in fact Gabriel Byrne. When Byrne finally tells "Stan" (or Stan's double) that he took the wrong Gabriel, "Stan" throws him aside.
* The music played as Stan and Francine dance in the last part is "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS.
* Francine shooting Stan's double, because she thought he was Stan, is a scene used before in several films and movies with evil twin plot-lines.
* Klaus describes a band filled with Star Wars characters, but he forgets to include Yoda.
* Francine's high school friend "Quackie" may be a reference to the character of a similar name in the 1986 film Pretty in Pink, in the 1986 film Duckie is infamous for acting effeminate, and in this episode he reveals to Francine that he is gay. Both are played by actor Jon Cryer.