Review: Bob’s Burgers “Video Killed the the Gene-io Star”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Courtney and her father are shooting a music video at Wagstaff, but Gene refuses to participate. Courtney bribes Tina and Louise to help convince him with candy, and eventually he gives in and shows up for the shoot. But the song is an auto-tuned monstrosity that sounds like every other song, and Gene can’t take it. He almost shuts down the shoot until his sisters remind him that sometimes you do things you don’t love for people you do.

Our Take:

Bob’s Burgers is back once again with an episode all about Gene having to sacrifice his musical morals. Video Killed the the Gene-io Star makes Gene choose between friendship and good taste, and even though he eventually makes a decision, it sure takes a while to get there. The episode isn’t one of the highlights of the season so far, but it still makes for enjoyable enough entertainment overall.

The main story is pretty simple: Courtney is making a music video. She wants Gene to be in it. Gene doesn’t want to be in it. The episode keeps driving that home as the plot goes on: Gene has to record some awful lyrics, Gene has to learn an awful dance, Gene has to do both at the same time. His reticence makes sense for sure, and there were definitely some funny gags throughout, but I feel like it all dragged on a bit longer than necessary with the same situations being repeated a few times too many. The song is the same as every other song, the dance has been overdone and overdone, we get it.

The ending has Gene realizing he might be in the wrong and apologizing to Courtney and finishing out the music video—which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. I was totally thinking that the moral of the episode would be about not sacrificing your creative integrity for some flash-in-the-pan trend! Especially for a unique little man like Gene, I’m not sure I love the choice to ignore his intuition and give in to the peer pressure from his fellow candy-loving kids. But ‘doing things you don’t love for people you do’ does sound pretty good, I guess.

The funniest parts of the episode don’t really come from Gene or Courtney this time around. For me, seeing Tina and Louise gradually lose themselves to the candy was the best bit. It’s such a simple premise, but repeating this gag over and over again actually made it funnier, especially once Louise gets a sugar high and becomes ten times more hyper.

Bob, Linda, and Teddy’s subplot about the left-behind briefcase was cool. I like having inexplicably absurd side stories from time to time, and this one definitely fits the bill. Who is Billy Bandana, and why does he carry around a briefcase filled with walnuts? We’ll never know, but it sure was fun wondering about the answers! Plus now we can call Bob by his new nickname Bobby Quick-Poops.

Video Killed the the Gene-io Star certainly isn’t the best example of a Gene episode done to perfection, but it had enough other stuff that it was still able to shine. Louise and Tina were hilarious, and Billy Bandana’s briefcase provided a healthy helping of mystery to the proceedings. And hey, maybe Gene learned he didn’t hate Courtney’s song quite so much after all. Also, candy!