So…how’s everyone’s off-season? If you think that whatever bullshit the year known as 2020 would be out of ideas from its bag before September arrives? Well…nope. Nope. Never gonna happen. Still in a pandemic, crossed the 200,000+ milestone in the number of deaths, which is something NOT to celebrate. Hurricane season decided to go on roid rage in the Atlantic enough to go over to the Greek Alphabet. Yeah, the Greek Alphabet. Apparently, since we’re all going on a nostalgia drive from TV shows to items in stores, Mother Nature decided to jump into the bandwagon and make that a reality like it’s 2005 all over again. Two of which, during the off-season, knocked on my door, avoiding a hit. Though Hurricane Laura, that was a VERY close call and that was a Category four, almost a five. And with an election coming up against a president who pretty much went all “Hell no, I won’t go” if Biden wins in November…god, I don’t want to imagine what December might bring into the floor to close out the year.
But…at least some stuff is back. Live sports are back. NBA, about to go into the finals with the Lakers now in the finals and at the time of the posting of the review, either the Heat or Celtics made it out alive (spoiler alert, the Heat won the Eastern Conference and ready to take on the Lakers). Stanley Cup Final, having the Stars and the Bolts, think also at the time of the posting of the review, think Tampa pretty much erased their embarrassing loss from last year’s loss and won their cup unless the Stars force a Game 7 (another spoiler alert, the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup). Feel like this will age will (it will). But also returning to the stage…burger fandom. Though everyone is working from home with no signal on when the cast and crew are returning back to the studios, just be grateful that we’re getting content for us fans and also for me, to send out this clod of a review.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, it’s another dream episode to start off the new season with Bob going on a quest under the glove compartment to find a lost key to open the chamber of secrets known as a small box as Tina tries to learn some hand slapping, not hambone, there’s a difference, that everyone but her know how in my spoilerific review of the first episode of the eleventh season of Bob’s Burgers, titled “Dream a Little Bob of Bob”.
If there’s one thing that we can agree on for us fans, is that after surviving through a very long off-season, is that the show is back on our screens. Though when it comes to season premieres, Bob’s Burgers never disappoint when it comes to that. Sure “Human Flesh”, “Brunchsquatch”, and maybe “Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now” can be seen from fans as bad, mediocre, or somewhat average and that’s pretty much their opinion, if this was like episode twelve or fourteen within the season. And no, this isn’t me shitting on the season premiere. To be honest, it was alright. Sure, there’s a lot of flaws through the duration of the episode, but it was alright, yet somewhat enjoyable to say the least. And not because it was a very long off-season and we really needed that.
I mean yeah, it’s a dream episode and it happened to be a season premiere to kick off the season and thinking that it would be like what “Flu-ouise” had done back in 2016 to start off Season 7 cause that episode had Louise being sick and on a quest after deciding not to forgive her family after Linda accidentally destroying Kuchi Kopi and had a few musical number in. Here in “Dream a Little Bob of Bob”, it’s somewhat the same with Bob entering his dream but not from falling sick, but because of a bad back when trying to find a lost key but it has no musical numbers to add into the mix. Not to mention, having a subplot with Tina trying to learn how to hand slap, but has to take an entire episode to do so. I mean, you can’t compare this episode with “Flu-ouise” like comparing The Force Awakens to A New Hope. That’s pretty much a cop out to an argument that is already over with in just a few seconds. Let’s see how this episode is not similar to “Flu-ouise” and also to give an official though on the episode, this is “Dream a Little Bob of Bob”.
Starting off the new season with Linda pouring Teddy another cup of coffee as Bob goes through a pile of mail, not mail that was just delivered. Mail from a long ass time ago. Whether if it’s being charged for a hotspot or something about an oil change that haven’t been done for a long while, probably around when Louise was born, the mail is pretty much a throw away…except for this year where we have an election coming up and people could be, if not, already voted by mail so they don’t want to catch the virus, then in this case, save the goddamn post office! Also noting that Bob deemed himself as “not responsible” over certain important tasks like changing the oil on the car or better organize a lot of important stuff so it won’t get lost and I mean…not wrong there. I mean, as you enter the adult age range, like once you leave high school and enter college or going straight towards the workforce, there has to be some time to be responsible and how to handle important tasks like paying taxes, manage the budget, how to get a job, good god, our education system is fucked up. No wonder we’re becoming the laughingstock of the world. It’s shit like this that we don’t have curriculums to teach kids how to handle the real world. Having them being like Bob and pretty much somehow barely made it through. I blame those rich assholes on Wall Street.
Tina, Gene, and Louise enters the restaurant just as Teddy exits to head out to build Fischoeder a basketball court, which honestly, would’ve been something to see but also don’t want to know why he needed a basketball court. With Tina telling both Bob and Linda that she’ll be volunteering at an animal hospital and read to animals, which…okay. Came out of nowhere with that one when wanting to volunteer over at an animal hospital that may include…okay, now I see why. But for Tina to do that, she needs her birth certificate for the application and of course, it’s due tomorrow. Really? Now you decided to say that she needs her birth certificate at the last possible minute. I mean…she did keep on telling Bob and Linda to hand over her birth certificate for her application to turn in. But let’s be real, since it was brought up, pretty sure it was like forgettable leading up to where we are and had to go back to usual life as always. Bob decided to go find Tina’s birth certificate, locked up in a safe along with other important documents...
As seen with him finding it inside the closet but noticed that he needed a key to open the box but knowing Bob earlier in the episode, the dude is not fully organized and pretty much displaced the key somewhere around the house. Causing Bob to call Linda as Tina witness Gene and Louise hand slapping, more with that subplot later on in the review, with him telling Linda and requires her help to find a key that he somehow displaced when under the bed finding that damn thing, causing Louise to go after him and probably thinking about helping her father out, but as Bob begins to hang up the phone, with Bob still under the bed, feeling it hammering his back courtesy of Louise jumping. Great help you did there, Louise. Really know how to help a dad out. By pretty much attempting to break his vertebrae.
Bob continues his search through the whole house, now in the kitchen with him going through each of the drawers, as Louise enters the kitchen. With Bob telling Louise that he had the key in a keychain, in which he displaced it and thinks that it’s in the car. Telling her daughter how he tried to find the key deep within the car through a thought bubble with him inside and trying to find it without anyone noticing what’s he doing but when noticing Hugo walking by and pretends that he’s doing something else, to avoid a conversation by pretending that he’s in a phone call. Of course, it worked, and Hugo backed off but also resulted in the key, not a surprise, displaced. Causing Bob to head out of the house and head over to the car. Like, you went through the house, every room in the building, and now decided to go after the car, which you remember that it’s somewhere deep inside the vehicle. Like...you didn’t even bother looking through the restaurant? Pretty much being the last fucking place to look around when trying to find a lost key?! Somewhere around the counter? The kitchen? Basement? Anywhere in the restaurant! I mean yeah, that would’ve been the first place to look through since it’s pretty much the first place to go through to find the missing key, but still. Should’ve gone through that to find the damn thing! Seriously, the fuck?!
Bob made it to the car and begins his search for the lost key deep inside the floor of the vehicle and tries to find the missing key, only to have experience back problems, don’t know if Louise may have something to do with it though it may be due to him becoming old. He is in his mid-40s, so can’t blame him for that with the body somewhat starting slow to feel weak. I’m not a doctor or biology expert, take it to an official. Bob, now with his back all strained, had no choice but to lie down on the seats, with the door open and telling anyone passing by that it’s all normal and nothing weird or suspicious going, but having trouble staying focus and awake during the whole hunt but that didn’t work and ending up falling asleep. Pretty much would’ve like close the door on the car cause sleeping with the car door open, pretty sure that could result in certain car robberies and parking violations, which would be the last thing that Bob would need during the whole search.
Bob enters the dream world in the form of deep inside the car floor full of junk, huh, almost feels like riding in my neighbor’s car...minus the foul odor. Nothing illegal, just calm your tits. But yeah, lot of junk under the car, mostly coming from the kids not knowing to clean out the car and giving car wash workers working overtime and having to vacuum deep under the seats. So we have Tiny Bob, going all Ant-Man, minus the suit, in his dream, with him questioning everything from him being small and pretty much questioning life itself, it’s pretty much complicated when entering a dream world. Louise should’ve told you that when she fell ill back in Season 7. As Bob questions what’s going in inside a dream world that is based inside a dirty station wagon like it’s a used car you found in an abandoned car dealership or junkyard, he heard a voice nearby him by the front seats of the underground and that’s where we meet with one talking item that now make the main plot feels more like something coming out of Douglas Adams or a Disney animated film that almost feels like the animation studio’s version of Citizen Kane.
Enter the Rubber Band Squeezy Ball, or a rubber band stress ball, or RBSB for short to avoid confusion, voiced by Jack McBrayer. Bob reunites with the rubber ball and it was seven years since it he last saw and used the ball. And you may be questioning yourself, why does Bob have a squeezy ball in the car that he lost but now found? You could it could be either the kids, either Tina, Gene, or Louise, for the lols and they’re kids...so, kids and inanimate objects are pretty much like putting peanut butter and jelly into a sandwich if that sandwich have the bread squished during the car ride and mistake either the jar of PB or J with a bottle of LSD. So it pretty much Bob’s ball with him using it as a stress ball cause he is pretty much a stressful guy with running the restaurant that is currently struggling, having three kids that decided to cause mayhem...pretty much a lot of stuff one man can handle and with his age and maybe weight, yeah, that could cause some trouble ahead. Bob reunites with rubber ball and the rubber ball, before heading off to his quest to find the lost key, by questioning him if the restaurant became successful. Which Bob describe that it’s still opening and hanging around. But not knowing that it’s struggling to say the least. Had the restaurant shut down at one point. But it’s still going on. Don’t know how the restaurant would deal during this whole pandemic but...yeah, still going like it’s the Energizer Bunny...if it were to run on batteries from the dollar store.
Bob and Rubber Ball’s first stop in Bob’s quest to find the lost key of destiny with them made it to the engine of the car. And wow, okay, may have to give some pointers to the animation staff with how menacing the engine room with the colors lighting up the area and the steam covering the place. Almost feels like...you know that scene from Empire Strikes Back where Han Solo becomes frozen in carbonite in Bespin before being sent off to Jabba’s palace with Boba Fett. Yeah, so Bob and Rubber Ball arrive at the engine portion of the car and need to make it out there without falling through the edge of the damn room. You ever wondering what would happen if you like get badly injured in a dream while sleeping? Well coming from the Rubber Ball, you die in the dream, you die in real life, question pending. You die in a dream; you die in real life in your sleep. What is this, Sword Art Online? I mean, that can’t honestly be a thing with you die in your sleep when you die in a dream? Right? Right? Riiight? Riiiiight?
Oh god damn it. Yeah, so that’s actually a thing. You can die in your dream. And die in real life. Fuck. I mean...if this were the Nightmare in Elm Street franchise with Freddy Kruger invading your dream state, then...I guess. But in the real life? Some scientists say so...then...feel like we’re now giving 2020 ideas to close out the year. That is something not to look forward to. But at least Bob gets to live to see another day since he and Rubber Ball did survive through the engine room and encounter the engines talking like a couple of irritating New Yorkers during a Yankees game and pretty much mad at Bob over the whole lack of oil change that he been avoiding like it’s the freaking fracking plague. Remember kids, if you’re planning on getting a car, used or new, don’t forget to change the oil and don’t be a Bob. This is pretty much a PSA from yours truly.
That and also a glimpse of Edith walking pass a sleeping Bob...that’s pretty much it for that as Bob and Rubber Ball head down from the engine, meaning that the key is nowhere in the glove compartment where you store document with Bob still experiencing back pain following him trying to look down at the car seat before heading off to sleep with Squeezy Ball being excited over what Bob has done and thinks that he’s a millionaire despite having a cruddy, old car. Which uh...yeah...who wants to him about Bob’s basic income. There’s a YouTube video describing his income and let’s face it, at least it not like Donald Trump tax returns or Kansas City Chiefs cap space after winning the Super Bowl type of bad.
Bob and Squeezy Ball have now meet up with a Mix Tape, just hanging around and reading unread mail from long ago that pretty much put Bob in legal trouble when avoiding the call of being put in jury duty and let’s face it, no one want to do that but...it’s the law, sadly. I mean at least the military draft isn’t a thing and that wasn’t operational since the end of the Vietnam War following backlash. So Tape joins the duo and make it a trio as the hunt for the lost key to open the safe continues on, but it looks like as they make their move, it looks like they may have hit with an obstacle. What kind of obstacle? Well whatever 2020 may throw at them. Not sunlight. Not drool. And definitely not fallen objects.
Ants. Giant ass ants. In the real world, we can squish it, but ants are nothing to fuck with cause the bites can be a bitch in the skin. But in Bob’s dream world...having ants inside the car...don’t know how they got in, but there’s ants in car. And in the dream world, it’s giant ants. So uh...can’t get more anymore 2020 than this, folks! Can’t more anymore 2020 than this.
Bob doesn't have an anti-magic sword to get rid of these though...
— Bob's Burgers (@BobsBurgersFOX) September 28, 2020
Also this reply tweet during the live event back last Sunday night coming from the official twitter page, can’t tell if I should be concerning or intrigued over all of this? Or both. Hmm, but regardless, with the three now trapped behind the wall with an army of ants crawling towards them, thinking that they’re fucked for the time being, Tape decided to come up with a plan to get them into safety. Looking at an unshapen pencil, Tape asks Bob to use it to as a rope to get them over the air and hoping for the ants to go away by asking him to poke his eye to get the strand of tape out and ties it to make rope. Bob thinks that the idea would ultimately hurt Tape but he doesn’t mind the pain and begins jabbing it through and gone up to higher ground, well, holding still with the car mirror, and noticed something red and hard and for Bob to get some strength into his system...that red thing the Tape now picked up is a cough drop, in which Bob have no choice but to lick it despite being dirty and covered in dirt and junk. I mean, it’s so old and dirty, I’m sure that Bob, after licking that, would probably end up being sick, I mean, who knows what the results would be...but a cough drop...I mean, it is cold and flu season after all but with that mixed with the ongoing pandemic...yeah, this season is going to bite massive balls with a seasonal illness mix in with the global illness that pretty much 200,000+ people here in this country. And no, this isn’t me being a Debby Downer or something like that, it’s more of...think of the 2006 song “If You Had a Bad Day” in constant repeat as your alarm clock like it’s Groundhog Day.
Bob continues licking the cough drop to get some strength and for Tape to throw it to the other side of the car for the ants to head over there to gnaw on it as the three wait for the all clear signal to be given. And also make sure when getting a new car, better have a bug killing spray on standby in case you encounter ants in your car unless you want your next ant bite being inside your pants and cause somewhat of a driving mishap. Don’t know if insurance companies may cover ant bites when being the cause of car crashes? If not, then it should be next time you make a claim.
The ants finally got over to where the cough drop is at and for Bob, Tape, and Squeezy Ball, the signal is cleared for them to head back down and continue their quest by crossing under the seats to the backseat where Tape begins to have a conversation with Bob about stuff, mostly when it comes to the whole idea of him not being organized and him keeps on losing stuff that should’ve been kept for safe keeping...well, minus the idea of him becoming a hoarder. Already dealt that with Teddy in Season 8 and don’t want to do that with Bob. But...honestly though, I don’t blame Bob on the idea of being disorganized to the point where he lost stuff. I mean, we individuals pretty much lose stuff and had trouble finding the item whether being a key or wallet or anything small that pretty much fits into a pocket. And of course, the whole not being responsible, again, not blaming him for that. Some of us also had some trouble trying to remember what important stuff had to come up from the to do list whether if it’s an oil change or paying bills, I mean, we’re somewhat forget me...can’t tell what’s the name to finish the phrase but we can sometime forget important stuff and yet, I still blame our education system. But for Bob...having mail being lost and from long ago, having the key displaced, and losing both a mix tape and a rubber band ball, that’s pretty much irresponsible on keeping things in order. And all the bad talk onto himself on their way to the backseat, with the electricity apparently zapping out of nowhere and...well...this is where things begins to topple, a bit, not a lot, when it comes to the so-called “final boss” of the main plot in Bob’s search for a missing key.
A giant monster made out of junk. A junk monster with every junk that was gathered from the car into its body parts...I feel like prior to the pandemic, before the studio shut down, when working on the episode, having trouble finding to find a way to have the final boss of the main plot for Bob to find the item that he been looking for. And have someone to come up with junk monster, everyone thinks that it would be a dumb idea, and head off to work on the episode before ending up running out of ideas to wrap up the writing portion and select the junk monster because...reasons. Mostly out of ideas, all without not hoping to get sued. Oh and Tape stormed in and pretty much took a massive L and gets benched. Yeah, best that you plan a strategy when it comes to beating the damn thing and not go all Leeroy Jenkins on his ass. Cause a head on attack doesn’t fucking work most of the times in the line of battle. Doesn’t work that way. Whether in a war or in an eSport event playing an MMORPG.
With Tape now sitting in the sidelines, it’s all Bob and Squeezy Ball to take down the giant monster and take the key out of its chest like they’re performing an Aztecan sacrifice...unless the only strategy to take down the fucker to take the key away is squeeze Squeezy Ball to the point where he dismembers the damn ball and uses it like a rope you used to climb during gym class and back to talk about how bad of an organizer Bob from earlier in the episode. Like...hey...guys...this isn’t the time to talk about how shit Bob was when it comes to being responsible when there’s an actual monster ready to freaking fracking murder them to the nth degree. Don’t know if you want to call it the most laziest way to wrap up the episode or probably being the most deus ex machina way possible to close out the main plot before diverging into one to close out the episode.
Find out that the monster that is targeting both Bob and Squeezy Ball is feeding off the negative comments about Bob and the way to defeat the fucker and get the key away from its chest...is to comment Bob in a positive manor. Helping Bob to become a better man and become more organized when waking up as well as other stuff but that’s not important, it’s all about Bob being disorganized and not responsible for taking care of his stuff and should begin to make some changes. Each positive comment coming from both Squeezy Ball and Bob himself, and of course, with Tape still lying down on the ground, giving Bob some words of encouragement and as it continues on, the monster begins to shrink down further and further all the way to where the head meets up with his stomach should be and begins charging towards the key and of course, much like with Louise pressing the button to destroy the fortress but also deciding to forgive her family back in “Flu-ouise”, Bob finally got what he’s been looking for, goes for the kill, and thus waking him up back to the real world. Oh yeah, and if you’re wondering if Bob finally got the key? Well...
He finally wakes up from his dream and opens his hand and...no key. Nope. Nada. Not one key in his hand. What, you think that the key would like magically pop up out of nowhere like a penny that just shown up somehow in the ground? I mean, we’re dealing with a coin shortage, pretty sure that reference that somehow doesn’t make any sense might age well at the end of the day. But you think that with the dream world, you figure out where the key would be over at the last place you saw or dropped. Find the key, head back to the house, open the safe, and hand the certificate over to Tina for application. Would’ve been simple as that to wrap up the main plot, if not, the whole episode. But instead, it’s just, “Oh, I lost the key. Well doesn’t matter. Cause I lost it and I’m proud of it.” Like what the fuck was that?! It’s like all of this, all of what we just witnessed throughout the damn episode...is pretty much a waste of time by the end, at the final minutes of the episode! At least it’s somewhat better than “Yurty Rotten Scoundrels” or even “Lorenzo’s Oil”...fuck, “Dr. Yap” even. And that main plot is pretty much a car wreck. Let’s hope next week does a better job. Onto the subplot we go.
So while Bob head off to the dream world of wasting people’s time, as Tina awaits for her father to get the key and hand over her birth certificate, she witness both Gene and Louise doing some hand slapping and singing songs, don’t know if you want to count that as a musical number which pretty sure it’s not. Yeah, so that’s another key difference from “Flu-ouise” is the lack of numbers. So Tina witness the whole thing and wondering how the hell her younger siblings does the work but apparently, she can’t. Fuck, even Linda knows how to do the whole hand slapping shtick, causing Tina’s self-esteem to be ready to come down like an old building ready to be demolished.
As Tina begins her training on how to not be the black sheep in the world of hand slapping with Gene, who...wow, not even the first minute of the lesson and it looks like Tina may have some issues. I mean, could say that she could be a slow learner. Stuff like this can pretty much take some time to perfect. But apparently, after Tina failed to do some hand slapping from Gene, enter Teddy to showcase how it works. And even Teddy knows how to hand slap better than Tina. Hell, I bet the entire town knows how to hand slap better than Tina. Fuck, a one year old would do a better job in hand slapping than Tina. And babies are probably better slappers because they don’t know how to function their arms. Yeah, Teddy knows how to hand slap when performing the thing with Gene, causing Tina’s self-esteem down even further. How much further? Try being a Detroit Lions fan type of self-esteem, nothing but disappointment. No wait, that’s the New York Jets. Either way, if you’re a fan of one of those two franchises...why are you dealing with this? Why? Just...why?
Second time’s the charm for Tina to get to know the basics of how to hand slap and...yeah, like what happened in “A Fish Called Tina” with her trying so hard to get Kaylee Morganstern to like her during that whole mentorship program thing? Yeah, it looks like we’re entering that territory where it’s now becoming hard to watch for Tina trying to perfect the art of hand slapping to the point where her family and Teddy seems to be taking pity on her. I mean...I don’t blame Tina on this. We all had those times where we don’t even have a skill that everyone should know like whistling or snapping fingers. Hand slapping is one of those skills that everyone should know, and Tina had some massive amounts of trouble trying to know what to do with the whole hand slapping thing. Like...you were the MVP of Season 10, last season, and you do that? Yeah, kinda hard to watch over.
Just as Tina continue to have her self-esteem to go down even lower than the water going down the sewer system when trying to do the hand slapping shtick with Louise, of course, having massive amounts of trouble, look who finally decided to show up after being absent for a season. Sadly, I was hoping for either Alex or Darryl, or even both, but not in this episode, fam. Please be this season, Bouchard!
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