Review: Bob’s Burgers “The Hawkening: Look Who’s Hawking Now”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Bob and Louise’s dreams are coming true! Koji, the star of their favorite Hawk and Chick film series, is coming to the restaurant to celebrate the first-ever screening of the director’s cut of one of his films. Louise has even invited a bunch of kids from school. But there’s a big problem.

The owner of the rare movie reels wants a $1,000 deposit check, and Koji himself runs off with one of the reels before it can be played. Despite Bob’s frequent phone calls, they can’t get ahold of him. Louise and the rest of the Belchers eventually track him down to Yuki’s house, where he’s about to destroy the film. He confesses to the reason he wants it gone, and shows them his secret. Much like Louise, he didn’t want another person stealing his spotlight. It ends on a nice note with Louise taking Rudy out for froyo. (Even if he is paying.)

Our Take:

Six episodes into the tenth season of Bob’s Burgers and we’ve had some very good stories this season. This week’s episode is a sequel of sorts to a season five episode where Bob and Louise bonded over their shared love of Hawk and Chick films. That episode was pretty beloved when it came out for the way it portrayed Bob and Louise’s unique father/daughter relationship. Does this sequel do that classic episode justice? For the most part, yes.

The main thrust of the story comes from Louise’s excitement at hosting the Hawk and Chick screening. Because she loves the series, she wants everyone else to love it as well. The sequence where she’s trying to invite her lunchroom friends to the screening and keeps getting upstaged by Rudy and his arm cast is hilariously sad. I think we can all relate to the feeling of trying to convert people into fans of our favorite franchises only to be let down. It’s understandable that she goes as far as forging the deposit check.

There are a couple of issues I have with this episode. One of them is that the episode seems split between Louise and her friends and Louise and the screening. They overlap for a second, but once Koji runs out, the show time-skips to the future when all the kids have left as well. I was hoping to see them all join in to track Koji down. I think it would’ve made the final takeaway a lot stronger if we had seen more of Louise upstaging Rudy, especially during a hunt for the missing reel. As it is now, it kind of feels like two halves smushed together in some places. When it comes to the pacing and flow, there were definitely oddities. It felt really jarring to me for the show to have Louise go to Yuki’s house alone on the bus, but then to do nothing with that. The family notices her absence, then immediately joins her. Why even take the time to mention this when we don’t get to see any scenes of her alone with Koji before the rest of the Belcher clan arrives?

As always, there were some first-rate one-liners, gags, and sweet little moments this week. I particularly enjoyed how Rudy saves a spot on his cast for Louise. They have an interesting dynamic that I wish we got to see more of. Bob’s pleasure when Koji notices he changed his shampoo is a great moment as well. (Also, does Bob deserve an acting award for his improv on the phone or what? BEES!) “I make all the other winners look stupid? And you’re giving me your biggest bell?” Louise had such high hopes. “It was two hits: my dad getting me a bunk bed, and me hitting the floor.” Rudy is the pathetic dweeb in all of us. “Our dad is just learning cursive, so his signature is not very good.” Gene’s cover is fantastic. “I looked at Japan on the globe the other day. Pretty small.” Teddy doesn’t get much screentime, but at least he has a killer opener.

The Hawkening: Look Who’s Hawking Now is a pretty solid episode when it comes to the overall storyline and theme. But the execution itself was a little messy. It’s a perfectly fine episode of Bob’s Burgers, but I don’t think it will live on in fan’s memories like the first Hawk and Chick episode did.