Review: Bob’s Burgers “Like Gene For Chocolate”

Gene and the Chocolate Factory.

Spoilers Below

Spratt’s Sweets, the company that makes Gene’s very favorite chocolate, has changed the formula of Chunky Blast Offs and Gene hates it. He is determined to get them to change the formula back. Linda takes the kids on the factory tour in order to get Gene’s opinion heard. However, he has to deviate into the founder’s (well, the last of his family, anyway) office to make that happen. Gene quickly befriends Ferdie Spratt, who promises to help him figure out a way to talk to the board of directors about his problem. After a few days, Gene realizes that Ferdie doesn’t really want to talk to the board about the chocolate formula. So, with some prodding from Louise, Gene decides to talk to the board himself. Louise and Tina help him sneak into the upper floors of the company, where Gene finds the board meeting. He gives a rousing speech, getting all of the members to unanimously vote to change the formula back. At least until they look at the numbers and realize it will cost too much money.

Meanwhile, Teddy has been diving into a pond on the local golf course in order to retrieve lost golf balls and resell them to the golfers. He talks Bob into helping him reach a particularly deep section of the pond. Before they can make off with their stash, they are chased by security. Unfortunately, they lost most of the ball during their escape.

It was nice to see Gene actively working to get something accomplished. He even admitted in the episode that he frequently gives up easily. But not this time. Instead of giving up when he hit a wall, he actually listened to Louise and went back to try again on his own. There wasn’t a ton of comedy, beyond Linda spending all her time waiting for the kids in the candy shop, but I think the character growth makes up for it. I just hope that this isn’t a one-shot deal for Gene. Imagine what he could accomplish if he actually followed through. Especially if he works on it with his sisters!