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"Season's Beatings" is the fifth Christmas episode of the FOX animated series American Dad!.

Synopsis[]

SPOILER: Plot details or story follow.
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Stan hears of the church putting on the story of Christ at the mall and rushes to get the lead role, only to be told by Father Donovan that he is too fat. He is instead given the role of Santa Claus but when he finds out that Roger got the role of Christ he attacks and beats him senseless. Shocked at the attack, church leaders around the world universally agree to kick Stan out of all religion. When he asks if there is any way to stay in the church, he is told it is almost impossible, given that the only three acceptable ways are to kill the Anti-Christ, discover the Holy Grail, or donate large sums of money.

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Meanwhile, Jeff tries to talk Hayley into adopting a child. She says no but he adopts one anyway and names him Nemo. She is angry at first but is quickly charmed by him. While Stan is watching him, he discovers he bears the numerals 666 which is considered the mark of the beast and is convinced he is the Anti-Christ. Stan gets Father Donovan to come see the marking and they agree to go to the orphanage where Nemo came from only to find it burned to the ground. As they search the remains, Father Donovan discovers Nemo's birth papers. Nemo senses Father Donovan's discovery and causes the remains to collapse on him, severing his legs. He is able to share that Nemo is indeed Satan's son before he dies.

Stan, Roger, and Jeff travel to Vatican City to obtain a set of sacred daggers to kill the Anti-Christ. Although Stan is barred from entering the catacombs, Roger and Jeff are able to do so to search them. Nemo sees them through the eyes of a rat and causes the catacombs to flood, washing Jeff away. Roger climbs out and finds the daggers and escapes with them after attacking a Cardinal. Roger and Stan return home to discover Francine putting up Christmas lights while a possessed Steve scampers around. When Stan tells Hayley that they need to perform a ritual killing of Nemo, she fights to protect him and ends up shooting Stan. He awakes in the hospital and finds everything is back to normal. He's accepted back into the church when it turns out that Roger's eggnog "pimp" cup was really the Holy Grail. Nemo is sent off to Alaska to be raised by Sarah Palin and become the future Anti-Christ.

Spoilers end here.

Trivia[]

  • Although the episode is appears to be set before the events in "Rapture's Delight", Jeff was not present in the latter.
  • This is the second time that Stan dresses as Santa Claus, the first being in "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever".
  • Francine mentions that Muhammad Ali became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after changing religions. In reality, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
  • Unlike his Family Guy Italian counterpart, American Dad's Pope is a fairly faithful likeness to Pope Benedict XVI.
  • The chart that shows the people who are excommunicated from the church include Andy Dick and Seth MacFarlane.
  • Nemo is Omen spelled backwards.

References[]

  • The episode's title is a pun on the term "Season's Greetings".
  • The plot with Hayley and Jeff's child turning out to be the Anti-Christ is an homage to the 1976 horror film The Omen.
  • Nemo's head starts spinning and vomiting like Linda Blair's in The Exorcist.

Availability[]

The episode made its home video debut on the Family Guy Christmas: Ho Ho Holy Crap DVD, released exclusively ay f.y.e. in 2013.

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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