For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls
Stan gives Steve a rifle; Santa seeks revenge.
"For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" is the eighth episode of the seventh season of American Dad!, originally airing on Fox on December 12, 2010. It is the fourth Christmas special for the series and was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2010. The episode was written by Erik Durbin and directed by Bob Bowen.
Quick Facts
- Series
- American Dad!
- Season
- 7
- Episode
- 8
- Air date
- 12 December 2010
- Production
- 5AJN22
- Writer
- Erik Durbin
- Director
- Bob Bowen
- Guests
- Clancy Brown as liquor store manager
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Stan remains unwilling to accept Jeff Fischer as part of the household, ignoring Francine's push to include him in holiday customs. Over her objections, Stan gives Steve an AK-47 for Christmas, and Steve accidentally shoots a mall Santa, leaving him so traumatized he vows to never touch a firearm again. Roger, struggling to get drunk, seeks the world's strongest whiskey and ends up with a hillbilly moonshiner named Bob Todd in the Chimdale Mountains, who takes him under his wing. Stan talks Steve into hiding the body from Francine and checking the Santa's fingerprint, but the CIA database has no match, so Stan drops it. Francine finds the corpse anyway, and during the burial she scolds them for not letting her remove the hands and smash the teeth. Threatening letters arrive the next day, and the news reports that nobody feels like Christmas, as if Santa were dead. When they dig up the body, it is gone. An elf reveals they buried the real Santa, who is now healing in a North Pole bacta tank and swears revenge. The Smiths flee to Bob Todd's cabin with Roger.
Production
The episode was penned by series writer Erik Durbin and helmed by series director Bob Bowen, marking the twenty-second installment in the fifth season’s production order. A black-and-white preview of its opening minutes was shown at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2010. The writing team aimed for a gory story, with Durbin noting that the room pushed for maximum bloodshed, frequently citing the film 300 as a template. It carried a TV-14 rating, which series co-creator Seth MacFarlane joked would keep kids away since they treat ratings like scripture. He added that the episode teaches children Santa is real, albeit as a murderous lunatic. At the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles in August 2010, MacFarlane and the cast promoted the hundredth episode and held a table read of this one. St. Louis Post-Dispatch critic Gail Pennington observed that the episode features a massive elf slaughter. August Burns Red’s cover of “Carol of the Bells” appears in the soundtrack. Series regulars Matt McKenna voiced Santa Claus and Erik Durbin voiced moonshiner Bob Todd, while guest star Clancy Brown voiced the liquor store manager.
Cultural references
The episode's title spoofs the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls and the Metallica song it inspired. Its violent, bloody action borrows from the film 300. Roger leaps over moonshine barrels while Bob Todd teaches him distilling, echoing the Donkey Kong games. Santa’s army includes Frosty the Snowman, who is collared and chained by elves in a direct nod to the cave-troll scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Jeff stabs Santa using the polar bear helmet from The Golden Compass. GH-7 medical droids from Star Wars help Santa recover in a tank, much like Luke Skywalker’s recuperation in The Empire Strikes Back.
Reception
It was viewed by 6.26 million viewers, up 18% in total viewership from the last episode, and acquired a 3.1 rating in the 18–49 demographic, up 24%. Critical reception was mixed. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club wrote that American Dad thrives at this time of year but the too-lengthy action sequence killed humorous momentum; she gave a B rating, second best of the night. Jessica Russell of TV Guide Canada praised the episode as an anti-Christmas episode, giving props to Seth MacFarlane for pulling off the ultimate anti-Christmas episode. Scott D. Pierce of The Salt Lake Tribune called it "bloody" but not "cool", labeling it derivative trash and comparing it to Bad Santa and Futurama's Robot Santa, concluding that MacFarlane and his minions did uninspired, unoriginal work. Jason Hughes of TV Squad was positive, noting that Santa will return next year to try to finish the job and wondering if MacFarlane would give a sequel.
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