After several episodes and a few breaks in-between Bob’s
Burgers has finally found its tone, style and pacing; while keeping the family lessons
and not losing sight of what sets it apart from the other prime-time
animations.
This episode opens with Louise and Bob staying up late
watching TV together. Louise dubs them the 'burn unit" as they change the channel
taking turns making fun of aka “burning” a show. The jokes aren’t very good, but
you can see that it’s a special father daughter time that they share. Until Bob
stumbles upon a Spaghetti Western called Banjo, which is basically Clint
Eastwood with a… banjo. Gene comes in looking for a larger plunger as he’s preparing
for the extreme number two he has on deck. He’s intrigued by Banjo and all its cheesy
western action. Louise is instantly discouraged by the fact that the burn unit
is done for the night and that she now must share her father’s attention with
Gene.
The next day Linda lands the restaurant a catering gig for
Tina’s school. The job is unpaid and basically Linda has taken it to get even with another mother and really its a piety score at best. Tina is excited because it’s for her club the “conflict
resolution club.” At this point basically each family member is contributing to the overall story of the episode. Gene joins everyone at breakfast wearing Louie’s Little Princess Guitar. He tells the
family about his nemesis at school; a kid named Choo Choo that always finishes
Gene’s jokes before he can. He’s going to stand up to him after being inspired
by Banjo.
This is definitely one of the better episodes. It doesn’t
top the first three episodes, but it comes in fourth which is saying something. The
creative team apparently reads my reviews as well (not really) since they actually built
Louise as more of a character rather than just comedic relief. Although it
doesn’t show this episode is all about her and her relationships with the
family. Of course she finally confesses this to Bob and Gene while they’re
hiding in a slide of a playground avoiding Choo Choo and his father, who are of
course looking to beat the crap out of the two men. There's a funny yet touching moment where Gene farts and the two men bond over the similar smell, Louise is so desperate to be like them that she farts as well to compare the smell. It just goes to show how much she wants to be one of the boys and is very fitting of the character.
Bob’s Burgers continues to be different from other animated
comedies and thankfully so. There’s a great balance of jokes and heart that
makes the show a must see every week. Hopefully Fox renews it for more episodes
and continues supporting it with marketing since it’s one of their actual
original animations that are not a carbon copy or just a group of random jokes
thrown together in an episode.
Overall Score - 9.0/10