Review: Bob’s Burgers “The Bleakening”

The Belchers save Christmas (and also a rave).

Overview (Spoilers Below):

It’s a double-length holiday musical episode of Bob’s Burgers that features Adam Driver! What better way to welcome in the festive season?

When Linda has a dream about saving Christmas, she convinces Bob to throw a party at the restaurant. (It turns out to be pretty nice, even though Mr. Present didn’t show.) But once the eggnog is gone and the last guest has left, the Belchers (okay, mainly Linda) are horrified to find their tiny Christmas tree tip has been stolen!

The main portion of the episode follows Linda as she interrogates the guests, the kids as they track down the Bleaken, and Teddy as he creates a blow-up Santa decoration to disguise himself in. While meeting with Detective Bosco, Louise snaps a picture of the map charting the locations of recent Christmas decor thefts around town. Triangulating the lair of the Bleaken to an abandoned warehouse, the kids sneak out on Christmas Eve to stop the mythical creature from ruining Christmas.

All ends well when the Belcher family discovers that the only illegal thing going on in the warehouse is a holiday rave. (They don’t have any permits.) The decorations stolen from around town (including Linda’s precious tree) were just being used by Art the Artist to spruce up the party. Realizing that the spirit of Christmas is something that can’t be stolen, Linda decides to let bygones be bygones and dances the night away with the rest of the town’s weirdos.

Our Take:

Bob’s has experimented with more musical episodes in the past (like last season’s Flu-ouise), but I’m not sure it’s ever been more successful than this. The amount of singing is just enough to satisfy die-hard musical lovers like me, while not going overboard and turning the less-enthusiastic fans away. Even with the melodious additions, Bob’s doesn’t skip a beat when it comes to humor and heart. From Gene’s outlandish quips to Louise’s determination in the face of danger, these episodes were confidently based on character. The animation and background designs were on-point as well. The sense of dread emanating from the brick walls of the abandoned warehouse was palpable, and the neon lights illuminating the dance floor beneath the building provided a fun twist.

It’s hard to be critical when The Bleakening succeeds on so many levels, but I did feel like Linda’s final confessional/confrontation speech dragged on a bit too long. Perhaps the musical finale by guest star Todrick Hall could’ve been integrated better so it didn’t interrupt Linda’s big moment. Another minor quibble is that it seems like Linda should’ve been the one to don the Bleaken suit to distract the police – since she was the one who called them in the first place.

After seeing the amazing things Bob’s can do when the cast and crew get double the time to work with, I’m even more excited to see what they’re cooking up for the Bob’s Burgers movie slated to hit theatres in 2020. Regardless of how that plays out, I’m confident in saying that I’ll be returning to this Christmas special each December for years to come long after 2020 has passed. Bob’s usually brings it’s best to the holiday episodes, but this special was something special.

Score
9.5/10