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Monday, December 08, 2014

Review: Bob's Burgers Season 5, Episode 6: Spending Christmas with the Bobs. A bittersweet reunion for Father and Son.

On this week's episode of Bob's Burgers, or in this case, this year's Holiday special brings the meaning of family. The Belcher family visits Bob's dad for Christmas and Linda has plans to get both Bob and his father to patch things up all while the kids are trying to make a holiday gift for Bob. Here's my spoilerific review of Episode 6 of Season 5, "Father of the Bob"


Now this episode introduces to a new character that we haven't seen in the Belcher family, a decent from Bob's family, not Linda. Even though we already saw Linda's extended family with her parents and Gayle, we haven't Bob's side of the family for a really long time. Not since dead uncle from the first Holiday special. And so, for this episode, we were introduced to Bob's dad, Bob Sr., or "Big Bob". Which automatically make the Bob we know a Jr. (I ain't fixing my Tumblr tags, FYI)



With Big Bob, comes others. And with others, they bring in special guest voices to lend in. Big Bob is voiced by Bill Hader, comedian and former SNL cast member who is most famous with his role as "Stefon". Pete with the voice of Nick Offerman, famous for his work in "Parks and Recreation". Henry with the voice of Carl Reiner, which I have no info on. And Henry with the voice of Jordan Peele, comedian and famous for his work with "Key & Peele" with Keegan-Michael Key.



 

Although this episode isn't so...holiday-ish for the most part, it did bring Bob and his dad to work patch things up. Compare this episode to the other holiday specials in the series. The first special, "God Rest Ye Gentle Mannequins", was about a mannequin looking for lost love. How did a mannequin became alive? Magic...what else? That was back in 2012 and it was the first Holiday special of the series. But according to Wikia, that episode was the lowest the show had received. 


The episode was aired on December 16th, as the episode is nearing it's end, President Obama gave a speech following the Newtown shooting on December 14th. So the episode has to be rerun on December 30th. Then came "Christmas in the Car", the second Holiday special, when the Belchers are stranded in the snow after getting a Christmas Tree at the last minute, and being chased by a Candy Cane truck. Comparing this episode with the other two, "God Rest Ye Gentle Mannequins" did it work, but kinda failed to get me. And "Christmas in the Car" seems to be some sort of apology letter following the low ratings they received, but the country was mourning at the time. I was in mourning as well, followed by the death of Neji in Chapter 614 of "Naruto". 


So we finally got to see really in depth into Bob's Dad's Business which we already saw back in "Bob Fires the Kids" but that was only a flashback of Bob's horrible childhood. You know, the reason for that episode is that Bob fires the kids so they won't suffer the same way Bob did. 


So how did the whole Bob's horrible childhood flashback began? Flashback! The episode began with a flashback to 30 Years Ago when Bob was a child, making Henry a burger while his father is taking a Prostate Exam. Henry ordered "The Usual", which is a tuna melt burger.


But Bob gave Henry the burger he made called the "Baby, You Can Chive My Car" burger, which of course, is how Bob began coming up with burger names. 


Big Bob throwing away Bob's first creation was a bit of a dick move. Oh my god, I never realized Bob's dad can be a kind of an asshole, no wonder he had a crappy childhood. What, did Big Bob just recently took a sip of instant asshole in a cup before heading off?



And then 10 years later (20 Years Ago from the Present), Big Bob tried to co-op with Bob by working together as father and son but Bob refused to take the offer following a bad childhood. If Bob is 44 years old in the present time, meaning that Bob 30 years ago is about 14 years. 20 Years is about 24 years. 


See, this is why you should apply to online college, kids.


The kids making Bob a gift for Christmas is a breakaway from the main focus of the episode. Tina got Linda a yoga CD, which of course both Gene and Louise has to take the credit, but for Bob...nope. So looks like the kids had to make the gift themselves. With Tina with a special chair, or recliner.


Gene with a Bean Bath.


And Louise with a Mouse Trap Sculpture. How do you carry that without hurting your hands?


However, the kids' arts and crafts for Bob has failed. So it looks like they're going for Plan B. A newspaper and a snow globe. By the way, Tina won the gift making with the chair. 


So over 30 years since Bob's first creation, and looks like he finally won, but at what cost? So when that problem happened, looks like it's Pete to the rescue because Big Bob is at the bar, drinking away his problem. But, not without a stetson, because...Stetsons Are Cool.


So Big Bob came to the bar for Thursdays and Fridays. Fridays to get a break and Thursdays for watching an episode of "Scandal". Bob tries to make things up for the way he treated back there by square dancing. Bob finally patch things up with dad. And looks like Big Bob does the same thing on the way he treated him over the past years. It's nice to see family settling aside their differences. Even if it comes to square dancing your feelings out.


And of course, there's something missing into the mix, Bob's mother. What did happen to her. Well, two possible reasons with a lot of sub-reasons in the list. Two possible theories. Either Theory A, divorce. Maybe things aren't working out for the two. Or maybe it because she don't like the way Big Bob is treating Bob. Then came Theory B, death. Maybe she was diagnose with either cancer or leukemia and have months of live. Or maybe died of age. That could be the point, but try not to be judgmental, but would the females outlive the males when it comes to age gap. Or maybe she died of an unexpected heart attack. So...don't know, either Theory A or Theory B has to fill in the hole. Wow, now I made things sad. 


Reaction/Thoughts: So what do I think about this episode? Well I think it's a pretty good episode. Although this episode isn't a bit in the holiday spirit, but it did bring the feud between Bob and his dad to an end after 20 long years. Following the bad childhood Bob has to suffer to the 15 minute encounter, at least we finally got to see how the conflict was resolved. The kids making Bob a gift was a comic relief to see all while we see Bob and his dad cooking. Although, it's all thank to the kids for making Bob to patch things up with his dad when he saw how his father saved the business, resembles back to the very first episode following the Human Flesh situation. By the way, if you squint on the snowglobe, you can see the Dallas skyline.

Tina holding the snowglobe
The City of Dallas, Texas

Congratulations to Dallas, Texas for being mentioned in this week's episode in a form of a snowglobe. I'm so getting a lot of hate for this from every Houstonian. As for the whole Bob's Mom thing, Divorce or Dead? I guessing that she's probably dead. Sorry for bringing this up. I give this episode...


...an 8.5 out of 10. Anyway, next week, one episode left before the Winter Hiatus and it's Cookie Season but someone has stole something from the Thunder Girls and look like both Tina and Louise are on the hunch, all while Linda is ditching the black hair for blond. In the Seventh Episode of the Fifth Season, "Tina Tailor Solider Spy".

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