We’re back after a three-week hiatus since the double episodes that we had to endure. Still haven’t fully recovered from doing three posts in one week, that being two Bob’s Burgers episodes because of the double billing and having The Great North’s review to be its own, but with the remaining episodes left in the season, it’s gonna be a ride as we prepare for the dark abyss that is the summer hiatus as the season is preparing to come to a close. Oh yeah, and a lot of stuff had happened in the past few weeks from the non-stop storms across the country. The playoffs for both the NHL and the NBA at the time of the posting of the review taking shape. What else...oh yeah, Clownstick got indicted and arrested during the hiatus. Isn't that something? Onto the review with only a few episodes left before the summer break.
On this week's episode of Bob's Burgers, it's shop-o-clock for the Belchers as they decide to spend the $20 that a random customer gave the family via gift card as a tip and sort of like with "Legends of the Mall" back in Season 10, stuff happens. Including Gene facing someone from his past in my spoilerific review of the eighteenth episode of Season 13, titled "Gift Card or Buy Trying".
It's all fun and games until we all prepare for what the shopping world has to offer. Especially with a gift card in tow in your possession. The price of the card varies ranging from $10 to $100 or more and you don't know to want to spend it on. All without having to worry about burning your cash and card into the ground like you're one of those machines that compact items from the junkyard and turned them into recyclable materials. That is what it is from this week's episode of Bob's Burgers with the Belchers going on a shopping spree and having to spend their portion of the $100 gift card that a customer for some reason left as a tip. Yeah, you don't see that every day when a customer was to tip you with a gift card that contains the amount it has for you to buy something. Mind that this isn't like with "Legends of the Mall" back in Season 10 because, unlike that episode, while it has four plots for each member of the family with one of which being Louise being paired with an older sibling, it intertwines with each other rather than let their own plots play out all the way to the end of the episode. That and also minor cringe from certain folks regarding Tina having a boyfriend with a boy who fell asleep and making false assumptions.
Just change that to Gene dealing with a ghost from his past when coming across someone from long ago and apparently, they had a fallout that is brought up when the synopsis first came out for this episode. Not much hype regarding that since...well, we knew that the character would be a one-off regardless of how the episode panned out. And also noting about a certain trait regarding Gene's character, which we'll get to that, won't get into details but this is coming from comments I have seen online regarding Gene. Yeah, it's gonna be a while when doing these reviews when it comes to character personality. Other than that, it's not a rehash of "Legends of the Mall", but at least that episode did have some moments with a love/hate relationship from the four plots. How does this one compare to that episode? Guess we'll have to dive into the episode to see what's similar and what's different from "Legends of the Mall" regarding the plot of the episode. This is "Gift Card or Buy Trying". And yeah, they really need to stop rehashing old titles and try to at least come up with new ones when naming episodes. Just putting it out there.
The episode begins with the Belcher family marveling over something that they haven't seen being put onto the table from the outgoing customer's reward for customer satisfaction. Marveling over a gift card and not just any gift card, we're talking about a gift card that contains $100 as the amount from a department store. I mean, whoever does that? Donating a gift card as a tip to the restaurant or the employee rather than a wad of cash as usual? It’s odd for someone to drop something like a gift card into the tip jar. Though with the economy these days and people still being unable to make ends meet, seriously, raise the minimum wage and not replace them with robots, you cheap fucks, it’s gotten to the point where it’s reasonable. How should I know, I’m not an economist. Just think that the idea of donating a gift card as a tip seems out of the ordinary. Mostly because I have never seen anyone doing that unless you’re getting it as a gift for your birthday. Now imagine someone doing that during Sunday service at the part of the sermon where some people come across the aisle with a hand basket where you place your donation and someone in one of the seats in the church decides to put in a card that is over the maximum of the cost the church needed. Just be thankful that it's not a lottery ticket because that would be bad. After all, you needed that ticket.
The family decides to go out shopping after trying to get themselves together after the gift card that was awarded to them from the customer over customer service. You could say that the Belchers played hard to please the customer with the kids and Linda wanting the card for themselves over who did a better job in pleasing that customer which resulted in the card being donated as a tip. Regardless, it looks like it's shopping day for the Belcher family, and even though Bob wouldn't want to split the card to them because...well, they're kids. Give them a $20 amount and they'll go over the threshold. Not to mention that most of the money that the family gets from their restaurant work towards the kids. Giving them food, shelter, clothing, etc. And don't even say that Bob and Linda spending their money on the kids is the reason why they haven't paid their rent, you shut up. But other than that, shopping day has been declared for the family. Well, right after doing their job because the restaurant is currently open and they'll be heading out once they're on their break. Splitting $20 for each of the members of the family. As long as they don't go overboard and overspend. I mean, it's possible for that, but...yeah, anyone who saw the episode and stumbled into this review already knows where this is going regarding the outcome.
The scene changes hours later with the family parking at the parking lot of the More Store, which is pretty much this show's version of Walmart or Target. Would say Kmart is a viable example but Kmart had been nonexistent since the late 2010s. Mostly because every Kmart store except for two or three stores across the country are shut down and were left either abandoned or another store, whether being a furniture store or dollar store, or maybe a Spirit Halloween taking its place. The family discusses what items they want to get with their portion of the gift card on their way to the building with Louise wanting to take hold of the card as if she's ready to use it for herself. For Tina, it's something that she doesn't want to buy that she'll regret later like her bedazzled barrette for example. So many jewels and trying to be basic when testing it out. For everyone else, it's open season for them to get an item that cost $20 or less that won't surpass the $100 threshold and get them over the limit. Besides, you're probably going to feel dumb if you go to the store without a wallet or purse to carry and your only arsenal to pay for items would be the gift card, only to end up going over the limit because of the price of the item that you needed. Though we know what Gene is planning on buying and that is a slide whistle, which to the rest of the Belcher family, you can feel some cringe from their body language when Gene brought up the slide whistle for him to play. Trying to play it cool even though...well, we'll get to get to that later in the review, but Gene only brought up the slide whistle that he wanted to buy because Bob brought up that he already had one but revealed that Gene left it at someone's house, someone that he hadn't talked in some time because they're no longer friends.
That person being Mitchell whom Gene brought up and showed a flashback to the two playing their slide whistle with Mitchell going out of rhythm to the point where he had to storm out and defriended him while not noticing that he left his slide whistle. Never to be seen again. Would say about where Mitchell would fit into the Gene relationship timeline but knowing the show, the timeline, and continuity had been screwy. More screwy than the Mavericks benching their star players and throwing the game away that would've punched their ticket to the playoffs. But yeah, we got a look at who Gene's former friend is from what the synopsis stated for the episode. Play a few rounds of slide whistles but once Mitchell becomes out of rhythm...yeah, you could see why Gene ended his friendship with the guy. Which is kinda off because when you compare apples and oranges, case in point, Mitchell and Courtney...at least with Courtney, she was annoying in her first episode, like super annoying, but once she appears in more episodes in later seasons where her annoying side is there but she had somewhat matured, rather tamed that Gene can hang around with. Mitchell...not so much. And I guess you could say that this might be either before or after Alex came into the picture but...again, the timeline can be screwy because it is a sitcom. You don’t question it.
The family enters the building and thus, we have the four plots taking its place as if it's "Legends of the Mall" 2.0 for this week's episode. Starting with Tina and Louise with them going through the shelves to find something with Tina trying to find something that she won't regret after buying with one of the items being a Boyz 4 Now video that contains special features. Something that Louise sort of mocks her for that despite being $18 for purchase. Though...yeah, knowing Boyz 4 Now being mentioned...well, knowing Louise and her crush on Boo Boo, should've at least bring up a reference. Mostly because Tina knows since she was there when they attended the concert. The one from Season 3, not the one where they fell short in Season 11. Only to end up dropping it as Louise searches for something that she wants, only to notice an archery set from the shelves. Too bad that it's only $25, only $5 over the limit for her. And so begins the arc of Louise attempting to convince Tina to fork over her portion of the card. Something that Tina wouldn't do that. Something that will drag through the episode.
Meanwhile, with Bob's side of the episode, he spotted a pair of dumbbells and had a vision of him being jacked when trying it out, pumping those guns when doing some arm lifts...too bad that it's only a vision and knowing Bob, exercise is not his forte. Meanwhile, with Linda, she was enjoying some pillows for a bit before spotting a sewing machine that she wants to get her hands at. A new and fancy machine for Linda to try out when sewing, but the only thing that stops her from getting the machine...the price. Almost $100 for one machine. Almost going over the threshold of the gift card. And yeah, the pressure from Linda is there from her imagination with her wanting to get the machine because the one she had at home...well, it's old and fell to crap and would require a change of machinery. And much like with Louise attempting to annex Tina's portion of the card, Linda is planning on doing the same but with the rest of the family. Only instead of an extra $5, it's an extra $80. I know that it's $79.95 if you do the math, but remember, the card contains $100 and the machine only costs 5 cents short. They would be left with 5 cents in the event Linda did get her way to get the sewing machine to the point where the card is rendered useless. "But they're only 5 cents..." Nah fam, according to most people, it's rendered useless. Don't know how the process of adding additional money to the card would work. Especially if it's not one of those prepaid cards from card companies.
Preparing to end the first act of the episode and going into the second with Gene wanting to try out an electronic drum set and wanting to test it out. Yeah, the price for the drum set wouldn't mold well for the family because Gene got his portion of the gift card and those sets aren't cheap. I mean, if it's a discount, hopefully, it's below $100 but over $20. Other than that...you're out of luck. But that's not going to stop Gene from wanting to test it out for himself...until he spotted his old friend Mitchell and decided to go into hiding more in hopes of being seen by the guy following that little fallout back at his house. Yeah, we had that moment in your life where you're out in the public and enjoying your day, only to find out your old friend or an ex happened to be in the same place as you are and you don't want to create attention to avoid a possible awkward reunion...yeah, that is Gene when hiding from Mitchell. And once we get to the second act of the episode, we have him in a football helmet, and is spotted by Linda in her attempt to get Gene to fork over her portion of the card. Fell short because Gene is busy dealing with his little dilemma. And speaking of attempting to fork over money...
Louise continues to attempt to convince Tina to buy something cheaper so Louise can get her hands on the archery set. Too bad that Tina can see through her bullshit and doesn’t want to hand over her portion of the card while at the school supplies section of the store. She is really trying and uh...she’s not doing a good job in trying to convince Tina to hand over her card to spend it on the archery set. I mean, she would’ve gone towards Gene or Bob...mostly Gene to fork over his portion in an attempt to get what she wanted but no, gotta have her and Tina in their respective plots. Though that plot will have to be intertwined with Gene’s plot as Louise notices Gene going into hiding onto the next aisle with him telling his sisters that he spotted Mitchell and wants to continue going into hiding until the coast is clear during the visit at the store. Quite a challenge for Gene. A challenge for him to hide that lasted all the way to the end of the first half of the episode and dragging Tina and Louise along for the ride when hiding inside the clothing section of the store.
Going back to Bob as he tries out a beanie with a flashlight attached with him having yet another vision of him and the family hiking in the woods in the middle of the night with him turning on the flashlight beanie, showing a very bright light as if it’s a flashlight that you see in those TV ads stating that it’s brightest than every other flashlight you find in shelves and it happened to be military grade as it was stated in the ad. Too bad that's not the case with the hat in once again, expectations vs reality. Especially right after taking the beanie off. But not before Linda comes into the scene and tries to convince Bob to convince the family to fork over their portion of the gift card to get the sewing machine. Though Bob did have somewhat of a point where whether or not the kids even wanted a sewing machine as the item to be bought from the store. I mean, you’d really think that the kids would be excited over a new sewing machine by forking over their portion of the card for Linda to spend it on the said machine? Pretty sure we all know this answer. So the pressure continues for Linda in an attempt to convince everyone to hand over their portion of the gift card to spend it on the sewing machine, gunning for the kids next to fork over their $20 of the $100 gift card they have in their possession. And speaking of the kids...
Once the three come out of the clothing section of the store with Louise still attempting to convince Tina to fork over her portion of the gift card, it’s back to the electronic drum set for Gene to try out with Mitchell out of the picture from his range with Tina and Louise dragging along for the ride like they’re his bodyguards even though they have their own things to be focusing on. And just as Gene was about to play the drums is where we had the most awkward reunion that we'd seen in...well, I guess a while? Forever? All we know is that this is pretty much the most awkward reunion between the two boys while on the drum set. And you can really sense the awkwardness between the two boys. Especially coming from Louise and Tina, who sensed the awkwardness coming from them as they prepare to play the drums to close out the first half of the episode. An awkwardness that lasted throughout the third act of the episode. Sure, they have some rhythm at the start of the third act, but man...you can feel the awkwardness from the two boys when taking charge of the electronic drum set before banging the first drum. This would be the perfect time to cut away from the awkwardness between Gene and Mitchell since we're at the halfway point of the episode and would be a good time for the mini-review intermission between the two halves of the episode and talking about this week's episode of The Great North...but, I decided to once again give it its own review. Especially since this week's episode of The Great North was its 50th episode of the series. What? You'd think that we're getting out of this awkwardness? Nah, motherfucker. Nah. We're going into this tunnel to start the second half of the episode whether you like it or not.
The awkwardness continues into the second half of the episode to start the third act of the episode with Gene and Mitchell trying to keep themselves together, primarily Gene, to play the drums. However, the awkwardness between Gene and Mitchell has subsided as the third act progresses as Tina and Louise break away from the two boys as the drum sounds continue to pour and it gets loud that everyone is getting a sound to their ears from them. That includes Linda, who is eyeing Tina and Louise and attempting to convince them to fork over their portion despite Louise wanting Tina's for the archery set. And of course, Bob as he continues to struggle to find the right item that cost $20 or less. Trying out aviator sunglasses as if he's ready to take flight in a military jet like he's in Top Gun. Would've gone with the "danger zone" from Bob and we would have ourselves an Archer reference. You had there, show. You had it there. Also funny enough when I mentioned Top Gun and Bob wore aviator sunglasses as if he's a fighter pilot when talking to one of the retail workers and if you remember...oh yeah, The Bob's Burgers Movie came out on the same weekend as Top Gun: Maverick. Seriously, The Bob's Burgers Movie having a lack of press and promotion leading up to the release and facing off against Maverick, alongside other movies during that time should be labeled as a freaking war crime.
As the sounds continue to play in the background, onto one of the aisles with Linda asking Tina and Louise to fork over their portions for the sewing machine with Louise objecting and questions what is wrong with the sewing machine that she had before shifting back to trying to convince Tina to fork over her portion and again, Tina refuses to hand over her portion to Louise just to get the archery set. Both Louise and Linda for Tina to not hand over her portion and it didn't take long for Tina to spot the perfect item for her to get. And that is being a puzzle of an English rose garden with her in a dress and skipping along to the cottage and of course, noticing the missing piece in the puzzle. Which, yeah, that can annoy some people who take up putting puzzle pieces together whenever the puzzle is almost 100% complete but notice the missing piece. But that’s not going to stop Tina from getting the puzzle box and is set and ready to go. However, that’s not going to stop Louise and Linda to have Tina (and also Bob and Gene) to fork over their portion before their time at the store comes to a close.
However, we switched back to the drum set and it looks like a fallout is happening once again between the two boys once Mitchell goes off-rhythm and I guess we know why those two stopped hanging out when the two boys get into an argument and on the verge of breaking the drum set if it weren't for one of the retail workers to turn off the machine. And remember when Gene thought that Mitchell was the most annoying which led to them stopping hanging out? Well, apparently, it's a back-and-forth argument over who's the most annoying person in their lifetimes with Mitchell saying that Gene's the annoying one. Okay, if we're gonna be honest, no cap, and I await the threats in my DMs, they're both annoying. And when bringing up the topic of who's the most annoying out of the two, it almost feels like the Bob's writing crew while working on the episode scrolled through the Reddit pages and sees various posts and comments on who's the most annoying member of the Belcher family. And uh...yeah, fallout happened over who's the most annoying out of the two boys to close out the third act.
And going into the fourth and final act of the episode where the Belchers are at the check-out aisle with everyone getting something, mostly Bob and Linda getting socks with Linda fumbling the bag in getting her shot to get the sewing machine. And of course, Louise will fall short of getting the archery set after being unable to convince Tina to fork over her portion of the card and going straight towards Gene...only for him to pick up an item that makes some noise and wouldn’t you guessed it, Mitchell also got the same item as Gene. Commenting about everything that is wrong with him until he finally comes to a firm realization that Mitchell is like a carbon copy of Gene. In which the family tries to reassure him that he's not and also tries to not make themselves look like they agree about Gene being the annoying member of the family.
Which, again, it almost feels like they’re taking notes from each of the Reddit posts when working on this episode. And I say that because most of the posts and comments I see whenever I'm on Reddit talk about who's the most annoying member of the Belchers or overall in the series and the person who is on the top of most fans' minds is Gene. Linda also but it's primarily towards Gene. Because that is what I saw from certain posts. And I get that most characters on the show aren’t perfect and I get that. But let’s be real, Gene isn’t perfect. He’s annoying to the core to some extent. But he has his moments. And when seeing Gene as a character, yeah, oftentimes he wants to be the center of attention where sometimes he just wants to be in the limelight and make a name for himself, but on the other hand, you could probably see why some often see him as annoying. Mostly with the stuff he’s doing. And you can see the family trying to make things worse for the guy and have to play along. It’s not like they like the guy, they do, but when it comes to Gene and Mitchell...yeah, out of the two boys who are considered the most annoying, the family sees Mitchell as the most annoying. And remember, they got through Courtney, who had that trait when we were first introduced to her. But Mitchell is a whole different animal when being around Gene because he’s like him...but it’s like him on steroids when it comes to the annoying personality. And according to Bob when bringing up the Mitchell issue, he can be a handful. Gene being annoying is up to the fans to come up with their own opinions and it’s anyone's opinion to make whether you like it or not.
Of course, it won’t be the end of the episode until we bring up the morals, the lessons, and everything else with Gene deciding to man up and walk up to Mitchell to apologize. Remembering the times they had before the fallout where both of them turned their session into a game of "who can be the most annoying" before heading off with Mitchell messing around with the toy. Oh, don't worry, knowing this series, we will not be seeing Mitchell for a long time. At least Gene has finally gotten it out of his system as he makes it back to where the family is at and uh...yeah, that's the last we'll see of Mitchell in the series as he'll be cast off to the Island of One-Offs. And probably put an end to the whole “who’s more annoying” debate.
But why stop there? Because it looks like the family in the final minutes of the episode decided to put away the stuff they were originally planning on buying and instead going towards Linda to get the sewing machine and you could say that this is them showing some sign of...well, "pity" seems too far of a word of choice to describe the family handing over their portion of the card to Linda when mentioning a lot of stuff that Linda had put up regarding clothes and costumes and that's enough for the family to combine their portions of the card towards Linda to get the machine. Even Louise had to do it despite wanting to get her hands on the archery set but alas, she had to follow suit. So once again, Louise couldn't get anything that she wants. She has really become a shell of her former self since the turn of the decade. At least it's not her episode where she had to learn a lesson. Ending the episode with Linda running towards the aisle where the sewing machine is...well, she landed a bruise on her way to the aisle while running. But she'll be fine. And as for when we'll be seeing the machine in a future episode...eh...I mean, half of the stuff that was introduced like the loft bed and Bob’s tattoo became a permanent staple. So it's possible whether or not we'll see the new machine in the distant future. Especially in next week's episode.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Well...I'm torn on this and I had to give it a rewatch to give it a better understanding of the episode. Yeah, it almost felt like you're rewatching "Legends of the Mall" with each of the family members having four plots to themselves with one having to be paired with the other member of the Belcher family. But unlike "Legends of the Mall", it has some moments. Some good, some...we kinda wish we want to forget. With this week's episode, while it's not a rehash of the episode with the gift card being served as a plot device, performed okay but at the same time, underperformed regarding a few plots.
Mostly on one of the four plots with Tina and Louise. Of course, Tina wouldn't budge into forking over her portion of the card the moment Louise spotted an archery set that is $5 over her $20 portion of the $100 gift card. Similarly with Linda when she tried to convince the family to fork over their portions of the card and even though they had to deal with their own issues like Bob being unable to find something that is right for him and Gene dealing with his issue when spotting Mitchell at the store and even though everything has gone towards in Linda's favor at the end of the episode for her to get the sewing machine, it’s sort of predictable on the family going to have to fork over their portion to one member to get an item that is almost over the threshold. At least it didn't go towards the one idea of one of the family members planning on overspending and having to create havoc and fight for the fight as if it's the last order of an item that is on sale. At least they’re civil about it. Though it is unclear whether or not the card that the customer left for the Belchers as a tip even contains $100. Because that would be a dick move coming from the customer who left the Belchers the gift card and didn’t have the full $100 in the card.
Most of the episode’s focus other than what each of the members of the family picking out each item to spend with their portion with Louise and Linda trying to ask each of the members of the family to fork over their portion of the card has been towards Gene and whether you even want to call it a Gene episode because he had his self-aware moment by the end of the episode following his second fallout with Mitchell over who’s the most annoying out of the two over at the drum set. Again, not most characters are perfect and Gene is one of the examples of a character having some flaws regarding him thinking that he’s annoying when thinking that he and Mitchell are the same as if he’s looking at himself in the mirror. Even though the family tries to play along in thinking that Gene's not annoying as if he is since they live with him, they don’t see him as annoying enough to disown him. Pretty sure they won’t do that. Remember, they got through Courtney and we all remember how annoying she was in her first episode. And comparing apples and oranges, Mitchell was a handful for them to deal with. It’s times like this uh...yeah, kinda wish we had Courtney and/or Alex here.
So final thoughts, it's average, middle of the road. Almost felt like a Gene episode with the focus mostly on him with his run-in with Mitchell while the rest of the family tried to find something with their portion of the gift card. It's predictable but oftentimes not, but the execution and direction for the episode have been hit or miss with a few misses taken over as the episode drags on. So I'll give "Gift Card or Buy Trying"...
A 5 out of 10. But that's my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comment section below. Only a few more episodes left in the season, if y'all can believe that and go into the next episode, whether or not the sewing machine that Linda bought is going to be brought up, is up in the air as the Belcher kids participate in wrestling in costumes in the nineteenth episode of Season 13 of Bob’s Burgers in “Crab-solutely Fabulous”.
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