In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, after kicking a Mall Santa out of a chair and received coal in a dream, the Belcher children are on the job to do a good deed from getting themselves to the naughty list. This is my spoilerific review of “Nice-Capades”.
Alright, time to be a Grinch for once and got something on my sleeve. This is the Fourth Holiday Special for the series and they decided to air it in November? Guys...we just have a Thanksgiving Special just last week and decided to air a Holiday Special on November, not December. Here’s a Vine from one Viner on Christmas Songs on the radio the day after Halloween.
Yeah...keeps coming earlier and earlier. Anyway, let’s talk about the episode.
This episode was a good one in my taste, I mean, the holiday season is right around the corner and this is the fourth overall Holiday Special that the show is doing since Season 3 back in 2012. And of course, my second Bob’s Burgers Holiday Special Review, and no, I’m not wearing a Santa hat right now, so calm down you! Of course, this episode revolves around the Belcher children trying to good deeds after kicking someone off a message chair while Holiday Shopping and found out that the person that the Belcher children kicked out is a Mall Santa. Yeah...a Mall Santa, which to young children, Santa. Ol’ Saint Nick at the Mall. Which apparently, could lead the Belcher children into the Naughty List.
The dream sequence in this episode was rather interesting, but at the same time, predictable because you know what happened if you kicked out a Mall Santa out of a message chair, coal. It’s funny because here, in the United States, and other parts of the world, if you act nice, you get presents. If you act bad, you’ll get coal or in this case, nothing. Yeah, nothing. I blame the economy for this. But, that’s where the comparison comes in, because if you live in Central or Eastern Europe and act bad, you don’t get coal, you get to pay a visit to someone named Krampus. Krampus is a creature from Central or Eastern Europe that if a child acts bad before Christmas Night, that child will not get a visit from Santa and receive coal in the stockings or under the tree. No, that child will get a visit from Krampus. And what will Krampus do to that naughty child? Bad things. Very...bad things. Things that I’m not allowed to say because what I would say is very disturbing to the normal reader of my reviews. Just be lucky that the Belchers live in the U.S. and not residing in either Central or Eastern European Countries because...yeah.
Apparently, Louise, Gene, and Tina tried to make things up from what happened yesterday by delivering milk and cookies but things go south as Tina spilled milk on the Mall Santa’s lap and Gene trying to clean the spilled milk up by dumping cookies at his lap. Which of course, led them to the naughty list. You kinda knew this was coming.
Of course, the main highlight of the episode, hence the title, is the so-called “Nice-Capades”, which is a ice show that the Belchers, Teddy, and the Fischoeders put on to get Tina, Gene, and Louise out of the naughty list by retelling about what they did over the past 12 months. And man, where to begin with this?
Let’s talk about the first act, the Fischoeders. Though Felix’s dance moves were a bit...like what Jimmy Jr. did back in “Burger Wars”, slow jamming to Fischoeder’s song. Speaking of the song, Kevin Kline as Mr. Fischoeder...brilliant. Fucking brilliant. The song that Mr. Fischoeder sang in the first act and at the credits is freaking brilliant. I do wish there’s more of this in the near future.
Then comes the second ha...oh wait, where’s Mall Santa? He’s on break. Even Mall Santas have breaks. But this Mall Santa is shopping at the last minute for a gift for his nephew, in which Bob and Linda are looking for the Mall Santa to make sure he watches the Nice-Capades, anything but calenders...in which when Bob is on the job to get the Mall Santa’s nephew a gift at the last minute while Linda takes the Mall Santa back to Santa’s Village, every store are closed except for one...the calendar store. For anyone who wanted a 2016 Calendar for next year, go to your local store now. Or in this case, check your phone or tablet or computer...thanks technology, for ruining wall decorations.
Now we get to how the kids did in the past months in song. Starting off with Gene...
What did Gene do for the past months? Well, according to him, he give Regular Sized Rudy the last taco in the school cafeteria and had to eat reheated Chicken Nuggets. I have nothing against school food, due to the straight that I used to eat school food mostly every day. And when I was in school, most people don’t even like the school food. Wow, should’ve said that in “Bob and Deliver”, but then again, I did join the fandom in 2013 into 2014, so I can’t mention that. Anyway, back to Gene’s part of the song, he’s the first of the three that has to perform the song. And he used the hockey team, Jewish hockey team, to play the parts of the nuggets that Gene mentioned in the episode.
Then comes Tina...
What Tina did during the past months? Once upon a time, she put a crab back to the ocean...by kicking. And before you ask anything, no, the crab isn’t harmed, and neither was Tina. I mean, the crab is lying on his back, and just like what will happen to the turtle, might get sunburned and might die. If it weren’t for Tina, the crab would’ve die. Just be thankful Tina was just walking by to get a crab back to the water. Also, to any fanfiction writer that include the words “Tina” and “walking by the beach”, congrats.
But of course, the main highlight of this is Louise...
Yes, Louise. Everything was according to what Louise intended to do, get to the nice list by lying. Lying about helping out, trying to persuade Santa on how she did over the past months. That is until something came up in a form of a reflection. Yes, guilt. It was guilt that broke Louise. It was guilt that made Louise into the person she is. And this was hinted in the duration of the episode.
What does that mean? It means that due to a “black hole” building in her heart, she’s taking the bullet, as in telling that Gene and Tina had done nothing wrong and they should be the one getting presents instead of Louise. If I were to compare Louise to another character from another Holiday special in the past, I would probably compare Louise to the Grinch from Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. Besides the color, they acted bad in the beginning but then at the end, feeling bad for what they did and developed a change of heart. But unlike the two, the Grinch felt bad by hearing the sounds of the town of Whoville after their decorations were stolen while Louise felt bad by a reflection on the ice rink.
But of course, that was her self-esteem talking...and also her heart...and her conscience that is building up the guilt within Louise. It was nice for the rest of the Belcher family to rebuild Louise’s self-esteem, telling her that even though she’s naughty to the world, she can be nice from the family’s point of view. That and telling that Christmas isn’t about presents, it’s about joy to the world, mostly because the holiday is now consumed by retail sales and advertisement. Ah, capitalism.
It was also nice to see the Mall Santa taking advantage to Louise’s confession and told her that she care about what Santa thinks but the Mall Santa thinks that the only thing that Louise will care is herself. You know, leadership and all that stuff. Like saying that Louise is a natural born leader, learning from her mistakes. Knowing what’s wrong and what’s right. This is the fourth time that Louise received major development with the recent being “Hawk & Chick”, almost cried to this day. So that leads to what Louise wants for Christmas for what she did, despite having a change of heart during the episode. And what did she want for Christmas you may ask? A shark. Yeah...a pet shark. Well...at least it’s not a shark that has a laser beam attached to it’s head.
But a shark? I was hoping a toy or a puppy or new pair of clothes, but a shark? Okay. So did she get the shark?
Nope, instead, got a pet fish. Because apparently getting a shark as a pet is illegal and dangerous. But I do wish we’ll get continuity with Louise and the fish that she received. Let’s hope that fish don’t grow legs.
Reaction/Thoughts: So what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? I think it’s a good episode in my taste, Of course, like Halloween and Thanksgiving Specials, where does this episode falls? This is the fourth Holiday special for the series, so this episode will fall to...holy shit, probably tied with “Christmas in the Car” with the first being “Father of the Bob” and the fourth being “*insert name here* Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins”, and not because of the whole lowest ratings thing. This episode highlighted around the Belcher children, mostly around Louise nearing the end of the episode when she confesses that she’s not good enough to get to the nice list, aka guilt knocking on the door. It was nice for the Belcher family and the Mall Santa to boost Louise’s self-esteem after confessing that she’s not good enough to put herself to the nice list, and I gotta say, it was very cute to see that moment. I mean, Louise’s 9 years old and that’s one side of Louise that we haven’t seen for a long time. Let’s hope maybe we’ll get more of Louise centered episodes in the near future. As for the show, I think it’s alright, I do enjoy Fischoeder singing in the first act. And now I want bourbon, despite I don’t drink alcohol. And I do hope we get continuity with that goldfish, don’t want the fish dead by next episode. All and all, I think this episode is a a very cute episode, the show was alright, and despite that this episode was aired in November, I say this is a good Holiday special. I give “Nice-Capades”...
...a 9 out of 10. Again, this is a very cute episode with the spotlight revolving the Belcher children, mostly around Louise. And of course, really, really enjoy the song by Fischoeder. Again, Kevin Kline, kudos. Anyway, tune in...
What? No new episodes in December?! Is this the reason why this episode was aired in November? Okay, I have just informed that we’ll get a month hiatus...yeah, no new episodes in the month of December. Which kinda sucks. But hey, that means I have to get those late reviews out of the way, updating my blogs, and of course, I got finals coming. Not to mention, now had to get ready to do my Top 20 Countdown for the 2015 Fandom Season. You know the date when the countdown starts. December 12th to the 31st by the way. But until then, this is the last episode for 2015, so stay safe, have a Happy Thanksgiving, Holidays, and New Years, thoughts and prayers go out to the city of Paris following what happened last Friday, and have a happy and safe Winter break and I’ll see you guys in 2016.
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