Review: Bob’s Burgers “Drumforgiven”

Overview:

Gene has been investing his time hanging out at the local pawn shop, Ocean Avenue HIFI Emporium, to visit his dream drum machine. But the shop owner gets frustrated with him never buying anything and bans him from the store. Louise takes personal offence to the pawn store owner upsetting her brother and vows her revenge. The repercussions of her multiple plans continue costing Gene even further. Finally, Gene takes things into his own hands, challenging the owner to a drum machine battle for all the marbles.

Meanwhile, Teddy is acting strangely after acquiring a job at Jimmy Pesto’s. While Linda thinks it has to do with a sex dream he has had, Bob doesn’t seem to care that Teddy is not entirely loyal to his restaurant. Regardless, Teddy’s insecurities get the better of him as he lashes out at his best friends. In the end, all Teddy needs is for Bob to vocalize his disappointment, even if he doesn’t care.

Our Take:

Bob’s Burgers enters 2020 feeling strong. The franchise has an upcoming film with Disney money behind it. And while there has been no official announcement of a season 11, rumblings are that a significant new contract is on the way. As the series hits the halfway mark of the tenth season, it seems as if this is Animation Domination’s safest show. And, what better way to celebrate feeling good in the new decade than an epic drum machine battle. It’s the one thing I’ve wanted since I didn’t know that I was missing it.

How could Bob’s Burgers not continue forever when we can get such ridiculous stories out of it? If I may, I am going to objectively retell the synopsis just to explain the ridiculousness of it. First, this 11-year-old kid has been spending an abundant amount of time at the Ocean Avenue HiFi Emporium pawn shop. So, the manager is like “hey kid, you’ve been hogging up my drum machine with your dirty, sticky hands”. Obviously. But then, his little sister promises to “John Wick” him and does so by having all her friends play obnoxious music in his shop. Clearly, the reasonable thing here to do is say that no children should be playing the merchandise at a pawn shop. But, when the pawnshop owner is challenged, there is an awesome one-on-one drum machine battle with peace at the pawnshop at stake. These are the ridiculous storylines this show can pull off.

Then there is the B-plot. Where Teddy becomes so insecure in himself that he pretty much begs for discipline from Bob. That was just a little weird but in a hilarious way. Teddy is such a fragile creature that taking anything from the enemy of his friend created extreme anxiety. Linda was right that it was the equivalent of him having a strange sex dream about her (Of which, Teddy handled brilliantly when he said he hadn’t had one recently). In the end, all the guy needed was for Bob to stand up for him. It’s adorable but in a weird, uncomfortable way.

This show that maintains such an unorthodox family full of bazaar characters always manages to withhold some strong morals and values. It’s always there, it is always playing a part of the plot.  So, naturally, there are some episodes where character development takes precedence, and family values are front and centre. There is no doubt that this was one of those episodes. And, where most shows fail by boring their audience with these notes, in Bob’s Burgers, it feels natural. It’s easy for us in the 2020s to connect with this functional family of dysfunctional people, because we are all a bunch of beautifully strange characters. Bob’s Burgers somehow manages to maintain traditional sitcom values into the modern era better than the majority of things you can see on television.

Deserving of a shout out in this episode is the always amazing Andy and Ollie Pesto. While the Pesto twins always add a certain level of silliness to the show, this time was a step above. Sarah and Laura Silverman sounded as if they had a weird day in the recording studio. In fact, the kid’s whole posse was on point. Especially when Louise said that someone hurts Gene’s feelings and they all were instantly on board. You have to love it when the gang gets together to cause trouble.