I Am the Walrus (American Dad!)

"**I Am the Walrus**"
"I Am the Walrus"
American Dad! episode
Episode no.	Season 7; Episode 13
Directed by	Tim Parsons
Written by	Keith Heisler
Production code	5AJN21
Original air date	March 27, 2011
Episode chronology
← Previous; "You Debt Your Life"	Next →; "School Lies"
	American Dad! season 7
	List of episodes

"I Am the Walrus" is the thirteenth episode of the

marriage counseling

.

"I Am the Walrus" was directed by Tim Parsons, with Jennifer Graves serving as co-director for the episode, and was written by Keith Heisler. It featured guest appearances from

Nielsen ratings

.

Plot

The Smith family have dinner together, and

Francine about the situation in the kitchen

. Francine tells him that Stan is intimidated by him, and that he feels that he will lose his dominant position in the family. Puzzled, Steve talks to Stan about the issue and openly challenges him.

Though Steve manages to outdo him in everything, Stan is inspired by a walrus documentary to do the one thing his son can not do:

mental breakdown

. Roger explains now there's no threat to Steve challenging Stan, and no threat of Steve's future son, who shall never be born, challenging him. Stan later apologizes to him, and admits to having failed to raise him to be a man.

Meanwhile,

Jeff and Hayley decide to take marriage counseling after continuously getting into arguments. They arrive at a class dedicated to pottery, learning the counselor is Principal Lewis. Hayley opts out of the session, but Jeff insists that she stay with the plan. The couple later arrive at Principal Lewis' home, which is an enormous mess, where he tells him that their first goal is to clean his house. Confused, Hayley and Jeff refuse, but Lewis holds them at gunpoint. Jeff later decides to use Roger's paralytic drugs to escape; Principal Lewis immediately takes them upon hearing the word "drugs" without hearing what they do, allowing Hayley and Jeff to steal his rare Mickey Mouse watch and escape. He returns to get the watch back and declares he has fixed Hayley and Jeff's relationship. After he gets his watch back, he takes more of the "Stephen Hawking pills" and is later used by Stan to teach Steve how to shave

, and Roger (as Ace Chapman) drags him away.

Production

"I Am the Walrus" was directed by series regular Tim Parsons, in his second episode of the season. This would be the first episode that Parsons would direct since the

Rick Wiener, Matt Weitzman, Eli Dolleman, and Kenny Schwartz.^[1] Diana Retchey was the animation producer for the episode, in her tenth episode of the season.^[1] Amanda Bell served as the production manager, and this episode would be Bell's tenth episode of the season where she served as the production manager.^[1]

Several recurring voice actors were featured in this episode. Curtis Armstrong, Daisuke Suzuki and Eddie Kaye Thomas guest starred as Steve's friends in the episode, while Kevin Michael Richardson would return to play his part as Principal Lewis. Jeff Fischer would return to resume his role as Hayley's husband. Armstrong, Suzuki, Thomas, and Richardson all previously reprised their roles in the season six episode "You Debt Your Life", while Fischer previously reprised his role in the season six episode "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls".^[1]

Cultural references

The episode makes several references to pop culture referencing films, music and media. When Roger takes on a persona to help Steve lose his virginity Steve exclaims his excitement to finally being able to use his dance moves. Afterwards the scene cuts to Toshi, Berry, Steve, Snot and Roger taking turns humping an ottoman in a nod to a video, that went viral in 2006, in which five teenagers danced similarly. The song "

Back to the Woods", in which James Woods eats a trail of candy and says "Ooh, a piece of candy!" repeatedly.^[2]^[6]

Reception

"I Am the Walrus" was first broadcast on March 27, 2011 as part of the animation television night on Fox. The episode ended the line-up, the first time an American Dad! episode ended the animation television night on Fox since the season seven episode "

Nielsen ratings, the third highest rating in the line-up.^[8] The episode's total viewership and ratings were significantly up from the previous episode, "You Debt Your Life", which was viewed by 4.25 million viewers upon its initial airing, and garnered a 2.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic.^[9] The episode's ratings and total viewership were also the highest since the season seven episode "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls", which was viewed by 6.26 million viewers and acquired a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic.^[7]

"I Am the Walrus" was met with mostly positive reviews from critics. Rowan Kaiser of

TV Squad also reacted positively, writing, "It was good to have American Dad back in the lineup. Roger was in fine form, and I can at least appreciate that they're trying to figure out how to make Hayley and Jeff work in the family dynamic. They never quite got there with Hayley alone, so maybe things will work better this way."^[6] However, he was more critical on the sub-plot. In his review for the episode, Hughes opined: "The B-story left me wanting. The writers are still trying to figure out the new dynamic of having Hayley married and Jeff living in the house with the Smiths. The whole thing has been barely addressed, and this week we got a fairly weak exploration of them having fairly standard marital problems."^[6]