Review: Bob’s Burgers “Y Tu Ga-Ga Tambien”

Bob’s Burgers returns with a kid-centric episode about not following the crowd.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

When Mr. Frond comes up with a new game for students to play during recess, the Belcher kids are understandably dubious. However, Louise and Tina are soon pressured into joining the Ga Ga Ball circle, and discover that it’s a lot of fun. Soon, everyone except Gene (okay, and Zeke) are spending all their recess time in the pit. But when the day of the big tournament arrives, Gene decides to win the competition in order to deliver a message in his victory speech.

Meanwhile, Linda attempts to fill in as a volunteer reader for kids storytime at the local library. Though she clearly puts in a lot of time and effort to brainstorming costume ideas, things don’t go as exactly as she and Teddy planned. At the end of the day, they learn it’s not the costumes or special effects that matter – it’s the kids. (Well, except that one.)

Our Take:

Though this episode started off a little on the slow side for me, it had me grinning by the halfway mark. Seeing a Frond idea that doesn’t end in complete failure was a welcome twist, and it was neat having the traditionally geekier kids fill the role of the jocks thanks to Ga Ga Ball. Gene’s winning speech didn’t have the clearest moral or meaning, but I think that’s fine. He is just a kid, after all. I also really enjoyed Gene and Zeke’s interactions. They have their differences, but they have a lot of things in common, too, and I’m glad that Zeke is the one who stands with Gene in the end.

While the episode’s humor didn’t feel as consistently funny as I’ve come to expect from the show, there were still tons of laughs to go around. I think my favorite line had to be from Teddy. After Linda declares her desire to use rock ‘n roll to go up against ‘the man’, he replies, “Like the Wiggles.” Gene also had some very respectable one-liners: “Forget them, sisters! Let them play with their balls and we’ll play with our bushes!” And who can deny the hilarity of Tina’s game-winning catchphrase? (It’s a shame she never got to use it on anyone.)

Linda’s storyline isn’t the funniest or most clever B-plot the show has ever done, but it made for some solid jokes. (I love that both Linda and Teddy thought bringing fireworks to a library storytime was an excellent idea.) It was also neat to see that the town has a library… I think this is the first time it’s been shown? (I used to work at a library, but our storytimes were not quite as interesting as the showdown between Linda and the Wiz.)

It’s been a while since we got a new episode of Bob’s (you can thank winter sports for the long break), but the show returns with a pretty good 22 minutes. And what’s even better is that we can look forward to a new episode every Sunday for the next several weeks! Rest in peace, Monkey Booby Man.

Score: 7.5/10