Review: Bob’s Burgers “As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps”;”Mo Mommy Mo Problems”

“Mess with the Belcher’s and get mildly annoyed!” 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

In the first episode of the night, As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps, the Belcher kids butt heads with a cranky new business-owner who gets annoyed at their reluctance to clear the alleyway for her van. Louise and the woman continue to escalate their feud until a near-fatal experience leaves them both with a new perspective. Meanwhile, Linda tries to support Gayle in her new job as an art museum guard.

Mo Mommy Mo Problems finds the family celebrating Mother’s Day by saying ‘yes’ to everything Linda suggests. This leads to the Belcher’s heading to King’s Head Island, planning to hit up lots of fancy open houses for the free finger food. But when a desperate realtor takes a liking to them, things get much more complicated as they explore the secrets of an old Victorian mansion.

Our Take:

Up first was As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps. This is the 18th episode of season 8, and I’m pretty sure it’s also taken the crown for the funniest episode of the season. I was laughing pretty consistently throughout, as the Belcher kids (and especially Louise) took their silly feud to new heights with every prank. Their dust-writing collaboration was great and inviting Rudy over to supply the bike party with ‘ramps’ made for what may be one of the best moments in the show altogether: Louise’s interaction with the neighborhood police. The way she works them down from stern enforcers to crying tears of empathy was masterful – classic Louise.

This episode was much looser than the standard episode, which may be why I enjoyed it so much. Without the need to advance the plot through specific hurdles (there was never really a predictable path for this storyline to follow), the show is forced to rely more on its comedy and characters, which really is a strong suit for Bob’s. There were excellent lines from Gene: “You’re becoming a woman!” and Rudy, after learning no one saw him go over the makeshift ramp: “God saw.”

Mo Mommy Mo Problems returned to the typical narrative structure, with a clear objective that drove the episode along. While there were still loads of good comedic moments (Tina’s utter disgust with the entire squirrel thing), episode 19 couldn’t quite equal its predecessor. That’s fine, though, because it’s still an enthralling 22 minutes of television in its own right. After the initial set-up, which was silly fun, it took a turn for the dramatic. The young mother/realtor felt depressingly real and definitely drove home how terrible Linda’s free finger food idea was for the people around them. Couple her predicament with the owner of the mansion’s haunting schemes to drive potential buyers away, and you’ve got a recipe for chaos. There was a lot of plot going on, but it still managed to be easy fun to follow.

I was a little disappointed in how the episode dealt with the reveal about the real house owner’s motives. Instead of just flat out telling their parents, I kind of wish the kids had worked with her to scare the visitors away, while Bob and Linda had kept with their original plan to help get it sold. This would’ve created some interesting opportunities to pit the kids against the grownups in a storyline that came together more naturally, perhaps.

As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps was an incredibly funny episode, that also had a lot of the heart fans have come to expect from the show. (The fact that Bob tears up when thinking about a kid’s first bike ride is adorable.)

Mo Mommy Mo Problems wasn’t quite as fabulous, but it did deliver a unique plot and some terrific scenes… I’ll never look at fruit roll-ups the same way again.