Welp...that was a very long and somewhat eventful summer that we all had been through since Season 11 ended. The world is still going to shit still...you know, still in a pandemic. Thought we’d be out of it, but nope, you have idiots out there not wanting to take a damn needle shank. Not because of fear of needles, but more of listening to bullshit you can find on someone’s Facebook feed. Hurricane season decided to not take a chill pill and want to have what 2020 was having and want to get over the conventional naming list and going to the next list. Not going Greek this time, but still. Speaking of which, got hit by one by a fucker known as Nicholas, though without any severe consequences, but first hurricane landfall...look at that. Though a shame that Final Space gets canceled, The Owl House’s life span on the air is expected to be cut short with a short Season 3 later in the future, but...they said a soul for a soul because once this season is over next year...it’s movie time. We got a date! May 27, save the date. Save your savings and preorder a ticket. But for now...wonder how the saying goes? Oh yeah...so...back to it.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, Louise infiltrates a pixie promenade at the behest of Millie as a debt to get a rare card that she needs as Bob and Linda received a bouquet with Linda having some traumatic events regarding her past and a dog bouquet in my spoilerific review of the first episode of Season 12 of Bob’s Burgers, titled “Manic Pixie Crap Show”.
Have you or a loved one ever done something? Something that you have to you don’t want to do and might regret doing it but when that person has something that needs like it’s a pair of keys to a toddler? Which almost feels like something like when you were a kid and have to go to either the doctor’s or the store and you don’t want to do but there’s a reward that your parent promised once you have to do it, even though you don’t wanna? Yeah, that almost sums up Louise when Millie called her up to a job for her to the pixie promenade over the park. And when you think about it...Louise and Millie. In the same room. To start off the new season. Yeah, this season premiere decided to take a bizarre start, and having these two to take the mantle with Gene and Tina being there on the sidelines, honestly, that and also the subplot makes this a good start to the season.
And boy, there’s so much that we need to discuss regarding the episode from top to bottom. Breaking it all down from start to finish like it’s a goddamn book for each scene in this very episode. And hopefully, I don’t feel rusty since we were gone for three, four months, so let’s hope I don’t lose touch on this review. This is “Manic Pixie Crap Show”.
So the episode begins with breakfast time for the kids with Louise coming into the kitchen/dining room, acting melodramatic over what she’s planning on doing for the day. Which...to be fair, when haven’t we think that whenever there’s a new day, you expect shit to happen? Though when you think about it, that’s pretty much everyday life. No matter whatever shit the universe likes to throw at you. But it looks like that’s not the case that Louise is making when entering the center stage and the reason why she’s been dreading on this day is that she has to do something for a certain someone. Someone that would be the last person that she would ever come across on her radar.
That person...ends up being Millie Frock. Yeah, so Millie decided to be the first side character to be in the focus of the episode besides Louise. And the idea of those two ever in the same room...as a team. As partners...are we sure we aren’t in a Genjutsu this early in the game? We haven’t drunk that Samuel Adams beer that you have seen on the news where it was illegal in 15 freaking states, but it looks like that is happening. Louise has a full day hanging out with Millie Frock, the last person that she would ever hang out with. Mostly because of a number of reasons. Like...oh...I don’t know...being overly obsessed with her to the point where it makes the whole Tina making Kaylee uncomfortable in the events of “A Fish Called Tina” looks like a normal day. Not to mention, leaving her, her siblings, and her friends in the fort just as they need some outside help on Halloween night and almost died, as well as running for president in hopes for her and Louise to be together through her proposed buddy system...only to be overshadowed by her almost murdering Abby a la chokehold with her braid when finding a flaw in that said proposal.
And sure, they started very slow at a turtle’s pace in a friendship that Millie wanted back in Season 8 in “The Silence of the Louise” where Louise has no other choice but to team up with the last person she would ever team up in catching who’s responsible in vandalizing Frond’s office, that person ends up being Millie, and in return for her help is to have a playdate. Something that she regrets at first, only to begin to somewhat like spending time with. Hell, I guess you could say that she felt bad for leaving her aside like a goddamn doll being accidentally left on the curb during a car ride when she thought that the perp has been caught with Zeke trying to take the blame, but didn’t. Despite that of course, her being overly obsessed with Louise to the point where that shit is not fucking normal and have us fans to question how the fuck did all of this started? That last one, we didn’t get it in this episode. Yeah, I know. Save your boos. Someone needs to answer that sooner or later. So how did Louise ended up in this mess that hasn’t even started regarding Millie and a day at the park? Well...
That whole shit lies with something that Louise wanted for a while back in school via flashback through the thought bubble, showing Millie and Louise at a locker, I presume that appears to be Louise’s locker with Millie pulling something out from her backpack, way to be original, girl. Nothing original is coming from her. Carbon copy the damn room with no real explanation on how the fuck she even knows what her room looks like. Not to mention wearing the same swimwear at the end of “The Silence of the Louise”. And now, the same freaking backpack. Jeez, what’s next? Take her clothes and wear them like it’s Twin Day at school? I’m surprised that she didn’t even bother making a shrine like with Helga from Hey Arnold with that Arnold shrine she made in secrecy.
But instead, what Millie pulled out from either her pockets or backpack is happened to be a card. A Burobu card that Louise, along with Rudy, the Pesto twins, and others had been collecting since, again, Season 8. But not just any Burobu card, a rare Burobu card called “The Slug-gitive”, where the backstory behind this happens to be where he was framed for the murder of his wife. But was discontinued because kids these days haven’t seen The Fugitive. Honestly, I don’t blame them. I mean, they’re kids. They don’t know shit what we grown-ups had got, but this coming from the show where pop culture references are pretty much the norm like it’s their own bread and butter. Now, of course, the idea of Louise having to do something with the last person she would ever do in hopes to get something that she wants almost giving me vibes to what happened in “Sleeping with the Frenemy” where Tina, hoping to get a Thundergirl badge, let Tammy sleepover on the week of Spring Break. Something that she thought it was a good idea, but ends up regretting. Man, a lot of callbacks to Season 8 in this review for this episode, huh? Ooh boy.
Speaking of Tina, she enters the room after looking at herself in the mirror for an hour and not hoping for her to do that Bloody Mary game where you go to a mirror and say the name three times. But nope, it’s nothing like that, even if we’re nearing October, you know, the spoopy season, at the time of this review is released. But nope, the reason she reveals why she was in the bathroom comes with her asking both Bob and Linda about her looks. Why?
Well, via flashback bubble, you have Tina with Tammy and Jocelyn over at Jocelyn’s locker with both girls with a lot of makeup on their faces like you can’t tell if the circus came to town. Calling Tina out because she’s not “supermodel material”. Oh, like using a lot of cosmetics onto your face like how a five-year-old draws on paper count as “supermodel material”? You know those things were tested on animals, right? That’s one way to put it. Also, you don’t need makeup to make yourself beautiful. Fuck that bullshit. Who cares that you’re beautiful or not? No one, that’s who. You’re treating daily life like it’s a fucking popularity contest. Fuck off that with that bullshit. You’re beautiful as you are, Tina. Don’t listen to these two, you’re fine the way you are.
And that’s another thing, the girl fucking deserves better. Unless you didn’t know and I’m gonna flat out say it...last season’s finale, “Vampire Disco Death Dance”...a fucking wake-up call from the fans regarding Tina’s social life. Because let’s face it, this isn’t working out. I mean, you may thank the status quo for them going back to square one, but for the love of god man, break that?! Break that shit! You said you’re gonna break some rules this season, Bouchard? Well, maybe it’s time to do that. Starting with this shit. Give Tina proper friends. Anyone that doesn’t treat her like shit. Bring Dillon back. Have Susmita fill in that spot. The fans are now noticing that Tina is dealing with this shit almost every day and thinks that it’s time for a change for once.
But besides all that, looks like that’s going to be filler attached to Louise's main plot as she, along with Tina and Gene, head out to the park in the next scene as they wait for Millie to arrive. Luckily for them...they don’t have to wait because Millie is already here and pop out from the bushes as Tina and Gene prepare to head out and sit on the sidelines by telling Millie that they’re about to play a game of frisbee, invisible frisbee to say the least. Nice save coming from both older Belcher siblings.
And while Tina and Gene decided to do their own thing, Millie drags Louise behind the bushes and pulls out what she is about to expect on what she wants to do with Louise. And that is for Millie to have Louise wear a bow onto her bunny ears, a pair of earphones, and sets of phones courtesy of her parents that she’ll be using in connecting? The reason? Well...according to Millie, she wants Louise to infiltrate a certain event that Louise might regret. That event? The Pixie Princess Promenade. Which is an event, social gathering, where you have various girls to participate in a magical adventure. So think of a live-action roleplaying game but only with little girls as the pixies and grown-ups as the storytellers like it’s a reading session for your first-grade class. Something that Louise doesn’t want to do, and Millie knew that she was going to say no and wants to bail from all of this. Leading to her now holding the Burobu card hostage. Whether if it’s doing what she said and partake in the event that she is now banned, oh yeah, she’s banned from the event after nine participations due to her being a “wand hog”. Also regarding the whole card thing...yeah, apparently, coming from Millie, Louise is the cardholder to that rare item, and she is threatening her to hand over the card unless Louise gets her hand on a plastic wand. So it’s pretty much “do as I say or you ain’t getting shit and I’m gonna fucking return it.”
It’s like the equivalent of getting shot or getting poisoned for Louise. It’s picking your poison for her. The lesser of two evils. Where she either do what Millie said and suffer through various hours of pretending to be a pixie in hopes to get a wand and deliver to her in exchange to keep the card; or she refuses and keeps whatever dignity she has and but in return, the Burobu card gets taken back by Millie. It looks like she doesn’t have a fucking choice and in the end, she has to swallow her pride, pull up her cajones, and be ready to endure what could be the longest day in her life. All over that damn card. And also finding out that Louise won’t be the only Belcher who would attend the promenade because Tina once attended the event, but outgrown it and decided to focus on horses...and then boys and that’s pretty much since last season.
This leads to the two eldest Belcher kids tagging along with Millie to get a front-row seat to the Louise torture hour with her in a gathering full of other attendees in pixie outfits and oh boy, let the show tell the viewers that Louise and all things girly like the pixie princess promenade doesn’t bode well together. You could see it in her face that she really don’t want to do this. She really doesn’t want to do it, but because Millie threatens her in handing the card back into her column if she were to say no or sneaks away from the group, she has no other choice. She is stuck there until the sun goes down. I mean, you could probably draw comparisons to “Boyz 4 Now” when she and Tina attended the concert, much to Louise not being a fan of boy bands or the culture from it. But what’s different from that is that in that episode, is that Louise developed a crush during that concert with Boo Boo. This one, no. So Millie, Tina, and Gene continue to watch the torture livestream from Louise to the point where the US government when it comes to the torture department with Guantanamo Bay decided to write it down on their notes...
Louise decided to break away from the group and makes her way to a guy in a gnome costume. A guy in the gnome costume that Millie headbutted, which lead to her being banned from participating in the event, though not from the whole wand issue but mostly a different issue. Causing Louise to break away from the group, much to Millie not wanting her to separate from the group and decided to do things just to wrap this shit up quickly, she meets up with the guy in the gnome costume, who goes into character before Louise causes the guy to break out, and telling him to hand over a wand. Most importantly, a pink rose wand that Millie needed from Louise as an exchange for her to keep the card in her possession. Trying the ol’ “I don’t wanna be here, you don’t wanna be here” shtick and wants the guy to just hand over the wand...except that coming from the guy, he can’t just give away the wand like he’s a vendor on an ice cream truck. The only way you could get your hands on the plastic wand that each and every little girl thinks that they’re He-Man and thinks to themselves that they have the power is that you have to earn it. You have to get through the whole entire day of playing pretend until you get the main prize. Which I think might be the other thing that Millie has been banned from the social gathering, that being impatience.
So that idea didn’t work with Louise now making her way back to the group with Tina informing her that the tea party is coming up, though no actual tea, just cups filled with imagination and disappointment. Just Tina trying to add some light into the mood for Louise as she makes her way back without anyone noticing where she went. Though the easier way would be wanting to go to the bathroom, though not in the open public because the last thing we need is a repeat of what happened with Linda last season. But jut Louise was about to join back into the group, she then noticed something behind the tree and inside the bushes in a form of a blue bin. Heading over there and reveals to be a pile of wands, causing Louise to take out the pink rose wand and...
Millie ends up storming out from the sidelines and joins Louise in taking the wand...rather, wands because even though the pink rose wand was the only objective for the whole entire day that Millie wants from Louise, other than sticking beside her like the obsessed person that she is enough to rival the mascot to Cocoa Puffs, she only wants not only the pink rose wand but every wand from the bin like it’s mini-capsules you find from a grocery store or laundromat where you stick a quarter into the machine. That pretty much sums up how Millie ended up being banned from the event. Headbutting the gnome, becoming wand obsessed, and coming from someone who attended the past nine events before getting the boot, yeah...I could see why. Though she almost has that Gayle quirk when it comes to being obsessed with something that they’ve been struggling to tackle whether being Millie with the wands or Gayle with the essential oils. It’s pretty much a drug and don’t know if an intervention would likely happen. Though knowing the show, it may never be going to be touched upon ever again after this episode.
Just as Louise and Millie go through the bin like it’s a toy chest in kindergarten class, they get caught by the guy in the gnome costume and decided to make a break for it with the wands and hide in the bushes to avoid getting captured and being thrown out. But not without a few guests who decided to follow them to the bushes like it’s one of the pages from the damn storybook. I mean hey, nothing wrong with having a few more to do the job. Gotta have more arms into this mess that both Louise and Millie have now created.
And while Millie and Louise, along with a few other girls decided to hide inside the bushes like it's London in the 1940s when hiding inside the subway, you have Tina and Gene looking for the two girls after Millie storms off to get the wand that Louise found. But it looks like they’re not the only ones who are looking for the duo because the head pixie and the guy in the gnome costume are also looking for Louise and Millie, raising the alarm bells for the two Belcher siblings and now need to think of a distraction in hopes that Louise and Millie don’t get the banned brand onto their labels for future promenades. I mean...Millie I get, but Louise? Again, you’d think that Louise would’ve like not to be a fan of all this. I mean, looking at her expression before finding the bin filled that the plastic wands have a sense of regret like she doesn’t want to be here, but what else does she have. And this is Millie we’re talking about...so...saying her to no, if you’re in Louise’s shoes, is like trying to tell your dog to not attack at random people, even if they’re related to you by blood.
Speaking of Louise and Millie, they’re still hiding inside the bushes, waiting for the coast to be cleared like it’s World War I with the trenches on the battlefield, hoping for when is the perfect time to strike with Louise ready to head out and just call it a day. You’d think that Louise would do something drastic like turning herself in and let Millie and the other girls getting a free pass, as well as Millie being reinstated into the promenade, which would be a ballsy move coming from her...except that we’re now only 13 minutes into the episode, yeah, that ain’t happening...yet, but for now, that ain’t happening. Mostly because if Louise were to head out, she, Millie, and the rest of the girls would never attend another promenade ever again and would result in Millie getting the Slug-gitive card back from Louise. Which Louise wouldn’t let that happen...in which coming in your typical Millie fashion, she would do it by herself and planning on visiting there while everyone is asleep. Which...why?! Why?! Like does Millie even do while everyone in the Belcher household was asleep? Does any of the Belchers even heard something in the middle of the night and noticing someone almost at Louise’s height and heading towards Louise’s room? Does Louise even know what Millie was even doing there while asleep? Jesus Millie, what the shit?! At this point, the Belchers may need to set up a security system for not just the restaurant, but the entire house as well. Sure, it costs a lot, but still...you might as well do that. Because Jesus fucking Christ, that statement bruh...what the shit?! Oh yeah, and Millie is missing her mom’s phone. Possibly fell off from her pocket during the chase. This leads to the next scene...
As Tina and Gene are continuing to look for Louise and Millie, it looks like things are now going from bad to worse regarding the situation when the pixie queen noticed Millie’s Mom’s phone on the ground and picks it up with the webcam on, the webcam that is currently attached to Louise, revealing their location and cause more trouble for the two girls who are in hiding. Resulting in Millie turning off the webcam and being ready to make a break for it. Causing both the pixie queen and the guy in the gnome costume to go look through various bushes around the park like it’s a game of hide and seek, causing Tina and Gene to create a distraction. It only works for one of the two adults with the guy being the one who gets distracted by what Gene is doing by doing the splits while the pixie queen goes on her own to hunt down the two girls.
Going back and forth with these transitions during the whole runaway chase, we head back to Louise, along with Millie and the other girls who decided to pal around with the two girls as they’re now out from the bushes and now need to find a new place to hide with Millie suggesting crossing the border onto Canada and create a new life, even though y’all just stole a pair of plastic wands from a bin from what appears to be a laundry bin, not committing murder and dispose of the body down the toilet. You have one of the girls who questioned Millie why didn’t even attend this year’s promenade, of course, answering her question that she got banned from the event and is not allowed to participate.
And that leads to Louise to take matters into her own hands in hopes to just call it a day and evade capture from the two adults who are currently looking for them. And that is to have the little girls to break free from all of this. Ditch the idea of being a pixie princess for a day and embrace the freedom. Telling Millie that it’s alright to be banned and not ever partake in the whole charade from start to finish. Almost sounding like what happened in “A River Runs Through Bob” when Louise tries to get Tina to snap out of her being a Thundergirl during the camping trip that turned into a massive disaster when Bob and Linda were washed away by the rushing river and being separated from the kids. And it looks like that’s what she is doing to both Millie and the little girls. Breakaway from the promenade. Put down those wands and wings and be ready to be thrown into the pond, which is what Louise is suggesting and that is where we’re heading.
With no luck trying to find Louise and Mille or even a nearby restroom, with Tina and Gene looking like all hope is starting to seem lost for the two eldest Belcher kids, Tina can’t hold it anymore and decided to pee by the nearby bushes with Gene as the cover to make sure we don’t turn whatever Tina is doing doesn’t turn into Sheshank Redumption 2.0 and land herself in police custody. I’m still not getting over the idea of pooping in public being worse than committing terrorism when it comes to which criminal act is worse. Six months. Six months since that episode aired and I’m still not getting the fact that committing public defecation is worse than any of the crimes known to man.
Just as Tina is starting pissing towards the ground and hoping no one can see her, she then gets interrupted by a look at Louise and Millie, along with the other girls, by the pond and about to throw into the water to dispose of the evidence as a way to tell the world that the pixie princesses can go fuck themselves. But Tina, coming out and stops peeing mid-stream and have the right side, her right side, of course, of her skirt attached to her underwear, which she then later fixes, tells the girls to stop what they’re doing. Tina doesn’t want Louise, Millie, and the other girls to get banned and not participate in future events. Louise refuses to take that in. Of course, the usual standstill of who’s right, who’s wrong. Guess we know where this is going.
At least this wasn’t bull rushed. No get out of jail free card because say what you will about the whole “character feels bad over shit and want to make it up at the last minute”, especially coming from Louise for whatever shit she did and about to reach the finish line, whether herself or Tina or anyone really convincing her that what she is doing is wrong. This one I don’t mind because you have Louise stating the whole thing with her being different from the rest. Her saying that if she’s “girly” enough to like all of this. Enter Tina to say that it’s alright to like different things because that’s pretty much how things work. Her liking Burobu cards and the girls that tagged along with Louise and Millie liking normal stuff like playing princess and stuff. Louise not following your usual gender stereotype because fuck that shit, you’re free to do whatever you want.
So Louise stands down, just in time for the pixie queen and guy in the gnome costume to catch the girls red-handed, but not until Louise decided to pull out a get out of jail free card, as well paying bail to Millie and the rest of the girls who tagged along by thinking that’s all an act with her telling the two adults that it’s all part of the show with her pretending to be an evil gnome who tried to put an evil spell on the girls to take the wands and you know what...fine. I guess that’s fine. I mean she ain’t gonna ruin those girls’ lives and following what Tina said earlier, she has to play along. Not to mention, convince the two adults to lift Millie’s ban and let her back into the promenade. In which they agreed to the notion because of the “no pixie left behind”, okay...guess we had to abide by those rules. But other than that, Millie is back into doing the promenade, the girls get off scot-free, Louise gets to keep her card, as well as learning that she doesn’t have something based on what’s between your legs and is free to do whatever you like. Just you like something different, doesn’t mean you’re in the minority.
And of course, we get to Tina before wrapping up the main plot with the whole issue of her thinking of herself that she will ever be beautiful. Which...again, Tina...you’re fine the way you are. And Louise agrees as they and Gene are heading out of the park and ready to go home. She doesn’t need any makeup to make herself beautiful and fill in those “face holes”. She’s fine the way she is. And also Tammy and Jocelyn being total idiots over Tina’s looks because those two can burn hell and Bouchard...I swear, you better give Tina some friends that don’t like to throw her under the bus season. I know that you want to bend the rules this season. I know you have some hope. You do! We all do! Make that happen this season! But other than that, the main plot did not disappoint. Let’s see what the subplot has a say about the episode.
So while the kids are busy at the park with Tina and Gene getting a front-row seat to Louise having the longest day of her life, which pretty much sums up Jets, Giants, and Lions fans this season so far, Bob and Linda got an unexpected delivery from the mail regarding a dog bouquet. Apparently, someone ordered the item online for something but somehow, it was delivered to the wrong address. It can be a massive bitch to have the item that you ordered didn’t show up at your door and somehow, someone comes to your door and reveals that it was dropped at the wrong location. Kinda hate when it does that, huh? Whether being a delivery from an online store like Amazon or eBay or food delivery like Doordash or GrubHub.
But despite that the item somehow was delivered at the restaurant, Linda doesn’t mind with the bouquet being delivered to the restaurant, and if you think that the subplot is going to downplay the episode and make the episode struggle to get a high score? Oh boy...that is not the case for this episode. Why? Well, my friends, let’s take a trip, shall we? Linda decided to take care of the dog bouquet and stating that the flowers in question remind her of a dog she had...well, her next-door neighbor had when she was growing up with a white mutt named Bottle Cap, which the name is in question coming from Linda that the reason the dog got the name is because the creature knows how to balance a bottle cap, which has the kids’ attention and entertain them for hours, including Linda (and presumably Gayle) as well. We didn’t get a flashback in this episode but hopefully, the upcoming Halloween episode, “The Pumpkinening”, can fix that. Feel like we might. We might get it. This little comment is going to fucking age like milk once the night of the premiere arrives on the 10th.
Anyway, Linda enjoyed having the dog around. The kids enjoyed it too until that one unfaithful day where the dog...well...got sent to the upper room after being run over by a truck. Causing Linda to be sad and also experienced some trauma after seeing an animal getting killed right in front of their own eyes...well, next to having to see Bambi’s mom getting shot or Mufasa being stomped to death. Way to cater to the kids, Disney. Even though because you own the show now, that means you probably are looking over me regarding this series and the shit I’m doing. But yeah, Linda seeing the dog bouquet and reminding her of a dead dog that she experienced in the past is going to be a long subplot ahead for Bob in an attempt for her to accept what’s going on.
I mean hell, later on in the episode, Teddy also felt some concern regarding Linda when it comes to the dog bouquet after taking a photo of her with the flowers, in which the social media team leading up to the episode have us fans thinking of Teddy having a wallpaper of Linda and adding more leverage to the idea of whether or not Teddy has a crush on Linda, even though she’s already to married to Bob and uh...yeah...Teddy...you have Kathleen. Stick with her! Kinda rubbish on what the social media team was doing leading up to the premiere. What part of the game is this? But yeah, Bob and Teddy are really showing some concern for Linda over the bouquet that resembles her neighbor’s dead dog that it’s getting to the point where the five stages of grief is setting up shop. What are the five stages of grief you may ask? Well...this might be a first. I’ve never done any outside stuff in this review for a long ass time, but this is a first. So we might as well do this to explain what is it.
So the five stages of grief is something that almost everyone should know about. It deals with a major event in your life that hits you mentally and emotionally like a goddamn truck, whether being dealing with divorce, cancellation of your favorite TV show, or going through a very long and divisive election that one certain side is still stuck in the first stage of the five. But the most common issue when it comes to this is none other than death. And dealing with a loss of a loved one...yeah, it’s not easy to go through. Especially at a young age. And there are five stages in all of this. Stage one, being denial, where you try to brush it off and think that nothing bad happened. Thinking that it’s all a prank and would have a laugh about it. Stage two, which is anger, where you are dealing with frustration and anxiety like you can’t believe that this is happening. Stage three, which is bargaining, is where you try to bargain with the big guy upstairs or whatever you believe in and try to make some promises in exchange for whatever situation is going on to go away. Stage four, depression, the waterworks decided to do their work. Like you’re feeling helpless. Feeling like you wish you could’ve done more. Possibly a sign of regret and stuff. And then finally, stage five, which is acceptance, is where you finally accept what’s been happening and decided to move on, of course, facing a new normal. The prime example whenever you hear the five stages of grief is coming from a stop-motion show, maybe you heard of it, called Robot Chicken.
And in one of the episodes, you have the infamous sketch of a giraffe being trapped in quicksand and is having trouble getting out to the point where he is pretty much fucked. Which leads to him going through the five stages as he goes down by each stage until he reaches the bottom. So how does this fit into Linda and what she is going through in this episode? Well, my friend, Linda did remember that she loved that dog that the flowers resemble and when the dog died, she was crushed. And now that the bouquet was delivered to the restaurant and it resembles the dog that Linda encountered in the past, we have the five stages of grief knocking on Linda’s door and sitting idly by the porch. Right now, she’s at stage one, which is denial. She’s been trying to brush it off like once she sees a dead Bottle Cap, she just brushed it off and called it a day. And that’s been sticking around for years. Countless years. My god, that is worrisome. This leads Bob and Teddy to make sure Linda needs to get out of her comfort zone and goes through the remaining four stages.
This leads to the next scene when Mort makes his seasonal debut as he enters the restaurant, and it wasn’t long to reveal who was the bastard who ordered the bouquet and has it shipped to the restaurant. Being that Mort was the one who ordered the bouquet because it was for a client whose funeral is today who wanted a dog-themed funeral, which is pretty much something for the person who’s been planning on a theme for a funeral to at least lift some spirits up when preparing to give the service before burying the body. Mort was about to take the bouquet to the service, but apparently, he’d been told that he can’t. Mostly because “indalay attachedyay otay ethay ouquetbay.” Linda ain’t going to let that go once Bob tells her that the bouquet was originally ordered by Mort and planning on using it for the service and instead of handing it over to him, she takes the bouquet for herself and decided to head over to the employee bathroom by using the “pooping” excuse. There’s your first poop joke of the season. But in reality, she’s clinging to the item like it’s a goddamn doll and never let go. So pretty much a security blanket.
Causing Bob and Mort to be by the door with Linda locked in with the bouquet and tries to reason with her to just hand the bouquet to Mort and just call it an episode, but Linda won’t budge. She’s not going to let the bouquet that resembles the dead dog go like she’s somewhat attached to it like it’s her own pet, even though it's her neighbor’s pet, well, a former pet, but still, Linda ain’t gonna let go and she was to do that, it’s gonna fucking hurt much like that faithful day. Did I mention that she is still trapped on Stage 1 of the five stages of grief? She still is and it looks like Mort will make sure Linda gets out of her comfort zone. How?
By quoting the Peanuts series with Charlie Brown saying his catchphrase, “good grief,” whenever the universe likes to throw hammers of shit at him like a walking target practice. But this ain’t the place to have ourselves a Peanuts reference by...oh...I dunno, have the cast dress up as the characters. Which would be something, but knowing that we’re now at the final minutes of the episode, in the subplot in this review, we gonna bull rush the stages of grief from Linda. But not in a negative way and that’s something that we haven’t seen in the episode. In a season premiere no doubt with Mort telling Linda that the reason why she became so attached to the bouquet that strongly resembles Bottle Cap is that she has never gotten a chance to say goodbye to the dog just as the animal got run over by the truck.
And I gotta give Mort some props on this to get Linda to hand over the bouquet. Like, no bullshitting the way out with the resolution of the episode. This was handled well. And also relevant because let’s not forget, we’re still in a pandemic and each and every day, you have people hearing that they lost their loved ones due to the virus and didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye due to being distant. And it stings. It stings to a tee. Ending the episode with Linda breaking down into tears and finally got to say her goodbyes to the dog resembles Bottle Cap, bull-rushing the stages of grief from Stage One to Stage Four before finally arriving at Stage Five as she hands over the bouquet to Mort and for Linda to finally move on...and also take a shit and you know what, Linda? You deserve it. Not in a negative manner, but after what she has gone been through, yeah...at least she moved on from a painful memory...until two episodes later in two weeks times. Why’d I said that? You’ll see. You’ll see it later in the season.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? I know that this season is where I have to be cautious regarding each episode because of what happened last season. But with this one...I kinda like it. I really enjoyed this week’s episode, like no bullshitting whatsoever. I’d really enjoyed this episode and this is pretty much a good start to the new season. Sure, there are some flaws, but in the minor category, and didn’t even bother downplaying it because there are some good moments from the episode.
They handled the resolutions well from both plots with Louise questioning her femininity and she doesn’t like the same thing as every other girl when pulling that heist to take the wands from the bin, even if she only need just one for Millie, and why is she’s different from the rest of her gender. And you have Tina to step in and tells her that it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to like different things that don’t fit the stereotypical gender norms like playing pixie princess from this episode. Just because she likes stuff like Burobu cards for example doesn’t mean that she’s the minority based on what’s between her legs. You’re free to like something that you like, not based on certain trends based on your gender or creed or race or whatever.
And that’s the same coming from Tina’s side of things regarding her issue with her looks. Sure, it’s pretty much filler to add to the main plot with Louise and Millie, but at least it didn’t downplay the whole episode. And you have to give Louise some credit with this in return following the attempt to throw the wands into the pond. Saying that she doesn’t need cosmetics to make herself beautiful. She’s fine the way she is. Tammy and Jocelyn can pretty much go fuck themselves to hell, you don’t need to listen to them over how you look. Which is pretty much what everyone is saying throughout the episode and that is Tina doesn’t need anything to make herself beautiful because she’s fine the way she is. Which is nice, to say the least.
Even though it’s sort of weird to have both Louise and Millie in the same room for this episode, it was interesting to see what their dynamic would be like when Millie has Louise to infiltrate the pixie princess promenade, just to get a pink rose wand if Louise wants to keep the card in her pocket. And even though we haven’t gotten some info on Millie as a character, at least we know that she used to attend the promenade before she got kicked out and later being brought back in courtesy of Louise to fool both the pixie queen and the gnome to think that what Louise and Millie were doing was all an act and not get them and the other girls from being banned. Which was a nice save coming from Louise. Is this a start of a friendship blossoming between Louise and Millie? I hope not...maybe...I mean, it’s baby steps for now, but let’s not forget that Millie is a complete psycho who is completely obsessed with Louise. So when it comes to whether if Louise and Millie were to slowly start to become friends...I mean...we’ll see about that. Still kinda wish we want to know why she’s so obsessed with Louise and how all of this started.
The subplot to the episode with the bouquet did not disappoint. It didn’t downplay the episode. It did somewhat focuses on the five stages of grief, mostly coming Linda, who has been stuck at stage one and can’t even get past that after telling the story of her childhood of her neighbor’s dog that unfortunately bit the dust and brushing it off like what she saw, what she heard didn’t affect her until Mort comes in, revealing that the bouquet is meant for him for a client, and telling her that she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Bottle Cap and let her come out of her comfort zone and finally got her chance to say goodbye to the dog because handing it over to Mort. Which is nice. It didn’t downplay the episode. Yeah, this was a pretty good subplot to start off the new season.
So final thoughts, this was a pretty good episode to start off the new season. I know that it’s only episode one and we still got a long way out for the rest of the season, but man, this was a pretty good episode. The main plot didn’t disappoint. The subplot didn’t disappoint. Sure, there are some flaws, some minor hiccups along the road, but it didn’t kill my enjoyment. The resolution was handled well from both sides of the aisle. Still think that it’s somewhat of baby steps for Louise and Millie to have a friendship going, even though again, it almost gave me vibes to “Sleeping with the Frenemy” regarding the Burobu card, but at least this one is a tad better than that. I thought that the subplot was going to downplay the episode, but it didn’t. I also enjoyed it. Especially once we get to Mort and decided to take matters into his own hands and have Linda come out from her comfort zone. So that was nice. A good episode to start off the new season. Now the rating...I’ve decided to revise it during the offseason because of what happened last season, I’ve gotten some flack regarding how I rate episodes for the past seven years. So under the new scoring system, I’ll give “Manic Pixie Crap Show”...
I’m going with 8.5 out of 10. Which is a B, B-plus if you look at it based on the score. So I’m going with 8.5 as the score for the episode, but that’s pretty much my opinion and now I wanna hear yours. What do you think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Will we see a friendship blossoming between Louise and Millie in the near future? Do you agree with what Tina to Louise regarding her being different from the rest? Will Tina finally have real friends this season? What do you think of the subplot? All that and your mini-review down below in the comments.
Tune in on October 3 for the second episode and we going from a Louise episode to a Tina episode, oh joy, where she decided to open carry a healing crystal around the school campus and hopefully doesn’t turn into an Akira reference and be a thread to that Rick and Morty episode with Morty and the death crystal in the second episode of Season 12 in “Crystal Mess”. Follow me over at Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and behind-the-scenes, as well as other shit around the page. Y’all should know the drill by now...
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