The One That Got Away (American Dad!)

Infobox American Dad! episode
Title =The One That Got Away
Series =American Dad!


Caption =
Season =4
Episode =2
Airdate =October 5, 2008
Production =3AJN16
Writer =
Director =
Guests =
newspaper_headline =
roger's_disguise = Jamaican Rastafarian
Episode list =List of American Dad! episodes
Season list = Infobox_American_Dad!_Season_4
Prev =1600 Candles
Next =One Little Word (American Dad!)

__NOTOC__"The One That Got Away" is a fourth season episode of the animated series "American Dad!", first aired on October 5, 2008.

Plot

When Roger discovers that someone has maxed out his credit card, he is certain it is identify theft and is determined to bring down the crook. He finds the crook to be Sydney Huffman, a lovable bible maker. After playing "Death Wish" for a few days and dishing out some street justice, he realizes things are not quite right and seem all too familiar. Finally, he realizes that Sydney is a character he created who has taken on a life of his own.

A flashback turns to Sydney, who was enjoying his life but finds that Roger had been misprinting Bibles, destroyed his garden and told his girlfriend that he has diseases. Sydney knew there was only one way to get rid of Roger -- order a hit on him. At that moment, Roger is nearly killed by the hitman hired by Sydney. Klaus advises Roger to pretend to be Sydney and call off the hit. But the hitman requires the password just in case Sydney wanted to call it off so Roger goes to his former girlfriend to ask about his favourite words. Unfortunately, the hitman comes in with his daughters and spots Roger. He hides in a change room, overhearing that the hitman is threatening to kill his girlfriend. Roger looks in a mirror and sees Sydney and remembers everything. He wanted a pair of black gloves so badly that he pretended to be a sober person to get close to the girl's key to a case. After buying a necklace he snatched the key and got the gloves but the manager blamed the girl for losing it. Roger then snaps and become Sydney and saves her career, developing MPD in the process as he was unaware of being Sydney until the beginning of the episode. Sydney gives Roger the password, which is "Password 1". Roger then stabs Sydney (who comes out of the mirror) and throws away his girlfriend. But seeing her cry, he decides to make her happy. Roger than tells his girlfriend that he's a drunk and that he has no genitals, and then she tells him that "she" has both sexual repreductive organs.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Smith family gets sucked into a mean game of Simon, while Klaus feels ignored. Unfortunately, they get addicted to it, not moving except to touch the pieces and eventually find themselves sitting in stains of week-old urine. This forces Klaus to use a smoke bomb to make it disappear, along with himself. The Smith family is overjoyed that Klaus has freed from the "spell". Another puff of smoke appears, revealing a strange sea creature that Klaus slays from the inside with a sword. Klaus claims to have been gone for sixty years from his perspective, and that he was crowned king of whatever place is was he had transported to.

Notes

*Francine references Professor Jordan Edelstein, which was Roger's character in "Camp Refoogee".
*The woman behind Roger at the convenience store appears to be the liquor store cashier that Roger claimed to have a crush on in "The Magnificent Steven".
*When the hitman appears at Sydney's apartment, his hand are bare but when he takes the shot at Roger, he is wearing a glove on his gun hand.

Cultural references

* Francine finds a Simon game when she moved the couch, and then they become addicted to the game.
* Roger talked about Death Wish.
* Roger's cell phone appears to be an iPhone.
* Pizza Uno is mentioned around the end of the episode.
* The girlfriend is a reference to Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors.
* In Sydney's room, there is a poster for the movie "The Glenn Miller Story", and his alarm plays "PEnnsylvania 6-5000", by Glenn Miller.
* Sydney has a very similar look to a Jimmy Stewart nice guy. He even has a similar dialect.
* When the hitman's daughter begins crying, he calls her "Little Miss Fusshine", in reference to the film "Little Miss Sunshine".
* Roger's dilemma recalls that of the nameless protagonist in "Fight Club", who learns he has been maintaining a separate and completely unknown to him alter-ego, Tyler Durden. Ironically, while Tyler, the film's protagonist's other self, is antagonistic and amoral, Roger's other self is kind and morally upright.
* While Roger is waiting for his credit card to be run he hums the beginning of the German national anthem.
* When Sydney gets a call from Roger, he mentions that he may be dyslexic and angry at Disney.