Review: Bob’s Burgers ‘Best Burger’

 

Spoilers Below:

Before I get into this review, I’d like to admit that halfway through this episode they made a joke (it was when Gene said it would be easier to put the phone on Tina than it would be to put Tina on the phone) that I thought seemed oddly familiar. My lady (BubbleBlabber shutterbug Becca Green) turned to me at that moment and confirmed my concern, saying that this wasn’t a new episode because we’ve definitely seen it before. Frantically checking the cable guide, we saw it was, in fact, listed as a new episode. How could we get halfway through an episode (with my writing a review it, no less) without recognizing anything? It was then that we realized we had actually seen a chunk of this episode during the New York Comic-Con Bob’s Burgers panel, and that it was indeed new. How truly foolish.

Anyway, in “Best Burger,” the town hosted its First Annual Best Burger Festival, and Bob competed against Jimmy Pesto and Pakistani-born chef Skip Marush in the contest. However, Bob panicked mid-competition when he realized Gene failed to include his main ingredient, black garlic. Bob sent the kids back to the restaurant for it, but after a series of unfortunate events, they end up stealing the spice from a specialty good shop and fled via rickshaw. They returned to the festival just in time, and Bob managed to get his burgers made before the deadline. Despite losing to Skip in the end, the Belchers arrived back home to discover a line of people waiting to get into Bob’s Burgers.

In Case You Missed It:

1) The store next to Bob’s in the intro: Flip Your Wig Reversible Hairpieces.

2) We could all benefit from a “no signing up for things while drunk” rule.

3) Skip’s entry was the “Pomegranate & Green Chili Chutney Burger,” Bob’s entry was the “Bet It All on Black Garlic Burger” (not the “Stupid Black Garlic Burger” or “Bob’s Idiot Burger”), and Jimmy Pesto’s was the “Oregano Burger.”

4) The only Burger of the Day: “Run Gorgonzola Run Burger (Made with gorgonzola cheese).”

5) Mickey’s rickshaw business caters to “lazies and drunks.”

6) “His bald spot’s getting bigger and shinier; hair probably falling all over his food. What a disgusting creature.”

7) Tina being honest with Gene: “It’s just that you always – I don’t want to say ‘Screw everything up,’ but, maybe Louise does.”

8) “Gene-ing out” is NOT taking off your shorts after a good meal.

9) “BEAT IT, MICKEY! BEAT IT!” May have been the scariest verbal tone Tina ever utilized.

10) Gene passed up free cupcake-flavored ice cream served on a waffle, pizza tacos, an enormous robot cake, and a hot fudge car wash.

It seems the Bob’s folks sure picked a good episode to preview at Comic-Con, because this one was quite funny. The story was simple, and contained a subplot that was directly related to the main one. Meaning the plots split, but merged again at the very end, bringing the whole episode full circle.

First of all, I should say I would have thought that “Best Burger” would be funnier, considering the kids were off, unsupervised, on their own separate shenanigans at one point – and that always spells success. However, this surprisingly didn’t end up being the highlight of the show. That distinction belonged the protagonist and the antagonist, and their relationship.

Bob is obviously the former, and his foe was Thomas Lennon’s character, Chuck. Fans of the show might remember Chuck from the news program he hosted with his wife Pam, on which Bob and Gene ran amok in season two’s “Beefsquatch.” Chuck was apparently fired, and in “Best Burger” he hosted the show’s namesake contest, while constantly chiding Bob along the way with humorous insults. My personal favorite was: “Hooray for Bob, he managed to somehow do what he does every day for a living. What a champion.”

Bob, on the other hand, had quite the episode himself. He remained relatively calm for most of it, even while being repeatedly criticized by Chuck. However, toward the end he began to freak out. He also, in typical average dad fashion, blew the one chance at having a since moment with his son. (Actually, there was another opportunity, but Gene ruined that one.) Still, it was sweet to have those few seconds where Bob told Gene that he accepted him and will always be proud of him. I also enjoyed how Bob convinced himself that things would be okay even if he lost the competition, before immediately losing his shit when he was officially named the loser. The Belcher patriarch is always inconspicuously walking a fine line between constant calm and banana-sandwich-crazy, and the episodes which showcase both sides of this spectrum are usually his best.

Also, I’d like to commend the folks in charge of animation on this episode. Early on, Gene accidentally crushed the black pepper against his shirt, leaving a stain. Despite not being necessary to the rest of the episode, the stain stayed there the whole time. Usually in a cartoon you’d see a minor detail like this erased after its initial appearance. Not here, buddy.

I actually found this episode to be pretty similar to last week’s. The whole town acted as the setting, a festival was involved, and both subplots were a branch off the main story that joined together again at the end. The only difference was that this week’s installment had less characters, fewer funny lines (but not by much), and a conflict that wasn’t nearly as dire. Thus, I wouldn’t rank it quite as high – but it was damn close, and this was nevertheless a quality episode.