Review: Bob’s Burgers “The Twinnening”

Twin’s company, Cursed Mask is a crowd

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Bob and Linda go to a Cake show (not the band) while the kids observe Teddy dealing with a creepy artifact dealer and his interfering equally creepy twin.

OUR TAKE

Bob’s Burgers is back from its first two week break of the season, and we continue the long and beloved trend of Bob’s Burgers making quirky and creepy Halloween episodes, and this year’s one is most definitely solid, made even better by the fact that this is primarily a Teddy episode for once! His handyman skills being used for something creepy actually sounds so obvious that I’m surprised that it’s never been done before, and the shop owner and his twin (both voiced by Jamie Demetriou) are both unsettling and quite funny, which is fitting for a Halloween episode of a comedy, I suppose. This isn’t the first time that Teddy has been a major part of a Halloween story, though previously when he was looking after Bob, he was seen as the source of the horror when Bob was on drugs and thought Teddy might be a werewolf. This time, it’s just Teddy dealing with his trusting nature and a guy with an exact twin who he currently doesn’t trust. And I assume that Teddy is completely sober during this, though you can never be too sure, I suppose. And then there’s the scary mask at the center of all of this, which is likely not supernatural in any way, though it does add to the unsettling creepiness of the episode.

It’s been awhile since I sat down and watched all of the Halloween episodes of Bob’s Burgers to see how they all rank up, but out of the dozen we have now, I would probably say that this fits right about in the middle. It’s nowhere near as good as Fort Night or as much as a classic like Full Bars, but it is another example of how much this show has managed to miraculously retain its quality over more than a dozen seasons. And honestly, even if Freaky Antiques, the store next door to the restaurant, is doomed to be gone by the next episode, it would be neat to bring these twins back for something else spooky in the future, which should be a bit easier since they’re both voiced by the same guy. Oh, and Bob and Linda go to a Cake concert which is a deep cut call back to Bob getting obsessed with a Stomp-like show called Cake that does patty cake. It doesn’t have a whole lot to do with anything else in the episode but it does its job of filling up time. Happy Halloween!