Review: Bob’s Burgers “Bobby Driver”

He’s a good kid and a devil behind the wheel.

Overview (Spoilers!)

Bob takes the kids to a toy store to buy a present for Colton’s birthday party. Because none of them are friends with Colton, Louise thinks he invited them just to get more gifts. Tina tells her to give Colton a chance.

The birthday party is Gatsby-themed, and though it’s elaborate—complete with costumes, 20s slang, and Charleston lessons—Colton seems uninterested in anything but opening presents. When his parents try to take his picture, he sticks his finger up his nose. Furious at Colton’s lack of gratitude, Louise schemes to switch out the Rubix cube they bought him for Gene’s smelly socks. Colton catches her in the act, but he just thinks it’s hilarious, explaining that he didn’t want the party in the first place, and his parents only threw it so they could have great pictures for social media. When his parents try to take a big group shot, Louise leads the kids in sticking their fingers up their nose in protest. Colton’s parents confront the Belchers; they eventually admit they just wanted to one-up the dad’s coworkers. They end the party without any photos, trying to kick their social media addiction.

After leaving the party, Bob sees Edith struggling to make it down the street. He offers her a ride, and she tells him that she’s no longer allowed to drive because she gets “fits.” Edith explains that she belongs to a quilting club, but the leader Lillian rejected the square she wanted to include their town history quilt. To get back at her, Edith forces Bob to serve as her getaway driver while she steals everyone else’s squares from their homes. Lillian catches Bob in the act of stealing her square, and she calls her son, Detective Bosco. Bob and Edith escape and Harold sews the squares together into a quilt, including Edith’s, which features the performers from the old wharf freakshow. Even though Edith was lying about her fits, Bob trusts her motives and convinces the quilting club to give Edith’s square a chance. They agree although Bosco pretends to pretend to arrest Bob, Edith, and Harold to appease Lillian.

Back at the restaurant, Teddy despairs that he lied to a date and told her he loves sushi. In order to prepare him for an impending sushi date, Linda tries to help him enjoy raw fish on rice.

Our Take

Yet another episode of Bob’s Burgers succeeds at creating a crazy, madcap plot that you couldn’t find anywhere else. Both the Colton and Edith storylines are surprising, hilarious, and feature genuinely heartfelt messages. It’s impressive that this show was able to flesh out two separate stories so well in a 21-minute episode, but that’s exactly what they did.

Highlights: The whole concept of an Great Gatsby-themed birthday party for kids (or the idea of a booze-less Gatsby party at all). Gene and Louise switching their gendered headgear. Colton’s mom telling Bob, “23 skadoo to you!” to which Bob replies, “I don’t know what that means,” and Colton’s dad says, “Neither do we!” Linda ordering sushi for Teddy, and a random customer giving her his order as well. Bob saying that there are ants in his car, and Edith replying, “I feel bad for them.” Teddy continuously mistaking wasabi for guacamole. Gene saying “That was an option?” about the idea of staying in Linda’s womb. Colton wanting to throw a pizza party for his imaginary friend Pete Za Party. Gene asking about Colton’s family’s sconces. Bosco saying that he won’t shoot someone because his mother told him to “again.” The quilting club referring to a quilt thief as a “queef.”

And as funny as it is, this episode has a pretty good message. Sure, they kind of hit you over the head with the moral—it’s very obvious that this show wants us to give people a chance and not just go with our first impressions—but it’s weirdly touching that Edith is fighting to have the freaks recognized. In a world where people who are different are often overlooked and written out of history books, it’s a funny moment that also rings true emotionally. We shouldn’t write over the existence of real people to make the past look prettier.

Plus, Colton’s family is a realistic and refreshing take on the social media addiction conversation. I’m so tired of media that drones on about how teens are addicted to social media, about how “millennials” are always glued to their phones when the most avid Facebook and Instagram users I know are all fully grown adults. In this scenario, the kids just want to have a good time, but the adults insist on ruining the moment by obsessively cataloging it for the approval of others. The episode tells us that we need to slow down and appreciate events as they come, but Bob’s Burgers doesn’t need to throw young people under the bus to do it. In fact, young people are the heroes here, taking part in a nose-picking protest that manages to land as an amusing joke rather than an example of potty humor (I even laughed at Gene’s assertion after the party that he may take up nose-picking).

My main complaint about this episode is that the Teddy/sushi plotline is a little rushed and underdeveloped, but that’s to be expected when it’s the shortest of three major stories. I’m glad we get to see what Linda’s up to during all this, but I feel like more could have been done with the sushi idea. There are also times when I found Larry Murphy a little difficult to understand as Edith—his “old person” voice is too gaspy to be clear.

But all in all, this is an exemplary Bob’s Burgers. There’s an exciting car chase, real stakes (Bob and Edith could actually be arrested), fun new characters, creative plotlines, great one-liners, and a cute message. I loved last summer’s blockbuster Baby Driver, and this episode certainly lives up to its namesake.