Onto the fourth installment of the Bob’s Burgers Wagstaff students character discussion and I gotta admit it, while these pieces can drain the ever-living fuck out of yours truly when it comes to these pieces, it was something because I can at least talk about each of the characters that appeared on the show. That and also voicing what I think about the characters and what I should expect with the ideas I come up with. Already did it with Courtney. Did it with Susmita. And not too long ago, did it with Kaylee. And now, back to the long-term like with the Courtney discussion, minus the history aspect because I would probably die if I were to do that. And look at that...look at that. Look who’s the focus on this piece of the pie? Why it’s none other than my boy, Darryl.
Darryl's Personality
Again, as I said over at the Kaylee piece just last week, I said that I’m not going to be somewhat biased because Darryl is my favorite side character on the show, well next to, if not, tied with Alex Papasian. But unlike Alex, Darryl has appeared in the early days of the show. Since Season 2 with “Burgerboss” where we pretty much give away what kind of a character Darryl is. He is a gamer, there’s no denying there since the episode he first made his debut is over at an arcade when seeing Bob playing a round of the game in hopes to trying to beat Jimmy Pesto’s high score. How much of a gamer? Oh, I don’t know...something like him going through the whole arcade game from top to bottom around Family Funtime. And not just there, but also at the bowling alley in “Can’t Buy Me Math”. Don’t be surprised if he did the same over at the roller rink since, you guessed it, also have some arcade games there.
Much like with Tina with any boy she comes across with or Gene with food, Darryl can pretty much find, play, and win any of an arcade machine in a 10-mile radius and play that bitch. Not to mention, using his knowledge of math and statistics to get through whatever game he’s playing, getting power-ups, items, and coins like its candy over at the candy store, and his maneuver when playing with the machine to make things go smoothly, a la him pressing his crotch on the machine and move around while pressing buttons and moving the joystick like what he taught Bob to do when wanting to beat Jimmy Pesto’s high score. Though it feels like he only knows like the retro, old school kind of video games. You know, games like Pac-Man, Street Fighter, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, games that you, anyone who is an 80s or 90s kid, over at either the arcade or a local pizza shop or maybe that one mini shop section at a Walmart by the checkout aisle of the store. Does anyone remember that? I kinda do and my memory isn’t all that great. Nothing serious, just putting it out there. Even I remember that, and I was born in the late 90s and probably a 2000s kid by default. I feel like he’d be more of a retro kind of guy when it comes to playing video games. You think that because he’s a gamer and all, you think that he should also know the lingo when it comes to modern gaming. You know, the consoles, mobile games, VR nowadays. I mean, video gaming had somewhat soared during the height of the pandemic. Explain why everyone was enjoying Animal Crossing during the quarantine back in March?
But for someone who has deemed himself as a “video game enthusiast”, you think that he should know the gaming world, both in retro AND modern. Sure, you have to know some stuff online and wait for the next E3 event to come up, well once this pandemic is over with, to know any of the new games to come out. Though with him being a gamer and all, doesn’t like being called a “nerd.” Because while yeah, the look, the way he dresses, the thinking coming from his head, yeah, the guy doesn’t like being called a “nerd” when Louise called him that when her, Tina, and Gene looked at Bob carrying Darryl on his back like with Yoda onto Luke’s back during his Jedi training in The Empire Strikes Back.
Of course, video games aren’t the only thing that Darryl seems to be enjoying during his time on the show. There’s also math. Yeah...find that someone who has an interest in math or has math as his or her favorite subject and then give that person the side-eye glare and saying to that person, “Man, the fuck is wrong with you?” But when it comes to math, Darryl, other than video games, is a pro in the subject. Hell, the guy is probably at the AP level when it comes to math. He’s pretty much the school’s best math student to the point where you have people who have trouble with the subject going to him for some tutoring. But tutoring isn’t cheap because it can cost you some dinero when it comes to getting help from Darryl. I mean, Tina only got the bypass to get some help to prevent getting another bad grade for her math class because she agrees to the fake dating thing and tutoring Darryl how to be a better boyfriend in hopes to impress Rosa Batista.
Since the start of Season 5, Darryl seems to be showing an interest in music like with Gene, Courtney, and Rudy to name a few. He did once audition to perform in Courtney’s musical version of Working Girl by trying to mimic the style of Mariah Carey, he didn’t get the shot and thought that Gene’s underground performance of Die Hard would get him a shot? Gene’s competitive side decided to have a say in that. Took Doug fucking things up and Frond pulling the curtains that have Gene to combine both his and Courtney’s musicals to have everyone, including Darryl himself, to perform on opening night for the Fall musical. You have him being asked to be the vocalist in Gene’s band in “Itty Bitty Ditty Committee” and even have the band to perform for Lenny’s birthday party. Well until Darryl kicked Gene out of the band which...uh...yeah, not one of his proudest moments. Acting kind of a dick in that episode after getting the gig. But at least Darryl did apologize and asks Gene to rejoin. In which he did and head on over to perform at Lenny’s party. And out of nowhere, he’s a member of the Hormone-iums acapella group alongside both Tina and Peter Pescadero.
Also naming some stuff that Darryl enjoyed other than music, math, and video games, you also have him enjoying reading comic books, going to the science museum, and also robotics and he did state in “Can’t Buy Me Math” that Darryl was working on a robot companion for his grandfather that serves him pills and plays jazz music when declining Tina’s request for the after school tutoring session.
Though Darryl...can be something when it comes to other stuff. He appears to have some...interesting because much like with Tina, he is somewhat going through...I guess you could say puberty because he is 12-13 years old. And around middle school, that is where you begin to feel some changes when it comes to your body. Other than the growth spurt despite that Darryl is the shortest of the Belcher kids group and being the only seventh-grader, well, the third shortest because you have Louise and Rudy who are the smallest and they’re in the fourth grade. Well...unless we bring Arnold into the chat, then Darryl is the third shortest in the group.
Let’s also not forget that Darryl shows some voyeuristic intentions. And what that means is that he gets turned on from watching someone doing some nude activity. Hence, spying on his elderly neighbor through his telescope putting on a girdle. He’s 12-13 years of age, going through puberty. That process hits like a motherfucker. Though him following both Tammy and Jocelyn over at the Zany Plane ride over at the Wonder Wharf...yeah, I don’t know what’s up with that? Actually...don’t think about it. Don’t even think about it.
And although him being a nerd and somewhat of an expert can be a blessing for the guy, it can also be somewhat of a curse as well because it can make him a bit of a target. Mostly with his bully named Tyler, who before meeting Bob and later the Belcher kids, he gets beat up almost every day by the guy and his goons. In which you feel bad for the guy who has trouble trying to stand up for himself against his bully. To the point where he had to make a deal with Bob for him teaching him the basics in order to take down Jimmy Pesto’s score and for Bob to beat up Tyler. Not to mention that he’s not the strongest of the group. Sure, he is strong in his own right. But that’s mostly because of him using his smarts to at least make things go smoothly whenever there’s a situation involving the Belcher kids and their many friends, whether if it’s finding a button to push while being trapped in the fort (only to mistakenly pressed the wrong button that almost killed them, including himself) or going through a barbed electric fence by finding a door to go through.
Let’s also not forget that he is also a bit of a scaredy-cat. Well, not a “bit”, but more of scared like a lot when it comes to Darryl. Like Courage the Cowardly Dog type of scared when it comes to the guy. Take “Fort Night” for example when finding out that the guy has a thing for spiders, even though the spiders that Millie dropped into the fort were fake, doesn’t like the creature, whether if it’s real or fake. And let’s face it, none of us don’t want to be in an area where you end up spotting a spider from any section of the room that you’re residing in for vacation. Mostly in Australia, where the spiders there is the country’s way of telling you when planning on visiting, “Uh...? Really? You really wanna go over here for vacation despite...all of this? Alright, but if you see a spider, like the size of a small table, don’t come crying to us.” I like to apologize to every Australian out there, I bet your country is very beautiful.
Let’s not forgot that in “Fort Night” that he also has another fear that was showcased to the viewers, and that is his fear of small spaces when he, along with the Belcher kids and Pesto twins, were trapped inside the fort on Halloween night. It almost feels like he was about to lose it during the first hour of being trapped like he was about to lose his sanity. Not to mention that when Louise spotted a hole for anyone to leave to go get help and having Ollie to do the work...
Yeah, you have Darryl trying to combat his claustrophobia by taking off his pants and remains in his shirt and underwear for the rest of the episode. And when he pressed the wrong button, thinking that he hit the right one for them to make an escape, that didn’t work out well because according to him, he can’t think well with his pants off. And that was after revealing himself that he ratted out the escape plan to Millie. Again, not his proudest moment. I mean, they did escape. No one died from what could’ve been a real-life nightmare on Halloween night. But because of that, and Louise badmouthing Millie over her being way too annoying and wanting her to tag along with her and not with the siblings and the twins, while yes, they did escape and unscathed and not have their insides being exploded out from their bodies, they ended up missing Halloween when noticing the lights being turned off. Not knowing that Darryl was screaming around the neighborhood and telling the owners to turn it back on, not knowing that they might be out of candy from their bowls, and also not knowing that’s he running around the street without any pants on. Just be lucky that the Belcher kids did scare Millie into dropping her bag from the location of the crushed fort. That and also getting their belongings that were in the crushed fort like his pants and backpack.
Darryl's Relationships and History
Onto the relationship aspect when it comes to Darryl and an interesting factoid to start off the section is that he’s not only the only seventh-grader who’s in the Belcher kids’ little group of wonders, but he’s also the first and possibly only kid who did not befriend any of the three siblings in his or her debut episode. Because starting off his relationship, rather friendship because I don’t want people to be weirded out by what I’m saying, with Bob. Who Darryl did spot him playing a round of the game and tells him the round that he ended losing. Noticing that screens that been filled with his initials, DRL, around the arcade. And if he wants to take down Jimmy Pesto’s high score, he had to make a deal with Darryl. For Bob to beat Jimmy’s score with BOXSUX written on top and for Darryl to have the guy to beat up his bully.
Of course, this was during his deal with carpal tunnel when trying to take down Jimmy Pesto’s high score when Darryl noticed that Bob was taking his painkillers and seems to be high over the substance and trying to knock some sense into him in trying to focus. As the saying goes, “Video games and drugs, those two don’t mix.” You have that montage of Bob starting to get a hang of playing the game and taking it seriously despite looking like he was about to bite the dust with him taking on the painkillers and trying to stay focus on beating that high score. Not to mention taking the kids to the arcade and every night and crash every birthday party that was there. Just putting it out there since it was during the little montage.
But when the big moment arrives with Tyler and his goons entering the arcade is where things probably not going in Darryl’s favor when Bob becomes so high on painkillers that you may be thinking about having the DEA to make an appearance and decided to not take the violence route like what Darryl wants in his part of the deal in having the burger man to beat up a 12-year-old snotty rich kid of a bully and try to compromise without resulting into even more issues revolving around both Darryl and Tyler. Thinking that it’s a race thing, which is probably the closest we get to know Darryl’s ethnicity. Thinking that he’s black but...although he is dark-skinned, I’m betting more on him being of Indian, South Asian descent. Mostly because his voice actor, Aziz Ansari, is Indian-American. Of course, the peace talks failed with Bob out cold because of him being tired and being high on painkillers and Tyler to cause harm onto Darryl even more. Thus, having Bob to wake up and sees Tyler landing a punch onto the poor guy, envisioning Tyler as a chicken leg, and goes after him and you already know the story within the final minutes of the episode.
Though Darryl, the next day when visiting the restaurant, tells Bob that he won’t let Tyler bother him anymore...eh, we’ll uh...see about that. And also because he doesn’t want to end up like Bob, who had to deal with Jimmy Pesto’s bullshit throughout his entire adult life. With him taking that as a compliment and somewhat glad that Darryl wants to take things his own way and also thanking him for helping out. And by that, I mean paying him to do a little fixing to get rid of the score. That’s pretty much Darryl’s relationship with Bob, AKA what is pretty much a recap of “Burgerboss”, but it was an interesting little fact to note regarding Darryl because he is the first, and possibly only, Wagstaff student whose debut episode did not have him befriending the Belcher kids in his debut episode. It took until a season later in Season 3 for Darryl to finally be a part of the group.
Starting off with Louise and out of the three Belcher kids that Darryl interacts with the most...even though he’s in the seventh grade, serves as a wild card, and the closest to Gene and Tina because they’re pretty much middle schoolers even though Darryl is a year older than Gene but a year younger than Tina, he probably has the most interaction with Louise, who is in fourth grade. But let’s not forget that Darryl, along with both Louise and Rudy, are considered the shortest of the group since he is shorter than everyone but a tad taller than the two fourth graders. Might as well have a shortie squad up in here.
He came up to Louise when she, along with Tina and Gene, came up with a business of peeping at the nude beach from above the cliff, and rather than signing up to look at the beach, he instead request to be a part of the crew in hopes to earn some money. That ended up with Darryl presenting the telescope that he used for his spy over his elderly neighbor putting on the girdle and thus, we have ourselves a business. The beach, not the nude elderly. And thus, setting up shop for the people who signed up to see the thing come into play.
First official minutes of the business seems to be the hardest when the people who signed up took a peek and see a beach full of elderly people. Luckily for Louise with the saving grace in twisting some words around to not lose the people’s attention, not to mention their money, problem solved! Business is a booming for the whole week, or rather the duration of the episode, which leads to the nude beach triathlon being the biggest cash cow for them to take. Not knowing until the day of the event and the restaurant shutting down because a salty healthy inspector, even more saltier than Hugo, who quits his job to because a nudist, over being told not to perform. And have Bob to enter the race in hopes to get Hugo his job back. Do you know who told the Belcher kids to look at what Bob is doing while making buck?
Darryl did by telling Louise what her father is doing and have both Tina and Gene to tag along to see what’s going on and he, along with the Belcher kids, Zeke, Jimmy Jr, and the rest of the people who are attending the watch and view to see the race. A race that was Bob to lose in the likes of Hugo. Yeah, not a good look that even the kids above the cliff watching the whole thing from top to bottom like it’s the Bears/Saints game simulcasting over on Nickelodeon.
Once we get to “Fort Night”, Darryl’s second appearance on the show and dressing up as a member of the band DEVO in the music video of Whip It, seeing him with a black sleeveless turtleneck and a flower pot as an “energy dome” and got invited by the kids to their fort on their way to the restaurant to pick up their costume for Halloween. Of course, they got stopped by Millie, who want Louise to tag along with her, either tagging along with the group or have Louise to be away from her siblings, the Pesto twins, and Darryl for trick-or-treating. Of course, Louise denies the offer and yeah...she’s pretty much cuckoo for cocoa puffs and we’ll get to that when we get to her discussion piece.
For now, the kids made it to the fort with Louise giving Darryl a tour of the place and Darryl to give a presentation of a map which details which house has candy and which place don’t. That feels like the perfect Halloween night because the Belcher kids and the Pesto twins inside the dragon costume and a map showcasing each house that have candy with Darryl serving at the navigator would be a Halloween that they would never forget...until a truck comes in and traps the six kids inside a small fort with the driver heading out for the rest of the night. And have everyone to find an exit but no luck. The same goes for having Millie as their only ticket out of the place, thanks in part to Louise telling her to fuck off. Though it wasn’t long, despite being attacked by fake spiders, the group ready to turn on each other, and a second floor of the place now collapsed because of the weight for each of the five kids that resulted in them falling on the floor with either Tina, Louise, or Andy have Darryl fallen onto the floor during the collapse which...
I see that the Pesto Twins and Belcher kids, mostly Gene and Tina, playing trick-or-treating with Louise being upset over the whole mess, yeah...what the fuck was Darryl doing over on the first floor? I mean, he can’t be telling Millie about the escape plan, and we’ll get to that because that wasn’t brought up until the collapse and Darryl was on the second floor when that was announced. When that collapse happened, he was on the first floor. So who knows what he was doing other than trying to calm himself down when dealing with the claustrophobia...in which of course, he took off his pants once Ollie headed off to the top of the dumpster.
And here what we now called the “Not Darry’s Proudest Moment” segment where you have Louise finding out that someone in the fort told Millie about their escape plan. Thus, when we enter around the second, third act of the episode, we see Darryl with his backpack and now found out that he was the one who sold them out to Millie. Would say something but that would really lead to a potential racist joke that I would never touch upon and I really don’t want to get canceled and times are tough, I need the money to pay rent. But Darryl did come out as the rat when trying to make an escape after making a deal with Millie, only to be double-crossed by the fourth-grader and have to face his punishment, which is the burp and blow torture, in which backfired because it has to be the one day of the year where both Andy and Ollie doesn’t eat tuna and peanut butter to make their breaths smell bad.
He did somewhat redeem himself following him making a deal with Millie in him wanting to head out because time’s wasting on Halloween night, and also wanting to take a poop, by finding a button on the truck and alerting the five about what is about to do. Which is to press the button for the flatbed to be raised up and for him and the rest of the group who are trapped inside like wild animals to make their escape and to trick-or-treat on time with a coat hanger.
In which, he did press the button via coat hanger and resulted in the flatbed now going up with the kids celebrating...except that...oh yeah, never celebrate early with Darryl pressing the wrong button. So that’s another donation into the jar aptly named the “Not Darryl’s Proudest Moments” with that wrong button made the flatbed go down rather than going up but the episode didn’t end in an “everyone dies” ending because the kids did escape with the help of paint cans and cinder blocks to hold it and create an opening before the fort comes crashing down like the Houston Texans’ chances of keeping Deshaun Watson. Finally out and heading towards their first neighborhood and in just in time for them to get some candy...only for the lights to be turned off and have Darryl to run around in his shirt and underwear and telling the people living to turn the lights back on. Luckily, no cops were called in the making of that. But at least Halloween isn’t a total loss when the Belcher kids scare Millie when she came back to the fort and thinks that she left them for dead and drops her bag behind for the Belchers to claim and for them, along with Andy, Ollie, and Darryl, which in the credits, did have his pants back on in what I guess is them getting their belongings back along with taking Millie’s candy away from her.
When we get to “The Frond Files” and much like with Courtney’s discussion piece, his role in the trilogy episodes is something that is more of a brief mention when it comes to his appearance in the episode, no matter who the storyteller is. We did get a bit of sneak peek in what Darryl would look like once he leaves Wagstaff and according to Louise, when he time-traveled back to warn Louise of a Frond Terminator in a parody of the Terminator franchise that Frond is targeting Louise over the whole brownie surprise during her, NOT his, her graduation that resulted in Frond being a full shut-in and build the machines to go target Louise for embarrassing him. Gene tagging along from PE class and later Tina during her lunch break and appears that creamed corn ends up being the downfall of the robots...only to cornered by more. Also Darryl...Darryl...although I like you. You’re an underrated son of a gun by the fans and all, but...may have to agree with Louise, that “mustache”, even though it’s nothing more than a stubble, shave it off. It’s for the best.
Though the next time we would have some interaction with these two, rather a situation where Louise takes charge, you could say Season 8 with “The Trouble with Doubles” since Louise did invite him, along with Rudy, Jimmy Jr, Zeke, and the twins to watch a scary movie that has everyone scarred for life, though that was more of a Tina thing when it comes to fixing them up and getting that mental image out of their skulls by showing that embarrassing video of her singing to her poop as it flushes down the toilet.
Season 9 with “The Taking of Funtime One Two Three”, while the heist to get the dune buggy was more of a group effort, Louise did kinda lead the charge for the whole thing since she was the first to lay her eyes on the vehicle and acquired Mr. Fischoeder’s help and Darryl, along with Zeke, Jimmy Jr, Andy, and Ollie for moral support...even though Gene came up to Darryl in his class by the time the bell rang after finishing solving a math equation. Though Louise did half-assed it when trying to do it her way and threw a wrench at the plan but a sacrifice worth with what’s to come next with Louise finding out that Fischoeder is buddy-buddy with the owners of the company behind Family Funtimes and alerts her group that there’s no way they’re going to get the dune buggy and almost feels like they have entered the trap without any of them knowing until the last possible minute. Thus having Louise to fire back by going after what Fischoeder wanted, which is the wheelie mammoth, in which she won thanks to what Fischoeder have told Louise and her, along with her siblings, the Pesto twin, Jimmy Jr, Zeke, and Darryl to enjoy. Heard that there’s an episode coming up revolving around that wheelie mammoth...just saying, I want to see this bastard back. Yeah, talking about Darryl. Bring the boy back, you monsters! He was a part of the whole heist, so he needs to be involved for a future episode.
Guess the same goes for “Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street” when he, along with Rudy, Andy, and Ollie, were victims of having their stash of candy stolen and tag along with Louise, Gene, and Tina, who later also have their stash stolen one-by-one and decided to go after the guy who is wearing the gorilla costume, who is later revealed to be Dr. Yap, and make their way to the haunted house attraction over at the Wonder Wharf with Darryl, along with Louise, Rudy, and the twins, entering the place and got scared easily section after section on their way to catch up on Yap. Took Tina and Gene to grow come cajones and gang up on the guy, get the candy back and return each of the stashes to the rightful owners.
Then to “Better Off Sled”, which was the recent, and yes, I said recent because this was the last episode, we saw Darryl in the episode before...the whole ugly mess happened after production of the episode, with him tagging along with everyone, in the behest of the Belcher kids with Louise taking charge and go sledding despite that Logan and his merry band of fuckers are occupying the area for their snowball fight. Dealing with what could be a long fight after being pelted by snowballs one too many times, you have Rudy bringing out the big guns in his cousin Mandy and reclaimed the area thanks to her...only to get hit and are forced to retreat. That’s about it. After that scene, he is gone from the show. You think that he would tag along with Rudy and Mandy, along with 19 other girls from Huxley, but...could say that he doesn’t want to be pelted by snowballs yet again by Logan and that...I can’t blame him for that and wait for Logan and his goons to be completely gone. Can’t blame him for that. Do you want to be pelted snowball after snowball? And by the hands of someone like Logan freaking fracking Barry Bush? Well, at least Darryl knows how to throw a snowball...that someway, somehow, it turns clockwise and hits the ground behind him, Gene, and Rudy.
Now to Darryl’s relationship with Tina and of course, much like with Louise, and this may go the same with his relationship with Gene and the others whenever he appears in any of the episodes. So might as get the stuff where he has the most massive moments, episodes, whatever when it comes to Darryl’s relationship with the other two Belcher siblings. And that goes to Season 5’s “Can’t Buy Me Math” where you have Tina coming to Darryl for some math tutoring after snapping him from his potential daydream about his potential love interest, Rosa Batista. And saying that if he’s available on the day of the dance with Darryl being defensive over him thinking that Tina only assumes that he’s not going to the dance is because...well...he’s a nerd.
That of course leads to the idea of them coming to terms by fake dating each other leading up to the night of the Valentine’s Day dance. For Tina’s side of the bargain of the deal: having Darryl as her tutor so that she doesn’t end up in remedial math and also getting Jimmy Jr at her side. And for Darryl: getting Rosa Batista on his side. And throughout the whole week, despite some bumps in the road, mostly coming with Darryl, who is new to the dating scene and having Tina to serve as a dating tutor to help the poor guy out, whether if it’s him feeling his palms sweating...knees weak, arms are heavy, vomit on his sweater, Mom’s spaghetti. Okay, there’s no vomit but it almost feels like he was about to when it comes to the whole thing and also bringing up his fear of spiders when trying to do the back thing and causing a scene, only to calm him down by replacing it with a beetle. And if you haven’t checked out my Valentine’s Day episodes ranking from February of 2019, I did say, and hoping for everyone to just hear me out for a goddamn second before declaring me “insta-canceled,” while yes, they don’t have anything, and I mean ANYTHING in common, their nerdiness does blend well for these two. Sure, after the episode, they have no romantic interest in each other. Do like them as friends and friends only. And of course, Darryl may have already have a girl already in Rosa...do think about it for the time being.
Once the night of the dance arrives, in order to win the Cupid Couple contest, noting that they saw another couple by they are at, they need to kick it up a notch if they want to win the event in hopes to get their crushes’ attention. Thus, we have Darryl coming up at the DJ station and sings his song to Tina, not gonna lie, listening through it a few times during my free time...it’s not bad. Not bad. To the point where Tina develops actual feelings for the seventh-grader. Pretty much her saying in her head when seeing Darryl performing for her, “Move over Jimmy Jr, there’s a new sheriff in town.” Darryl’s song and both him and Tina staging a kiss in front of the crowd lead to them winning the contest.
Thus, to the next day where both Tina and Darryl stage a breakup and they did follow the plan and finally got their end of the bargain and what they wanted with Darryl hanging out with Rosa and for Tina, an invitation to the bowling alley with Zeke, Tammy, and Jocelyn...also Louise and Gene because why not. I mean, they did find out about the whole Tina and Darryl pretending to go out and all it took to get them to stay quiet is the gift card for frozen yogurt. But once Valentine’s Day arrives, rather Valentine’s Night, over at the bowling alley where things seem to be going well with what seems to be a double date with Tina and Jimmy Jr and also Darryl and Rosa since they’re invited as well to the whole shindig.
That leads to Tina being jealous of Rosa being with Darryl and ending up spewing out that the two of them, being Tina and Darryl, fake dated to get their crushes’ attention. Just because Tina developed feelings for the guy that lead to both Jimmy Jr and Rosa storming out and Darryl upset and shocked over what Tina has said before giving her a reality check on the whole issue and make Tina to clean up the mess and get Rosa to give Darryl another shot. And all it took is Tina trying to convince Rosa in giving the guy another shot, putting in a quarter into the slot of the game that she was in the middle of playing, and even brought up the pee incident that Tina and Darryl, and also Jocelyn, remembered what happened a few years ago. And we’ll get to some more of the breadcrumbs later on when we get to his relationship with Rosa. But bottom line, Darryl and Rosa patched things up, and for Tina...so much for her other end of the bargain, which is having Darryl as her math tutor and ending up being put in remedial math...at least it’s not a total loss for her because she also spotted Jimmy Jr there to close out that episode. Though these two remain as friends after the episode as the series drags on, even though...
He was featured in the ending of “Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now” in her musical number of doesn’t matter which number of boy does she like in what clears the way of her saying that she’s boy crazy with a hint of clearing the slate that she’s polyamorous. And if that episode doesn’t clear that up to the viewer, there were hints in the past seasons. But this is Darryl’s discussion, not Tina’s. And although Darryl is there because we have to include the holiday episodes like with seeing Jeff in the box from the Halloween episode. So might as well do that.
Gotta give a brief mention in “Stand By Gene” when the two of them tag along with Gene and the others in the hunt for the two-butted goat and when they reached the barbed wired fence that is revealed to be electrified, thus you see Zeke being shocked when trying to go through. Though Darryl did find the alternative way to get through to the other side, in the form of a gate door. In which Tina, while thinking that the whole hunt is more of her trying to find who’s the perfect candidate in being her soul mate and whatnot, Darryl was one of those candidates, even though they pretended to go out back in the previous season, when finding the door because he is a man with brains...but not muscle. So that ain’t happening.
When we get to “The Hormone-iums”, he and Tina are in the same acapella group of the same name and once performed in the cafeteria until the lead girl comes down with a sudden case of mono and have Frond to pick Tina as the lead girl. Though little to no interaction between the two despite the rehearsal for opening day and also Tina had to deal with the burden of her being the star of the show with everyone thinking that she’s diseased with mono. Decided to say enough is enough come opening day and telling everyone that there’s nothing wrong with kissing. Though knowing that uh...still in a pandemic and unless you kiss with a mask on, yeah. Though she did kiss Darryl when trying to prove to everyone a point that kissing doesn’t lead to mono and decided to kiss everyone in the front row.
Though there’s not a lot to say about “Teen-a Witch” since Darryl is there but not given any lines for him to respond to Tina’s little attack of words when she was in her witch phase while talking to someone by the lockers. With her telling Darryl about his costume for Halloween and dressing up as E.T. and talking smack but not one given response nor a defense over that little smear coming from her.
When we get to “The Trouble with Doubles”, after everyone became mentally scarred after watching the movie that Louise shown to their friends, you have Tina trying to save the day and trying to her best to get everyone’s minds wiped from that traumatic few hours from start to finish with a zombie deli movie like it’s Men in Black, minus that device to erase what happened. Tina did show an episode of the Equestranauts to replace one mental image from the TV with another but that doesn’t seem to be working with Darryl still having that image from one of the scenes that Tina had to bring up, which...not a way to tell the guy by retelling a haunting scene...or any scene from that movie. Tina, I know that you’re doing your best in trying to help everyone to get that bad movie out of their skulls and all...yeah, don’t think that bringing up certain scenes from the film is helping with the situation at hand. You’re scaring my boy! Luckily, the problem went right away when Tina decided to pull out the big guns in showing that embarrassing tape of her singing her poop being flushed down the drain. There goes her social life but at least it got rid of the mental scarring following watching a movie for everyone in attendance.
Then we get to the other Belcher kid in attendance when it comes to Darryl’s relationships, and that is, of course, Gene Belcher. And much like with Tina, major episodes. Of course, you have “Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl” where Darryl, along with Zeke, Rudy, Peter, Andy, and Ollie, failed to make the cut for Courtney’s musical version of Working Girl and have to do the parts for his version of Die Hard...only to not make the cut as well until he did with Gene combining both musicals into one and does his impression of Mariah Carey in hitting a high note. So that’s something.
Then comes “Itty Bitty Ditty Committee” in Season 5 when Gene decided to form a band with Louise, Tina, Rudy, and Peter Pescadero and did their rehearsal over at the music class in Wagstaff but they’re one member short because you can’t have a band without a vocalist. Okay...there are some bands out there where they don’t need any vocalists, but you get the gist. Gene’s band is in need of a vocalist, which leads to Tina find who’s the perfect person who can fill up that role, don’t know if this is considered a continuity because Tina did hear him sing in that Valentine’s dance while they pretended to go out, and that is Darryl. Seen here singing to ‘Maneater’ by Hall and Oates before being interrupted by Louise’s scream on his ear with Gene requesting Darryl to join the group. And so, he did after some convincing and all that and the band has found their vocalist. As well as a gig for Lenny DeStefano’s upcoming party. It’s a blessing for everyone. But for Gene, considered both the finding of your vocalist and landing a gig for a party of one of the popular kids in school a blessing...a blessing in disguise...in reverse of course.
And that being once the rehearsal kicks in with Gene came up with lyrics for Darryl to sing. He sings it at first before stopping it and noting that the keys don’t fit for the lyrics and asking Gene to find any other notes he could play...only to find out that he doesn’t know how. Having Darryl to step in to play a few notes on Gene’s keyboard, in which everyone seems to be impressed...everyone but Gene...who then later gets kicked out along with Louise and Tina. And yet another donation into the “Not Darryl’s Proudest Moment” jar for what happened that resulted in Gene quitting the music altogether. Yeah, not a good look for the guy, nor does Rudy or Peter in their part to pretty much overthrow the guy who started the band since the start of the episode.
Of course, in the most Deus Ex Machina way ever to wrap up the episode, Gene did gain his love for music back and perform outside of the restaurant with Darryl, Rudy, and Peter coming into the stage and apologize to Gene for kicking him out earlier and that it was sort of a dick move coming from Darryl’s part in this little...well, pretty much an overthrow to be perfectly honest. Though they did let bygones be bygones with Darryl apologizing to Gene for what happened and have the band to perform at Lenny’s party. So there’s that despite that the jar over there...might as well spend that money now that it’s about to reach its capacity.
Darryl did tag along with Gene and the others in Season 6’s “Stand By Gene” when trying to track down a two-butted goat and proves that the animal is real when overhearing the conversation at the line of the Zany Plane where he followed Tammy and Jocelyn which...really don’t know why he would do something like following the two eighth grade girls to a ride on the Wonder Wharf unless they’re doing something that they’re not supposed to do in private...pause. Did point something out when Gene was looking on the map when it comes to the dirt roads if they want to head over to the farm in the most easiest way possible to reach their destination. And of course, opening the gate after finding out but doesn’t have the upper body strength to open it. Of course, much like with Tammy and Jocelyn, Darryl was one of the three kids who tagged along to just abandoned the ride altogether. Mostly because they have to get through the field of poison ivy and Darryl doesn’t want to go through that because of his eczema. Not knowing that when Gene, Louise, Tina, Zeke, Jimmy Jr, and Rudy all went through the field, Gene had to do all the freaking fracking work in carrying the five of them with Gene taking the most damage. Maybe should’ve stuck around instead of abandoning the trip. I get the eczema and all and can be a bitch for a lot of itching from a lot of red spots around the skin, but...really should’ve to continue tagging along. Though it does involve jumping through rocks and Darryl...probably not the best jumper. So I guess that’s another donation in the jar, huh?
But other than that...I mean, Gene was the one who came up to Darryl about the whole heist thing to get the dune buggy into the kids’ possession. I mean Fischoeder did say that the Belcher kids do need some more manpower if they want to pull it off. Tina got Zeke and Jimmy Jr on board. Louise did the same with Andy and Ollie. Thus leaving Gene with Darryl because Fischoeder did say that you gotta need someone who is good at math and the right amount of timing, thus Darryl joins the heist when Gene enters his class just as the bell rings after finishing solving a math equation. But the heist does take place at an arcade, that’s pretty much his specialty and if you want to get like a shit ton of tickets, then Darryl is pretty much that guy to fit the bill. But besides all of that, if I were to choose what kind of a random and out of nowhere dynamic for a Belcher and a side character in the most unusual thing you haven’t seen since meat that is made out of plants...that would be Gene and Darryl. And sure, Tina and Darryl do have that nerd lingo, but so does Tina with Henry and even Susmita for the girl. But with Gene and Darryl, despite that Darryl is a year older and a grade higher than the Gene bean, they do have a share for their love for music. And if they were to form a band once again, with Gene getting some training in playing his Casio and Darryl...trying not to topple any more band founders like it’s the Russian Revolution leading up to that country’s civil war in the late 1910s during the climax of World War I and also dealing with a flu pandemic. Gene will get around someday. So hold your horses there, bub. It’s a coming.
As for the others, being the side characters...eh...that is really hard to talk for each and every one of them because whenever he’s in the episodes that he appeared in. I mean, with Jimmy Jr and Zeke, they only there in “Nude Beach” when Darryl teams up with the Belcher kids in hovering through the nude beach on the cliff. Watched the whole fake dating scene in “Can’t Buy Me Math”, of course, you have Jimmy Jr being somewhat jealous because that’s what every time with this shit whenever Tina is with another guy. Though just as Tina got Jimmy Jr thanks in part to her fake dating Darryl, ends up revealing it and causing Jimmy Jr to storm off. They did tag along for the hunt for the two-butted goat before abandoning it for the rest of the trip. Not to mention during that whole heist thing to get the dune buggy in “The Taking of Funtime One Two Three”, only to get caught in the way and have Louise to bail them out by telling Fischoeder that she lured him into the mousetrap to end up winning the wheelie mammoth.
The Pesto Twins are also an interesting case when it comes to the Darryl’s relationship aspect. They did appear in “Fort Night” when they and Darryl enter the fort to pass the time before heading off to get their costume but unable due to the fact that they’re trapped inside and have to find a way to get out. Of course, the twins, at the behest of Louise, have to use the burp and blow torture method after Darryl was revealed to be the imposter...sorry, a rat after snitching to Millie about the escape plan, only to fall short because they didn’t ate peanut butter and tuna for lunch to get the bad breath onto the poor pants-less guy. Luckily, all of them did get out unscathed but missed Halloween until the Belcher kids took the candy from Millie in thinking that they’re dead. Once Season 5 rolls in, Andy and Ollie, like with Darryl, Zeke, Rudy, and Peter, didn’t make the cut for Courtney’s play and didn’t make the cut either for Gene’s until the combination of the two with them playing the FBI agents. Unable to recover from watching that movie in Season 8 and all it took was Tina’s poop song tape to patch things up. Being a part of the heist to get the dune buggy and then gotten their stash of candy stolen and have to get it back from Dr. Yap in Season 9. So out of everyone that Darryl seems to have the most interaction with upon looking at his appearance and his interaction with the other side characters...
Apparently, it’s Regular Sized Rudy. And yeah, could see that. I mean, much like with Gene, they’re both music lovers. Play music. Even performed in Gene and Courtney’s combined musicals and again, off-camera of course, at Lenny’s party after patching things up with Gene following them kicking him and the girls out. Again, you could probably have some sort of a shorty squad with him, Rudy, and Louise because they are the shortest of the group. Though if I were a betting man and to see who would be the most likely candidate for Darryl to at least hang out...
I mean, might as well. These two, being Darryl and Alex could pull it off. Sure, much like with Gene, Darryl is a year older and a grade higher but nothing wrong with that idea. Having two of my favorite side characters interacting for once on the show would be a dream. I mean he (Alex) has Gene and Courtney, along with Louise, Rudy, and possibly Tina, so having Darryl into the mix would be something to see and hear. Plus if Darryl were to play RoboWizard Quest, a game that happened to be full-on math, and knowing that Darryl is like a total math whiz, he would make that game his bitch.
And the last person to talk about in the relationship portion and the Darryl piece as a whole and that is, of course, the girl who laid his eyes on in Season 5 and that is, of course, Rosa Batista. And by now, you already know this story when taking a look at the Tina section of Darryl’s piece is that both she and Darryl pretended to go out in order for Tina to get some tutoring and being close with Jimmy Jr and for Darryl to be a better boyfriend and being close with Rosa. And which the plan worked upon the fake breakup with Darryl finally got the girl of his dreams and reveal their shared interest in video games, math, comic books, and going to the science museum until Tina fucked it up when she became jealous and revealed their time as a pretend couple that resulted in Rosa heading away from Darryl and for him to give Tina somewhat of a reality check and ordering her to patch things up.
It took some time in the final minutes of the episode, but Darryl and Rosa did patch things up following Tina’s attempt to fix things herself when spotting her playing an arcade game. Though upset that Darryl would’ve gone straight to her and confess his feelings in the first place, Darryl apologized and bond over a game of Moats in telling her some hidden power-ups. A better video game couple than...well...
These two. But still, we have ourselves a video game relationship between Darryl and Rosa...only for Rosa to never appear again after the episode. Which is a damn shame because Darryl finally found his dream girl that he’d been crushing on since the start of the episode and not have her come right back. I mean, they brought Susmita back after confessing her feelings to Henry in “UFO No You Didn’t” and make a return in “Fast Time Capsules in Wagstaff School” and seals the deal that the two are dating. And yet, y’all didn’t even bother bringing Rosa back?! I mean...okay, once we bring Darryl back into the show, Rosa has to be the same. Can’t give the guy a girlfriend, or rather intimate or whatever that borderline between friendship and relationship is called because they a lot of catching up to do. I dunno, I’m not a relationship expert. I’m not Tina. But yeah, other than wanting Darryl to return, also want Rosa to return. Though Rosa...oh boy...um...yeah, needs to be retooled in the voice acting section...mostly because Rosa is a POC character, of Hispanic origin, and is voiced by Jenny Slate. Yeah. And please don’t call me an idiot regarding race over at the comments over what to do with Rosa’s voice. I already dealt with enough shit with the discussion pieces for the past 4 weeks along with that Great North first thoughts piece, so yeah...don’t call me an idiot over that.
Best that we wrap things up here before things go downhill from here and it doesn’t include my sleep schedule when working on this but yeah, best that we stop here before shit really hits the fan. But that does it for the Darryl discussion piece and again, favorite side character on the show. An obscure and underrated character on the show. And glad that he made the cut for this discussion piece and hope he can come back. I miss my boy!
Follow me over at Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and behind the scenes stuff for anything really, as well as who’s up next for the discussion piece. Last one before returning to do episode reviews on the week of Valentine’s Day with the Valentine’s Day episode and the first episode of 2021. And of course, you know the drill by now...
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