The town gasps. But then the real Grumblebeak shows up—it had just been napping behind the dumpster. It sees the clones, screeches, and a massive bird brawl erupts. Stan uses the chaos to escape. Francine hands him a beer.
Steve, Snot, Barry, and Toshi decide to clone Grumblebeak using a DNA sample from a feather. They convert the kitchen into a “Jurassic Park but boring” lab. Steve: “We just need a surrogate egg.” Barry (holds up a giant mayonnaise jar): “I’ll lay it.” Snot: “That’s not—never mind.”
Klaus, jealous of the bird’s attention, tries to expose Stan. He trains a pigeon to carry a tiny sign reading “FAKE GROUSE.” Roger intercepts the pigeon and uses it as a hat. American Dad- - Season 21Eps4
INT. ROGER’S ATTIC - NIGHT Roger is preening in front of a mirror. He has the six clone grouses as his new “backup squad.” They’re dressed in tiny berets. Roger: “We’re starting a mime troupe. No sounds. Just judgment.” The grouses slowly turn their heads. Freeze frame. Klaus (in a bowl nearby): “I wanted to be the mime.” Roger: “Shut up, fish. You’re the tiny bicycle.”
Stan hides the body in Roger’s closet. But the town mourns. A 24/7 news vigil is hosted by GREG and TERRY , weeping. Stan feels zero guilt until BULLOCK declares that without the grouse’s “spirit,” the CIA’s new pheasant-based drone guidance system will fail. Stan must produce the grouse by Friday or be sent to “Guantanamo’s quirky annex” (it has a clown-themed interrogation room). Roger, wearing a different grouse costume (fabulous, sequined), offers to fake it. Stan refuses. So Roger becomes a grief counselor just to make Stan’s life worse. The town gasps
“You crushed our progenitor. Prepare to be pecked to death… in a deposition.”
End Card: A crude drawing of Stan in a pillow costume, pecking at a donut. Caption: “Grouses before spouses.” Stan uses the chaos to escape
EXT. LANGLEY FALLS TOWN SQUARE - DAY The town is celebrating “Grouse Day.” An ancient, one-eyed, perpetually angry grouse named Grumblebeak sits on a velvet pillow. MAYOR JIM BECKER hands it a tiny key to the city. Stan (to Francine): “It’s a scruffy chicken. Why does it get a parade?” Francine: “Stan, that bird survived three wars, a meth lab explosion in ’87, and Klaus’s attempt to marry it. Show some respect.” Stan rolls his eyes. Later, trying to parallel park his SUV, he accidentally backs over Grumblebeak’s commemorative birdhouse. The grouse attacks. Stan swats it. It flies into a transformer. Poof. Feathers rain down.