Review: Bob’s Burgers ‘Turkey in a Can’

Spoilers Below

In the Bob’s Burgers Thanksgiving episode, it was revealed that Bob is obsessed with the holiday, and even loves it more than his children. After making a big deal about the turkey he was cooking, Bob and the rest of the family (and visiting Aunt Gayle) discover it in the toilet the next morning, a few days prior to Thanksgiving Day.

Bob replaced the turkey, but the next day it was again found in the toilet. He then bought two birds, and hid one. The following morning they were found to have met similar fates as the previous ones. All along the way Bob was slowly driven insane and paranoid over the mystery of who in the family was the culprit of these heinous crimes. Everybody initially blamed Louise (In fact, before the first turkey sabotage, Bob even said to her: “Whatever you’re planning, don’t do it.”) but she maintained her innocence, telling Bob, “Make sure you save room at Thanksgiving for the WORDS YOU’LL BE EATING.”

In the end, it was revealed that Bob was, in fact, the guilty party, as a combination of allergy medicine (for Gayle’s cats) and a fear of Tina growing up too fast was causing Bob to sleepwalk and sabotage the turkeys in weird potty training sessions.

In addition to the usual hilarious writing, this episode relied heavily on repeat or running gags. The scene where they found the first turkey was probably the best of the episode, getting more and more funny as the intensity increased, and the later discoveries were similarly amusing, especially with Linda always getting nauseous.

Tina’s repeated attempts to be an adult were also entertaining, as she experimented with makeup, pantyhose, and saying things like, “…not in this economy!”

I also greatly enjoyed the developing relationship between Bob and the man behind the deli counter, as the former made questionable statements about his sexual orientation (saying he’s “mostly straight”) and telling the deli man that he’ll call him.

And dammit if the toilet turkey mystery didn’t get to me. I was genuinely interested in finding out the identity of the offender, and was actually getting frustrated with the pain of watching turkey after turkey getting ruined. For some reason it seems like holiday episodes can be hit-or-miss on TV. You don’t want the episode to appear too gimmicky, and you don’t necessarily want to fall into a heartfelt episode – at least not if you’re trying to make the episode as funny as possible. Although this wasn’t one of the best of funniest ever, it was nevertheless an absolute hit.