Review: Bob’s Burgers ‘Friends with Burger-fits’

 

Spoilers Below:

Does anyone else think it’s surprising to hear that this is only the third new episode of Bob’s Burgers fifth season? The Simpsons, by comparison, have released seven. Odd. Also, it’s worth mentioning that Bob’s will be henceforth living in the 9:30pm timeslot on FOX’s Sunday night line-up, trading places with Mulaney, which is on the outs. For what it’s worth, I think John Mulaney is hilarious, and his show is actually pretty decent.

On this week’s Bob’s Burgers, during a lunch visit, Teddy informed Bob that his doctor told him to eat healthier, yet proceeded to order a burger. Wracked with guilt for being the major enabler, Bob refused to serve Teddy, and decided to help him change his lifestyle. While jogging in the park, the two spotted a stuntman bootcamp, and Teddy signed them both up for it.

The camp proved to be more difficult than Bob anticipated, and in a moment of frustration he admitted to a counselor that although he chose to accompany Teddy, he doesn’t view him as a best friend, only as a best customer. Teddy overheard this, became extremely upset, and vowed to become a regular at another burger joint, which was home to a colossal meat monstrosity that would likely kill him. In the end, Bob confronted the restaurant’s manager in order to save Teddy, and the two reconciled their friendship, with Bob admitting that Teddy actually is his best friend.

Meanwhile, the kids created an ice rink in the walk-in freezer, and invited their friends over to play. Linda discovered it, and helped organize a game for everyone in “The Freezerdome.” Louise and Zeke ended up in the championship, and the former emerged victorious.

In Case You Missed It:

1) The van in the opening sequence was for an exterminator called “Mice Knowing You.”

2) Burgers of the Day: Romaines of the Day Burger, Sub-conscious Burger (comes on a sub)[this was in Bob’s dream], Parsnips-vous Français Burger, Beet-er Late Than Never Burger, and Peas and Thank You Burger.

3) Teddy said getting his physical was “the longest I’ve been naked in three years.”

4) Upon seeing the freezer skate rink, Zeke exclaimed, “Holly frozen nips!”

5) If he had a slightly longer beard, the guy with the take-out order kind of looked like a cartoon version of myself.

6) Teddy once performed in a stage production of Glengarry Glen Ross.

7) “Three years ago you forgot a tomato on my burger and I said nothing. NOTHING!”

8) Kevin, the manager at Dusty’s Feedbag, called Bob a “fat Burt Reynolds.” He was played by Tim Heidecker, of Tim & Eric.

Although “Friends with Burger-fits” didn’t blow me away, it was a solid Bob’s Burgers episode, and contained almost every element of the show that guarantees success. First, we all love Teddy, right? So an episode featuring him has a high probability of scoring highly. In fact, the only characters I love more than Teddy are the kids. All of them. From Tina, Gene, and Louise all the way down to Zeke, Andy & Ollie, and Regular-sized Rudy. And in this episode, everyone had an appearance (except for Aziz Ansari’s Darryl) and everyone present had at least a line of two of funny dialogue.

Bob, save for his nightmare, wasn’t at his best since he was cranky and hurtful for half of the episode, but Linda shined considering she spent her time excited about some sort of elaborate production. Seeing her giddy, especially when it goes against her better judgment (she said the ice-fighting kids needed costumes, not helmets) is always an amusing sight.

This episode lacked the big laughs that would rank it alongside some of the series’ best, but still had enough consistently throughout it to be quite funny. I also think that the storylines, both A and B, were a bit tamer than usual, which was a bit of a bummer. In the kids half, usually reserved for risky shenanigans, they weren’t doing anything that could get them into trouble or have any negative repercussions. In the other half, there was nothing that catastrophically threatened any of the characters. Hell, the biggest antagonist in the episode was cholesterol.

Still, the show had a lot of jokes and even a little heart, while still managing to keep the mood relatively light. So light, in fact, that it was easily carried by a whole plethora of the show’s outstanding characters.