It seems like Bob's Burgers, for better or worse, tends to do episodes this season where they take a familiar subject matter and add their own twist. Sometimes they are ingenious ways of showing family bonding. Then there's episodes like "Carpe Museum," which for better or worse is an episode that doesn't strive to be the best nor does it entirely suffer. It comes across as Bob's Burgers checking off all of the familiar plot lines on their quest to become the ultimate cartoon. Still, what exactly was good about this episode?
The episode opens with Bob (Jon Benjamin) getting dressed to go on a field trip with his children. Louise (Kristen Schaal) is annoyed that she has to go and dreads the idea of visiting some dumb museum. Gene (Eugene Mirman) and Tina (Dan Mintz) are more into wanting to go. This leaves Linda (John Roberts) to run the restaurant, which somehow fills her with dread and makes her long to have her family together.
After everyone pairs up at Wagstaff, they head off to the museum. Gene gets paired up with Zeke (Bobby Tisdale), who wants to see boobs while Gene has a weird fetish for sand. Tina is paired with Henry (Jim Gaffigan), which results in the two arguing over who is the bigger nerd, as Tina doesn't believe that she actually is one. Louise gets paired with Regular Sized Rudy (Brian Huskey), who seems like a dweeb, if just because he carries cymbals in his backpack. Linda eventually heads out to the museum, feeling that the dread of separation is too much. However, she ends up leading a protest outside by creating memorable chants and eventually making it almost too central to her controlling everything.
As the field trip continues, Bob notices that Louise and Regular Sized Rudy disappeared into the Amazon Room, which was closed off. It was the only room that Louise was really excited to visit. After convincing Bob to join them in exploring the Amazon Room, they begin climbing to the top of a steel grate to look out at the scenery. It is beautiful, but Regular Sized Rudy ends up having an asthma attack and they need to get to his backpack, which was ditched by the entrance due to it being too loud. They get to it in time to save his life, but are forced to leave when security catches them.
Meanwhile, Zeke and Gene are going through the museum in awe of all the varying types of boobies. Well, Zeke is. Gene just really wants to get to the sand. Zeke has it all mapped out that he wants to see all of the varying boobs based on a list that his cousin made. Zeke gets his wish, though Gene doesn't entirely understand why anyone would really be into boobs.
Henry and Tina decide to settle their debate by asking everyone who is nerdier. Henry is into old dinosaurs while Tina is into horses and zombies. It almost comes down the middle as a tie. Through the course of the episode, they each deny themselves of their traits until the end. Tina admits that she is a nerd and nobody seems to care. However, her situation is resolved as they all get back on the bus and prepare to leave.
Having bonded in the Amazon Room, Louise and Bob begin talking about the possibilities that Louise would run the restaurant after her parents retire. It is a touching ending, at least for one party. Linda ends the episode, once again defeated that she got kicked out of the group. Henry and Tina end up contempt, and Gene ends up perfectly fine with everything.
Rating: 3 out of 5
One of the common things that I have heard people say about this episode is that they have a new great character in Regular Sized Rudy. The name alone seems to be iconic on the internet. Personally, he is a fine character and one of the more tolerable of the supporting cast, but there wasn't that much memorable about him. His plot involved getting pushed around and almost dying because he needed an inhaler. I am actually rather underwhelmed by the choice to make a central plot around sneaking into an exhibit in the first place. It was dumb move on top of dumb move. Forget that it is what Louise wants. It just felt too illogical of a story line.
Who knows. Maybe Regular Sized Rudy would return. I don't know how long it would be until his novelty wears off, though. He is a minuscule kid with not a lot going for him. Is he going to be the Moleman of the series? Just look at how Zeke, Andy, and Ollie started off and how they evolved into more dominant characters.
Otherwise, there wasn't really much going on in the way of interesting stories this week. These all felt like secondary ideas just meant to fill time. Gene and Zeke trying to see boobs and sand? That almost has no conflict at all, and very little comedic effect considering that Gene has had way weirder fetishes explored in the past. Tina admitting that she is a nerd with a nerdy character? Equally uninvolved and nothing really was explored worth mentioning. At very least, this episode gave Bob a moment to prove how heroic he is by saving Regular Sized Rudy's life. That was about the extent to interest in this plot.
I am not calling it a bad episode, but it just felt very stagnant compared to what the show could be doing. This definitely feels like one of the more filler episodes, and it hurts that the laughs are also in short supply. For all of the joy that comes with introducing potentially interesting characters like Henry and Regular Sized Rudy, it didn't give them enough to do to justify their existence. This episode just felt like it existed to let characters relax from crazy shenanigans. Nothing really moved forward nor did anything particularly interesting happen. It just existed, and while not the best of Bob's Burgers filler, it wasn't a total waste.
The episode opens with Bob (Jon Benjamin) getting dressed to go on a field trip with his children. Louise (Kristen Schaal) is annoyed that she has to go and dreads the idea of visiting some dumb museum. Gene (Eugene Mirman) and Tina (Dan Mintz) are more into wanting to go. This leaves Linda (John Roberts) to run the restaurant, which somehow fills her with dread and makes her long to have her family together.
After everyone pairs up at Wagstaff, they head off to the museum. Gene gets paired up with Zeke (Bobby Tisdale), who wants to see boobs while Gene has a weird fetish for sand. Tina is paired with Henry (Jim Gaffigan), which results in the two arguing over who is the bigger nerd, as Tina doesn't believe that she actually is one. Louise gets paired with Regular Sized Rudy (Brian Huskey), who seems like a dweeb, if just because he carries cymbals in his backpack. Linda eventually heads out to the museum, feeling that the dread of separation is too much. However, she ends up leading a protest outside by creating memorable chants and eventually making it almost too central to her controlling everything.
As the field trip continues, Bob notices that Louise and Regular Sized Rudy disappeared into the Amazon Room, which was closed off. It was the only room that Louise was really excited to visit. After convincing Bob to join them in exploring the Amazon Room, they begin climbing to the top of a steel grate to look out at the scenery. It is beautiful, but Regular Sized Rudy ends up having an asthma attack and they need to get to his backpack, which was ditched by the entrance due to it being too loud. They get to it in time to save his life, but are forced to leave when security catches them.
Meanwhile, Zeke and Gene are going through the museum in awe of all the varying types of boobies. Well, Zeke is. Gene just really wants to get to the sand. Zeke has it all mapped out that he wants to see all of the varying boobs based on a list that his cousin made. Zeke gets his wish, though Gene doesn't entirely understand why anyone would really be into boobs.Henry and Tina decide to settle their debate by asking everyone who is nerdier. Henry is into old dinosaurs while Tina is into horses and zombies. It almost comes down the middle as a tie. Through the course of the episode, they each deny themselves of their traits until the end. Tina admits that she is a nerd and nobody seems to care. However, her situation is resolved as they all get back on the bus and prepare to leave.
Having bonded in the Amazon Room, Louise and Bob begin talking about the possibilities that Louise would run the restaurant after her parents retire. It is a touching ending, at least for one party. Linda ends the episode, once again defeated that she got kicked out of the group. Henry and Tina end up contempt, and Gene ends up perfectly fine with everything.
Rating: 3 out of 5
One of the common things that I have heard people say about this episode is that they have a new great character in Regular Sized Rudy. The name alone seems to be iconic on the internet. Personally, he is a fine character and one of the more tolerable of the supporting cast, but there wasn't that much memorable about him. His plot involved getting pushed around and almost dying because he needed an inhaler. I am actually rather underwhelmed by the choice to make a central plot around sneaking into an exhibit in the first place. It was dumb move on top of dumb move. Forget that it is what Louise wants. It just felt too illogical of a story line.
Who knows. Maybe Regular Sized Rudy would return. I don't know how long it would be until his novelty wears off, though. He is a minuscule kid with not a lot going for him. Is he going to be the Moleman of the series? Just look at how Zeke, Andy, and Ollie started off and how they evolved into more dominant characters.
Otherwise, there wasn't really much going on in the way of interesting stories this week. These all felt like secondary ideas just meant to fill time. Gene and Zeke trying to see boobs and sand? That almost has no conflict at all, and very little comedic effect considering that Gene has had way weirder fetishes explored in the past. Tina admitting that she is a nerd with a nerdy character? Equally uninvolved and nothing really was explored worth mentioning. At very least, this episode gave Bob a moment to prove how heroic he is by saving Regular Sized Rudy's life. That was about the extent to interest in this plot.
I am not calling it a bad episode, but it just felt very stagnant compared to what the show could be doing. This definitely feels like one of the more filler episodes, and it hurts that the laughs are also in short supply. For all of the joy that comes with introducing potentially interesting characters like Henry and Regular Sized Rudy, it didn't give them enough to do to justify their existence. This episode just felt like it existed to let characters relax from crazy shenanigans. Nothing really moved forward nor did anything particularly interesting happen. It just existed, and while not the best of Bob's Burgers filler, it wasn't a total waste.
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