Review: Bob’s Burgers “Wag the Song”

 

 

Overview(Spoilers Below):

Wagstaff School needs a new school spirit song, considering their current one is outdated and inappropriate. Mr. Fond puts the power in the hands of the students allowing them to not only write the new song but vote on the winner as well.

Tina sees the opportunity as her chance to go down in school history. Unfortunately, her lack of creativity keeps her from putting together anything decent. As other kids, including Louise and Gene, manage to get their songs ready for the big day, Tina has nothing to work with.

Mr. Fond, worried that the other children’s songs are inappropriate helps Tina by writing her song for her. They even attempt to rig the vote, but Tina’s morals kick in at the last second, and she tries to perform her own original song.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Pesto has installed a new awning made from recycled Ferrari bumpers. Bob doesn’t like the ugly canopy as it reflects sunlight directly into his restaurant. After trying to get Jimmy to take it down, they discover that Jimmy hates it more than they do, he has just kept it up to make Bob angry.

 

Our Take:

One day I hope that Tina finds her groove. The poor strange girl always gets the blunt end of the stick. This time she just wants to go down in school history for 100 years as the student that wrote the school song. Is that so much to ask? Apparently, considering the girl has the worst musical talent of her family and the worst singing voice possibly ever.

Surprisingly, Tina doesn’t cooperate with her siblings from the beginning of this project. When the three of them work together, they can do anything. And, when it came to this particular project, it could have worked out. Louise had a solid plan figured out from the first moment. 

And, Gene has those incredible music skills we have seen time and time again. Honestly, all Tina had to do was play some tambourine and they would have pulled this one off.

But, as it goes, Tina has terrible luck. The episode even starts out with a reminder of such. Turns out, Tina has missed every picture day in her life thanks to her misfortune. Which leads to her wanting to find her immortality somewhere. The girl just can’t catch a break. And, who else would win the coveted prize but her own crush Jimmy Jr with his rendition of “Wagstaff You’re a School. I Wanna Be Inside of You” with Zeke.

Meanwhile, the B-plot was as classic Bob’s Burgers as you can get. Please tell me if this sounds familiar: Jimmy Pesto does something that costs Bob customers. Bob reacts by being passive-aggressive, which does nothing. But it turns out Bob didn’t have to do anything because somethings not right on Pesto’s end. It sounds familiar because this show has done it a hundred times. Though, it still entertaining enough to fill an episode. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.

This episode was almost scene-for-scene identical to “A Fish Called Tina” which only aired a couple of weeks ago. Don’t get me wrong, I love a Tina-centered episode as much as the next person. The two episodes are just too closely released from each other that it is hard to ignore the similarities. I hope this isn’t a sign of the series running out of ideas.  Because, as sad as it is, this episode lacked too much originality. Though, I am sure we will get something completely unexpected soon enough.