Review: Bob’s Burgers ‘Wharf Horse (or How Bob Saves/Destroys the Town – Part I)’

Spoilers Below:

If South Park and Archer have taught me anything, it’s that multiple segment cartoon episodes are almost always hilarious. Prove me wrong, readers. Prove me wrong.

Of course I’m also quite upset that new episodes of Bob’s will soon take an extended pause of about five or six months, but so is the life of an avid television watcher such as myself.

Thankfully, this show appears to be gearing up to go out with a bang. Hopefully not literally, that is, for reasons I shall now explain.

This episode saw the return of Felix, Mr. Fischoeder brother voiced by Zach Galifianakis, who was in town to persuade the landlord Fischoeder to sell the Wonder Wharf amusement park. The park would then be demolished in order to build high-end condos. After convincing the local business owners that high-end condos would bring high-end spenders into their businesses, Felix convinced Bob to distract Mr. Fischoeder while he showed the area to potential buyers.

Bob managed to both keep Fischoeder busy and also influenced his decision to sell with an impromptu song in which they both participated.

However, Tina (while bicycle-locked to a carousel horse to stop it from being destroyed) made Bob realize that the Wharf is the heart of the town, and Bob had to then change Mr. Fischoeder mind once again. He was successful, but ended up enraging Felix, who confronted Bob and Mr. F at the episodes end.

In Case You Missed It:

1) Only the Belcher’s landlord could get away with the question to the kids: “Why aren’t you spending what little money your family has at Wonder Wharf?”

2) There was only one Burger of the Day: The Saffron Saff-off Burger.

3) One of the best memories of the Wharf’s past came from Linda: “I told Bobby I was pregnant with Louise on the Ferris Wheel. He just kept screaming.” “I did,” Bob confirmed.

4) A reference to the “Ambergris” episode three weeks ago, Felix commented to Bob: “I love this bathroom I built for you. I really do.”

5) Tina’s horse’s name was Mr. Goiter (“He’s a hideous delight!” said Gene.) The other horse’s names included: Lady Big Nose, Mr. Down-there Hair, Henry Human Feet (“His feet were more human than mine!”), and Dr. Big-Butt.

6) Mr. Fischoeder referred to the Wonder Wharf as his “wharf parts.”

7) Tina said, “Damn you all to hell!” & I always love a good Planet of the Apes reference.

8) The item Gene was saving up to buy with his amusement park prize tickets was a Pontiac Solstice.

9) If Gene were to die on the Scream-i-cane roller coaster, his one regret would be not seeing Hall & Oates live.

10) Do I even want to know the story behind Bob’s “dice” comment?

It was pretty damn obvious what worked for me in this episode: every one of the main characters (save Bob) was fired up about something.

Louise was intent on riding the Scream-i-cane, but Gene, on the other hand, wanted the exact opposite of Louise. He even screamed at Mickey (Bill Hader back again) for looking the other way on Louise not meeting the roller coaster’s height requirements (“Stop us! Stop us! You’re terrible at your job!”)

Elsewhere, Linda was excited at the prospect of coming into more money and palling around with Felix’s girlfriend, and made numerous hilarious comments to express her enthusiasm. I especially liked when she saw Tina locked to the horse while surrounded by reporters: “Aw, Tina, you look so cute for the news.”

But obviously no one was more emotional than Tina herself, who was absolutely obsessed with Mr. Goiter and stopping his destruction – yelling more of her lines in this episode than ever before. (Like at Bob: “What were you thinking, you idiot? I’m sorry, I love you.”)

Hearing her raise her voice not only made me laugh because it’s so out of character for the character, but also because it was amusing to picture soft-spoken Dan Mintz recording his lines in the studio. This guy couldn’t even speak normally at last year’s New York Comic Con without getting an enormous amount of laughs from almost everyone in the audience.

I was also amused by Tina singing circus music, and then later signing a made-up goodbye song to her horse. However, the episode lost me when Bob started singing. Sorry folks, Gonzo just doesn’t like musicals (except for Book of Mormon and anything on The Simpsons.) Thankfully, a restaurant waiter brought things back to reality, and this was the only full song in the episode. Still, it cost the score a point, and that’s just how it goes. Even with Tina singing in the same number, it wasn’t enough to save it for me. Although I will confess to enjoying Linda’s James Bond-like ending song, which was very well done. I can definitely make an exception to my distaste for music in episodes when it comes to the closing credits.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll say once again that the kids were once again a huge part of this episode working, plain and simple. If everything else was taken out, the childrens’ lines would still carry “Wharf Horse,” and probably the show in general.

However, this episode also benefited from performances from some of its repeat guest voices. Bill Hader was funny as always, even in a very limited role; Kevin Kline killed it again as Mr. Fischoeder; and Zach Galifianakis triumphed once more as Felix – a role that is perfect for the actor. His mood swings and odd interests and personality are wonderfully expressed and endlessly entertaining, and Zach has really been making his mark as a voice actor lately. He’s also had roles on The Simpsons, American Dad, and Trip Tank, among others.

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that the episode ended with Galifianakis’ hilarious character pulling a gun on both his brother and Bob; but hey, a little suspense and a nice cliffhanger is always fun, right?