Ah the good ol’ fashioned American road trip, the time of your life of enjoying the open road, not worrying about anything from your place and enjoy a time out from everyday activates and live to see everything that the country has in store, either being roadside attractions that could be under government control thanks to tax evasion to experiencing problems with the car or on the road. Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Belcher family with their road to wrap up their spring break vacation which almost feels like something coming from any road trip movie...mostly those National Lampoon movies in the past.
Anyway, in this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, the Belcher family hit the road with an old buddy in the limo in the form of Nat “the Limo Driver” Kinkle in hopes for some entertainment for spring break for the kids as while they’re out, it’s all Teddy, all the time as he took over the house for the day in my spoilerific review of the seventeenth episode of Season 10, titled “Just the Trip”...phrasing, boom.
To close out the month of March, this was a good episode to end it and an episode that really need to give people some positive vibes amid the outbreak. Of course, that being the return of Nat the Limo Driver, or Nat Kinkle, a dream to mostly everyone in the fandom and a nightmare to a certain group. Of course if you, like me, check on the script covers from Bento Box’s Instagram and Twitter pages, this episode would officially mark her return to the show since her debut back in Season 8 with “V for Valentine-detta"...that is until the season premiere with “The Ring (But Not Scary)” came into play. But hey, Nat is back to make things better and with the Belcher family hitting the road as spring break over there at the Bob’s verse is beginning to wrap over a week of doing nothing for the kids, unlike the last time spring break happened with the Tammy thing. But at least they got spring break while here in the real world has to stay home because of the outbreak with some college students ignoring the warnings and have their death wishes automatically written. But of course, since this is a sitcom, an animated one at least, hijinks had to ensue for the Belcher family with Nat taking the wheel to visit her ex-girlfriend.
That and the subplot when what not to do when leaving Teddy behind and being the only one left in the Belcher household but at least it’s not like in the same situation as what happened in “Christmas in the Car” with him being stuck in the fridge thanks to the kids’ attempt to capture Santa and more of him trying to fill in the role of Bob and Linda when trying to fix a leak that been a pain in the ass for the family since...a few seconds in the episode. That being said, it’s time to dive into the zaniest and wildest road trip to pretty much the whole year now that everyone is quarantined and have no choice but come across to this review for no whatever reason, this is “Just the Trip”.
Starting off the episode with a random customer entering the restaurant, so it’s gonna be that type of episode isn’t it? Apparently not because that customer just pretty much headed out after witnessing that the restaurant is going under repairs due to a leak that happening since...now at that start of the episode with Teddy trying to repair it with the kids now bored out of their minds with nothing better to do since it looks like Spring Break for them is pretty much almost with for them since they got nothing better to do than just be stuck in the house and pretty much work. You think that heading out to the Wharf or at the beach would help things out. Yeah that now pretty much sums up everyone, including myself, placing under lockdown for spring break...and pretty much the rest of the year. Point is, the kids are bored and got nothing better to do when it comes to wanting to do shit on Spring Break. At least it’s better than the last spring break when thinking it was a good idea to bring Tammy stay over. Really don’t want to talk about that disaster. Just as the kids continue to be bored to death over at the booth while the pipe is being fixed, a limo pops up outside of their doorstep and reveals to be and...cue the Mark Morison parody music of “Return of the Mack”...
♪ (Return of the Nat) it is (Return of the Nat) come on (Return of the Nat) oh my god (You’ll know that she’ll be back) here she is (Return of the Nat) once again (Return of the Nat) pump up the world (Return of the Nat) watch her flow (You’ll know she’ll be back) here she go ♪ Yep, Nat Kinkle is back into the show, two times this season with the first being “The Ring (But Not Scary)” with her entering the restaurant, greeting the family, and ready to order her food on the go because it looks like she’ll be hitting the road, of course on her limo of course instead of a normal car, on her way to an animal sanctuary to drop off something to her ex-girlfriend. That’s right folks, Nat has a girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend, making her the ninth character to be in the LGBT column of the show. And yes, I counted each character on the show. Still waiting on official confirmation of Bob being bisexual. Him being bi has pretty much written on itself. Same goes for Bi/Poly Tina and Pan Gene, hmm.
So Nat comes back to the show and ready to pick up her order on the go as she is prepared to hit the road to drop off something over at her ex-girlfriend's house/animal sanctuary outside of town and of course, since it’s still Spring Break for everyone and the kids are bored out of their minds, Linda decided to have the family to go on a road trip for that the kids don’t end up being bored and possibly be like everyone when doing their downtime in looking up on their phones, even though the kids don’t even phones of their own. It’s 2020, get in the times. But Bob reconsiders the whole idea and thinks that going on a road trip is a bad thing and not because of him being ripped away from the restaurant, which is pretty much him being ripped away, but also that they don’t want to relive the whole thing from what happened last time, and by last time, we mean just being brought like right now.
Flashing back to the Belcher family in their car with Gene peeing on the bottle because they didn’t even bother stopping at a random place to a pee break and the next exit isn’t until another few miles with Tina currently spending her time on the road reading to not get bored but ends up puking, thus causing a chain reaction to the whole family and made them turn around to head back home. Yeah, road trips...although it can be somewhat fun and relaxing because you get to enjoy some time out from your home and explore what the country has to offer...on your way to your destination is pretty much a pain in the ass. Believe me, that happened sometimes to the normal person. Hell, I went through that when visiting family for vacation whether dealing with a problem with the car enough to make a pit stop to dealing with heavy rain in the middle of the open road and that was during the summer months back in 2017.
And the Belchers are no strangers when it comes to dealing with out of the house dilemma, not just one or two or four members, talking about the whole fam coming along and deal with numerous shit to question about their life insurance and last time the whole family does that...okay, the whole thing with the missing wedding ring for the anniversary just happened, but let’s not forget that they saved a turkey from being mutilated when taking on a city official or dealing with a pissed over candy cane driver for Bob cutting him off when picking up a Christmas tree at the last possible minute. Fuck, even to the time when Bob and Linda get washed away in the river with the kids trying to find them out in the open woods. I swear, it’s like the cast and crew of the show has pretty much come with a death pool and feels like playing Russian roulette on each of the characters, mostly on the Belchers and Teddy, just for shits and giggles. But yeah, Bob doesn’t want to join in with Nat to the open road but of course, it wasn’t taken long until he has changed his mind about the whole and decided to jump in and bring the family along to help her out on her way to the animal sanctuary.
Once the whole conversation is done with, the Belcher family are now outside of the limo with Bob setting up ground rules to prevent history from repeating itself which includes Gene needs to hold on to his bladder when there’s no exit nearby, not unless you want to stop in the middle of the road and pee on a tree while no one is looking. That and not drinking big gulps, that would be a tragic mistake to get when out in the open road. Good for not trying to be thirsty in between exits but bad for your bladder. Tina to not read any books that could make her puke and cause massive amounts of problems and of course, vomit stains on clothes and the smell of vomit despite that reading is one of the things you need during the long hours out in the open road. I know that since we have phones, it would like throw the boredom away but yeah...you have to worry about the signal to areas where a cell tower is nowhere nearby, meaning that you can’t do anything unless you like download music, or rather listen to Spotify offline, or have games that you can play offline. Or dealing with charging your damn thing. It’s a hassle, I know. And then of course, Louise. In which Bob has to ask her to not do anything, and he means anything to have the trip to be put on pause just to get her way and Louise sets her eyes on a roadside attraction since their road trip disaster though knowing Louise...looks like we may have a disaster may be ready to come into play unless something inside the limo may have a say about all of this. And with that, so begins the Great Belcher Road Trip of 2020 unless the movie have anything to say about all of this.
The family enter the limo with Nat doing the handywork of driving as the road trip, this kicking off the long trip to the animal sanctuary with Linda pulling out a bottle of wine and a plastic cup from her bag since it looks like it’s going to be a very long trip since it’s only 90 minutes from the restaurant, if not, the whole town. But of course, Linda cannot be the only one who has a drink in her hands as Gene tries to find his own, which is something that Bob don’t want to deal with when it comes to being out in the open road being peeing while waiting for the next exit to come. Gene sensed that the drinks are in the cooler in front of him only except of drinks that Nat has carried for the kids to drink along the open road and instead found...
Surprise! A snake. Snake on a limo, someone should probably call Samuel L. Jackson on standby just in case. Yeah, so the animal that Nat was carrying her way to visit her ex-girlfriend was indeed a snake and that was something the family did not give warning for the whole trip. Especially with Gene, who, revealed in “It Snakes a Village”, has a huge phobia of snakes and hates being around it, mostly because of how a snake would look like, a reptile with no arms and legs, and that pretty much makes his skin crawl. Enough for him to exit out from the limo at the first intersection and causing the trip to a halt to hunt down the boy who apparently ran that fast. Man, for a guy who is not that big of a runner can run really well...mostly in fear. Thus causing the Belcher family and Nat to lose track on the guy, but of course, Louise ends up deciding to convince Gene to come back to the limo.
She followed him to a small cardboard box where he is whimpering away and tries to convince him to come back but Gene doesn’t want to if that snake continues to be in attendance and that’s where Louise tries to deal with him a full stack of candy from holidays past, and that’s of course, causes Gene to come back to the limo only this time around, Gene gets the front seat and sits next to Nat and have to snake...sleeps on the cooler box as the rest can continue on with their trip and hoping that would be the only issue on the trip as the limo move on with Bob and Linda drinking away with their cup of wine. I mean...it’s not like Bob has forgotten something that he should be worried about over at the restaurant.
Oh right, Teddy. Unless you forgot already, the restaurant has a little issue with the pipe due to a leak and a day off from the restaurant gives Teddy time to fix the whole problem and it looks like the whole issue has finally been cleared. The pipe is fixed and for Teddy to finally head off...or that was the case because all of that fixing causing him to be hungry. Thus having Teddy having the restaurant all to himself can pretty much turn things around and to the point where he ends up sniffing Bob’s apron which...boundaries Teddy, boundaries. Boundaries are a thing for you to have when having the place for yourself.
The Belchers and Nat are now out of city limits and on the open road with everyone having nothing to do as the car moves forward when Louise spots a billboard advertising a nearby roadside attraction, an attraction that Louise mentioned to Gene that she was dying to visit for the whole trip, and thus the chaos ensues with her trying get her way in an attempt to make a pit stop by pulling out a book out of the blue and shows it in front of Tina for her to read, and by read, I mean puke. And trying to fight the urge to read the whole thing but it looks like it was too late and thus, ending up reading the book and you already know what happens next.
Causing Nat and the family to make a pit stop to clean the puke up from Tina, now smelling like vomit causing the limo to like vomit as well. Really, this is like the third time this season where Tina pukes for no whatever reason. I mean, it’s funny the first time, but after this...yeah, there might be a problem that needs to be discussed. Linda tries to clean the puke up from Tina, who is now disappointed and pretty much embarrassed over the whole thing as it looks like Louise finally got her way cause the pit stop that Nat and the family made is of course, at the roadside attraction. What could possibly get any wor...
Oh right, left Gene alone in the limo and with a snake now crawling around him with the family trying to calm him down and also trying to get him out of the vehicle. Okay...Gene, try to calm down. I know that you and snakes don’t get along. So does Indiana Jones and you don’t see Harrison Ford deal with an actual snake while on the set or in real life. But damn it Gene, you were the MVP of last season. You almost made it to the Finals last year. This would now be the time to conquer your fear. Just close your eyes and pretend that you’re out in outer space and having a time of your life and not worry about the ongoing situation. You can do it, Gene! Fight that fear! Make that phobia your bit...
FUCK!!! Damn it all!!! Great, now Gene has to be rebooted because of all of this. Yeah, so Gene now became a full on wreck following the whole thing, causing him trying to escape only to get stuck at the front window that separates the driver’s seat to the back and have Bob to pull him out along with the snake that pretty much have a liking for Gene and exit out from the limo all safe and sound. Though it looks like Gene may need a long hug once this whole road trip is done with...that and therapy. Like massive amounts of therapy and a very long hug for the young boy of the Belcher family. By the way, how’s Teddy holding up?
Going behind the counter and into the kitchen and cooking up a burger, without Bob’s permission of course, thinking that he’s Bob since he has the apron on and pretends to have a conversation with himself. Well technically, him behind the grill pretending to be Bob, though minus Bob’s signature mustache on his face, talking to himself like he has never left the booth, and of course, pretending to be Linda as well and...does Teddy have a thing for Linda? I mean I’m just saying mostly because of him thinking that she’s attracted to him. So does he has a thing for Linda? I mean know that Teddy is divorced, no longer with Denise. We all thought that Helen was going to the right person for him only to be a gold digger. Person who was there at the end of “Bobby Driver”, who she? I mean, Teddy...there’s still Kathleen. There’s still Kathleen. Putting it out there, unless you want to go three-way, dude that’s your friend’s wife. I know it’s a joke but still. By the way, how Gene is doing?
Yeah, that seems about right. He seems to be rebooting himself, trying to work here with Windows...Gene here. So it’s going to take a while for him to get himself together...knew that we should’ve update the system. But yeah, Gene, along with Tina and Bob are now in need for a change of clothes and luckily for them, the roadside attraction that they stopped has a gift shop, causing the three to buy some new clothes and probably threw away their old ones in the trash. That or putting it in the back so that it can be washed later...that too. Of course, they can’t leave due to Steve, the snake that caused Gene to crash, escaped from the limo and now need to be found and it looks like he crawled his way to the mansion, thus Bob, Nat, and Louise has to step in and must find the missing snake while at the same time for Louise to enjoy the ride of her life...until she sees it in her own eyes and end up deal with disappointment. Someone probably did not know the rules of false advertisement. But at least it’s not a total loss for both Nat and Bob who found Steve in the backroom and jumped down, don’t worry, the snake did not harm Bob, he probably thought it was Gene who dropped on by. But either way, the snake has been found and Bob, Nat, and Louise meet up with Gene, Linda, and Tina by the limo and ready to head off and good news for everyone that they’re 10 minutes away...and now the bad, 10 minutes until the hour and fifteen minute mark of the road trip because what happened with Gene and the snake, Tina having a puke attack, and Louise making a pit stop pretty much sidetracked the whole thing. By the way, how is Teddy doing on his time alone at the restaurant?
Him still pretending that it’s a normal day at the restaurant with Teddy pretending to be Bob in one half of the counter and him being himself on the other side and try to eat his burger that he made, let’s hope that it doesn’t like cause him to have food poisoning...oh who am I kidding, those green patties from last week pretty much make some people have a rumble in the jungle. Ha-ha...this is what week two of self-isolation during these times feel like huh? And still pushing the false narrative of the idea of him and Linda being a thing. Dude! Unless you want to have a three-way with each other, stay in your zone. Even thinking about adopting Bob as the child that he never have and...actually, now that you think about...actually thinking about it again, don’t think him and Denise ever had a child that was well hidden during their marriage. I mean I know that the marriage is somewhat short but...who knows.
Locking up the restaurant now that the job is done with him fixing the pipe to cooking himself a burger and practicing for the upcoming end times, but of course, just as he is about to leave the restaurant and locking the place up before Bob and the family comes back, he has to get his stuff out of the place and ready to head on home...though it looks like Teddy here might be ready to do something drastic once locking the house up. I mean not it’s not like Teddy want to like crash into the house and sleep there until the family comes back. If that is, that would be considered breaking and entering.
Back to the Belcher family and Nat, they finally reached their destination at the animal sanctuary owned by Nat’s ex-girlfriend full of exotic animals kept in cages with Nat giving the family a grand tour of the place...and that’s about it With the family looking around the cages and of course, Gene being overly concerned mostly due to the fact that there are various snakes in the area and of course...don’t want to reboot him again. Where we finally meet Nat’s ex-girlfriend in Theresa, the owner of the sanctuary, where Nat hand over Steve the snake to her and have some small talk, some awkward small talk since their breakup, and just...call it a day. That’s it...that’s pretty much the conversation between the two and it’s not mostly due to Nat being sidetracked because of what happened earlier in the episode. But Bob doesn’t take that lightly over what happened and became upset over everything and not one thing that lightens him inside the sanctuary, was hoping for a monkey to pop on by but sadly, they’re not there and are already plotting their dominance during the lockdown. Just look at Thailand in the past week with the lockdown in place. So yeah, Bob thinks that the whole road trip was a disaster than the last time with Gene being attacked by a snake, Tina going balls out on puking on the limo, and spending numerous amounts of money for a roadside attraction that pretty sure should be under the IRS’ radar for various reasons. So to him, the vacation was pretty much a waste of time and with disappointing results to the end and no lions or tigers or fuck, even ocelots, we should’ve have a little Archer connection here. So yeah Bob, think you pretty much sum up National Lampoon in just a paragraph with the road trip leading to disappointment.
Of course, Linda and the kids, despite the whole mess while on the open road, don’t mind it and think that the trip isn’t that much of a disaster that Bob just described and thinks that at least it’s better than being stuck around the house on the last day of Spring Break and have the memories that they got, sure, it’s bad because of whole thing from the snake to the attraction that causes the trip to be sidelined but at least they got something to remember by, being good or bad for the kids. And that’s something that Bob has to swallow as they now await to Nat to drive them back home...but not until...
Yep, Nat overheard the whole thing and now going for the kill and begins proposing to her ex-girlfriend Theresa in front of the family, which was nice to see...until Theresa turned it down, way to kill the mood but for a simple reason and a reason on why they broke up in the first place. Reason? Despite that they got something in common in talking reptiles, it seems that they can’t get along and argue most of the times. I mean fuck, they couldn’t agree on what kind of pizza they should get with Theresa wanting cheese but Nat want the pizza with hot dog with extra dry crust. Like...okay, pineapple as a topping was one thing that pretty much peeved me off. But hot dog as a topping? Sorry Nat, I know that you’re a pretty impressive character and being handled in care of the Molyneux sisters, who written this episode, but hot dog as toppings for a pizza is pretty much where I draw the fucking line. That should not be allowed. That should be illegal. Yeah, it looks like the proposal has been shot down from Theresa, making Nat somewhat upset over that and ready to head off with the family back to town, of course in tears thus causing to lose sight on the road and ending up hitting a curve sign and cause some problems for the limo. So more sidelining for everyone, even when heading back home.
So Bob takes the wheel with both the kids and Nat sleeping, despite the back still reeked with Tina’s puke, and Linda in the front with talking about learning about their lesson and Bob trying to be positive over the whole trip even on the whole way back home despite the trip being a total disaster following what happened and if you’re thinking that they’re going to do it again...yeah...I doubt that would be the case...hopefully not the movie. Though saying that...we’ll wait and see if Bouchard decided to have the balls to drop the damn trailer even in quarantine. So hours have passed with the Belchers now back in town and arrived back at their home with both Gene and Louise now asleep with Tina fully, but all out fully awake, walking upstairs to their apartments and thus ending the episode with...
Teddy crashing on Bob and Linda’s bed. Yeah, looks like the breaking and entering order pretty much written on itself for Teddy here for the whole day after fixing the leak at the restaurant. You think that Teddy would like head on to his home but apparently, ain’t getting it and wants to stay over and crash on the living room, in which Bob denied the request but Linda of course, trying to show some hospitality even after a very long trip out in the open road to the animal sanctuary nearing the border of the state, allows Teddy in and ready to have Teddy to stay on over. Not like Nat is planning on staying over as well despite that she too has a very long day but...give her some space and somebody has to watch over that Komodo dragon that she has that somehow did get any answers on how the hell did she even get it from. You know what, calling it, Theresa. Theresa gave her the damn thing and pretty much kept it as a memento to remember her despite the various fights that they have. Calling it now.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Honestly, this was a good episode. Sure, while there were some scenes in the episode that threw me off but besides all that, this was a good episode. Enjoyable to say the least and probably the perfect use of escapism from what went down going on in the world recently. Both coming from the main plot with Nat and the Belchers hitting the road and surprisingly, the subplot with Teddy being home alone for the whole day and pretend that it’s a normal day at the restaurant.Glad to see Nat again and for the second time this season following her return in “The Ring (But Not Scary)” being the support when trying to find the missing engagement ring. And man, she did not disappoint and in her third episode of the series since her debut in Season 8. We got to know a bit more about her that she has an ex-girlfriend who lives out of town, making that a confirmation of her being a lesbian, which is good because we gotta need more LGBT characters added to the list and I swear that the whole Bob being bi thing has pretty much written on itself. Someone should probably tell Bouchard for some official confirmation over at this Twitter feed.
Sure, the whole road trip idea for an episode or any type of media has become pretty much overused but at a time of needing some escapism from the world being burned to crisp from the hellhole that is 2020, we might as well take it as a consolation prize while being trapped inside. I see that Gene’s fear of snakes have not been nothing more than a one-off since Season 3 though after this road trip and since that we’re off until April 19, which is the next episode airs, he may need a long break following his encounter with the snake that Nat was carrying. Though the whole Tina puking for no whatever reason has pretty much gotten old pretty quick. First time in “A Fish Called Tina” was fine. Second time in the same episode was okay. But to here...yeah, this pretty much derailed the whole thing, being one of the things that pretty much threw me off but it was a good main plot to enjoy from this episode.
And in a surprising note, the subplot did not threw me off. Sure, having Teddy taking over the subplot and him being alone at the restaurant would be a rethread of what happened with “Christmas in the Car” but apparently, it wasn’t. I see to be enjoyed over the fact that we have an enjoyable subplot with him having the place to himself, cooking up his own food, and even mess around a bit and pretending to be Bob and Linda at one point all the way to him just ending crashing at their bedroom and of course, spotted by both Bob and Linda once coming back from their long trip. So yeah, a subplot that is somewhat enjoyable...that’s a first for a while.
So final thoughts on the episode, this was a good episode. Some scenes in the episode threw me off for a bit but it was a good episode. Glad to see Nat again and hope we can get more in store for her. Subplot did not disappoint and somewhat enjoyable to watch over, no bullshitting here. So I’ll be giving “Just the Trip”...
A 9 out of 10. But of course, that’s my opinion and now I want to hear yours. What do you think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Would you consider hopping aboard the limo with the Belchers and Nat on the open road? Do you think Nat will find her special lady one day? What would you do if you’re on Teddy’s shoes when having the place by yourself...actually, don’t question that last one. Seriously...don’t. All that and your mini review in the comments down below.
With no new episode coming until possibly April 19, follow me over at Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and whatnot including which episode after this will be the one to air for next month. Holy fucking shit, we’re now down to the final five episodes of this season. Five left. What the fuck?! Goddamn...oh yeah and if you want to help the page out, or me during these hard times...
- PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/yahoo201027
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yahoo201027
- Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/Y8Y8K4OP
PayPal, Patreon, Ko-fi...you know where this is going. So head on down and donate today and until April 19...oh yeah, and at the time of the posting of the review, I will doing a little Q&A to pass the time on Sunday, this upcoming Sunday, March 29, over at Instagram, so that’s something. And until April 19 with the new episode, see y’all then and please stay safe, stay at home, and wash your hands. Later peoples.
***Bob’s Burgers is owned by 20th Century FOX, Bento Box Animation, and Loren Bouchard. Please Support the Official Release***
No comments:
Post a Comment