Review: Bob’s Burgers “Driving Big Dummy”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Bob is full of excitement over a new used kitchen sink he’s tracked down, but there’s a problem — the sink is located in Bridgeport, which is a few hours drive away. Bob isn’t so sure that the family vehicle can make it that far while transporting a giant sink.

Luckily, Teddy shows up and volunteers to make it a road trip in his truck. Bob is reluctant, but he accepts thinking Teddy is lonely and needs the company. The trip is filled with seemingly pointless stops and detours, and Bob becomes frustrated and finally tells Teddy the truth about why he came… but it turns out, Bob was wrong about Teddy’s loneliness. Or at least, kind of.

Our Take:

I feel like it’s been a while since we had such an uncomplicated Bob/Teddy adventure. Driving Big Dummy presents a classic pairing of two of the shows best characters and showcases that while Bob and Teddy might be the ultimate bromance in their restaurant interactions, they really are very different personalities who won’t necessarily enjoy spending time together in other situations.

The setup for the so-called ‘boy ride’ is something we’ve seen before — Bob wants to buy some gently used kitchen equipment and needs Teddy’s help with it. There was an excellent episode a few seasons ago where Bob, Teddy, and Louise got trapped in a suspicious person’s house while going on an errand, and the beginning of this storyline felt a lot like that minus Louise. However, it soon differentiates itself by being less focused on the tension of the plot and more focused on the dynamic between its two stars.

Teddy is great. But he’s also terrible. And his more annoying habits are perfectly shaped to bring Bob the most distress possible, especially when he’s in a hurry to get to his new sink. While Bob is happy to complete errands with as little social interaction as possible (“Quick and efficient!”), Teddy seems to have made friends everywhere they go and has no qualms about stopping for a bathroom break that turns into a fifteen minute gab session. Bonnie the gas station owner is the largest guest role this episode. She’s fun, but doesn’t make a huge impression.

What does make a good impression is when the conflict comes to a head. At the beginning, Linda said Teddy was lonely and Bob should accompany him on the errand. Bob agreed, because on first glance, one might think it’s true. As a single guy in middle age who hangs out at a burger joint all day, it’s not a bad assumption to make. But at least on this trip and for this episode, Teddy is less lonely and more just a social butterfly. Whereas Bob tries to get through life doing as little small talk as possible, Teddy attracts new friends like butterflies, and it’s something that Bob secretly envies. They say the things you dislike most in others are the things you dislike most about yourself, and in a way this episode really shows that off. Bob hates Teddy’s propensity to make detours along the way, but really he hates that he can’t do that as easily.

In the end, Driving Big Dummy is definitely one of my highlights of the season so far. Bob and Teddy’s comedic dynamic is always pretty great, but putting them together on a long road trip makes for some wonderfully awkward moments. And the ‘moral’ of the story was very solidly executed and leans into the character’s personality traits in a way that feels very real. Plus seeing Linda and her “professional children” in the B-plot was pretty fun, too!