American Dad! has teased out the future of the central characters multiple times over the years, but along the way, two dark futures have been teased out that take the world of American Dad! into some horrifying post-apocalyptic directions. While both -- "Rapture's Delight" and "The Two Hundred" -- are initially nightmare worlds, only one was best for the Smiths.
"Rapture's Delight" was the Christmas episode for American Dad!'s fifth season. On Christmas Day, Stan's rigid religious beliefs ended up bristling against Francine. When they were left behind during the Rapture while Steve and Hayley were successfully taken to Heaven, an ensuing fight resulted in the pair breaking up -- with Francine finding love with the resurrected Jesus. As years passed, the war between the forces of Heaven and Hell ripped the Earth to shreds, and Stan became a loner, surviving through the chaos as a mercenary. When the Anti-Christ was able to kidnap Francine, Jesus turned to Stan for assistance. Working together, the pair saved Francine and killed the Anti-Christ., but Stan was mortally wounded in the process, going to his own Heaven --reestablishing the show's typical status quo.
Meanwhile, Season 12's "The Two Hundred" imagined a different, more unexpectedly sci-fi-based end of days. While touring a Hadron-Collider, Roger was trapped inside the device and bombarded with the supercharged atom. This resulted in all of Roger's personas being given bodies of their own while causing a global EMP that wiped out all electricity. Away on a mission at the time, Stan fought his way back to Langley Falls through a desolate world to be reunited with his family. Finding Roger and Greg along the way, the Smith family is reunited just as they're surrounded by the other survivors of Langley Falls -- now a cannibalistic society under the rule of Avery Bullock -- and the "The Two Hundred," a united force of Roger's various personas. Thankfully they're saved by Jeff and a mutated, giant Klaus.
Both episodes share some inherent similarities, as they focus on Stan as he tries to pick up the pieces of the shattered world while separated from his family, so he becomes a broken man as a result. Both also feature Stan exploring desolate landscapes, referencing plenty of post-apocalyptic media.
Plus, these episode include Roger as an unexpected wild card. In "Rapture's Delight," his attempt to escape a doomed Earth with his spaceship allows Stan and Jesus to find the Anti-Christ, while the army of Rogers in "The Two Hundred" are enough of a distraction for the Smiths to escape the cannibalistic horde and find a way to begin a peaceful new life.
"Rapture's Delight" is often held up as one of the show's best episodes. Fully embracing the fantasy tone without forgetting the bizarre and dark sense of humor that defines the series, "Rapture's Delight" ends on a tragic note. Stan gives his life for the woman he loved and the man she's with, and he will never truly be with her again. He's separated from his family once and for all -- even if his heavenly reward for his sacrifices is the chance of more or less being with a perfect facsimile of his family.
"The Two Hundred," conversely, ends with the family genuinely united. Despite the chaos of the world in that future, Francine is able to remain alongside Hayley and Steve long enough to find Stan and save him from a cannibalistic Principal Lewis. The episode ends with all of them together decades later, having grown into a large tight-knit family of quietly dignified farmers -- the same kind of family unit Stan and Francine often wished they could become in various episodes of the series. More importantly, the episode reaffirms that their familial connection is strong enough to survive the end of all things. While "Rapture's Delight" may be a funnier and a more important episode in the history of the show, "The Two Hundred" presents a genuinely happy ending for the Smith family.
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