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"Rapture's Delight" is the third Christmas episode of the FOX animated series American Dad!

Synopsis[]

SPOILER: Plot details or story follow.
AmDad RapturesDelight2

As the Smith family goes to church on Christmas morning, Stan is frustrated dealing with those that are only religious on holidays. To relieve Stan's stress, Francine has sex with Stan in the janitor's closet as the world ends, leaving them, along with the other non Christians, Father Donavan, the slow janitor, and Roger, on Earth as over 142 million Christians, along with Hayley and Steve, float up to Heaven. Stan and Francine find out about what coming days will be like and ponder their fate. Steve and Hayley are escorted to their own personal Heavens by Michelle, with Steve finding out his is a virgin riding a unicorn that poops pepper-jack cheeseburgers. Stan finds out that Jesus will be appearing and tries to blame Francine for getting left behind. Francine becomes angry and leaves Stan, meeting the real Jesus in a diner. Stan finds out that his Jesus is fake but when he tries to make up with Francine she has decided to leave Stan for good for Jesus.

During the Seven years or the Tribulations, Stan has found himself a bitter, scarred and no longer willing warrior for Christ. He has also has Klaus as mantelpiece in his new home. Jesus seeks him out to let him know that Francine has been captured by the Anti-Christ. Stan reluctantly agrees to help rescue Francine in exchanged for being raptured to Heaven. They need to get Roger to use his spaceship to fly them to New York and the United Nations Building to confront the Anti-Christ which they are able to repower using the Golden Turd. They rescue Francine but fall into a trap from which they manage to escape but not before Stan is mortally injured. Francine finds that Stan still keeps their wedding rings and realizes he still loved her.

Stan dies in the explosion and is sent to Heaven; when guided to his "personalized heaven" we see that it is his home just as it was at the beginning of the episode, the only difference being Klaus' dead fish body (from earlier in the episode) being mounted on a plaque hanging on the wall.

Spoilers end here.

Trivia[]

  • When Roger is dressed as Moses, the six commandments on his tablets are "Surf", "Dooble", "Chow", "Party", "Helmet", and "Sleep".
  • At the arena where the fake Jesus is to appear, the 1980s rock group of Hall and Oates was to appear, however, John Oates had apparently been Raptured, leaving Darryl Hall behind. In a notable twist, Daryl Hall had just previously appeared as an angel and John Oates as a devil in The Cleveland Show episode "A Brown Thanksgiving".
  • When Jesus rides his motorcycle into New Denver, he passes a hanging skeleton wearing a football uniform bearing #7 which was John Elway's number for the Denver Broncos.
  • When Roger is looking for his spaceship parts, he holds up a sweatshirt that says "Hard Rock Cafe Tucson". However, there isn't one there.
  • This is one of the few episodes where Klaus has no lines as he's seen only as mantlepiece.
  • When Stan and Jesus enter The Anti-Christ's hall, a parody of the movie The Omen's theme "Ave Satani" starts to play.
  • Michelle returns in this episode with a new job as an escort to people's personal Heaven.
  • In the bar when Jesus comes to recruit Stan, the song "Barael's Blade" by The Sword is playing in the background.
  • The Anti-Christ appears in "Season's Beatings", as Jeff and Hayley's son, Nemo.
  • Setting aside the show's recorded sitcom setting, Hayley ascended to Heaven despite being an atheist like she has claimed to be in "Roger Codger" and "Dope & Faith". But it is also possible that like Greg's homosexuality, God didn't care.
  • The DVD commentary touches on the notion that everything from this point on is still part of Stan's personal Heaven. However, Klaus is seen alive, and Steve and Hayley are still on earth in subsequent episodes, suggesting that this episode is actually non-canon.

References[]

  • The episode's title may be a reference to the song Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang. Rapper's Delight was in turn a direct inspiration for the Blondie song "Rapture".
  • The Anti-Christ's costume is styled after the Riddler from Batman.
  • The music and setting of the world after the Tribulations are reminiscent of John Carpenter films, notably the Escape From New York/Escape From LA films.
  • In the final battle, Jesus is seen wearing two "Holy hand-grenade"s which is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
  • The final scene of Klaus wearing the Santa hat is reminiscent of the final scene of several film versions of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, notably the 1970 version of Scrooge when Scrooge places the Santa hat on the door knocker.
  • When Jesus enters the bar to recruit Stan, Lord Humungous and many of the other raiders from The Road Warrior can be seen in the background.
  • One of the people in the bar wears clothing reminiscent of Dengar's from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Jesus' comment regarding his father's dead jester is a reference to Yorick in Hamlet.
  • During the fight with the Anti-Christ when Stan shoots the wisemen down from the ceiling, he says, "It's raining wisemen, hallelujah." This is a reference to the Weather Girls' song "It's Raining Men".

See also[]

External links[]

20th Century
Movies
Miracle on 34th Street (1955 remake) (1973 remake) (1994 remake) • Die HardDie Hard 2Home AloneHome Alone 2: Lost in New YorkGeorge Balanchine's The NutcrackerTrapped in ParadiseJingle All the WayHome Alone 4The Family StoneDeck the Halls12 Men of ChristmasHome Alone: The Holiday HeistJingle All the Way 2Home Sweet Home Alone
Television episodes and specials
20th Television
M*A*S*H "Dear Dad" • "Dear Sis" • "Death Takes a Holiday" • "All About Christmas Eve"
Tracey Ullman "Santa Baby" • "Kay's Gift" • "Merry Catnip"
The X Files "Christmas Carol" • "Emily" • "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas"
Malcolm in the Middle "Christmas" • "Christmas Trees" • "Pearl Harbor" • "Hal's Christmas Gift
Bones "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" • "The Santa in the Slush" • "The Goop on the Girl"
How I Met Your Mother "How Lily Stole Christmas" • "Little Minnesota" • "False Positive" • "Symphony of Illumination" • "The Over-Correction" • "The Final Page, Part 1" • "The Final Page, Part 2"
Glee "A Very Glee Christmas" • "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" • "Glee, Actually" • "Previously Unaired Christmas"
New Girl "The 23rd" • "Santa" • "LAXmas" • "Christmas Eve Eve"
The Mindy Project "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" • "Christmas Party Sex Trap" • "Christmas" • "When Mindy Met Danny"
Last Man Standing "Last Christmas Standing" • "Putting a Hit on Christmas" • "Elfie" • "Wedding Planning" • "Gift of the Wise Man"
Other shows "Christmas Story" • "The Worst Noel" • "Haus Arrest" • "Amends" • "Blue Christmas" • "A Christmas Story" • "Cookies for Santa" • "In God We Trust" • "Road to Tradition" • "Afternoon Delight" • "Christmas" • "The Glitch That Stole Christmas" • "Secret Santa"
20th Television Animation
The Simpsons "Simpson Christmas" • "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" • "Marge Be Not Proud" • "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" • "Grift of the Magi" • "Skinner's Sense of Snow" • "She of Little Faith" • "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" • "Simpson Christmas Stories" • "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" • "The Fight Before Christmas" • "Holidays of Future Passed" • "White Christmas Blues" • "I Won't Be Home for Christmas • "The Nightmare After Krustmas" • "'Tis the 30th Season" • "Bobby, It's Cold Outside" • "The Way of The Dog" • "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas" • "Manger Things" • Feliz Navidad
King of the Hill "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" • "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" • "Hillennium" • "'Twas the Nut Before Christmas" • "The Father, the Son, and J.C." • "Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane" • "Ms. Wakefield"
Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" • "The Best Christmas Story Never" • "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" • "Rapture's Delight" • "A Cleveland Brown Christmas" • "Road to the North Pole" • "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" • "Murray Christmas" • "Season's Beatings" • "Die Semi-Hard" • "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" • "'Tis the Cleveland To Be Sorry" • "Minstrel Krampus" • "Christmas Guy" • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" • "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" • "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" • "Ninety North, Zero West" • "Gifted Me Liberty" • "Don't Be a Dickens At Christmas" • "Santa, Schmanta" • "Christmas is Coming" • "Yule. Tide. Repeat." • "The First No L" • "Christmas Crime" • "The Return of the King (of Queens)"
Futurama "Xmas Story" • "A Tale of Two Santas" • "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" • "I Know What You Did Next Xmas"
Bob's Burgers "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins" • "Christmas in the Car" • "Father of the Bob" • "Nice-Capades" • "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" • "The Bleakening" • "Better Off Sled" • "Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas" • "Yachty or Nice" • "Gene's Christmas Break" • "The Plight Before Christmas" • "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas"
Other cartoons "Hook's Christmas" • "A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman" • Olive, the Other ReindeerIce Age: A Mammoth Christmas • "The War on Grafelnik" • "Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard" • "A Very Solar Holiday Opposites Special" • "Dip the Halls Adventure" • "Xmas with The Skanks Adventure"
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