Review: Bob’s Burgers “Les Lizárdables”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Gene and Courtney co-parent a stray lizard, but when Gene has to take care of it full time, his inexperience quickly leads to chaos.

OUR TAKE

The Belchers are back after a two week break for another two episodes before another two week break. Yep, this is the typical Network Television animation release schedule at play, even when the season has been cut down significantly. But to my pleasant surprise, this episode is NOT an episode focused on Tina! Again, cannot stress this enough, I have nothing against Tina, she’s a fine character, it’s just that we have had four episodes in a row that have involved Tina in some significant way, and it is pretty refreshing to have one this time that is focused on someone else. ANYONE else. In this case it’s actually a Gene episode with Courtney, which I’ve always had a soft spot for. The two are both clearly headed for showbiz in some way and have had on and off chemistry over the show’s many years, and it’s genuinely my head-canon that they will end up together one day…and probably get divorced shortly thereafter because they just have the banter of a divorced couple, for all the good and bad that implies. And just like many divorced couples, this episode is about them co-parenting a lizard they found with alternating custody!

Similar to the time they had dueling musical productions of “Die Hard” and “Working Girl”, the way they handle taking care of this lizard highlights how Gene often leads with his heart while Courtney leads with her brain. While the latter knows the procedures inside and out to make things up to code and structurally sound, the former flies by the seat of its pants and just does what feels right, damn the consequences or protocol. Naturally, this leads to some mishaps, especially with Gail and her cats over for the B plot, leading to the lizard losing its tail and almost getting eaten. But Gene does eventually start looking at the guidelines and treating the lizard right, showing Courtney he does care. And once the lizard shows signs of reaching puberty, the two do what any parent does, letting their scaly child go free to live its life. Another great episode that fuels my Gene-Courtney ship, and next week is the annual Christmas episode, which are more often than not a good time. And after THAT, another two week break, followed by the last episode of the year, so look forward to that too! Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night!