Welcome to TV Recap, in which we look at modern shows and analyze them on an episode-to-episode basis. This one focuses on the cartoon sitcom Bob's Burgers, a very funny show that is capable of rivaling old school Simpsons in terms of irreverent humor and off the wall zaniness. With a cast of modern alternative comedian heroes, the story follows the Belchers as they run a burger joint. Join me as I take part in dissecting the show in its first full season. Check back on Tuesdays for the next exciting installment.
Every now and again, Bob's Burgers has an ingenious, very simple idea that will make you wonder why they haven't done it sooner. While holiday episodes tend to be more time sensitive, the overall concepts of doing episodes around very bland ideas transcend time. That is why it was exciting to finally see this episode in which the kids, as the title suggests, run the restaurant. Is it as good as "Bob Fires the Kids," or is the show just coming up with random ideas at this point?
The episode begins with Gene (Eugene Mirman) collecting gum off of the bottom of the tables for maintenance. During this time, he makes a little creation out of the gum samples called Gumhead. Meanwhile, Bob (Jon Benjamin) is in the back getting ready for Fleet Week. This is when sailors come from the port to have beer and burgers, though mostly the former. He is so stressed that when Gene gets into a fight with his Linda (John Roberts), Bob accidentally cuts himself in his finger crotch and passes out. He has to be taken to the hospital and Bob's Burgers has to be closed down to compensate.
With Bob and Linda out going to the hospital, Tina (Dan Mintz) is in charge of babysitting. Up in the family room, they pull out board games and try to decide what to do. Gene is fine playing games, but Louise (Kristen Schaal) really wants to open the restaurant and do business. This is briefly done only to make a sailor feel uncomfortable and Louise to realize why they shouldn't open a business. She has seen her parents fail too much to constitute doing it herself.
That's when she gets the great idea for a basement casino. At first, Tina is not on board. She thinks that it is illegal. Still, Louise decides to pull some strings together by taking the board games and put them in a basement while Ollie (Sarah Silverman) and Andy (Laura Silverman) spread the word while Zeke (Bobby Tisdale) runs security. Soon, everything is up and running. Gene even gets a girl group together called the Cutie Patooties based on a collection of girls he rounded up at school.
Meanwhile, Bob and Linda are stuck in the waiting room trying to deal with all of the sick people who are sneezing and vomiting all around them. As they are about to throw up their hands and leave, their name is called. They are attended by Dr. Eigerman (Johnny Pemberton), who is a young doctor and this is his first patient without any other assistance. Linda and Eigerman get into a congratulatory mood and she begins snapping a few pictures of him for Eigerman's mother. Bob eventually gets the stitches and they leave.
The casino is going well. The Cutie Patooties quit early on, forcing Gene to perform as a singular girl group. This doesn't go well. Suddenly, Mr. Fischoeder (Kevin Kline) shows up and admits that he is a gambler. Louise takes him up on that bet and soon he is buying the entire place out, racking up $5000 that the casino owes him.
After two trips to the hospital for various injury related reasons, Bob and Linda finally get home to realize that there's a casino in their basement. Also, Fischoeder is very adamant about getting his money. This is when the Belchers come together and decide that the only way to make everything right is to trick him at a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The catch is that the recently bandaged up Bob is going to throw a scissors since Fischoeder assumes that he cannot do it. When Bob does, the casino wins, Bob passes out, and everyone gets ready to go to the hospital again.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
What a great return to form of an episode. I will admit right off the bat that the b-story with Bob and Linda was not incredibly funny. I suppose that depending on your tolerance for animated blood squirting from wounds, it wasn't that big of a deal. It made me a bit squeamish. However, as odd as it was that they kept going back to the hospital, it was a nice subplot that allowed for a great central plot to form and go in interesting directions. I even felt like Dr. Eigerman was an interesting concept, if just because Bob is on the verge of going crazy and all that he can do is get helped by someone vastly younger than him. He's alone in his world and it is frustrating.
If there's anything that I didn't like, it was that it all relied on poor Bob getting that finger crotch injury over and over. As I said, it made me squeamish and while a plausible time delay, it just seemed too ridiculous and simple. I wish that there was more to them going to the hospital multiple times besides that finger injury, but I'll give it a pass for the casino plot.
I am not entirely sure what they are satirizing in the casino stuff. Part of me wants to say the obvious answer: Casino, though I haven't seen that movie in years and it doesn't sound right. Another part wanted to say Ocean's 11, though that seemed even less accurate. Either way, I felt that the slick introduction to this universe was one of the best examples of the show doing what it does best. It doesn't satirize too heavily on the surface, but its roots in the world make the satire work well enough. I felt like Tina's hostess attitude was from some movie, though I cannot place it.
It was a simple story, and it was nice to see the kids on their own doing something that clearly wasn't that well thought out. "Nude Beach" is a great example of them doing something bold while simple and still resulting in plenty of odd laughs. In fact, I love that there was a whole layered universe to this episode. With Gene running the entertainment, it almost felt like we saw how the entire place ran and it was fascinating. The plot with the Cutie Patooties was great, if just because Gene didn't know what to call Girl 3 and eventually fell in love with her.
Much like "Nude Beach," the genius of this episode also lies with how the family comes together at the end. While not as creepy as "Nude Beach," this episode forces the characters to do something slightly asinine in order to keep Bob's Burgers from going under simply because the kids did something kind of dumb. This time, it required Bob to waste everything that he has been building towards (health) and forces him to once again take an injury in order to keep everything afloat. It is simultaneously maybe the dumbest thing that the show has done and also one of the more touching. This family will do anything for each other, and that is why Bob's Burgers is an excellent show.
"Kids Run the Restaurant" does have some problems, but when it centralizes around the casino and excessive use of the phrase finger crotch, this is the show doing what it does best. It has all of the characters working together, cracking jokes, and doing really absurd things in order to survive as a family. It may not be the penultimate episode, but it sure is one of the more entertaining programs that the show has produced in awhile. Also, this show really should just take a cue from the Simpsons and release a collection of songs from the show. The song over the credits was one of the best that has been produced this season.
The episode begins with Gene (Eugene Mirman) collecting gum off of the bottom of the tables for maintenance. During this time, he makes a little creation out of the gum samples called Gumhead. Meanwhile, Bob (Jon Benjamin) is in the back getting ready for Fleet Week. This is when sailors come from the port to have beer and burgers, though mostly the former. He is so stressed that when Gene gets into a fight with his Linda (John Roberts), Bob accidentally cuts himself in his finger crotch and passes out. He has to be taken to the hospital and Bob's Burgers has to be closed down to compensate.
With Bob and Linda out going to the hospital, Tina (Dan Mintz) is in charge of babysitting. Up in the family room, they pull out board games and try to decide what to do. Gene is fine playing games, but Louise (Kristen Schaal) really wants to open the restaurant and do business. This is briefly done only to make a sailor feel uncomfortable and Louise to realize why they shouldn't open a business. She has seen her parents fail too much to constitute doing it herself.
That's when she gets the great idea for a basement casino. At first, Tina is not on board. She thinks that it is illegal. Still, Louise decides to pull some strings together by taking the board games and put them in a basement while Ollie (Sarah Silverman) and Andy (Laura Silverman) spread the word while Zeke (Bobby Tisdale) runs security. Soon, everything is up and running. Gene even gets a girl group together called the Cutie Patooties based on a collection of girls he rounded up at school.
The casino is going well. The Cutie Patooties quit early on, forcing Gene to perform as a singular girl group. This doesn't go well. Suddenly, Mr. Fischoeder (Kevin Kline) shows up and admits that he is a gambler. Louise takes him up on that bet and soon he is buying the entire place out, racking up $5000 that the casino owes him.
After two trips to the hospital for various injury related reasons, Bob and Linda finally get home to realize that there's a casino in their basement. Also, Fischoeder is very adamant about getting his money. This is when the Belchers come together and decide that the only way to make everything right is to trick him at a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The catch is that the recently bandaged up Bob is going to throw a scissors since Fischoeder assumes that he cannot do it. When Bob does, the casino wins, Bob passes out, and everyone gets ready to go to the hospital again.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
What a great return to form of an episode. I will admit right off the bat that the b-story with Bob and Linda was not incredibly funny. I suppose that depending on your tolerance for animated blood squirting from wounds, it wasn't that big of a deal. It made me a bit squeamish. However, as odd as it was that they kept going back to the hospital, it was a nice subplot that allowed for a great central plot to form and go in interesting directions. I even felt like Dr. Eigerman was an interesting concept, if just because Bob is on the verge of going crazy and all that he can do is get helped by someone vastly younger than him. He's alone in his world and it is frustrating.
If there's anything that I didn't like, it was that it all relied on poor Bob getting that finger crotch injury over and over. As I said, it made me squeamish and while a plausible time delay, it just seemed too ridiculous and simple. I wish that there was more to them going to the hospital multiple times besides that finger injury, but I'll give it a pass for the casino plot.
I am not entirely sure what they are satirizing in the casino stuff. Part of me wants to say the obvious answer: Casino, though I haven't seen that movie in years and it doesn't sound right. Another part wanted to say Ocean's 11, though that seemed even less accurate. Either way, I felt that the slick introduction to this universe was one of the best examples of the show doing what it does best. It doesn't satirize too heavily on the surface, but its roots in the world make the satire work well enough. I felt like Tina's hostess attitude was from some movie, though I cannot place it.
It was a simple story, and it was nice to see the kids on their own doing something that clearly wasn't that well thought out. "Nude Beach" is a great example of them doing something bold while simple and still resulting in plenty of odd laughs. In fact, I love that there was a whole layered universe to this episode. With Gene running the entertainment, it almost felt like we saw how the entire place ran and it was fascinating. The plot with the Cutie Patooties was great, if just because Gene didn't know what to call Girl 3 and eventually fell in love with her.
Much like "Nude Beach," the genius of this episode also lies with how the family comes together at the end. While not as creepy as "Nude Beach," this episode forces the characters to do something slightly asinine in order to keep Bob's Burgers from going under simply because the kids did something kind of dumb. This time, it required Bob to waste everything that he has been building towards (health) and forces him to once again take an injury in order to keep everything afloat. It is simultaneously maybe the dumbest thing that the show has done and also one of the more touching. This family will do anything for each other, and that is why Bob's Burgers is an excellent show.
"Kids Run the Restaurant" does have some problems, but when it centralizes around the casino and excessive use of the phrase finger crotch, this is the show doing what it does best. It has all of the characters working together, cracking jokes, and doing really absurd things in order to survive as a family. It may not be the penultimate episode, but it sure is one of the more entertaining programs that the show has produced in awhile. Also, this show really should just take a cue from the Simpsons and release a collection of songs from the show. The song over the credits was one of the best that has been produced this season.
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