Bob’s Burgers
Season 5 Episode 6
“Bob’s dad”
It’s yuletide season again and what better way to spend it than half-assed the children, and then the entire thing, making a present for Bob out of the trash (“One man’s trash is another man’s gift to their father” – Tina Belcher ladies and gentlemen). We also get an opportunity to meet Bob’s father for the first time (we did meet him briefly last season but off-screen and voiced by Jon H. Benjamin so that does not count) and watch Linda bombed in ‘Christmas Spirit’. From the start, the best surprise of the episode is how fully Big Bob forms right out of the gate. Not only does he have impeccable mannerisms but he also has his own pool of regulars who became a makeshift family in much the same way Mort and Teddy were to Bob.
Using flashbacks, the show illustrates precisely why Bob takes a fifteen-minute time limit when interacting with his father, whether it is the birth of his eldest son or the opening of Bob’s Burgers. The first has a terrific joke about Bob leaving even although the scene takes place inside his own house. Daddy thing, we all get it; even Teddy has cousin issues, hot blonde cousin issues (at least he has Mass-ketball to look forward to).
During an awkward moment between father and son, we find the children throwing Hail Marys. They had forgotten Bob’s Christmas present and were now assembling it from trash they could find in Big Bob’s basement. This quickly devolves into a rivalry between Louise and Tina, sorry Gene drum set of cans of peanuts you never had an opportunity, making Super Chairs and Super Mouse Traps respectively. The one-upmanship plays out flawlessly with Tina adding more useless items to the chair to overpower Louise. Some of the highlights include a basketball, notepad and a battery taped to the back of a chair which leads to the destruction of both prizes. Tina flew too near the sun once more.
By act three, Bob and Big Bob aren’t any longer talking because Bob pointed it out in his own restaurant and it is up to Nick Offerman (who is maybe my favourite guest star of the year, playing the non-stereotypical gay bar owner). it is stronger and gayer than ever!) to bring Bob to his drinking place to apologize. Even although we have just met Big Bob, you can feel the love between the two characters when Bob apologizes, not for his actions but for the way he handled their break, and Big Bob admits he wasn’t the easiest person to work with. Ultimately Linda and the children take over Big Bob’s Diner, perfectly illustrating that this show may be a couple of group of misfits, but in the end they love and support one another no matter how many bean baths Gene takes.
Point a-
