On this week's episode of Bob's Burgers, Bob and Gene are on a road trip to get a refund following a defect on the toy helicopter, all while Tina is preparing to ace her oral book report with the help of Louise and Linda. Here's my spoilerific review of "Li'l Hard Dad".
This episode was pretty good for the most parts, including the toy helicopter war between Bob and the character named Sheldon, don't know, he looks like a Sheldon, following Bob driven to his house to get a refund all thanks to the toy helicopter falling apart after making a landing. I'm surprised the makers of the toy helicopter didn't double check if the parts are assembled correctly. I know right. Double check before selling.
This episode also centered on Gene, another Gene episode since "Best Burger" to get character development on him. But the entire A-plot is one side Bob and one side Gene. I think this episode just showed Gene becoming a bit neutral when it comes to major situations and by neutral, I mean just froze on what's going on, getting distracted. Most recently, seeing a squirrel on a power line nibbling on the shoe tie aiming at Tina reading the book for her report. At least Gene tried, by warning the family that the shoes are about to drop on Tina's head.
So the voice actor who played Sheldon is voiced by Dana Snyder, surprise, surprise, you can guessed it by the sound of his voice. If you don't know who that person is, he is the voice actor of Master Shake from the Adult Swim series, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and Gazpacho from the Cartoon Network series, "Chowder". Most recently for me as a blogger is the character of Ancient Sleeping Magi of Life from the Adventure Time episode, "Little Dude".
The helicopter war between Bob, the store clerks, and Sheldon was an amazing touch to see and adding epic classical music, which I forgot the name of the track, but that lasted for about 3-4 minutes top, but had to add suspense for turning point of the battle when Bob is hanging on the building with darts hitting on his butt. Is it me or is the creators of the show is preparing to kill of a character? I mean, how many characters died in this series so far? None. Tina almost died back in "Topsy", and Bob almost died by hanging on in this episode. And also Abby (or Mabel) getting a choke hold from Millie two episodes ago. So the number of character deaths still remains at zero.
The store clerk who sold Bob the toy helicopter for the upcoming battle, when we first met him before heading off to the commercial, he look a bit like Mr. Ambrose, the librarian who's a bit demented, related...I don't think so. And we also got a backstory on Sheldon, found out he used to work for the store but got fired for eating the store employees' food and attacking them with darts from the plane. Who's demented now? Anyway, then came out of nowhere, it's him and his allies becoming Bob's allies for the battle against Sheldon. Wow, talk about revenge against the guy who just got fired, played with toy helicopters, and eating frozen pizzas from the fridge.
Gene stepping in to stop this nonsense battle with Bob dangling from the building was an good idea from the creators and nice to see Gene getting some character development. Remembering back to the beginning of the episode when Gene froze after seeing Tina almost getting hit by the fallen pair of shoes by getting distracted, hope I'm corrected on this, so I'm the one want to thank Gene for ending the nonsense battle by letting it go. Let it go, let it fucking go! Was that a Frozen reference I made?
I, yahoo201027, like to apologize for using a reference from the Disney movie, "Frozen". And hoping for this will never happen again.
Gene remixing what Bob said that it's the principle was a nice touch to see and hear while trying to end the battle of the toy copters. Reminded me of the Adventure Time episode "Dad's Dungeon" when Jake remixed the hologram video of Joshua to boost Finn's self-esteem when getting the Demon Blood Sword.
I can totally relate to Tina in this episode. She had to do a book report on a book she's just started to read due to her procrastinating and don't want to do a book report, neither does doing it orally. I once did a book report back in my freshmen year, I did a horrible job on it, it's not a oral report, but book reports are hard to do. She tried to read by not getting distracted to the situation going on with Bob and the toy helicopter, despite almost got hit by the fallen shoes, but can't do it due to the pressure. So both Linda and Louise had to help her out.
Linda giving Tina advice on doing the book report without reading the book seems a bit off, to me at least. I mean yeah, book reports are horrible, but a book report is like a review of the book, telling about the plot, theme, setting, vocabulary, cause and effect, etc. But here's the difference...
...book reports are different from book reviews due to the straight that a book review...it's gonna stress you out when you or a loved one heads off to college. Or in this case, an AP English Class. Linda stating that the oral report needing some pizazz was a bit of a long shot coming from her, she didn't read the book for a book report by adding some flavor to the mix, changing the recipe up a bit by doing some "literal" ideas from the book.
Tina cosplaying as a dog from the story, brilliant! The costume from Louise made out of cardboard was a good idea for the book report mix from Linda helping out Tina was one of the things to help out the troubled teen for the assignment and for the fans, including the Tina fans out there, something they want to see.
Besides, the whole idea with Tina sledding the wheelbarrow was a bit iffy, if I say so myself. And by the look of Tina doing this, it feel like she don't want to do this at all. It almost feels like she don't want to do the book report and want to just end it already.
And so, judgment day arrives...for Tina. And I gotta say about Tina doing the book report, though she can't handle the pressure along with sweat coming from both her armpits and her chest, she aced her oral book report, she finally faced her fear. This episode make two Belcher children making some progress with Gene stopping a feud and Tina going batshit crazy by tearing down what Linda and Louise did to help her with the book report. Good for Tina.
And of course, it ain't an episode without a sudden last minute cameo from Teddy. Why is Teddy wearing a dog costume? Something to do with Tina and the book report. And I never imagine Teddy wearing a costume ever since he faced his fear of furries back in Season 1's "Bed and Breakfast".
Reaction/Thoughts: So what do I think about this week's episode of Bob's Burgers? I think it's pretty good with development on both Gene and Tina on the two plots and the toy helicopter battle between Bob, Sheldon, and the store employees. The episode was spotlighted on Gene, which makes it another Gene episode for the series, two Gene episodes in a row with most recently, the Season 5 episode "Best Burger". Dana Snyder did an amazing job playing Sheldon, although for fans, it was kinda obvious to guess who that voice belong to in the duration of the episode. Bob facing a near death experience dangling on the ledge of the roof of the building was a nice way to add dramatic suspense despite adding the darts pinning on his behind for adding cheap laughs to the mix. Gene did an excellent job stopping the feud and believe what you believe in. To coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Selma to Montgomery march, what Gene is saying is that the people has the right to say and never fall in from what you believe in. Tina also did an amazing job facing her fear of doing a book report, and she did all by herself, even if it means handling the pressure with your class staring at you point blank. Though Linda and Louise tried to help with the book report, all it need is some confidence...and sweat. Talk about celebrating International Women's Day. I give "Li'l Hard Dad"...
...an 8.5 out of 10. This episode was all that good, but I really do like the development we got from both Gene and Tina, seeing the older and middle sibling to mature, well...entering the maturity level. And at least this ending with Teddy coming out of nowhere is a nice way, yet seems of a apology letter from the disappointing ending of last week's episode. And of course, this episode is dedicated to Gordon Kent, animated timing director of the show, who died last week after battling cancer. May he rest in peace and thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.
But anyway, tuned in next week as Bob and Linda have a date night, which for Bob, is questionable, while kids are on a chinchilla hunt after the class pet has ran away from the home. In the fifteenth episode of Season 5, "Adventures in Chinchilla-sitting".
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