Atlanta vs Houston in the World Series. Man, oh man, this should be something. I would go with Houston in this...knowing Atlanta’s...reputation when it comes to big games like this one. But I’m from Georgia. Born and raised for almost 12 years. I have to go root for the town that I called home for a decade. So I guess that makes me the minority in a sea of orange and blue. I hope that doesn’t sound like a jinx. I jinxed this team, huh? God damn it.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, change is about to take its place for Gene as he is about to enter the process known as “puberty”, but doesn’t want to lose his youth just yet as Linda might be dealing with the wrath from Gretchen when being tempted in entering a salon that is different from hers in my spoilerific review of the fifth episode of Season 12, titled “Seven-tween Again”.
In the human world, there are things you ever question about the body that you kinda wish you want to ask a question to the universe when it comes to...well, everyday life. Whether it’s being the ability to whistle. How do hair or eyes have different colors? Is there life outside of Earth? How in the ever-living crap that the Cincinnati Bengals perform well this season without any O-line help? Okay, that one y’all should probably answer that yourself unless you already know this one. But out of the many things that we somehow can’t even contain like a rat in its cage or a changing climate and that is puberty. Yeah, we all remember that time in our lives where one moment you had the time of your life with no problems whatsoever, and then life decided to hit you like a fucking truck with a wide variety of things being attached to your body. Whether being pimples on your face, finding pubes in your nethers, or feeling a tone shift when it comes to the voice box, there is no stop when it comes to that. Think of puberty like a caterpillar before becoming a butterfly by going to a metamorphous state. A cocoon you might say. Going through some changes.
And that is something that Gene doesn’t want to endure when noticing something that threw him off in this week’s episode when finding his first chest hair. Thinking that he is losing his youth and about to bipedal his way to adulthood. Him joining the kids club, which is pretty much a daycare to be honest, just for him to keep his youth. That’s pretty much the premise for this episode. I mean, let’s face it, we all had that moment where you want to stay as a kid. You want to stay as a Toys R Us kid. There’s a quote coming from Walt Disney saying that growing up is mandatory but growing old is optional. You could still be an adult and still act childish, I mean...Gene tries it and uh...yeah, kinda derail things when it comes to his situation. All because he doesn’t like change. And I guess the same might go towards Linda, who wanted to try out a new salon next door, but worried that if she were to do that, then she would pretty much backstab Gretchen. And also don’t want to disturb the dragon while taking its nap. So I guess that’s also the other thing to note from this episode, try not to backstab your friend/carrier. Because it might not be a paint a pretty picture for sure. So let’s dissect this episode piece by piece and treat it like it’s a biology lesson, though frogs are shown here, or even fetal pigs...yeah, best that we don’t go there, this is “Seven-tween Again” and of course, we might need to address the elephant in the room and this ties in with the start of the episode.
The return of Alex Papasian. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he is back! Two-year absence but he’s back. The boy has finally returned from the war. Despite the fact that he appeared last season in “Fingers-loose” though only in a non-speaking cameo along with the other students who were in attendance for the open house event. So it’s nice to see Alex again for the episode as the supportive, I’m guessing one of the main in this episode. This leads to the second item on the list: the voicework. Most importantly, who is being voiced by?
We began the episode with Gene and Alex being paired up for their life skills class and not even a full minute in and already got our first glimpse in Alex sounding different than how he voiced in Seasons 8 and 9. And unless y’all have been living under a rock, we all know that before this episode, Thomas Middleditch was originally the voice of Alex from “Cheer Up Sleepy Gene” back in Season 8 up until “The Gene Mile” in Season 9. However, in between “The Gene Mile” and “Seven-tween Again”, this is where we get an explanation of the so-called voice change with Alex. Now...y’all already know. I know since the day the bombshell dropped. So there’s no need to remind me. And that is...how should I put this? Middleditch did a no-no. Which looking at the article that was dropped back in March...yeah, it’s not good. It was not looking good for him. Pretty much a career-ending stunt that he pulled. If you want to call it a “stunt” and more of him being a total fucking idiot. Which leads to the crew somewhat hitting the panic button on what to do with Alex. I mean, you can’t write him off because you finally give Gene a friend who isn’t a past love interest or is friends with either Louise or Tina and just pretend that it’s nothing more than a memory. This, of course, leads to a change in voice when it comes to the Alex situation.
Which is to kick Middleditch out the door and hand the mic to the next person up, which is actor Paul Rust. Of course, you may know him as the voice of Ham Tobin from The Great North. And I know that now whenever you hear Alex on the show, you’ll only hear Ham. Much a grin to, let’s say, if Susmita were to return this season, you remember when people note that whenever you hear her, you get the notion of a character from Bojack Horseman named Hollyhock. Now, if Susmita were to appear for this season, the first thing that’ll come to mind is Moon. Let’s not forget that this isn’t Rust’s first rodeo when it comes to him appearing on the show because he did lend his voice to characters from the past. Whether being Jonas, the delivery driver who worked for Reggie that Tina had a crush on. Milo, who was one of the trick-or-treaters from Kingshead Island in “Full Bars”. And most recently, the fetal pig that haunted Tina’s dreams in “Pig Trouble in Little Tina”.
And when comparing both Rust and Middleditch, with Rust in this episode, it almost sounds the same as what Middleditch did when voicing Alex, it’s just he sounded a bit deep though not a lot. A hint of a squeaky voice. And if this episode were to talk about puberty, replace the life skills thing with health class, I guess we would have an explanation over how Alex’s voice changed. Whereas Middleditch, it’s a bit light when it comes to the tone of the voice. So Rust being the new voice of Alex is going to take a while to get used to. He is the second character this season alone to have a new voice. Because if you remember a few episodes ago, Ms. Jacobson got a new voice actress in Ashley Nicole Black, despite that she sounded like her old voice actress, Melissa Galsky, never left. So having Rust voicing Alex now is something to get used to and to be honest, despite the comparison to both him and Middleditch, I’m sure he’ll do fine and just be glad that Alex will not be written out from the show. And for Thomas Middleditch...yeah...how should put this lightly?
Yep. A big piece of shit who can go burn in hell. And this was during Alex’s time as the current champion. What the shit, man? What the shit. So anyway, the episode begins with Gene and Alex getting their assignment for their life skills class in pretending to be a grown-up with a list of stuff from owning a house/renting an apartment, paying the bills, you know? Adult stuff. And pretty much tells you that our education system is pretty much shit when it comes to teaching kids about the basics of what to expect for the adult world. And while Gene seems to be like he doesn’t want to do this and thinks that his and Alex’s futures are all set up as famous Robo-DJs, which is basically them being a new age Daft Punk. But Alex doesn’t seem to worry because it looks like he’s fine with the project for the week because throughout this week because of a few things. Well...two things. One being playing pretend in giving a sneak preview of what their adult life would look like, even if it’s for a week, and must present it by the end of this said week. Using their imagination to aid them in hopes for them to wow the crowd and get a good grade. Plus, he’s been paired up with Gene, meaning that they got this in the bag. They’re pretty much the power couple in the episode. And let’s be frank with y’all, we have been yearning for a Gene and Alex episode for that long since Season 9. And you thought that the Middleditch allegations would destroy that and may or may not possibly write Alex out, just be thankful that the Bob’s crew wouldn’t do something drastic like writing him out after finally given the decision to give Gene a best friend in Alex Papasian. And also with Middleditch now out and Rust in, just saying, an episode with Gene, Alex, and Courtney is still a possibility. The dream is still alive!
The project for their life skills class seems to be going well until things derailed fast as the Chiefs’ season where later at night, Gene screams over something that has the entire Belcher family to check up on what’s going with him and thinks that he saw a ghost. Well, there’s no ghost. We don’t need to mention that episode from a few seasons ago, thank you very much. But no, the reason he screamed out from his lungs is that he found something on his chest. That being a chest hair. His first chest hair. Our boy finally growing up...even though this is coming from the same person who lost his last baby tooth and they said that if you lose your last baby tooth, you’re pretty much entering the stages of being a grown-up. I think that’s how the saying goes. This causes Gene to go into a panic state and doesn’t want to go through the changes in his body and like I said in the introduction, you can’t contain it. It spreads like wildfire.
And to add insult to injury for Gene, already bad enough to deal with a group project for class and now a chest hair popped up like a weed in the driveway, Louise finds out that the color of the chest hair seems off because normally, it would be usual black color, much like with his hair. But no, it’s gray. It’s a gray hair color, which is pretty much old man color. He even yanked Gene’s only chest hair and compares it with Bob’s and it’s a match. And you’re wondering how in the hell does Gene even have gray hair popping out despite being only 11? It doesn’t even make sense. Actually, it does because Gene didn’t even grow chest hair...yet. It was Bob’s that somehow gets stuck onto Gene’s chest when giving him a surprise shower hug in the morning. So the crisis averted for Gene and if you think that he should give a sigh of relief? Yeah...no. Because even if it was a false alarm like one of Bob’s chest hair attached to Gene’s chest, this is only the beginning because Gene is now at that age where you’re going to start going through some changes. Changes that you’re not going to like nor enjoy. And again as I said in the introduction, it’s going to hit you like a fucking truck. I mean, who knows what might pop up from Gene. Whether being an actual chest hair or pimples popping up like islands coming out from the ocean following an earthquake or a possible voice change in the ol’ voice box. The point is that despite that Gene has been given a false alarm, knowing that where this is going, rather than focusing on the project with Alex for the whole week, his focus is on him trying to tell his body to hit the kill switch from undergoing metamorphosis.
And this last all way to the next scene over at school with Gene and Alex closing their lockers and heading to their class with Gene trying to get Alex to at least be supportive of his ongoing situation. Which he should because much like with family, friends should also have a right to be on the lookout for someone. Alex would be supportive here. Gene did it numerous times whenever Alex is in a pickle, whether being the sleepover fiasco where Alex attempted to run away from home or dealing with the Courtney issue when it comes to the roller skating competition. Sure, I guess you would call the events of “The Gene Mile” a Gene supportive issue because he was left behind and don’t want to get caught by Frond when ditching mile day at school. But this is one of those things where Alex could be supportive and help Gene out with his situation, even if Alex himself hasn’t gone through the change just yet in his life. And instead, he wants Gene to at least focus on the project since their grades are hanging in the balance and again, Gene’s focus is not on the group project for their life skills class and instead focus on his changing body. This leads to Alex telling Gene to get his mind off of things for a while and go to the community center to look over at job listings for their project. Alex did his part of the work by playing telemarketer, so he need Gene to do the simplest of things to find something that suits him for part-time for their life skills work. Though you think that Gene already got his side of the bargain filled up because he has a job. It’s called working at the restaurant. Sure it doesn’t pay well, but at least it got some benefits. The resume is already filled when it comes to the job description.
Gene decided to take Alex’s word and ends up swallowing his pride by heading to the community center with Tina and Louise to find himself a “job” for their group project with him being melodramatic following the scare with the chest hair. Thinking that it’s pretty much a sneak preview of what the adult world would be like while watching his childhood dwindle away like a dandelion in the wind. He enters the building and looks through the bulletin board where he comes across Gus and talked about the job he needs for the project but at the same time, worried about his future and the process of growing up. And just Gene was about to do what Alex suggest and find himself a job to help out on his end of the project...
He ends up abandoning it and joins the kids club of the community center, which is pretty much a daycare...fuck it, it’s a fucking daycare. Gene decided to not listen to what Alex wanted him to do with the project and instead wants to keep his youth by lying to the headmaster of the daycare about his age in order to join, which he did by pretending to be a seven-year-old and the rest become history.
Hours later and Gene makes his return to the restaurant and attempted to lie to both Louise and Tina about his whereabouts, only to break in just seconds, about what’s been happening over at the community center. Telling his sisters about his time over at the daycare with the dead giveaway being the pile of feathers in his backpack. So it looks like it’s a good time for Gene to be in there, though a hassle once the day ends because you need a parent or legal guardian to pick the kid up and he can’t call up either Bob or Linda because of the lie will break and Gene will be forced to never come back. Hence, he used Gus to be his parent/guardian to get him out of the daycare. And it looks like he’ll continue doing that until the end of time, abandoning his duties for the class project with Alex. Let’s also not forget that because of Gene blowing off from him going fake job hunting that he also blew off his real job and handed the dirty work to Tina and Louise over at the restaurant. Almost getting vibes from “Every Which Way But Goose” where Tina blew off his responsibilities, both the restaurant work and the prom committee, because she was too busy simping with a goose. Handing toilet cleaning duty to Gene and Louise. All because Jimmy Jr was too embarrassed to tell Tina about his butt injury. Where this time around, it’s Gene who’s doing that because you find one random chest hair that isn’t yours, and all of a sudden, you hit the panic button like you’re Facebook following a shit ton of controversy just this month alone.
Onto the next day over at school with Alex, under the Rust administration, greets Gene with an Australian accent, remember kids, he’s the incumbent champion until his time with the crown ends in December, and asks him about the job hunt. Also hope for him to visit his house after school. Not knowing that Gene put his duties for his side of the project on the ground and decided to do a day over at the Burger King Kids Club with him lying to Alex about him having trouble trying to find a job that fits him. Again, he would have the burger job filled up for the project since he works with the family well...since he was born. But I’m guessing when both Gene and Alex were paired up for the project, I suspect that coming from Alex that he (Gene) can’t add the restaurant as a job description for class. Mostly because of a little something called a low minimum wage that needed to be addressed and we really need to bump that shit up to $15/hour. Hence, why Alex wants Gene to look up a fake job from the bulletin board to benefit their pretend life as adults for the week.
This leads to after-school hours later with Gene having the time of his life like he were in kindergarten all over again with him playing with building blocks to the parachute, no Tom Cruise sighting from inside the said parachute. And the hits keep on going from what was just witnessed regarding Gene wanting to keep his childhood from the montage as it shows various stuff including him playing dress-up, most importantly, as superheroes because we’re nearing Halloween and this is pretty much the reason why the Halloween episode was pushed two weeks too early. Not to mention playing a round of duck, duck, goose, playing pretend with cooking plastic. Though you have that one kid who put a bead maze into the oven and I know that the oven is fake because they’re kids, but still. That is pretty much a hazardous material and that kid may have a future in committing accidental arson. Learn it from Gene since he once accidentally set the kitchen on fire, even though that was all Hugo with the greased-up rags. Wrapping up the montage from Gene’s side of things with him being emotional over a storybook before heading off for a siesta. All while Louise and Tina had to suffer through Gene’s fuckery by showing a small scene with Tina doing the dirty work and cleaning the oven while Louise is supervising. Again, almost similar to Tina’s fuckery with Bruce and handing the chores to Gene and Louise over at the restaurant. I wanna say it’s almost similar to what Tina had to go through in “Bad Tina”, but that was more of Gene and Louise blackmailing Tina into doing their chores in hopes for Bob and Linda to not find out about the whole thing with Tammy. But it looks like Gene’s time over at the daycare seems to be hitting the pause button because of something interrupting his nap time...or rather...
Someone. Gene didn’t even notice that the door was open over at the community center. Not to mention that Alex also was in the same building as Gene. Revealing his reason for dropping by is to try to find Gene a proper fake job if you remember that he (Gene) told him that he didn’t find a job that suits him and you have to give Alex some applause for being a good friend and partner in trying to help Gene out with the project...before finding out that Gene’s been blowing off because he was in too much stress over him losing his youth that not even Alex can’t even help him out. Although, it’s kinda cute for Alex to notice how Gene snores that landed him to find where he was all this time. I mean, those two did have a sleepover in Alex’s first episode and possibly other sleepovers since then. Though over at Gene’s house because the sleepover over at Alex’s was a total disaster when it comes to him and his parents having a fall out regarding sugary foods and putting him on a diet and not to mention that Gene said when sneaking back into Alex’s room and saying that “he’ll never coming back here”, stating that he’s not stepping his foot onto the doorstep. Though that was if Alex were to invite Gene to sleepover there. He was only visiting to do the project. I’m getting a little sidetracked here but goddamn it, it’s been a fucking while since we last saw Alex and have him and Gene together. So let me have this!
Gene gets caught at the daycare and Alex is mad for Gene for blowing their group project off all over a false alarm to the point where he decided to ride solo. Giving one person to do the group person for himself and knowing group projects, if you end doing it by yourself because your partner is either sick, out of town, or decided to be a piece of shit and to be perfectly frank, doing the group project on your own is pretty much as hard as trying to construct a house for a client with no crew on standby. Actions have consequences Gene and it looks like that’s one of them with drifting Alex away and flaking off from doing your part with the group project. All because you’re afraid of fucking change. And it looks like Alex isn’t the only one who is pissed off of what Gene did throughout the week...
Because Tina and Louise are also peeved off with him with them doing Gene’s chores while he was away over at baby camp and thinks that it’s time for Gene to get some sense slapped into him. I want to have them and Alex stage an intervention and talk some sense into him. Maybe have Bob and Linda involved in getting your usual life lesson and tell Gene that he shouldn’t run away from his problems. Which almost sounds hypocritical coming from Gene with the whole “don’t run away from your problems” shtick that a few seasons ago, when you were dragged out by Alex in running away from his problems regarding Alex’s parents putting him on a diet and you telling him to swallow his pride and be a man. And now he’s the one who is currently running away from his problem. And for what? That one scare from a few nights ago that put you in panic mode and wishing that he found the Fountain of Youth or whatever substance Tom Brady took for him to stay young and active. The point is that Louise, Tina, and Alex are not happy with what Gene was doing throughout the week and want him to come to his senses and focus on other stuff. It’s early for this shit to happen. You still have time being young, why are you still panicking?! Tina and Louise tried to slap some sense into Gene, telling him to get his shit together, leave the daycare, apologize to Alex, and work on the project while also getting back to do his restaurant duties. But Gene won’t budge. And knowing this show, in the rules of sitcom, the chicken is about to come home to roost whenever a character in focus was having the time of their life and then regret their actions. Gene is the chicken and it looks like he’s about to head home to roost.
This leads to the next day back to the daycare over at the community center where Gene and the other kids enjoy playing around with a bowl of their respective slime and this is where the wall is starting to crumble with him getting into an argument with one of the kids, Ryder, before fighting over the bowl of slime with one of the other kids in a wizard outfit and loss. Resulting in him having slime stained onto his shirt. But why stop there? Because the wall has continued to crumble more and more as time passes with Gene not wanting to do a group dance and then later over at storytime and this is where Gene said that enough is enough when he was on the verge of going to sleep, only to deal with a random kid next to him about to plant his booger onto Gene. Causing him to come up to the teacher, Miss Erica, and reveal his true age in hopes to be kicked out. Hoping to get that sweet, sweet freedom that he now wishes to get and apologize to his friends and family for what happened. Though funny enough that the teacher knew right away that Gene isn’t seven years old and would say why keep him then? But she has experience when dealing with kids, so basically, it’s surprising that she didn’t bother kicking Gene out and instead have the whole procedure of having a parent pick him up. The only problem is that it’s Thursday and Gus, who Gene has him to pretend to be his parent for pickup, doesn’t visit the building on a Thursday because yoga classes don’t do that day. Causing Gene to be held hostage. No way out until he gets a parent to pull him out from the community center. Finally realizes that he fucked up. He fucked up big with everything that happened just this week alone and now he wants to leave but he can’t because Gus is not available and is now trapped like a hamster in its cage.
Causing him to call Louise to step in and help. Realizes that he now want to go back to being a tween and head over to Alex’s to apologize and rejoin him in doing the group project...by having her and Tina use the common disguise known to man since the start of history with kids coming together, building themselves a tower, and use a trench coat, beard, and hat. In which...yeah, I don’t think this show might do that. I know other shows have done it. Mostly in kids' shows. Mostly in shows that aired decades before. I don’t think Bob’s Burgers would stoop that low into using that by having Louise and Tina do all that. Because that would fucking fall apart in an instant. So instead of the disguise, Louise has to bring Bob along to pick Gene up. I’m guessing she told their dad on their way to the community center about this little fiasco that Gene had gone through following that scare earlier in the week. That and also he needs a drive to Alex’s place. Let’s also forget about that. I mean, it can’t be too far from a walking distance, right? I mean, how else did Alex even get from his place or school to the community center? I mean sure, there’s his mom, but still.
And normally this would be the part of the episode where you would have the morals with Bob stepping in and telling Gene about what happened and telling him that it’s okay to be afraid of change. Change can be a scary thing no matter how old you are. All of that stuff. Even though we didn’t get that and I said that Bob would be the one who would step in and get Gene into his senses...man am I ever so wrong on that. Though not ruling on that being off-screen on their way to Alex’s house. I’d said that during a Discord chat that Bob would be the one who would talk Gene straight about what’s going on. Didn’t expect Gene himself to do have some sense finally come into his subconscious because let’s face it, kids are annoying pieces of shit. Even Gene himself, who is a kid, well...somewhat of a pre-teen, more of a tween, notices that kids are so super annoying to around with. So I thought that Bob would be the one who would give Gene the moral talk but I have to give the episode some pointers in not forcing it into throats and have it off-screen. Thank god for that. Not that there’s anything wrong with the wholesome moments that is pretty much the show’s bread and butter, it’s just you kinda wish it wasn’t forced upon for once. Y’know what I’m saying? So I have to give the episode some brownie points for that.
Leading up to the final moments of the main plot with Gene finally arriving at Alex’s house with Bob dropping him off and walking into Alex’s room with Alex already putting items onto the poster board with Gene apologizing for what happened. Being so melodramatic over what happened throughout the week led to him leaving Alex hanging and of course, lying to him about his whereabouts. Hoping for Alex to accept his apology and invite him back into the project. Which he did, just be thankful that Alex is the forgiving type, unless your name is Doug, and accepted Gene’s apology and also tell Gene that him carrying the group project on his own is not that easy for him to do. Which is nice for them to finally get back together and just in time for them to be ready to turn in their project, even though Gene hasn’t even done his part and at the last minute, but at least Alex got his best buddy and partner back. And I’m just going to say it, there’s nothing and I mean NOTHING can tear their friendship apart. The roller skating competition almost did that. The fiasco with the false alarm almost did that. The friendship (and also possible ship) of Gene and Alex will never go down anytime soon. Kinda wish they hugged though because they always do that whenever they apologize. Just putting it out there. They should’ve fucking hugged it out. That would’ve been a good thing to close out the main plot of the episode. But hey, it’s a Gene episode and you have Alex as the supportive character, it’s a cute concept, and thank the gods Alex is finally back from being absent. I can hear the fan art and fanfiction on these two ready to come out like fire.
But it looks like Gene isn’t the only one who is afraid of sudden change and entering a stage of panic in this episode because it looks like Linda is dealing with a bit of a dilemma herself with her wanting to try out the new hair salon next door. Apparently, it’s one of those episodes where the store next door is in focus and this isn’t the first time that happened because if you remember, in “A Fish Called Tina”, the building next to the restaurant was the focus with that gym owner and Bob and Linda having a gym membership. Getting into shape until their bodies deal with some issues the morning after.
Linda wants to try out the new hair salon next door because it’s easier to visit and noticed that the hair work from there looking good, causing Linda to want what they have. Except for one little issue coming from her if she were to make a quick stop at the salon next door...that being Gretchen. She’s pretty much her best friend. Not to mention, her best customer. And she wouldn’t anything to harm her in trying out new things. Linda wouldn’t do that to Gretchen to get the backstabbing treatment. But when it comes to Gretchen, coming from Linda, she doesn’t take things lightly when it comes to stuff. The prime example comes from Linda being one of her appointments where Gretchen trying to make some small talk with one of the women on the chair, named Georgia, when getting ready to get her hair done...only for Gretchen to be peeved off when noticing that someone else did her hair before her. Acting like she’s being replaced when it comes to the position of someone’s personal stylist. Causing Georgia to run away in panic before Gretchen calls Linda up for her appointment. Giving her a warning shot in her head that Gretchen is the one person that she does not want to fuck around with. Especially with a pair of scissors in hand. One moment you go and ask for a minor trim job, the next you’ll end up going home bald. Hence, you see why Linda is feeling conflicted. On one hand, she wants to go and try out the new hair salon and try out new things for once. But on the other hand, she doesn’t want to hurt Gretchen’s feelings. As well as not wanting to anger the dragon. Putting her in a very difficult spot for her. I mean, we already know what happens, in the end, knowing the show, but imagine that if it was you in Linda’s shoes in dealing with situations like this one. Yeah, it wouldn’t be that easy, huh?
Transitioning to the next scene with the workers of the hair salon next door to do lunch with Linda to impress them when trying to write in their orders. Trying to play it cool and hoping for Gretchen to not arrive while they’re here at the restaurant. Not long enough for the two workers, one being a receptionist and the other being a stylist, to invite Linda to give their salon a try for once. Thinking of it as testing the waters for trying something new. Putting her in for a 3:00 Thursday appointment and even giving her a discount, though that only works for if she gets a family member or a friend to come aboard. A handy little “tool” for her to use later on into the road. But other than that, Linda is booked for an appointment for the hair salon and could be ready for her to try out new things for once in her life. Which is good for Linda...until you forgot about the bad that’s been clouding over her throughout the subplot. The monkey attached to her back.
Which leads to judgment day, being Thursday, where Linda is about to head out to the salon next door to get her hair done. Only for Gretchen to make her entrance back to the show since the pre-pandemic days and dropped on by for some lunch and also playing catch up. Pretty much holding Linda hostage much like Gene during this time when wanting to get out when he finally said that enough is enough when playing kindergartener. Linda trying to create some small talk with Gretchen and the first topic coming out from her mind for a conversation...the hair salon. Out of the many things that you could pull out from a hat and you picked a hair salon. Not a good pick coming for you Linda. Especially when you want to head the fuck out and avoid Gretchen’s wrath. Even Gretchen noticed that her salon does have some flaws when compared to the new salon in the next building. Having better tools with scissors not being rusty and combs not having any teeth on it. Which...I really don’t want to know why you would have teeth attached to the comb unless there’s like one accident where blood spews out from the gum and have it cover the comb. Not to mention having a bunch of flies flying around the area, which almost feels like one of those buildings you could find in a rundown neighborhood where your chances of getting murdered are pretty much at a 5:1 chance. The point is that Gretchen did notice some flaws that she has in her salon but she doesn’t want Linda to go to the new salon next door. Really putting a lot of pressure onto Linda just as she was about to head to that said salon.
Causing Linda to have a private talk with Bob. Telling him that she needs to go but if she were to do that, Gretchen would potentially downright murder her. I know that seems too far-fetched, but knowing Gretchen coming from Linda, she is pretty terrifying. Much in a way in not wanting to pop a nerve to your parents whenever you do stupid shit. Linda is worried about dealing with Gretchen’s wrath if she were to go to the salon and stab her right in the back. And this is where the discount that the two employees gave her earlier in the week as she asks Bob to take her place while she takes care of Gretchen and hopes for the coast to be clear. Not to mention asking Bob to make a request by telling the receptionist to reschedule Linda’s appointment. Hoping to not get caught by Gretchen and it looks like Bob doesn’t have any other choice but to do what she said and follow through. Linda keeps Gretchen company as Bob follows her request and makes sure she reschedules her appointment.
In which he did once he made into the building next door by taking over her place. Using the discount given to her with Bob headed over to the chair to do some minor snippets and stuff by getting him shampooed. Which almost feels like a spa treatment rather than your usual day over at the hair salon for a haircut. I don’t know who Bob’s barber is, I’m guessing Gretchen as well because of the friend discount or whatever. Maybe a different one unless Gretchen is like the only stylist in town who could do the town a hair trim or two. I mean, you know small towns. There is always that one resident who has that job profession that benefits the entire community from top to bottom, even if you’re the only person who does the dirty work. Whether being a small neighborhood in an urban city, a suburban town or in this case, a rural area in the middle of buttfuck nowhere.
But regardless, Bob finally got his hair done, which no changes to be perfectly frank when it comes to what the stylist did to him, but Bob doesn’t mean to care because he looks beautiful. He’s a beautiful bean that doesn’t deserve any changes whatsoever. Oh yeah, and Bob did Linda a favor in rescheduling the appointment for her at a later time at 5:00. Also, a sigh of relief for Linda with Gretchen already left the building so she doesn’t have to worry about dealing with her wrath. We already know where this is going at the end of the episode. By the way, I just noticed something with the episode, especially at the end. We know that Linda had her appointment and then runs back towards Gretchen. Louise has to drag Bob along to pick Gene up and drop him off at Alex’s place. So where the fuck was Tina in all of this? I wanna say she has the restaurant to herself but I’m sure that might be unlikely. Though then again, it’s not like with last week where the restaurant had to endure with an influx of customers coming in wave after wave. So I’m guessing she’s either by the restaurant and waiting for Linda to return or stayed behind at the car while Bob and Louise enter the community center and pick Gene up. I’m just saying. I mean...it’s Tina, how much damage can she cause?
Finally at the end of the episode with Linda finally gets her hair given the proper treatment that she waited all day. All week for her to get her due over at the hair salon next door. Though it looks like the salon will not be kept open for that long because according to the stylist who is on the verge of doing Linda’s hair, they have to close up shop because the prices are too damn high for this neighborhood. I mean, to be honest...they’re not wrong. I mean the high prices from a random salon can throw someone off for anyone who is in need of a haircut. No matter how good is that random salon is based on a Google search. Though this is pretty much the show’s way of saying they’re having them closing up shop because if the salon were to be kept around after the episode, then it would affect the opening to the show. Because when it comes to shows like this one, whether being Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, or The Great North, you would have the gags for the intros for each episode. With The Simpsons, it’s the iconic couch gag. With The Great North, it’s a random boat passing by. And with Bob’s Burgers, there are two gags for the intro. The bug truck and the store next door. And for each and every episode, you would have a different bug truck and store taking its place but never primarily in focus for an episode with the exception of this episode and “A Fish Called Tina”. And again, if the salon stays after the episode, which it didn’t, it will affect the intro. Thus ending the episode with Linda realizing that she made a mistake in leaving Gretchen hanging when it comes to and decided to go run back to her with her hair still wet. Didn’t even bother drying it and then we end the episode with her crawling back to the salon and asking Gretchen to do her hair. I mean, we all know this was bound to happen. But at least it was handled with care. Linda gets to live to see another day. And seriously, what the fuck was Tina during all of this? We want answers damn it!
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? When the press release and images were released for this episode, you could feel the hype beginning to hype up regarding this episode. Leading up to the weekend it airs, it’s no surprise that everyone could see this as a possible toss-up, myself included. Now, after looking through this episode, and honestly, I think this was a good episode. Sure, there are some flaws mixed into this. Mostly with the subplot regarding Linda’s little predicament that almost went nowhere and Gene’s actions over a false alarm drawing in some mixed response with him leaving Alex hanging for the group project and having Tina and Louise, mostly Tina, to do Gene’s chores. It almost feels like we’re just taking the playbook out of “Every Which Way But Goose” regarding Gene’s situation. Other than that, I think it’s a good episode. It’s fastly paced but not in a negative manner. It’s better than last week where it was a tad dragged out. It was handled well from top to bottom. So this episode is going to be a mixed bag for some, but I thought it was a good episode.
It was nice to finally have Gretchen and Alex back into the show after being absent for over two seasons. Well, Gretchen...we haven’t seen her since Season 9. Alex on the other hand, he appeared last season but it was only a non-speaking cameo when being one of the kids in the audience in “Fingers-loose”. But it was nice to finally see those two again. Especially Alex because he is one of my favorite side characters other than the boy himself, being Darryl. Although it’s going to take a while to adjust with Paul Rust being the new voice of Alex. It almost sounds like Middleditch’s performance in previous seasons, but with Rust’s performance, it’s a tad deep but a bit squeaky sometimes. But regardless, despite being his first performance back on the show, I’m sure Paul Rust will do well as the new voice for him. Again, it’s going to take some time to adjust. That’s all I have to say regarding the voice acting situation thanks to Middleditch being a total fucking dumbass.
And it was also nice to have a Gene and Alex episode for this week and even though Alex is a tad supportive in the episode, though didn’t even help with Gene’s ongoing situation with him having anxiety over being in the twilight years of his childhood. Though then again, Alex has never gone through that either...yet. And if they were to replace the life skills project with a health class, then that would bode well with Gene’s ongoing issue and probably an in-universe explanation with Alex having a different voice. But it’s not. At least they got paired up and have their future sort of set and stone with them being Robo-DJs in bunk beds like they’re the new age Daft Punk. I’d thought it was cute with Alex recognizing Gene’s snore since they did have sleepovers in the past and also helping him try to find a fake job to benefit for the project before the two have a fallout. At least they apologize and...really wished they just hugged for once. Not in a creepy manner, it’s just knowing them, they apologize and hug it out like with what they did in “Roller? I Hardly Know Her”. We didn’t get that in the episode despite that they apologized but it was nice to have some Gene and Alex in our lives for this week’s episode. And I could see a possible influx from all the art and fanfiction from these two. Though not from the nasty variety. I think the fandom had suffered through enough.
Though the subplot for the episode, it almost feels like it’s going nowhere with Linda tempted to head over to the store next door without wanting to piss Gretchen off. Like I get that Linda doesn’t want to get into her bad side from her experience while waiting for her turn and seeing the appointee before her running away in panic when she got into Gretchen’s bad side. So I wouldn’t blame Linda for that and let’s be frank, Gretchen can pretty much be terrifying. Even though we all knew that Linda was going to crawl back to Gretchen at the end, but at least they didn’t fuck it up with the resolution. And I love the little explanation with the stylist saying to Linda when shampooing her hair with them packing up shop and head out because of high prices. Even though it’s the status quo and if the store stays after the episode, then it would affect the intro to the show. But besides all that, the subplot almost went nowhere. The ending felt predictable but at least they kinda stick the landing. Not perfect but at least they landed, so that’s one way to put it when it comes to the subplot.
So final thoughts for the episode, I thought it was a good episode though people are going to be mixed regarding Gene’s little situation that have him going to play pretend as a seven-year-old and him flaking at his group project and leaving Alex hanging. Again, it almost feels like we’re taking pages out from “Every Which Way But Goose” with Gene’s little issue following that false alarm. I get that change is a scary thing to endure, especially at a young age, but you can’t run away from it and put a dent into a school project and leave your best friend to carry various amounts of luggage from your end. But at least they didn’t fuck it up. So I have to give them that. The subplot almost felt it was going nowhere. There are some moments that are fine for my taste, but at least the resolution to it was fine and again, if the salon were to stick around, then it would affect the intro. So...this is where I might be getting some flak from some of y’all, but that being said, I’ll give “Seven-tween Again”...
A 7.5 out of 10. I think that might be a safe bet for the score. I was thinking of giving it an 8 out of 10 for the score, but...even I think that the score might be a tad high. Not a lot, but I’m trying to play it safe here. So 7.5 out of 10 is my score for this episode. But that’s pretty much my opinion and now I wanna hear yours in the comments. Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you think that Gene made the right move in trying to relive his youth? Would you consider going to a different stylist if you were in Linda’s shoes? And from a scale from 1 to 10, how do you rank with Alex’s new voice with Paul Rust taking the helm? All that and your mini-review down below.
No new episode this upcoming Sunday because it’s Halloween and also the World Series if Game 5 was forced upon. So no review next week but we’ll be back on November 7 with the Belcher kids going to do cleanup duty at the beach for school with Louise and Fischoeder going toe-to-toe with something that might tie in with the beach, should be something, in the sixth episode of Season 12 of Bob’s Burgers in “Beach, Please”.
Follow me over at Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff with the Battle of the Week Voting Tournament already at the second round of the Semifinals with Courtney Wheeler from Bob’s Burgers as she takes on Luz Noceda from The Owl House at the polls with the winner to take on the Alpha Party Nominee for 2021, that is, of course, Feliciano Vargas/Northern Italy from Hetalia on December 5. And of course, y’all know the drill by now...
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PayPal, Patreon, and Ko-fi pages would be a nice trick-or-treat for yours truly to help out in both improving the page and help to pay the bills to keep the lights on pop something out for y’all. Again, no new episode on Sunday. The review will be back on November 7 for the time being and until then, wash your hands, wear a mask, get vaccinated, and I’ll see y’all later. And let’s go Braves!
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