Review: Bob’s Burgers ‘I Get Psychic Out of You’

 

Spoilers Below:

As I’ve said before, Linda Belcher shines in episodes in which she converses with characters that aren’t Bob, the kids, or anyone else in her family, simply because it’s entertaining to see how she is received by other adults. When it comes to people she knows and sees regularly, like Mort or Teddy, she is viewed as the kind, helpful, quirky burger woman. But other characters aren’t used to her personality, and are often put off by her eccentricities. Remember “Bob Day Afternoon” (S2E2) where the bank robbery takes place across the street from Bob’s Burgers? After Bob was pulled into the situation, Linda was left in charge of the restaurant, and spent her time annoying the police offer in charge. Well that cop (Gary Cole as Sergeant Bosco) returned last night, and Linda picked up where she left off.

After correctly guessing where Mort left his wallet, who was calling on the phone, and who would be the next customer to walk into the restaurant, Linda suddenly believed she was psychic. She began using her newfound abilities to help folks from the neighborhood with their troubles, before moving onto providing police tips, and eventually becoming a consultant to the aforementioned Sergeant.

Meanwhile, the kids tricked Linda into choosing a race horse, and with some help from Teddy, placed all the money they had on the pony.

In the end, after being confronted by friends and neighbors angry over receiving bad advice, Linda reluctantly accepted that she wasn’t really a soothsayer. However, one of her tips resulted in Sergeant Bosco catching a criminal at the racetrack, saving his career, as well as inadvertently ruining the kids’ bet. The ending suggested maybe there was still something a bit mystical about Linda (Louise: “She is a witch. Burn her!”)

In Case You Missed It:

1) When Mort realized his wallet was missing, Tina quipped, “Better start washing dishes.”

2) Tina also urged her mother: “Promise you’ll use your powers for good, Mom. Promise me!”

3) Linda wasn’t exactly confident in her predictions: “Stay away from trains!” she said to her friend, who didn’t hear her when leaving. “Ehhh…maybe trains are fine.”

4) I disagree with the family: things are, in fact, funnier when Tina says them. Not Gene.

5) Although I love when Gene shouted, “Narc!”

6) One of Sergeant Bosco’s cop co-workers told him he couldn’t risk his career on the Little Boy Bandit case and get fired because, “I’d miss you.”

7) When Linda first offered to help an annoyed but desperate Sergeant Bosco, he said, “In any other situation, I’d say no and laugh in your crazy face.”

8) Speaking of desperation, Teddy said, despite not knowing whether Linda’s tip meant he’s find a girl in a yellow dress at the track or a horse in a yellow dress, “At this point I’d take either.”

9) This episode’s Burgers of the Day: “I Fought the Slaw Burger (and the slaw won),” “Charbroil Fair Burger (comes with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme),” “Beets of the Southern Wild Burger,” and “Sympathy for the Deviled Egg Burger.”

Anyone with any level of affinity for Linda should have thoroughly enjoyed this installment. She was zany and out there as always, and had plenty of opportunities to let her freak flag fly as she mumbled nonsense and made odd, so-called psychic noises.

The kids, as evidenced above, had their fair share of lines as well, with Tina getting some especially good quotes. I really enjoyed the scene where she flirted with the jockey/bandit. Of course an abundance of the kids, with an emphasis on Tina, is a sure-fire recipe for success.

Bob-lovers may have been a bit disappointed, since the patriarch generally only served as the nay-saying, skeptical foil to Linda’s claims of clairvoyance. Although it was pretty funny to see him suddenly become fearful of the stairs.

I’d like to close by saying I always appreciate a good nod to a classic film, and thus was particularly tickled when Linda, after realizing her psychic predictions were actually based on a series of subconscious cues (or were just plain false) exclaimed, “Oh God, I Keyser Söze’d myself!”

And like that (*poof*) this week’s episode was gone.