Family vacations can be a bit of a mixed bag — a rewarding experience or a total train wreck. But American Dad‘s Stan Smith found a way to avoid the potential negatives that benefited everyone. Well, as long as the Smith family didn’t mind having their vacation in virtual reality.
Those who’ve watched American Dad know that Stan has many bad personality traits, and a big one is his selfishness. It’s frequently on display even in his most minor interactions, like the time his egotistical nature led him to drive his own family into destitution just to defeat a used car salesman in a negotiation. But when it came to family vacations, Stan actually seemed to be somewhat generous.
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The family went on lavish, unforgettable trips that always went off without a hitch because they were programmed that way. Every year, Stan brought three virtual reality tanks home from the CIA, then dumped Francine, Hayley and Steve in them as detailed in Season 3, Episode 1. He basically left them in an Inception-like situation.
Keeping in mind that Inception is based on the idea of invading people’s dreams through a shared subconscious as a form of corporate espionage, Stan’s plan went in a slightly different direction. He wasn’t so much manipulating their dreams as he was planting extensive and intricate false memories in their minds, which was part of the gambit that played out in Inception to an extent.
Stan’s family believed they were on vacation, but they were actually suspended in a viscous green goo. Once again, Stan’s selfishness shone through. Essentially, he did this so he and Klaus could hang out and watch sports without being interrupted by the rest of the family’s nonsense. They were none too impressed since they were left questioning what was real and what wasn’t, much like what happens to the human mind after watching Inception.
Realistically, none of the Smith family are particularly good people. Steve and Hayley once intentionally broke up a couple because they were interested in them. As such, it wasn’t a surprise when they each dumped the rest of the family in the goo, which only made Francine more upset. All she wanted was a nice vacation with her family but all everyone else wanted was alone time.
Francine eventually guilted them into going on a real cruise. The problem was she no longer trusted reality. Something similar happened in Inception as the people rampaging through other’s dreams started to lose track of what was real and what wasn’t. In Francine’s case, this led to her jumping off the cruise ship to prove they were still in the goo.
Unfortunately, the family eventually ended up trapped on an island where they were hunted by lunatics. They had to eat Steve’s brand new girlfriend, Becky, to survive. The whole thing turned out to be a game, and eating Becky probably wasn’t necessary. None of that was implanted memories, though the Smiths probably wished they were.
While the goo was fake, the fun wasn’t. The whole thing might have been born from Stan’s selfishness, but the memories the family shared once all four of them went into the Inception-like tanks were very real, which is kind of sweet in its own way. But next time the Smiths return from one of their goo vacations, they should probably try spinning a top to make sure they’re in the real world.
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