‘American Auto’ Recap: ‘Young Designers’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

AMERICAN AUTO -- "Young Designers" Episode 207 -- Pictured: (l-r) Michael Benjamin Washington as Cyrus, Harriet Dyer as Sadie, Ana Gasteyer as Katherine -- (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 207 of ‘American Auto’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One particular belief that the general public harbors regarding major corporations and corporate America as a whole… is that corporations are woefully out of touch with the real world. And that belief exists through the actions of corporations. Who oft make business decisions that are grounded in the dollar but rarely in the interest of the employee, and of course… just how they interact with the general public via social media tends to clue us in further regarding that disconnect. Leaving all of us to wonder if there will ever come a day when corporate America will find a way to return to its human roots and understand that people are what keep them thriving in every facet of their business.
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But until they do, or if they do, the awkwardness of corporate America will exist and in turn… offer up some wondrous entertainment for certain, courtesy of shows such as American Auto on NBC. Since this brilliant satire, knows how to mine the detachment between everyday America and corporate America for comedic gold, as evidenced by this week’s episode. For ‘Young Designers’ is a story that took the C-Suite team out of the office at Payne Motors and plopped them firmly down upon Main Street. For the team swung by a nearby school to celebrate an annual car design contest that Payne Motors held each year. Which should have allowed for a heartwarming celebration of innovation to take place, and at first it seemed that was going to be the case.

However, a simple off the cuff comment from Katherine, led to a day of distress for part of the team. Since she offended multiple nations that worked with Payne Motors, prompting the most epic apology crafting in the history of apologies. A wild and oft hilarious sequence that stuck with the theme since it informed us… as to how messaging in a corporate setting, is a strange and confusing process. One where every single word and inflection must be carefully crafted and paid mind to, otherwise… more investors and customers will be unhappy. Truly helping us to understand how the corporate world relies heavily on perfection from a communication standpoint, something we don’t think of too often in our everyday lives and that does… create a detachment from the everyday world.

Yet while watching the communications team figure out the precise inflection of words for Katherine to speak to was indeed entertaining and oft hilarious, it was wonderfully bookended by the madness that took place on the design floor. Since Wesley basically made it clear that anything and everything can happen in a corporate office from a career standpoint since it is a world with different rules… all by embarrassing Jack in front of his former teacher. And Cyrus, well he taught us that how the corporate world views innovation is vastly different than how the rest of us do. Since he saw a slick design from a student as nothing more than an attack on his own work, one that required the work of lawyers to make right. 

All of which basically made this… a unique fish out of water story. One where the Payne team happened to be the school of fish, and all of their dealings in this tale… brought forth one hilarious episode. Simply because this team was woefully out of touch and unprepared to deal with the everyday folks of the world, and that truly hammered home the divide between Main Street and Corporate America and how perhaps… the corporate world has created its own vacuum by isolating itself from normalcy. Which is the kind of musing that good satire brings forth, and now that the team has survived a strange back to school season, it will be interesting to see what other awkward moments they will get into as season two continues along. Until next time.   

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