It’s Halloween in the Bob’s universe, even though we’re only about three weeks away from this week at the time of posting for this review, but after what happened last year when we were originally supposed to have a Halloween episode on time in October...but then the Braves decided to choke and handed the Dodgers the series to advance to the World Series, in which they won later on, I guess FOX heard about what happened and decided to push it early this year to avoid getting an episode being pushed to a new date. Especially a holiday episode as a lead-in to a nationalized NFL game. At least the heads over at the network heard the complaint from last year, now maybe they could do the same for this year if there’s a Valentine’s episode...though knowing that next year is 2022. And of course, you have the Winter Olympics in Beijing...decisions, decisions.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, Linda and Gayle got a note in the mail and travel to their hometown on Halloween night to face their fears when something from their past decided to haunt them decades later to the present as Bob...yeah, trying to pass out candy for the night that the kids don’t even want to put it into their baskets in my spoilerific review of the third episode of Season 12, the tenth Halloween episode of the series, titled “The Pumpkinening”.
Remember last week at the end of “Crystal Mess” where I had some sort of high hopes for this episode? Regardless of the subplot was going to underperform? Remember that? Yeah...there were some false assumptions. I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s also not that great. The main plot was alright, but once we get to the ending is where things become really picky regarding who is responsible for sending the note to Linda and Gayle a la Scream if anyone saw the movie. Though knowing me, acting like a total dumbass, doesn’t know my scary movies like I know my ABCs. I blame the movie “Scary Movie” to make me create that comparison. But in reality, it’s solely poking fun at the other horror film for this Halloween episode in “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. My bad.
But besides all that, we had a Halloween episode that came out weeks before the holiday, from what was the so-called average to where your usual Halloween episode would be set to air. Again, it’s not that bad, but it’s not good either. Again, there were some expectations from last week and it looks like that pretty much rest my case and somehow got thrown through the window. So, might as well get this out of the way and I don’t want to hear anyone coming towards saying that I’m somehow lost faith in this show or feeling burned out. You shut the fuck up about that, alright? Are we clear? Okay. Let’s get started, shall we? Let’s go smash some pumpkins and pick up some seeds in this breakdown of the episode. This is “The Pumpkinening”.
And boy, look at that. Something that we rarely see on the show in over two years since we last did one of those. We have no intro to the show to start the episode off. And normally when it comes to episodes with no intros, we would experience some serious shit to go down and be looking at what could be a potentially good episode. Examples being the two-parter from Season 4 with “Wharf Horse” and “World Wharf II: The Wharfening” or with Season 8 with the “The Bleakening” two-parter. As well as “The Oeder Games” where it too doesn’t have an intro. The same goes for “Dawn of the Peck” and “Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl”. We can go on and all to list some episodes to pinpoint where they don’t have the theme song to start off the episode.
No intro to start off the episode and instead, we get a cold opening. Flashing back to 27 years ago to the high school that Linda and Gayle once attended, Cardinal Gennaro, with a teenage Linda and Gayle, sporting the 80s look from “Purple Rain-union”, looking distraught over what happened regarding the pumpkins for what appears to be an event. Or rather...what they did because Linda and Gayle saw the crime scene on a very clear night inside the school’s gym, the crime that they committed, and about to go on a panic. Worried that they could be facing some serious trouble if everyone were to find out about the smashed pumpkins. Would say detention, but that would be soft. More of either suspension or possibly expulsion for what just happened to start off the episode. Also funny that normally with a flashback in the show, you would have a filter to tell that this is a flashback like with most episodes in the past. This one doesn’t and that is something to break away certain traditions and this one is it when it comes to flashbacks. Even though there’s one later on with that filter. But regardless, it was something for them to do so. Linda and Gayle decided to brush it off and since we’re taking the playbook from the film “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, decided to keep it a secret and make sure that this doesn’t bite them right in the ass for years to come.
This leads to the present day on Halloween with Linda singing to herself while cleaning the countertop of the restaurant with Mike coming in to drop off the mail, just as Bob septs into the stages and ask Mike to take some candy from the bowl sitting on the counter, in which he declines because according to him, yeah...they don’t look so hot right now. Mostly because if look at the candy, that ain’t candy. That is not candy. You can’t even tell what it is from the bowl because it looks like those candies in the bowl look stale and almost looks like something coming out from a dollar store. And not like one of those retail dollar store chains like Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, or Dollar General. But more of those cheap knock-off brands you can find at one of those stores that have less space, no installation, near closing. The candy is shit. That pretty much boils down to the candy being shit. And that is pretty much set up the subplot of the episode and yes, there is a subplot.
Of course, it ain’t a Halloween episode without, of course, the Belcher kids in their costumes. Because that is what some sites leading up to the episode with various clips regarding this scene that they can’t shut the fuck up about leading up to where we are. Eating that shit up for breakfast. Though to be fair...yeah, that’s pretty much all of us whenever there’s a Halloween episode. So uh...yeah. So for last year, we got various costumes due to the past two Halloweens in that episode are flashbacks with the present during that time was a group costume, dressing up like a snail. Mostly for Louise wanting to get back at that couple who didn’t give her candy. This year, it’s back to the singles with the kids going creative on who they dressed up as.
With Gene dressed up as Grad-iator, which is a cross between a graduating student and a gladiator, in which the Bob’s Burgers social page used that promo image of him in his costume as a way to promote the episode in a possible threatening manner like it’s them saying, “Watch this episode or I’m gonna fucking gut you like a fish.” I mean, he’s an 11-year-old boy, NOT a mascot of a chocolate organization who opened up a Tumblr page, got a suggestion from a user, and decided to be threatening on a certain date. Tina’s costume this year, besides Gene’s, was the one that stumped some people when it comes to the costume guessing game. She dressed up as Sher-loch ness Holmes. Like, the Sherlock Holmes part of the costume was a clear giveaway. But the monster part is what left people into droves when trying to guess the creature. Y’all can now rest easy. And then we get to Louise and it’s pretty much the easiest to guess out of the three kids as she dressed up as Peter Pan. But just to annoy everyone that she added something extra to the Peter Pan costume. And that is she added eyes to her palms, calling it Peter Pan’s Labyrinth. Ready to head out for trick-or-treating, but not before they help Bob out in trying to pass out “candy” to the other kids. Again, setting things up for the subplot of the episode.
Linda alerts the kids that Gayle is dropping by for a visit. Apparently, she somehow started to get her shit together after hiring a life coach. I mean, to be fair, I think she deserves it because when it comes to Gayle...do I even have to say it? So I think it’s fine for Gayle to at least try to get her life together, even if it’s for two sessions because the first two sessions are free, but after that, is where the subscription price decided to come into play. Hence, why Linda comes out and says that Gayle needs to get her act together in two sessions before the free trial ends. Which is good for Gayle because she does need to get her act together, even if it’s only for two sessions before deciding to pull out. But also good for Bob, because he doesn’t need to pay for the sessions courtesy of Linda. Speaking of Gayle...
She drops by to the restaurant, though looking at doom and gloom, and tells Linda in private, getting Bob out of the kitchen to give those two to talk in private. Though, you kinda wish that they would’ve done that over at the basement since no one is there. Really should’ve gone downstairs and had that talk to that location to talk about what’s about to come for this episode. And that is being the letter that Gayle got from the mail with a simple letter with the words “pumpkin smasher”, in all caps, covering almost the entirety of the paper. Though a blue pen? A blue pen? What? Is red ink decided to just run out for the night? Is red ink not that threatening anymore? But regardless of ink on paper, that got Gayle spooked because it looks like the past decided to haunt both her and Linda from almost three decades ago like someone saw what happened on that faithful night and somehow waited for almost 30 years to send the note to Gayle’s mailbox. Like seriously?! You waited almost 30 years just to tell make them feel guilty for what happened rather than...oh, I don’t know? Sooner?! This spooked Gayle into knowing that whoever wrote the letter to her and knows about the pumpkin incident is pretty much out to get the sisters. Don’t know why? Could be revenge? Could be a snitch that he or she or they have been waiting for almost three decades until the present day on Halloween, just to send the letter in. But it looks like Gayle isn’t the only one who received the letter.
Because it looks like Linda also got a letter from the same person with the same writing and same ink with a similar threatening tone from the stack of letters that Mike dropped earlier in the episode. And now the alarm bells decided to ring for Linda as well. Though that did get the kids curious on what’s going on...except that the kids won’t be doing shit for the next half-hour because they need to “help” Bob out in passing out the “candy.” Speaking of Bob, Linda enters back to the kitchen, this time, not kicking him out, but instead, tells him about one of the secrets she told him about the smashing pumpkins incident that has nothing to do with the band, more of them decided to be fucking idiots and destroy property. We really don’t want to know about that other secret that Linda did while she was in high school. Regarding the convertible. Really don’t want to know about that. But besides that, Linda tells Bob about the secret regarding the pumpkins, and because of that note that she and Gayle got from the mail, she doesn’t have much of a choice but to confront her demons by driving down to her hometown, which reveals to be Hunkawtaway!
We finally got a name, peoples! We finally got the name of the town where both Linda and Gayle grew up. Thank fucking god! We don’t have to wait for possibly the movie to find out where she came from. We got one in this episode. We got the name of the town. Just be thankful that it’s not Bog Harbor because that was pretty much a cheap gimmick. We finally got some Linda lore with the name of the town that where Linda and Gayle are from. Not to mention what Linda looks like when she was a kid, as well as a teenager. We knew about her dead grandfather resembles via potato in Season 7. And most recently, the dead dog. The Linda lore is slowly coming together. It’s slowly coming together...except for the maiden name. Bouchard loves to fucking tease us in keeping the last name hidden, huh? Well, at least this one doesn’t have a rap musical number about what's so great about Hunkawtaway similar to fucking Weehawken.
We head back to Flashback City, 27 years ago, with the start of how the pumpkin incident started. Which is funny regarding the timeline of all of this when it comes to the setting of the show. Because the flashback at the start of the episode set place 27 years ago. Linda graduated from Cardinal Gennaro in 1988, which is 25 years ago. So if you do the math from the year Linda graduated, which is 1988, and you add that up by 25...yep, the show is solely set in 2013. Yep, 2013. And if the pumpkin incident took place 27 years ago, 2013 minus 27 equals 1986. Meaning that in 1988, being the 1987-88 school year, Linda was a senior, and Gayle, being born three years apart, is supposedly either a freshman or sophomore. And if this was 1986, being the 1986-87 school year since it’s the Fall, Linda would be a junior and Gayle...possibly a middle schooler if you look at it. So I’m guessing the pumpkin carving contest that got canceled thanks to Linda and Gayle’s incompetence, can’t be a school thing. So I’m guessing that it has to be like for a town festival if that were to be the case. Presumably a Fall festival. And probably going to guess that something is off because Linda graduated in 1988. If you look at the Wiki, she was born in 1968. She appears to be 45 years old and thinks that she’s 20 years old at the time. But in correction, her birthday is in June and the average start date for schools in the US is usually August/September and ends in May/June. So would’ve been 19 going into 20 as she prepare to take her diploma home. Take yours truly for example. Class of 2015, 18 at the time when I graduated. I know some who graduated at 19 because they were born a year earlier. Linda would fit that bill in 1988. So think about that.
We have the flashback with how the whole thing started regarding the smashed pumpkins where you have Linda coming into the gym and was about to do something with the pumpkin but got stopped by Gayle, who stumbled into the building and caught her sister on what is planning on doing. In which Linda tells her that she wants to do some minor changes leading up to the day of the contest the next day at that time period. And the pumpkin that she was holding was her pumpkin. Her entry to the competition, in which Gayle points out that you can’t make some changes. Once the pumpkin is in and awaits to be judged, you can’t make any changes whatsoever. Almost feels like whenever you play fantasy football and you can’t bench one of your players that you drafted in the middle of the game. That causes Gayle to want to do the same thing as Linda, only for Linda to accidentally dropped the pumpkin and smashing it into the pieces. Which shocks Gayle about what happened and didn’t even saw the splattered pumpkin juice, jizz, whatever when walking towards to possibly grab her pumpkin, the one with the many holes to make a face, and accidentally destroyed one of the other pumpkins on the table. And of course, one-by-one, not seeing the splattered pumpkins thanks to a lack of lighting, mostly because it was nighttime and the lights are off, results in Linda and Gayle accidentally smashing the pumpkins into the ground. Thus, to where we are now with Linda and Gayle driving to Hunkawtaway to investigate who wrote the letters. And of course, if you look at the start of this scene with the flashback each moment you rewatch the episode, the moment where Linda picked up her pumpkin and accidentally dropped it, resulting in it being splat into pieces...you do kinda get the idea that it almost feels like that isn’t an actual accident and more of her doing it on purpose while the rest being by accident. More on that by the end of the main plot portion of the review.
Linda and Gayle finally arrive at Hunkawtaway and visit their first suspect in question at a home, owned by one of their classmates, rather, taken over for his mom, who moved to Florida in a home, named Marty, dressed up as William Wallace in the movie “Braveheart” and it wasn’t long enough for the whole “good cop, bad cop” routine to step in with Gayle screaming at him about the whole letter and accusing him of writing and sending it to their mailbox. Apparently, he was the first to be popped up on the list because they bumped into him that one time where he was about to retrieve his trumpet from the gym, creating an alibi to him that they were only in the gym, smoking some reefers under the bleacher. Gayle was playing bad cop on Marty on whether he wrote the letters or not, causing Linda to come in and tells her sister to let him go and telling him that he’s not the one who wrote the letters. Crossing his name off from the suspect list since he doesn’t know anything about what happened. A great welcome back coming from these two, searching for the asshole who put them in a frenzy on Halloween night.
Which leads to them walking across the town to find their next suspect in question, being Terry. In which Marty thinks that she was the one who smashed the pumpkins, before Linda and Gayle came out that they were the ones who did the dirty deed, by accident, solely because of her nickname, “Scary Terry”. And no, it’s not a nod to the Freddy Kruger-esque dream monster from Rick and Morty who keeps saying “bitch” once too many times. Their locations lead to them over at a pet grooming station with a dog ready to be groomed. At first, I thought that dog was about to be neutered because that place almost looks like a veterinarian's office or something. But no, it’s a grooming station...
And here is the woman of the hour, Terry, preparing to groom the dog that reveals to be the principal’s dog. Their old principal’s dog that Terry is planning on grooming. Causing both Linda and Gayle to be put in a panic and are forced to sit down in the waiting area without making a scene while trying to questioning her if she knew anything about the letters someone sent to their mailboxes or know anything about what happened the night the incident happened. This leads to the dog being finished from its grooming appointment and awaits for the owner, being the principal, to arrive and pick up the animal. Which leads to the next ominous thing coming from this scene and that is Terry wanting to try out the hairstyling routine on people. Hence...
Gayle as the guinea pig. Because why not? It’s not like she would like...oh, I don’t know...threatening to cut her head off or gorge her eyes out as Linda brings up the incident regarding the pumpkins that led to the contest being canceled. Trying to find their way to question Terry if she has anything to do with what she saw and whether or not she wrote the note to both Linda and Gayle earlier in the episode before they got interrupted by the principal’s dog. And knowing that whenever there’s a dog barking, you know that something bad is about to take place. Either that or the dog wants to go to the bathroom. Either one. Causing Linda and Gayle to think that it’s now a good time to make a break for it while she is busy getting some stuff for Gayle’s hair, possibly to cut, with Linda thinking that they should skedaddle, but Gayle wants to know if Terry was the one who wrote them the letters. And also want to have that horror movie moment when it’s to make a move for it. Yeah, don’t think that’s how the world works. Especially in a Halloween episode no less. Causing both Linda and Gayle to head on out from the grooming station, along with the dog now chasing after them, thanks in part to Gayle accidentally opening the gate to the principal’s dog as if she has the song “Who Let the Dogs Out” playing in her head while panicking.
This leads to a wild goose chase with the two girls running for their lives and make their way to the nearest parking lot. With the dog chasing them and Terry following suit all the way to the end of the plaza, the life and times of living in a small town like Linda and Gayle growing up in a town that is almost hard to spell or hard to pronounce like Hunkawtaway. They once reached at the car with Linda fidgeting to get the car to open, only to be stopped by a nearby driver who was just coming into the parking lot, revealing to be their old principal, who is just here to pick up his dog from the grooming station. And as for what happened to the whole pumpkin situation that’s been hanging onto Linda and Gayle for the entire day? Yep...Linda won. They were going to announce that Linda would win the contest. Hence, why you see Linda trying to hide what’s really going on. Remember with that flashback where Linda carried her pumpkin and accidentally dropped it to the ground before she and Gayle accidentally destroyed the others?
Yeah, leading up to the night of the incident that led to the contest’s cancelation, Linda overheard a conversation over at the teacher’s lounge that they already know who they’re going to announce who won the contest, that being Linda, which is good for her for many reasons when hearing that. Though caution is the hottest trend when it comes to announcing winners. We learned about what happened with the last election. Hoping for a certain political party to just accept the loss and embrace the failure. But apparently, there’s a downside if Linda or anyone else (but mostly Linda) were to win the contest...you have Gayle. Who she thinks that once the day of the contest arrives and Linda is being declared the winner...yeah, Gayle being crushed in losing to competition like the pumpkin carving contest and to add insult to injury, to her own sister...it’ll be like one of the reactors from Chernobyl having a meltdown which caused the disaster in 1986. The same year as the pumpkin incident.
In which speaking of that, remember that scene from earlier leading up to where we are now? Yeah, she did it on purpose. Just because she didn’t want to upset Gayle...not knowing that her smashing her own pumpkin leads to other pumpkins and turning it into “The Great Pumpkin Massacre of ‘86” that leads to the cancelation of the contest. All of that, Linda had it in the bag, the judges love it even before the contest began, kinda look one-sided, don’t you think? Only to throw away your shot in taking home the trophy or ribbon or some shit by smashing your own creation...just because you don’t want to upset Gayle because she lost. Like, I get that Linda is trying to be the best sister that she is to Gayle, worried about her and such, and hopefully, this doesn’t make me sound like an asshole, but even if Linda were to throw away her shot in winning, in which she did, I don’t think Gayle would be the next pumpkin up take home the ribbon. The other pumpkins would’ve taken home the prize before Linda and Gayle decided to play klutz and smashed it all into the ground, that includes Gayle’s pumpkin and make sure no one wins. Almost feels like with what happened with Frond’s flashback in “The Secret Ceramics Room of Secrets” where he, in order to stay put as student body president, decided to rig the election by hiding some votes that would have gone to his opponent who is favored to take his place. And now you can hear Republicans saying when mentioning that “Damn it! Why didn’t I think of that?!” Oh, wait, because that’ll be stupid and also being a kick in the nads to democracy. Please vote for the midterms, folks! I know it’s still 2021, but...you gotta get ready to make sure the team in red doesn’t fuck any more shit up.
So with the pumpkin incident now out of the way and finally got the monkey out of their backs, well, one half of it. That leaves the other issue in hand. And that is being...oh yeah, who the fuck wrote the letters to Linda and Gayle that caused them to create anxiety throughout the holiday?! Lo and behold, the asshole responsible for creating the frenzy that caused Linda and Gayle to visit their hometown and deal with what they did...
It’s none other than Gayle’s life coach! The last person that you’d least expect and to be honest...I felt nothing. Yeah, that seems about right. I mean, I get that the show, for this episode, knowing that it’s a Halloween episode, is where you would expect some shock and surprises, especially with this scene with Gayle’s life coach appearing out of fucking nowhere and calls what happened throughout the episode as one of her free sessions and finally got it out of her system. Like, I’m sorry? How the fuck did you even know about what Gayle and Linda did 27 fucking years ago?! You’re not even in the same class as them?! So I guess the answer to how the life coach even knows about the incident that occurred almost three decades ago is...well, coming from the horse’s mouth. That being Gayle. I guess Gayle might be the one who blabbed about the incident, but not too much about it regarding the fact that just now, Linda threw away her shot of winning so that Gayle doesn’t get upset with the idea of her losing. I know that any one of y’all had different reactions to all of this, but for me, I felt nothing with the idea of the life coach being the one that you would least expect for writing the letters to both Linda and Gayle. Was it predictable? It’s possibly a give or take when watching the episode out of the list of suspects that they listed out that a tiny percentage of the fans who watched the episode when it came out possibly think that it’s all a “ha-ha funny joke” when coming up to the idea that the life coach was the one who wrote it. So congrats to those people.
This leads to the end of the main plot, the end of the episode, with Linda and Gayle going back to Seymour’s Bay with the two making things up following what happened. They finally got the monkey off of their backs with what happened almost 30 years ago with Gayle wished that Linda should’ve told her that she (Linda) was going to win the contest and would handle the loss, but...it’s Gayle, you expect to just brush it off? At least she got her shit together in two sessions and preparing to cancel the rest of the sessions that cost around $400 for one person. So the next bill for the card is going to hammer the Belchers coming from Gayle with that $400 session for her to partake in. But besides all that, they made up. They dealt with what they did in their past. All of this on Halloween night because of Gayle getting her life together for only two sessions...until the next episode we’ll see her when she goes to back her usual Gayle-ness and this will be nothing more than a distant memory.
So while Linda and Gayle deal with some demons from their past from the patch in their hometown, you have Bob continuing to struggle to hand out the bowl of supposed candy to the first trick-or-treater of the night and refuses to take one piece into his bag. Causing issues for him and already see the “don’t go there” label placed onto the restaurant for trick-or-treating. Meaning that Bob needs to up the ante to at least have the kiddos put the candy into the bag. And this is where I have a lot of issues regarding the subplot of the episode. One being the kids. Most importantly, the Belcher kids. So...it’s Halloween. The night is still young. So...go trick-or-treating. Like seriously, go trick-or-treating. I mean, we have seen y’all doing that on your own before. Whether being “Full Bars”, though you stumbled into King’s Head Island and had to deal with rowdy high schoolers blasting kids with water balloons filled with pee; not “Fort Night” because they missed it. Same for “Tina and the Real Ghost”. We don’t even see them doing that in both “The Hauntening” nor “Teen-a Witch”. “Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street”, they did it by themselves. “Pig Trouble in Little Tina” the same, though Tina had to be in that hayride. They should’ve just leave Bob hanging and just head off to do their own thing. But because Linda decided to head on over to Hunkawtaway with Gayle to deal with their past, they had to be stayed put because they need adult supervision, even though we saw them before without the supervision!
And then there’s the other issue I have with the subplot and that is that when Bob came back from the store and pull out the big guns, being the packets of sour candy that now got the kids’ attention, but guess who else noticed the candy? The other kids. Starting with the one kid who dressed up as the grim reaper. Almost left because it’s Bob and knowing him, with that bowl filled with cheap, knockoff candy, that would not be looking good for him. But because of the sour candy that he bought at the last minute, all of a sudden, he and the other kids enters the restaurant and treat it as if Black Friday came early this year and it’s not even the holiday season. Causing more issues for the kids. Bad enough that they decided to somehow ditch trick-or-treating just for one packet for sour candy that the other kids are taking it and putting the packet into their own bags. Frustrating the Belcher kids who had a front-row seat to it. Almost feels like last year when people were about to get their hands on the PS5 through preordering, but then the moment you were about to put it into your cart and purchase, they’re out of stock. That’s pretty much what the Belcher kids are now experiencing when watching every kid coming into the restaurant and get their hands on the sour packets as they waste away their night and kinda wish they either gone trick-or-treating on their own or hid themselves inside the back of the car onto Hunkawtaway with Linda and Gayle. But alas, they had to be stayed put because they don’t have adult supervision. Speaking of which, where the hell is Teddy anyway?
Despite that negativity that’s been going on with the subplot, like finding a needle in a haystack, there have to be some positives from this subplot. I guess other than the kids’ costumes, I have to go with that little frenzy that’s been still going despite that Louise, Tina, and Gene all been watching their chances of getting the sour packets going down and down as time passes by, where you have that kid who dressed up as the grim reaper who keeps coming back with different costumes, rather a baseball cap, attached to his head and pretend to be someone else and Bob sees that it’s the same kid. Like, okay, this one gets a pass for me because I don’t know why, but I can see that as like something you see from a grocery store where an employee is passing out the samples and keeps on coming back without even thinking of getting a box for his or her own. Remembering the pre-pandemic days, boys. It’s almost over. It’s almost over with this pandemic. Just need everyone to take this seriously so we can get back to our shit. So this was one of the positives for me. I know that everyone is going to sound off on me for this. But then again, I might be called out for thinking that I’m going harsh over the subplot. I said what I said.
So that leaves the other “positive” that is pretty much a wolf in sheep’s clothing and that comes at the end of the subplot when Bob, after dealing with a marathon of kids coming in to get the packets, now ran out of the sour candy and leaves the kid in a penguin costume to leave empty-handed. Of course, you have the Belcher kids, who not once laid their foot out of the restaurant and watched what just unfolded with the kids taking the packets of sour candy like a sale from a department store where the prices are slashed by 70%. The Belcher kids now regretting that they had to stay behind in the restaurant. Nor does have some sort of plan to trick some kids to make sure they get their hands on it. But it looks like it’s not a total loss for the kids because here comes Bob to save the day revealing that he saved the three remaining packets of sour packets for his kids. I have to give Bob that for being a good dad, that we can all agree when he was saving the packets for last for his kids. But...this is where I have some issues. Again, with the Belcher kids, they pretty much missed Halloween. They pretty much missed the holiday again. What is this? Like 4, 5 out of the 10 Halloween episodes where they had to miss out on trick-or-treating?! Didn’t even bother stepping out to go on their own because Linda was out of town or drooling over the sour packets that Bob bought. All that...just because of the sour candy that Bob bought. I get that they’re kids, but...still. Kinda wish the subplot done a little better and that has to be something that we all can agree on.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Well, for once when I said in the introduction, it’s not bad. But it’s also not good either. If I were, to be honest here, I’d say it’s average at best. It’s just the main plot is that pretty much stole the show for the entire episode regarding Linda and Gayle going back to their hometown to deal with a dirty deed that they did in the past. So that is basically the entire highlight for the episode, whereas the subplot...like I said, kinda wish they could’ve done a little more regarding the whole candy issue with Bob and the kids...really should’ve gone trick-or-treating on their own like with what they did in the past Halloween episodes.
Now I got to say about the main plot because man, there was some info-dumping into our bowl for Halloween regarding Linda and Gayle’s past. One is the name of the town that the two were from. The name being Hunkawtaway, which, like Bog Harbor, is miles away from Seymour’s Bay, the current home of Linda and Gayle. Which is nice. Also nice is what the town looks like. As well as the return of their high school and them dressed up in their 80s clothes from “Purple Rain-union”. Though it almost feels like when you go back to various mentions of Linda’s childhood in various episodes, excluding “Local She-ro”, “Purple Rain-union”, and “Sliding Bobs” when it comes to the evolution of Linda (and Gayle), almost feels like we were...I guess “robbed” of a potential flashback to Linda’s childhood with the most recent being “Manic Pixie Crap Show” with the whole thing regarding her neighbor’s dog, Bottle Cap.
But besides that, the main plot had solely stolen the episode because it has some good Linda lore with her and Gayle visiting their hometown, seeing some faces other than her band members, in investigating who wrote the letters with a list of suspects on who saw them smashing the pumpkins, by accident coming from Linda who fears that if she wins, Gayle would end up being heartbroken. Though the idea of the life coach revealing to be the one who wrote the letters as part of Gayle’s session to get her life together? Yeah...again, I felt nothing coming out of it. But also raising some questions with the most important being how does he even know what Gayle and Linda did 27 years ago? I get that my reaction to this from everyone is different and that’s fine. I get that it’s Halloween and you got to sprinkle in some suspense and stuff, but...uh...yeah, I felt nothing despite him being the last person they would at least suspect. But besides all that, the main plot is what pretty much stole the show and hopefully, we can get more out of Linda’s past. I know that the show, when it comes to that, is mostly going for the “tell, don’t show” angle. But sometimes, they need to go with the “show, don’t tell” idea much like with Bob’s backstory.
The subplot of course, kinda wish they could’ve done more with it. I mean, you have the kids being stayed put on Halloween night thanks in part to Linda being gone. Not to mention, the candy that the Belcher kids laid their eyes on when Bob bought the sour candies at the last minute to make sure the restaurant isn’t a “don’t go there” place for trick-or-treaters. The kids should’ve at least leave the restaurant and go to trick-or-treating like with what they did in the past Halloween episodes. I mean, fuck, they wasted their Halloween just for a packet of sour candies that Bob bought at the last minute and caused a frenzy to the trick-or-treaters. So if I were to guess, this subplot felt nothing more than filler. As well as a waste of time. At least you have Bob being a good dad and have the three remaining packets of sour candy kept for his kids to enjoy. But other than that, it’s pretty much complete filler.
So final thoughts, for a Halloween episode, the main plot with Linda and Gayle did some wonders, though the revelation of the life coach being the one who wrote the letters didn’t amuse me. It was nice to see some stuff coming from Linda’s life in flashback regarding the smashing pumpkin incident. As well as the name of their hometown and what the city looks like. Hopefully, we can see more of that in the future. Maybe in the movie. Maybe. The subplot is mostly filler and also for the Belcher kids, there’s always next year. The show loves to do that. So I’ll give “The Pumpkinening”...
A 4 out of 10. Let’s go with that. I’d think it’s a safe score to give this episode. So 4 out of 10 is the score. It’s not a bad episode, I’d enjoyed the main plot, but the subplot pretty much needs some work. And I mean a lot of work. But that’s pretty much my opinion and now I wanna hear yours. What do y’all think about this episode? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Will we see more of Linda’s backstory in a “showing fashion”? Will we finally get a maiden name before we reach the end of the show? Do you think that kids would’ve done better in the subplot? And would you want to try out the candy that Bob at the start of the episode? All that and your mini-review down in the comments below.
Tune in on Sunday, October 17 where we go back to our normal episodes with Bob and Teddy going on a road trip to possibly deliver a giant head outside of town as the kids and Linda got the restaurant all to themselves and compete on who is the best employee of the day like they’re kindergarteners fighting on who gets to go to the toy chest first in the fourth episode of Season 12 in Driving Big Dummy”. Follow me over at Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. As well as other nonsense like the ongoing Battle of the Week Voting Tournament with the semifinals already underway between Krillin and Italy at the polls. And of course, y’all should know the drill by now...
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