Review: Bob’s Burgers “Fast Time Capsules at Wagstaff School”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The kids attend a less-than-impressive time capsule opening while Louise attempts to win Boyz 4 Now tickets in a radio contest. After showing an interest in the times (and capturing said times in a capsule) Tina is tasked by Mr. Frond with creating the new time capsule, but the power quickly goes to her head as she sorts all potential additions to the capsule into the “maybe” pile. Louise tries one last time to win the tickets, but loses out to Henry Haber, who won the tickets for Susmita, who “identifies as something called a ‘Griffin Gal’.” Zeke and Jimmy Jr. discuss how hard it is to get into Tina’s time capsule, as she continues to reject submissions. When she rejects Tammy’s makeup sheet outright, the blonde responds by creating a rival time capsule, which accepts everyone’s submissions and will be dug back up in a week. Back at the restaurant, Bob and Linda are showing off their semi-useless skills: whistling and “r” rolling, respectively. The whole thing only comes up because of Teddy trying to avoid a ticket, but he quickly regrets causing a fight between the two. At home that night, the family discusses their day, with Louise mourning the loss of the tickets while Tina frets about everyone wanting to be in Tammy’s time capsule instead of hers, while Linda shows off her new “accent” and Bob his whistling skills. Back at school, Susmita and Henry have a falling out due to social studies homework, which results in him sacrificing his tickets in a Titanic-inspired testament to their lost love. Tina wants them to save her “crapsule”, Louise wants them for herself, but ultimately Tammy swipes them and tosses them in to be buried with the rest of the “Tam Capsule” items. The two sisters plot to dig up the tickets, each for their own purpose, and employ “Gene the Screen” to block the view of their nefarious deeds. Louise makes copies, fends off Tammy and Jocelyn who had the same plan, and convinces Tina to join her at the concert and live, rather than preserving the tickets for posterity. But when they arrive at the concert, they’re disappointed to find out that Susmita had beat them to the punch, after Henry’s impulsive and romantic gesture won her over. Back at the restaurant, a different sort of romantic gesture comes together, after Teddy comes up with a plot to stop his favorite couple from quarreling, under the cover of a supposed emergency for the Handyman’s Jamboree.

Our Take

This episode is a fantastic example of what makes this show special: the weird, yet realistic relationships between various Belcher family members. Bob and Linda getting overly competitive about the noises they can or can’t make is exactly the kind of nonsense that real life relationships are built on. Tina and Louise misunderstanding each other’s motives for their shared scheme is also something that almost everyone with siblings has experienced, although it’s usually for lower stakes than super exclusive concert tickets. Louise seems to still have not come to terms with her crush on Boo Boo, but Boyz 4 Now continues to be a thing, so we’re sure to see how the obsession plays out in future episodes. Gene getting in on his sister’s schemes is classic for his character, willing to go with the flow, and in this case, work in some tai chi flows of his own in the process.

Quality joke highlights include the “Ant Stop the Feeling” exterminator van, Gene asking why it’s always his arm’s fault, and Jimmy Jr.’s admission that he just eats hard-to-get-into pistachios whole. It’s also always a treat to hear Aparna Nancherla (Bojack Horseman fans know her as Hollyhock) reprise her role as Susmita, and check in on how her relationship with Henry, which started in season nine’s 9th episode, “UFO No You Didn’t”, is progressing, which seems to be smoothly except for when Henry’s correcting her homework by writing “mediocre effort” on it (“but the ‘o’ in ‘mediocre’ is a heart!”)

While there’s not a ton of big laughs from this episode, it’s a solid showing that focuses on both Tina and Louise storylines, intertwining them effectively to make for an interesting overall plot and compelling argument to live in the moment that avoids being overly saccharine, preachy, or weirdly anti-technology, a la the endless stream of content mocked in Facebook groups like “what if phones but too much”. The B-plot of Linda and Bob’s weird competitive argument also avoids the common pitfalls of making it seem like they outright dislike each other, rather than them just being weird. I would have liked to see more references to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but I think it would’ve been difficult to fit most of them in without seriously disrupting the plot. Overall, it’s a decent episode this week, and ends on a (literal) high note with the outro song of “Someday We’ll Spoon”, an age-appropriate ballad about the future, accompanied by Bob’s whistling and Linda’s rolled “r”s.