Review: Bob’s Burgers “Go Tina On The Mountain”

Tina learns valuable life lessons from a hermit on a school nature retreat.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The kids at school have been calling Tina ‘Fluffy Butt’ for weeks, thanks to an unfortunate incident in the girls’ bathroom. But the class outdoor nature retreat is coming up, and Tina is excited for the opportunity to have a Nature Epiphany at the top of the mountain and be re-christened as something cool (like ‘T-Eagle’). Unfortunately, the weather has other plans, as the nonstop rain keeps the campers indoors.

But a little rain won’t stop Tina Belcher! After meeting up with the fabled camp hermit, she is inspired to climb the mountain solo style under her own power. The going is tougher than she expected, however. (Rain brought its friends, mud, and rocks.) Thankfully, Tina’s siblings, friends, and mentors are there to back her up, while helping her realize that you can’t do everything on your own. You need teamwork sometimes, and alone stuff sometimes.

Our Take:

I always like when Bob’s Burgers switches things up by taking us to a completely new setting or situation. By taking the kids out of Wagstaff, we get to experience their typical group humor elevated and heightened to even stranger levels to match the craziness around them.  (How about that ‘hermit’, huh? I did not see the twist coming… how does her wifi router even work?)

This episode felt like it had a little more to say than the past couple episodes, I think. We got plenty of the usual jokes and camaraderie, but Tina’s struggle with gaining acceptance from her peers while simultaneously trying not to care what they think is pretty serious territory. Maybe Tina, being a dramatic kid on the verge of teenager-dom, is the most suited for these types of teachable tales. Sure, the conclusion about needing teamwork to accomplish some goals in life may not be revolutionary, but the way it worked itself naturally into the climax of the episode (the group had to do the ‘two-person peak’ maneuver to make it past the mountain’s rain gutter) felt pretty satisfactory.

Bob and Linda may not have learned many valuable life lessons from their subplot, but it’s still a lot of fun to see them trying to let loose despite their habit of passing out on the couch. (“Maybe we’re too old to have fun,” Bob ponders.) They even get a little bit of a happy ending when they have a fun night out and invite people back to the house for an afterparty. (The bliss turns to blues when they wake up to find the house trashed the next morning, but hey, it was nice while it lasted. Just make sure to check the kids’ rooms for stragglers next time!)

This was a great Tina-centric episode of Bob’s Burgers that included some wacky new characters (Hermit the Fraud) and some solid life pro tips (teamwork is a necessary evil). Bob and Linda’s subplot was a little less interesting than the main storyline, but it still had its moments. Overall, “Go Tina on the Mountain” is another strong showing for Bob’s Burgers in season 8!