‘American Auto’ Recap: ‘Celebrity’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

AMERICAN AUTO -- "Celebrity" Episode 203 -- Pictured: (l-r) Jon Barinholtz as Wesley, Andy Richter as himself -- (Photo by: Greg Gayne/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 203 of ‘American Auto’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Something that is genuinely fascinating about our modern world, is that… there is now a formula for recovering from failure. One that involves apologizing and doing our best to make amends and moving on if by chance we cannot… because at long last… we are starting to acknowledge failure as part of the human condition. Which is a big deal to say the least, since it has been viewed in a negative light for a very long time. But clearly, we are slowly evolving to think about such concepts, to the point where failure, and all that surrounds it, is being explored in popular culture. To reinforce how failure and learning permeates every corner of our world, including the corporate world, as evidenced by this week’s episode of American Auto on NBC.
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For ‘Celebrity’ is a story that saw the good people at Payne Motors, work to begin to move on after the whole fire incident, and since Katherine had already handled the apology portion, the time had come to start buckling down and preparing for the next phase of the company’s comeback. Which in this instance, involved getting their hands on a celebrity spokesperson, to add gravity to this next chapter for Payne and the search for the right celeb wasn’t going all that well. Because Kevin Costner was their top choice and he bowed out because he had a ranch that was damaged in ‘the incident’, which pushed the team look for someone that was a beloved celebrity and could really connect with people on a fundamental level, and would back Payne, despite its mistakes. And after some spit balling and a name drop from Wesley, the team decided… on Andy Richter.

Who they rightfully saw as the perfect everyman to sell their product and after pitching him the opportunity to help Payne Motors revitalize their image, Andy agreed. Which led to a wonderfully (awkward) visit to the company’s headquarters. Wherein a misunderstanding forced Elliot to give up his Ferrari to Andy and where… Wesley embarrassed himself every step the way by being as awkward as can be. Including a hilarious encounter with Andy in the men’s room. But while this moment made it seem as though our newfound understanding of failure wasn’t going to be explored in the slightest, since this was all a giant win and a push in the right direction for Payne Motors… a simple off the cuff comment from Andy, brought about the lesson in question.

Because Andy mentioned that Ryan Reynolds was also a fan of the company, and that prompted Katherine and Sadie to delay Andy long enough to pitch the spokesperson job to Ryan personally. Which meant, the show landed a HUGE cameo and that… Andy was going to be fed some bad news. Because Ryan was down to stand by Payne. Which led to an awkward conversation about going in a different direction… and some serious failure. Since Ryan’s people called back to let everyone know, he wasn’t interested. Leaving the team with nothing outside of a lesson on failure. In that, it will happen time and time again in the corporate and everyday world. Because that’s how life goes and sometimes shooting for the stars when we’re starting over, doesn’t quite go the way we want it to. But at least we’re giving it our all, and that is indeed what is happening here.

For this crew really is trying their best to set things right and grow and heal this company’s image, and it is quite amazing to find that subtle message buried in a comedy show, and to see a show address failure in an honest light, period. Plus, we’d be foolish to not point out, that it was also wondrous to see Jack start moving up further in the world, regardless of the weird manner in which he made it happen and well, in the end… this was just another delightful episode from one of the smartest comedies on the air. Because this level of philosophical depth and continuity is rare in this genre, but this series is making it happen in a simple and impactful manner and it will be interesting to see what other unique lessons and ups and downs await us as we spend more time in the C-Suite at Payne Motors. Until next time.

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