It’s times like this where we all must endure retreats, just to get our shits together. Especially when it comes to one of those things where your annoying relative takes charge and don’t want to smash whatever left of their hopes and dreams are left standing. That pretty much sums with what Linda and Tina had to endure with Gayle’s tenure for the weekend without smashing her hopes and dreams and wow, okay...had to endure that for this week’s episode and pretty much resembles a boat fire in the middle of the lake. If you’re talking about art classes in school, nah. Think you be good once you get a hang of it.
On this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, Tina and Linda attend Gayle’s art class inside a yurt and must show their support for her as both Louise and Gene must find a lost cat for a cash reward but have to hide their doings from Bob, who disallow them from doing all that, in my spoilerific review of the fifteenth episode of Season 10, titled “Yurty Rotten Scoundrels”.
Um...okay, I don’t know what to say about this episode. Just passed the 100 mark for the reviews last week. Six years doing this shit and here we are, on the road to 200, at number 101...and with an episode with Gayle in play...this seems bland. You think this me being like I’m not giving a fuck but it’s not really. This seems like a bland episode that went on too fast in the ol’ pacing department. Look, this is not me shitting on any episode that has Gayle in it or Gayle as a whole...she needs some work for a character that is pretty much a wreck and may have to agree with Bob on this one when it comes to let Gayle do on herself unless it’s an emergency and both Linda and Tina have to endure what Gayle is doing and attend her art workshop in a yurt which is like some sort of tent, with the only person who signed up for the lecture. And sure, you could give Linda some credit for defending Gayle when dealing with Annie, that only person who enrolled in the class, from having what’s left of her hopes and dreams from being demolished but...getting somewhat flashbacks to “Lorenzo’s Oil”, mostly with how the main plot was playing out and how it wrapped up before diverging with the subplot.
And speaking of the subplot, it was aight to say the least though much like the main plot, the pacing became an issue to my liking. Sure, Bob have certain reasons why they, being both Louise and Gene, to not find the cat and bring it in to have the owner come in and pick it up mostly because with Tina and Linda out, they have to fill in. And also his allergies to cats. I mean, just be glad that he’s going towards being high on painkillers when dealing with cats and kitty looks cute when coming out before wanting to rip the shit out of the five because it’s probably some random cat, your ol’ run of the mill junkyard cat that doesn’t want to be bothered with. Besides all that, it was aight though like the main plot, issues with the pacing. So might as well rip the band-aid off and go what went down with this week’s episode cause I may need a long ass drink and a pack of gummy bears to drain the pain away once the whole thing is over with, this is “Yurty Rotten Scoundrels”.
Well this is something that you don’t see every day in each and every episode, where the plots of the thing begin with setting up the seeds for what to occur later on with the guy dropping off a flyer over his lost cat that he’s trying to find, setting up the B-plot of the episode, and telling Bob for permission to put up a lost cat poster up on the window. And he doesn’t want his roommate to find out that he has a cat that is now lost and dropped off from the face of the earth? You think that kids, mostly Louise and Gene, would not mind doing the whole cat finding ordeal because it’s a random cat and probably go pointless but then Louise sees what the owner is offering if the cat were to be brought back into his arms. A cash reward. Didn’t say anything about how much is he offering, whether if it’s $100 or $500 or probably $1000 from his pocket, mention cash reward in front of Louise and we may have ourselves a subplot of the episode.
Gayle enters the restaurant and tells the Belchers that she’s hosting an art workshop called “Art Your Engines”, which the title came out from listening through an audiobook and want to host an art workshop for like...a while now, and the place where the workshop will be held will be in the great outdoors...mostly in a yurt, which is like a tent used for like music festivals and whatever cultists used to enjoy their final days on Earth. Not saying that we’re going to have a cult in our hands...though I feel like a certain part of the fanbase pretty much turned into that, but hey, hosting art outdoors, that shouldn’t be a problem. Kind of did that think around seventh grade down to Galveston Island and have to use watercolors to make stuff despite the water we have to use is from the water used for the kayaks. So Gayle dropped on by to not only telling the family what she’s doing but also to pick up some supplies for her workshop, mostly cardboard, napkins, and toilet paper from the inventory and found that Linda gave her permission to hand over the supplies. That and giving her money for renting the thing for a day, though further on in the episode once the collapse takes place, it’s pretty much a buy now. And that causes concern for Bob enough to get Linda to go down under the counter and accuses her for lending Gayle money for stuff that pretty much going to blow over and tells her to stop giving her money. But Linda goes on the defense and thinks that she’ll pay her back...if she finds money of her own. Which is pretty much saying that Gayle has get her payment courtesy of Linda and thinks that she’s uncapable of raising money on her own. Hell, her workshop, age of the internet, we have GoFundMe as a thing now. You think that would’ve helped out but I’m pretty sure not one person is going to donate to help her out. So lending money from Linda is pretty much a thing to support Gayle. Though I feel like sooner or later Linda is going to say enough is enough and say that it’s time to pay them back. That pretty much what a loan is, you pay back. Gayle is probably going to the family back soon, don’t know when. Don’t know how. But it’s gonna happen sooner or later. But until then, Linda is lending Gayle money and supporting her with the whole art workshop at the yurt in the great outdoors.
They got up from the counter with Linda telling Gayle how many people have enrolled into her class on the yurt. Found out that she got one...not one so far, only one person has signed up. That’s like creating a group chat over at either Discord or I don’t know who uses Skype anymore and only one person has joined in except that one person happens to be a bot, whether if it’s a porn bot or a racist one. And causes Linda and later Tina to join in to help Gayle out, which is good for Gayle but bad for Bob because it’s the weekend and he gonna need her to help him out with the lunch rush. But Linda’s going anyway and another issue that pops up is of course, not wanting the only person who signed up for the workshop to find out that Linda and Tina are related to Gayle, they now have to come up with fake personas and with that, we have ourselves a main plot of the episode, leaving the subplot with Louise and Gene to find the lost cat...but Bob won’t let them do that since Linda and Tina are helping Gayle out, the two are automatically filling in those spots despite wanting to get that sweet, sweet cash reward, which will be touched later on.
The girls arrived at the yurt with art supplies in their hands as Gayle separates from her sister and niece and talked about the game plan of Tina and Linda making up names and can’t be related to Gayle, the two girls stumbled upon the one and only one person who signed up for the workshop, later revealed to be named Annie, and found out her reason to jump into the bandwagon where one day as she was enjoying a cup of coffee and writing down stuff at a coffee shop and then Gayle comes in, screaming like a crazy person or rather a normal Tuesday for the 42-year-old woman in purple to scream to people to partake in the art workshop she’s hosting and thus, she ends up become the one and only pupil of the experience until Linda and Tina take up the spot at the last minute. Which almost sounds like a cry for help for someone who just needed attention or probably how a mass murder start. The talk gets interrupted with Gayle giving her “grand” introduction to her artwork, so far, a decent start to the whole thing as Linda, Tina, and Annie are ready to enter into the yurt for the workshop to play out.
Once the class now taking place, Gayle starts off the first day with some introductions and of course, Linda and Tina can’t reveal themselves to be related to Gayle, so that’s where the two Belcher girls came up with fake names to make sure there won’t be any problems that would let the train derail moments after it left the station. Linda goes under the name Loni Anderson, the other one and not be confused with the actress that you don’t even know about unless you google search Burt Reynolds and yes, they used to be husband and wife. Search it for yourself. Tina goes under the name Lena Baneena and raised her age up from 13 to 15 who likes to pull pranks and need to learn how to draw a horse though you could possibly get a how to draw books in book stores or online like online stores or maybe Pinterest if you don’t want to pay take the rookie route. Annie then introduces herself and finds out that she’s a writer who post written reviews online on a blog and looking to explore new things. Posting reviews online on a blog...are y’all trying to be funny, huh writers? Been doing this shit for six years reviewing episodes like it’s throwing dingers while pitching and you do that? I don’t know, consider that a gaffe for the week, oh sweet Christ, am I turning into Joe Biden? Did I come toe to toe with Corn Pop? Heard he’s a bad dude and made me no longer eat the cereal. Heard the thing is bland, it’s unoriginal. Okay, so that’s introductions for the three girls present in Gayle’s workshop and now it’s paintbrushes up and ready to do art...but before that, Gayle wants everyone to strip down and want them to put up smocks and just smocks. Like go commando on this shit. Get rid of the shirt and pants and let nature do it’s course because she thinks that clothing with the smocks over it can be a hassle. Just be thankful that any art courses you take did not go to that direction because...TMI. TM fucking I. So it looks like the three will be staying in their clothes and have the smocks on and as for Gayle, it’s mostly her taking her skirt off and reveals her spanx underneath. And with that, we can finally begin the workshop under Gayle’s care, this should be “fun” to watch.
Linda, Tina, and Annie have their stations ready from smocks to paintbrushes and cardboard as canvases with Gayle ready to hand out the paint and water for the watercolor portion of the workshop, only for Gayle to ready to give out a free and alternate use of a bottle of paint in the form of using your own blood as paint. Using your own blood as paint. Okay Gayle, I think you may need to see some counseling because you have money from Linda, which also would’ve been used to buy bottles of paint from the art store...hell, paint from the hardware store would’ve been a better us...actually, no, don’t think that’s a good idea to have wall paint as paint for a regular canvas. Regular paint would be a way to go. I mean hell, those watercolor paint block things you see in like Walmart, that would’ve been a better choice. Using blood as an alternative because you didn’t get bottles of paint for a workshop...unless you’re going towards unstable territory or like committing a murder with blood on the walls like in a horror film, don’t think that’s going to happen. And Linda has to agree with that with the idea of Gayle using blood as paint and Gayle ends up putting the knife away, so no blood for painting. However, this does not stop her from handing out water for the watercolors and by water, she doesn’t mean water from the bottle or from the sink or from a nearby stream, she goes by spit. Her spit. And she has it in a jar. A lot of spit puts into that jar that Linda, Tina, and Annie will now be using to make some art, just hope the spit won’t be spilled out because...yeah, that would be a PR nightmare written on itself waiting to happen.
Once the water portion of the water drags on with Gayle watching over the three with their progress, it was time for a quick bathroom break for Gayle as the class takes an intermission with her going to take a leak with Tina following along, leaving Linda and Annie alone in the yurt with Linda telling Annie what’s she doing on her phone and thinking that she’s just doing simple texting, however Annie is coming up with some notes about the whole thing along with taking some few pictures of her experience. Which concerns Linda from revealing Annie’s full name and not to mention what she’s doing with her being an online writer, or in this case, blogger.
Which leads to her at the next scene outside of the yurt, sitting on the picnic table, with phone in her hand despite not getting reception to due to lack of signal strength, with Tina checking up what her mom is doing after arriving back from her bathroom break as Linda checks up Annie’s place of work online and found out that site she has was called “The Annie-ssassin", where she has reviews of the places she went and yeah, the reviews are bad. Like dropping hate bombs on every place and event she attended and leaving bad comments and adding a one star for each place she visited. Shitposting may be one way to explain her lifestyle, troll seems like easier way out thought she doesn’t seems to be the type of person who likes to troll everyone online with hateful comments unless you’re like on Facebook or Twitter. She seems more incline of being a hater who drank way too much haterade and all of that leads her to post hateful comments and pretty much ruins a person’s life. And now she’s in Gayle’s workshop with phone now in her hands and that now cause concern for Linda, worried about her ready to send a hate bomb to Gayle and demolished...whatever hopes and dreams she has left and ain’t going to have that happen. Of course, looks like that’s going to have to wait as Gayle popped up from the bathroom and gives out snacks, mostly consisting of fortune cookies with the fortunes taken out and a giant stick of carrot...didn’t even bother get good snacks and instead, we have stale cookies and potential e. coli...dude, those blue tins that holds Danish butter cookies, sure that might be a myth but it could happen, would’ve been better as a snack to carry around to the three girls present. I’m just saying.
Class is now back in session with Gayle having the three outside of the yurt and by the open woods with her teaching them their next lesson and it looks like things are going to be physical when it comes to the world of art with her passing out the canvases and crayons as Gayle dresses herself up as...creative block. Creative block, the artist and writer’s worst enemy when it comes to the creative process. Okay, may have to give the episode the only credit I could give for pulling out the relatable card because that is a bitch of a thing for everybody and I mean EVERYBODY, including myself, like...what the fuck man? What the actual fuck? It’s a massive pain in the ass but some people can manage to go through it or possibly ram it but all and all, it’s a bitch. Gayle treats it like hunting season has come in way too early and the three head off and of course, ended up separated...well Annie get separated from the group, thus having Linda to separate herself from the group to investigate what she’s really doing. Thus, leaving Tina all alone to deal with Gayle as she tries to get past her creative block and draw on the cardboard without her messing things up.
Linda finally reaches back to the yurt with Angie inside the place, continuing to take photos, with Linda telling her to drop everything that she’s doing and asks her to delete the photos since she found out what’s her deal is and why she’s doing everything in the past and what she’s doing right now. But Annie won’t let happen, and thus leads to Linda to force her way to get the phone away from Annie but refuses to do so and that lead to them fighting enough to cause the yurt to collapse. That and a slip up from Linda during the feud about her being related to Gayle during the collapse, so uh...one job Linda. One freaking job. Also one freaking job about keeping things intact, telling her that Gayle has no experience in hosting a workshop and her life is pretty much a wreck...made that last one up but you know that Gayle’s adult is pretty much a wreck but of course Linda won’t let that slide...unless you’re Gayle who overheard everything after watching the yurt to collapse, so uh good job there Linda, you have turned your sister’s hopes and dreams into ground zero, hope you’re proud of yourself.
So Gayle overheard everything that Linda spewed out and that pretty much made her upset with criticisms like her workshop being a total clusterfuck and her life being in cluster shambles, which pretty much not too far from the truth but pretty much would sum up Gayle’s life in a nutshell and Linda tries to convince to Gayle that all those things aren’t true, again, this feels like, quoting what Bob said earlier in the episode, pretty much mothering her. Rather babying her so that she doesn’t get upset because she doesn’t accept harsh criticism, which...we really need to have a long talk about Gayle and how she is being written because...she’s pretty much a problematic character to the max. And no, this is not me shitting on Gayle and thinks that an episode with Gayle being in the limelight makes it a bad one. There has to be some good, if not decent ones. “Purple Rain-union" from Season 4 was a good one, you can thank her song about her high school crush for saving the day. “Art Crawl” seems aight for a debut episode. But the rest, you’ll figure it out for yourself.
Linda tries to reason with her and apologize for everything that she said and also accuses Annie of trying to bring her down with what she’s doing and about to send out a bad review of her workshop, or what left of it, until a twist that doesn’t even feel like a twist but like 25% of the viewers predicted that it would come to this by the end of the main plot of Annie turning over a new leaf. She is trying out something new in not wanting to post hateful reviews anymore and want to start fresh and Gayle’s workshop that is now a tire fire, thanks to Linda’s big mouth, was her first attempt to try something nice. So Gayle’s little workshop of horrors pretty much helped Annie to change from being a blogger that shoots down places with hateful comments like it’s target practice at a gun range to write nice ones like planting flowers on a sunny day. Though it almost like you’re trying to say you’re ready to become a yes man, or rather yes woman and just post positive things even if things are badly performed...oh god, is that what I’m doing for the past six years doing with the show? I may need to start scheduling an appointment to a therapist about this. And an expert writer on this. Oh yeah and Tina also gain benefits from the workshop as well she finally drew a horse...
Well...uh...at least you’re getting there, so that’s a positive start. Again, there’s how to books and Pinterest to try it all out. The two girls, being Tina and Annie, all got their shit together thanks to Gayle, which forces Linda to apologize for badmouthing her during her confrontation with Annie over her actions and Gayle ends up accepting her apology as the main plot takes a pause as we now go to the subplot of the episode, the whole shebang with the lost cat...wee.
Of course, Gene and Louise aren’t allowed to look for the cat and are forced to work without a hint of leaving the place courtesy of Bob all thanks to Linda and Tina helping Gayle out, which automatically makes the two young siblings to fill in the spots. Of course, didn’t say anything about having a few buddies to help them out, which leads to Rudy, Andy, and Ollie coming into the picture and help them out. Of course, they have to keep it quiet whenever Bob is around, and they almost gave it away...mostly Andy and Ollie due to their loud nature. And now they have to find the cat for them with walkie talkies courtesy of Louise, of course Rudy ain’t gonna let that slide and try to come up with an offer and try to get the piece of the prize from Louise once the cat is found. Of course...Rudy didn’t even think this through when it comes to that but at least he tried...sort of. So of course, Rudy, Andy, and Ollie will now look for the cat around the town and in the alleyway by the restaurant with Gene and Louise listening in via walkie talkie for updates as they are stuck in the restaurant under Bob’s watch.
Louise and Gene did their hardest to try to keep things in order with the cat finding thing by not letting Bob to find out about what they’re doing though it almost feels like that Bob knew that they’re not going to do their job and have their friends to do the dirty work, which is pretty much strike one and you’re out if he just figured it out in a snap, even though Louise keeps on lying to the guy and pretend that the whole cat thing wasn’t even a thing for the first place. And it keeps on doing that throughout the episode with calls from Rudy and others popping up each and every few minutes and telling them that they have no luck finding the lost cat. All the way to once Gene drops one of the customer’s food onto the table, they finally got a call about the cat’s location and thus, causing these two to head out without Bob noticing even though he might’ve know what they’re doing. They’re not dumb to just flat out give it away, but really should’ve done better with this.
This leads to both Louise and Gene to meet up with Rudy, Andy, and Ollie by the dumpster with Louise placing a plate of pieces of fries and a hamburger for the cat to eat as bait. And the cat comes out from it, being all normal and innocent for it to eat the pieces little by little with the kids ready to pick up and sensed that the cat eating it’s food would be the perfect time to strike. Except that the cat, once Louise is prepared to pick it up, goes on attack mode and anyone who would pick it up is probably going to get scratches on their arms and legs and going to have an itchy feel like getting bitten by fire ants or going through a field of poison ivy. Louise don’t want to pick it up and asks Rudy to do it, only to deny that request and same goes for Andy and Ollie, so it looks like they all have to get the cat inside the restaurant despite that they’re going to end up getting scratches. But someone also must distract Bob from finding out that they found the cat and putting it inside the vicinity of the building. Thus Gene takes the role and distracts his dad by doing some dancing as the rest put the cat into the basement or bathroom or wherever the fuck the door leads the cat to. And if the cat scratches and Gene and Louise unable to go out for the first few hours, or in episode length, about 15-20 minutes, well...
Found out that the cat the kids found from the dumpster is the wrong cat. It’s not the cat that the owner was looking for. And putting more salt into the wound, the real cat has been found, so that means they won’t get the reward that they were going after. So thanks for much for a subplot that pretty much wasted everyone’s time. So because they can’t hand the cat over because they found the wrong cat, and they would like the fucker into the place and like make it their pet (or possibly hand it over to Gayle) but that won’t happen thanks in part of Bob’s allergies when being around a feline. So it looks like the kids are going to take the idea from that owner and try to find that cat’s real owner, if not, try to sell it. Would say put in an animal shelter but...let’s just say if the cat doesn’t find a good home in like a month then...yeah. So the kids decided to head on out and post some posters up for who would be the lucky son of a bitch to take home the junkyard cat…
As Linda and Tina enter the restaurant once again following their time as Gayle’s art workshop of horror and say that they had a good times despite that there were some trouble, mostly with Annie being a hateful blogger, Linda with her big mouth and say that Gayle can’t handle herself, and also a damaged yurt. All that and say to him that maybe Gayle won’t need them for budget support, which I call bullshit on that because knowing this show, that reset button is ready to go for full use like a nuke and pretend that everything that happened even happened. Closing out the episode with Linda and Tina ready to head towards the bathroom but apparently can’t due to the fact that the cat that Louise and Gene brought in is in still in the building. So if you’re either them or a random customer entering in, then you’re going to have to wait until the all clear is given. Boy I hope that cat gets a good home and doesn’t destroy the owner with its claws…that is the real PR nightmare right there.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Certain issues I have with this one and it looks like we’re going to be here for a while when stating the flaws built into this episode. Just putting it out there that this all my opinions built into one post, agree or disagree, you’ll be the judge of that.Mostly coming from the main plot of the episode with the whole Gayle thing. Again, this is not me shitting on Gayle or declaring that any episode with Gayle in it automatically makes it a bad one, it’s just that Gayle’s a problematic character that pretty much turns her into a someone would brand as someone who probably can’t stand within the first five minutes, pretty much like visiting your relatives after a long drive. The pacing and the execution of the episode went by so fast, so fast that once your food arrives from a place you ordered, you’ll be already at the part of Linda confronting Annie over what she’s doing and with her job description being questioned. Do have to give points for pulling out the relatable card with Gayle dressing up as “creative block” and try to cause damage to people when trying to draw, mostly Tina since she’s pretty much the only one who dealt with it, but other than that, this side of the episode went by way too quickly and it feels like your brain just shut down when watching the plot unfold and even if it’s once turned back on, you don’t even noticed what went down leading up to the final moments of the episode.
And sad to say, the subplot did not save this episode. It did not truly save it with Louise and Gene trying to find that owner’s lost cat. Much like with the main plot, the pacing and execution of it became a massive issue to deal with. And felt like the subplot pretty much fell apart as it rolled on, mostly with Louise and Gene trying to hide the thing from Bob, even though it feels like motherfucker already knew what went down. The subplot seems like a massive waste of time to be honest, all the way to the end where they found out that the cat they found isn’t the right one. So that pretty much sums up the subplot as a whole, a waste.
So final thoughts, I think the pacing of the episode seems like it was a massive issue. The execution did not boad well for not one, but two subplots. The subplot didn’t even bother saving the episode and feels like it didn’t even show up. And it looks like the main plot did the same as well. It’s pretty much hit and miss but this one is mostly a miss in my radar. Pretty much like with Season 9 where we have two good episodes back to back only for the next one to pretty much take a dump on it. I have been this biz for over six years...100 episodes I did with most of Seasons 7 and 8 that I missed, this is number 101...never have I ever gave an episode a low rating and the lowest was a 5.5 with “Tina and a Real Ghost”. And it looks this week in the history of the Bob’s Burgers reviews, though I’m sure there’s more before the tenth episode of season four when I started it all, might be that week to give it a rating below a 5.5 out of 10. I’m giving “Yurty Rotten Scoundrels”...
A 5 out of 10. First time in history for me to give it a low rating, though I’m pretty sure there’s more in the back so that’s pretty much me to find out but final score of this episode with a 5 out of 10. Again, this is pretty much my opinion and might as well be a controversial one at best, though the rewatch factor is there, so good luck proving me wrong on that one. Tell me what you think about this week’s episode, do you like it? Do you hate it? Would you attend Gayle’s workshop? Would you help the kids out finding the lost cat? What’s your thoughts on Gayle-centric episodes do you think there should be some work with these episodes? All that and your mini review in the comments down below. And let’s hope next week’s episode be better and It's a St. Patrick’s Day episode, though by the time that review be posted, it won’t be St. Patrick’s Day anymore in “Flat Top O’ the Morning to Ya”.
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