Review: Bob’s Burgers: “Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Linda’s parents and sister are coming to the Belcher’s for Christmas, but this holiday isn’t shaping up to be quite so happy. You see, Linda has a temp job at the local post office in order to bring the family some much-needed cash. And while that doesn’t sound so bad on its own, there’s one problem: she’s the buffer between Bob and her wonderfully horrible family.

When a box containing a present for an adorable nephew gets left behind, Linda takes it upon herself to deliver the package. Louise and Gene tag along with her, since they still need to buy Tina a gift exchange item that will match hers for them.

Our Take:

Christmas specials are one of the best parts of the holiday season, and Bob’s is one of the best parts of the rest of the seasons! Put them together and you get a recipe for plenty of holiday cheer. This year’s Christmas episode, Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas, separates the family for much of the episode, but it keeps together the ingredients that make up an entertaining half hour of Burger-y bliss.

The setup for the main conflict, where Linda has to steal a package in order to deliver it on time, is pretty great. The Belchers are always short on cash, so it makes sense for Linda to take on some extra work during the holiday season. And it’s the type of work that makes for excellent comedy, like when Linda is monologing about her love for Christmas while her co-workers stand by oblivious with their headphones securely on. Once Linda started to go on the run with the package, things got even funnier. I love how intense Linda’s supervisor and the rest of the mail workers were about it, treating it like a serious criminal caper complete with quotable catchphrases. And the icing on the proverbial cake was Linda’s constant attempts to get rid of her brown (they’re chocolate!) candy canes.

Back at the house, Bob and Tina have to deal with Gayle and Linda’s parents. It’s no fun for Bob, who hates being in charge of preventing conflicts between them all, but seeing him try to distract them from the Ottoman Incident with poorly-sung versions of traditional Christmas carols is a lot of fun (like Tina’s rendition of ‘Partridge in a Pantry’). Bob’s increasingly pitiful whines are great, too. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see Bob resolve the Ottoman situation firsthand (“We didn’t know where you went. We didn’t think you were serious about the ottoman!”), but him telling Linda afterwards about his fake phone call to Gayle was nice to have.

Louise and Gene didn’t get too much to do this time around, but they’re constant supply of jokes was nice to have on Linda’s journey: “What’s Santa gonna think? Ugh, he’s so judgy.” I loved how Bob plans his excuses ahead of time: “Don’t chop so fast or we’ll finish cooking too soon and I won’t have an excuse to stay in the kitchen when your grandparents and Gayle are here.”  Tina tells the best stories: “They’re in the living room. Tina’s telling them the story of how she almost took piano lessons.” Gene probably got shafted the most in this episode, but he did get to greet the nephew in his usual manner: “We’re kids! Much like you, m’boy.”

Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas is a solidly entertaining affair that rises to some pretty great jokes every so often. It certainly isn’t the best holiday episode the show has come up with in it’s long run (that title might go to my personal favorite, Christmas In The Car), but it definitely earns itself a spot on the list of good episodes to rewatch each holiday. Linda’s exploits as a post office temp worker were plenty of fun and the ending of the Belcher kids first kid-only gift exchange was sweet – just like the holidays should be.