The holiday season...the last episode before the holiday break. The last one for the year 2023 before we enter the 2024 season and what a ride that was for this page and for myself. Amazing that we made it through another year and with us entering the holiday season and, of course, having this season's first and possibly only holiday episode for this season, might as well get through it. Especially now that, and I have to say it in this review, the Bob's Burgers fandom...sorry, I mean, the reigning, defending Battle of the Week Champions Bob's Burgers. Yeah, for the third time in eight years that happened.
In this week's episode of Bob's Burgers, a power outage days before Christmas causes the Belchers to retreat to the cabin that belonged to Fischoeder to spend the holidays because no one wants to celebrate the holidays in the dark and in the cold and things happened leading up to the holiday in my spoilerific review of the tenth episode of Season 14 of Bob's Burgers, titled "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas".
Did I mention that it's the season's first and probably only holiday episode for this season? Yeah, I get that it sucks that we didn't have a Halloween and Thanksgiving episode for this season and before y'all can say anything, no, it's not because of the strikes. The strikes had nothing to do with why we didn't have a Halloween or Thanksgiving episode. That blame goes towards the higher-ups. But just be glad that we have a holiday episode in the lineup for this season. It’s sort of like tradition to have a holiday episode to close out the year.
I might as well get this out of the way and say that this episode is nowhere near the levels of last year's "The Plight Before Christmas". I know that it's somewhat of a high bar that I had to make up regarding this episode and this being a Christmas episode no less, but because of how amazing last year's Christmas episode was and it still is, people would expect lighting to hopefully strike twice. Except that isn't nearly the case for it. Each episode has its own identity. "Any given Sunday" is what I would say because you never know what the episode is going to hold when looking at a synopsis and/or set of images that came out online leading up to the episode's initial release. It's one big guessing game and this is one example because you never know what this episode holds other than me saying that it's not going to be on the same levels as "The Plight Before Christmas" or even "The Bleakening" just to name a few.
Well, might as well say this out of the way since the episode is pretty much the Belchers heading to another location, at a cabin, away from their house, and on the holidays no less, at least it's better than "The Reeky Lake Show" because that episode was a mess on its own and y'all know that it is the moment the trip to the cabin in that episode was set up. Though that was mostly because of the Belchers and camping...well, they're not the best of friends. "A River Runs Through Bob" from Season 4 might as well tell you that on what I'm saying. That being said, might as well get to the last episode breakdown and review for this year, before the winter break, and, yes, before doing the year-end countdown, this is "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas".
And we begin with some dumbassery two days before Christmas over at the Belcher household with the Belchers just minding their business. You have the kids minding their business with them watching TV, you have Linda doing the laundry as she puts the dirty clothes into the washer with her telling her kids if their sleepwear smells bad enough to be put into the washer, which the kids reply that there's no issue with their clothing for them to be put into the hamper, and also, you have Bob on the toilet. And there is where things are about to go downhill for the Belchers when the kids bring up that the tree isn't lighting up and Linda yells at Bob in the bathroom to not use the toaster or microwave as if they're being told to conserve power, even though if you were to told to conserve power, using the washer and dryer isn’t the type of electricity use that you want to spend it on. It’s a heavy appliance that can take up too much power. But then again, you don’t live in a state where it has its own power grid and the state's government refuses to accept responsibility and think that they got the grid handled and while it was holding still, it's not great enough to be hit with notifications about conserving power because of a lack of source. But that's not the case and we'll get to that in a bit when Linda brought up that the family can't use the toaster or microwave and the kids brought up that the tree won't be lit due to a random power conversion notice by themselves, you already know where this is going. Especially when noticing that the toaster is in use for Bob to make toast, using a heavy appliance like a washer and dryer at the same time ended up causing a fuse. And not like the typical fuse where one portion of the house had to deal with the outage and have to go to the power box and flip the switch, it's the one where it knocks the power out for the entire building. Either you blame Linda for using the washer or Bob for using the toaster, it’s going to be a dark, cold Christmas for the family thanks in part to their dumbassery regarding the whole power conversation issue.
We go to the next scene with the electrician investigating the cause of the power outage, and of course, gotta bring in Mr. Fischoeder into the mix since you gotta have the landlord involved because the place is rented, mind you. And uh...talk about a worst-case scenario for the family, especially with this being two days before Christmas Day when finding out that the power box, primarily the wiring, isn't up to code. In fact, the wiring in the panel box had gone through squidly diddley when trying to keep things in order. You can thank Teddy for it since he was the only one who the Belchers could call to patch things up to keep things running. I would say that maybe the breaker box might be out of date and in need of replacement, but other than that, yeah, the wiring's the issue. The only silver lining for all of this is that the panel isn't going for a total collapse that the duration of the power outage would last for months and instead, it’ll be a few days. And because we're nearing the Christmas holiday, the family has to wait until after Christmas to get power restored. So, it's not a good look for the Belchers with Christmas coming up in less than two days and the fact that they'll have to celebrate the holiday in the dark and cold feels like the family is going back in time to the days when electricity wasn't even invented as if they're going off the grid. So, when we get to the next scene, it looks like the Belchers might be planning on celebrating the holidays in the dark and cold. I would say go to a relative but Gayle...I’m already betting she’s in Florida to visit Gloria and Al, don’t know if Big Bob is going to make room for them for the holidays. Teddy, even though he’s not a relative, he's probably out of town for the holidays. And I guess the same goes for Mort. So surviving in the dark and cold would have to be the way to go...or so we thought...
Because Fischoeder comes back into the restaurant and because it’s the holidays and might as well feel bad for what happened regarding the whole power outage issue and since he is the landlord, the landlord should be held responsible as what the electrician is implying and accusing despite that Teddy did the wiring at the behest of the Belchers, but this isn’t the time for the blame game to take place. Fischoeder decides to be nice to the Belchers by inviting the family to spend the Christmas holiday over at his hunting cabin out by the mountains. At this point, Bob and Linda may have no other choice but to say yes to the invite because they can't spend the holidays in the dark and the cold. Bob thinks that it would've been better to just call in Teddy to fix the wiring even though Teddy is partially to blame for the whole issue that led to the house being out of power. So they accepted Fischoeder’s offer to bunk into his hunting cabin that once belonged to his dad and where the family spent their holidays. So, with no other option, the Belchers have no other choice but to start packing up and hit the road. That includes getting the Christmas tree and the ornaments from the house.
And so they did we get to the next scene where the family got their stuff all packed up, including the tree that is tightly secured on top of the car and the kids holding on to the ornaments as they prepared to head out for the holidays to Fischoeder's old hunting cabin. However for the kids, coming to Louise's mouth, noticed something that would affect the holidays for them. That being the head honcho in the big, red suit, that being Santa. Because with the kids going to the cabin with their parents because of the lack of power and not wanting to celebrate the holiday in the dark and cold, Louise seems to be somewhat concerned over the idea of her, Tina, and Gene waking up on Christmas Day and not see their presents under the tree in the cabin and instead, back at the house...where there’s no tree but there are stockings by the hallway for the items to be inserted. That is what the kids are concerned about, primarily Louise. Not having presents at the place where you’re at because you're worrying about Santa placing presents at the house and not the cabin...yeah, talk about first world problems. You know there's ongoing shit that is going right across the world, right? Just putting it out there. Bob and Linda reassure that Santa will get the message as the family heads out to drive. Hopefully to beat the incoming bad weather and in the dark when going through the mountain. And speaking of that...
Traveling across the mountains in the middle of the night is what I would say is not the ideal travel path. I know that because when I was visiting my grandparents in Mexico a few years ago, visiting and leaving, knowing that I had to go through the mountainous areas can be an anxious experience. At least it wasn't snowing where the Belchers were dealing when trying to reach the cabin. And without snow chains in supply. I'm surprised that the family didn't even dare to drive across the area in the snow, up the mountain, and make their way to the mountain without having the worry of the car being skidded off the mountain and going down the cliff. But ignore the idea of wanting to get through the mountain without having to worry about the possibility of losing control while driving on the snow and ice-covered road on the mountain, the talk about Santa not dropping off presents at the cabin is the top priority. And Louise had everything pictured before the whole house lost power. And knowing that Louise is just recently elected the incumbent champion, y'all voted for this, yeah...I guess everything would be settled. What's funny about this is where the mountains are even at. Knowing that this is set in New Jersey and they live by the show, if you look up a terrain or physical map of the state, you’ll find the mountains at the far northwestern corner of New Jersey. So it would take almost two hours to reach the cabin, that is if you have to get through the toll roads. The Belchers drive through the treacherous roads on the night, two nights before Christmas, and once that's out of the way, and no one has total anxiety when driving up the mountain, the Belchers finally arrive at the mountain but not before one little issue, as if the power issue isn't enough for the family...
Oh look, the tree is gone. The Christmas tree is gone. How? Well, during the treacherous ride up the mountain on their way to the cabin might have something to do with it. How? You can blame the notion that maybe the tree wasn’t tightly held during the drive so when Bob is trying to keep control of the wheel without having the car crashing down off the mountain is when the belts come off and the tree comes sliding down from the roof of the car and down the road and towards the ground. Did I mention that we’re already at the second act? We’re at the second act of the episode with the family now noticing that the tree had slid away from the tree. Of course, Linda wants to go out and look for the missing tree but because of the nature of the environment, that being that it's nighttime and how heavy the snow is falling, looking for the tree at this moment might not be a good idea despite Linda's call of wanting to retrieve it deep in the woods. And even though it's winter, it's snowy, it's cold, wouldn't rule out the possibility of an animal coming in and seeing you as a last-minute DoorDash order by Mother Nature. This is coming from the same person who earlier this year stated out facts about going out in the middle of a snowstorm is considered a bad idea and stated the statistics. So, the hunt to locate the tree may have to wait until the sun rises as the Belchers enter the house, with all the lights being out and Bob looking for the switch to turn the lights on. Of course, Tina had the audacity that she wished she had her own phone, mostly for the use of a flashlight. Yeah, and some thought Tina would be in high school after the movie but that didn’t happen. And, oh yeah, speaking of a lack of flashlights, why didn't Bob or Linda didn't whip out their phone and turn on their flashlights? No, seriously, they have phones that are capable of using a flashlight and they didn't even bother turning them on when looking for the switch? I know that because it’s a cabin that finding a plug for the charger should be an issue, but come on, should’ve at least get the phone out and turn on the flashlight for once? Once Bob found the switch and uh...yeah, they don’t call it a “hunting cabin” for a reason”.
Filled with animals that were taxidermized and on display like they’re trophies across the vastly spaced cabin. That includes a painting that the Belchers are seeing right by the dining table with a disturbing image of a rabbit having its insides ripped out by a flock of falcons. And those falcons in the paintings when ripping that rabbit to shreds have done more than what the team did this season. Both in the offense and the defense. How the fuck did they lose to Carolina this past Sunday?! Oh right, Arthur Smith, that's probably why. The Belcher family takes a tour of the cabin with them seeing the room being vastly spaced with a couple of taxidermized animals on display and a painting that is probably going to haunt the family in their sleep. They make their way upstairs when they find an elevator that resembles a trolley that resembles an elevator as if you have seen in someone's house or in commercials of a mobility chair that is by the walls of the stairs to help the elderly get up and down the stairs. The Belchers decided to take the elevator...knowing that no one had used the cabin for a while, I'm guessing there was some rust with the mechanics that it might not operate as well as it was when the Fischoeders paid a visit to the cabin back in the day. And once they finally reached upstairs, probably by either leaving the elevator or just letting it do its job, comes the choice of rooms...
You have Louise finding a room filled with four bunk beds, probably enough to have the kids sleep there. But it looks like each Belcher kid will have their own room for the night. You have Louise with the room filled with various bunk beds on each side. You have Gene in another room that is decorated with different styles of guns hanging on each wall, twelve in total, three in rows of four, on each side, which Gene dubs the "Elmer Fudd suite". Tina getting the master bedroom. And for Bob and Linda, they got the short end of the stick when they got the room with uncomfortable beds. And knowing that the Fischoeders are a family from the elite class, you already know that the room used to be for the servants. And because the kids refused to follow the “no takesie backies” approach when it comes to the choice of rooms, especially with Louise finding a room with four bunk beds with three of the four beds for each sibling. But no, the kids get the big rooms and for Bob and Linda, they ain’t going to get a good night’s sleep knowing how uncomfortable the beds are going to be.
It's the day before Christmas, Christmas Eve mind you, and we're at the breakfast table with the family eating their breakfast...still having to deal with the painting of the rabbit getting mauled by a flock of falcons right in front of them as if the painting was expecting the Belchers to lose their appetite the more they look at the image. So yeah, Christmas Eve and despite Bob reading through the list of chores to keep the place tidy during the visit, I'm guessing that was meant for the servants to keep the place tidy in the event the Fischoeders, that being Calvin and Felix...mostly Calvin, were to pay a visit, it's the day before Christmas and there are two items that everyone wants to get it out of their to-do list upon arriving to the cabin: finding the missing tree for Linda and for the kids, trying to get the message out for Santa to drop the presents off at the cabin instead of the Belcher household that is currently going through an outage. However, once they return and the power is restored by then, there's going to be a lot of cleaning and a lot of buying to replace the things that were spoiled caused by the outage.
Oh yeah, and it looks like Bob forgot to get the flour once Louise brought up that she needs cookies for Santa to consume while dropping off the presents. And hey, you never know if Santa is okay with gluten being added to the snack or not. Though don't know about the milk and whether or not he's lactose intolerant. It's not like there's a nearby Walmart just to get a carton of almond milk. So, baking cookies is one thing that should be on the list. And the same goes for the tree. And knowing that the cabin is in the woods, why not get a fresh one since it's pretty much open season despite being last-minute? Then again, they once had to get a new tree at the last minute back in "Christmas in the Car" because Linda had to celebrate the holiday way too early. And even though Linda is against the idea of having to get another tree to replace the one that is lost, I mean...what choice has Linda got? I mean, she can’t celebrate the holiday with no tree in attendance with the family. You gotta improvise sooner rather than later. And going into the wilderness to find a fresh tree has to be the way to go.
Once the family finished eating breakfast, the hunt to find a new tree is on when they exit the cabin and make their way across the forest to find a fresh, new tree with the kids trying to lighten the mood by making a Shining reference with Bob holding an ax as if a case of cabin fever would cause a possible Shining scenario. That is what I was thinking at first when the synopsis for this episode came out a few weeks ago, that didn’t happen. Besides, if that were to be the case, then uh...not saying that we might be looking at the episode taking the playbook from "Code Enough Said Adventure" from The Great North, but it's close. The tree hunt leads the Belcher family to find a new tree right in front of them for the family to take. And with the clock ticking on Christmas Eve, it's now or never for Bob to chop the tree...it's never that became the answer after the kids come out with the question of trees being considered as living beings. Yeah, that's one way to put it with Bob becoming hesitant to chop the tree down at the last minute. Either that or it's the holiday season telling the family to not get a new tree as if it wants the family to find the missing tree or just improvise before the night hits. So...no new tree for the Belchers thanks to Bob's hesitation and thus, we're back to square one once they return to the cabin empty-handed.
This caused Linda to ready the car to go find the tree and also go to the nearest store to get a bag of flour to bake cookies. Leaving Bob and the kids to do their own things while being stayed put, Bob doing housework as the note that he read earlier to do and for the kids, to find a way to signal Santa on their location away from their house and deliver the presents to the cabin. As for how Linda is going to get the tree up the hill in the event she does find it? She’ll believe that she’ll use her quote-on-quote “super mom Christmas strength” to do it by hand. Would say grab for help but knowing that it’s outside of the cabin and in-between the cabin and the intersection where the store is at, getting reception is going to be a nightmare since it’s a rural area and that is considered a dead zone with no cell tower nearby. But not before a quick pee break before heading out. Wouldn't be an ideal scenario where you have to feel the urge to take a leak while carrying the tree. Linda heads out once she has done her business to find the tree while at the same time, heading to the store to purchase a bag of flour with the tree being the top priority to retrieve but no luck finding it, mostly because she's on the right side of the road boy, that didn't take long for Linda to finally reached the store and thus, the tree retrieval mission may have to wait for a bit.
We switch over to the cabin with Tina and Gene enjoying a round of snowfall fights right outside the cabin with Louise not in a snowball fighting mood, which feels a bit out of character for a bit for Louise but when your thoughts are on the idea that Santa might not be delivering presents at the cabin and instead at the house even though they’re not even there because of a last-minute power outage, that has to be top priority for Louise and also Tina and Gene send out a message that the big man in red should change course from the apartment to the cabin to drop the presents off. And they need to create something like a message to make sure Santa drops the presents off at the cabin. So, the kids have to come up with a message to Santa the same way people who were stranded on deserted islands with little to no resources trying to get a message to any passing ships or planes for rescue by collecting a lot of sticks to creating a message for Santa to read. Though, no fire is needed once it gets dark because a fire would be the last thing everyone needs during this holiday season.
At the end of what I think it's a very long second act to the episode, nearing the end of the first half of the episode with Linda making her way back to the cabin with the flour now secured and it looks like luck may be on Linda's side after all for the holidays with her finally able to see the tree that was separated from the car during the treacherous trip last night and her attention has shifted to getting the tree up the mountain and onto the road. As for how to get the tree held tight in the event it does get up the mountain...who freaking knows because that was never explained. And that is what the third and fourth acts of the episode are going to be for Linda. With her trying to get the tree up to the road as we close the first half of the episode and go into the second half...
Yeah, Linda was struggling to get the tree up the moment she found the object in question and tried to get it up the first time but was unable to get it up. She tried to call Bob after finding the tree but of course, she forgot that she couldn't get a signal out in the open road. And the entire third act regarding Linda is all about her trying to get the tree up. Going back and forth between her struggling to get the tree up the mountain to what Bob and the kids are doing over at the cabin, whether it's Bob doing housework as the note described or the kids finding supplies to create a giant message for Santa to reach in hopes for the presents to be dropped off. So might as well get the Linda side out of the way first. She tries to get the tree up the hill but ends up falling short. Going back up and then falls once again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Especially with each passing time, the sun begins to fall, the temperature starting to dwindle, and uh, oh yeah, the snow is about to pick up alongside the wind, though that was more of Mother Nature being a pesky little bastard when trying to barricade Linda from getting the tree up the mountain. And we’ll get back to her for a bit to round out the third act of the episode.
We go back to the cabin with the Belcher kids attempting to build a message for Santa to see and that's pretty much what the Belcher kids can muster when finding various amounts of sticks and twigs to create the sign that spells out "Belcher" but only got the "Bel" part of the surname, causing the kids to go inside and find something to spell out the rest of their last name and that is while Bob is trying to cover the painting of the rabbit having its insides being turned into a falcon happy meal. Knowing how big the painting is and the issue of trying to keep the cloth to hang but ends up falling to the ground. Because, let’s face it, on Christmas Eve no less, they can’t celebrate the holiday without looking at the haunting image of a rabbit having its insides being ripped to shreds. So as Bob struggles to cover the painting, the kids struggle to find items to create the message on the snow as they tear across the house. That is until Tina found the jackpot.
And let’s not kid ourselves, the animation for Louise when seeing Tina finding the skis that tumbled to the ground looks amazing. It caught me off guard when I first saw it when it first came out but holy crap, the animation looks good with the way Louise moves. Like bruh, this looks pretty amazing with the way how Louise is animated when coming up to Tina to see the skis and picks them up, for Gene to carry, as seen in the video above, like...like with that one scene in "Show Mama From the Grave" with the scenery with Bob and the kids strolling through the graveyard, and the visuals in this week's episode looks good with the change in scenery, as well as that one scene from the second part of "The Bleakening" with the kids thought it was a mural artwork and instead it's a door to an abandoned warehouse like some Looney Tunes, Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner shit, it was nice and it caught me off guard when seeing it for the first time and it looks great if we have to agree there.
We go back to Linda to close off the third act and are ready to enter the final act of the episode and for the year with Linda continuing to struggle to get the tree up and it has gotten to the point where she ends up losing all control with her legs trying to get a hold in the snow to get the tree up, resulting in her falling alongside the tree back to where the tree was first spotted. Amazingly, Linda didn’t suffer an injury to a part of her body, whether being her arm or her leg or both or somewhere around the body that would cause Linda to be somewhat immobilized as if it’s a scene from The Empire Strikes Back from Star Wars in the ice planet of Hoth and Linda would have to go through her Luke Skywalker arc after escaping from becoming giant yeti food. And I get that maybe the episode should've done a little more to the point where some thinking that it should probably serve as a two-parter and this would be the cliffhanger and have the second part, in January mind you, wouldn't rule to be considered an Orthodox Christmas episode, with Bob and the kids going out in the snow and the dark in search of Linda. But that would not be the case and while there's nothing wrong with a little high stakes, that wouldn't be the case for this episode. Let alone that usually in this show, you'd get a two-parter every four seasons. So expect that come Season 16. End of the third act of the episode with Linda being unable to get the tree up with no injury in her bones but has to deal with some snow inside her clothes.
We now entering the final act of the episode and of the year with Bob and the kids starting to worry about Linda’s safety and whereabouts as Bob, after struggling to put up the giant cloth over the painting decides to throw the towel as he now focuses on finding Linda to get her back to the cabin now that he and the kids noticed that she's been gone for hours since leaving the cabin, they already knew that Linda would go and search for the tree as well as the flour. And knowing that the sun is already going down and the conditions starting to pick up, Bob has to make sure Linda is safe and found before things turn into a total shitshow. But not before the kids show him the message they put out right outside the cabin for Santa to see. Quite the improvising with the message but it would take a miracle to cover the painting to not see the mutilated rabbit on display to celebrate the holiday.
We go back to the outskirts of the mountains and this is where I would like to call this scene “Linda’s turkey baster moment” with her and Christmas tree. Why do I call it Linda’s turkey baster moment? Well, if you remember in “Dawn of the Peck”, in which Bob decided to take a day off from cooking Thanksgiving dinner in protest of the family going to the Wharf with Linda participating in the turkey trout, Thanksgiving’s version of the Running of the Bulls, and you have that scene where Bob comes across with the turkey baster and wants to continue his day off but ends up having this dramatic moment on who he is and what he should do that led to him to go back to Thanksgiving cooking mode and do what he does best. Here with Linda and the Christmas tree, it’s the total opposite because with Bob and the turkey baster, it’s the object, that being the turkey baster, telling Bob in his subconscious to not let go of what he does best, whereas with Linda and the Christmas tree, it’s on the line of her being told to let go. She and the family may have found their tree and while it sucks that they lost it after having to be relocated because of the loss of power two days before Christmas, it's gonna suck but safety has to be the number one item on the list. And I guess that's what the tree is trying to say to Linda as the sun continues to go down and the conditions start to pick up. Like...
Unless it’s a We Bare Bears type of situation and I just rewatched that episode this past weekend with Chloe and Ice Bear looking for the “perfect tree” that Chloe wanted to find for her and her family for the holidays and have a flock of wild turkeys to save the tree and have a random wild animal to help Linda to get the tree up the mountain like a random falcon or hell, a random flock of turkeys coming to the rescue to get the tree as if we’re taking the playbook from another show, that won’t be the case and Linda, without any other choice, but to stand down and head back up and leaves the tree, but not without a little decorating by putting in different pine cones onto the tree and yeah, this is where the turkey baster moment comes into play with the tree branch being stuck onto Linda’s leg, clinging onto her ankle end of her pants as if the tree is becoming a kid on its first day of school and not wanting to be separated from its parents. But other than that, Linda has finally decided to throw in the towel and leave the tree behind and it was the best for her to make the choice in order to save her skin.
Linda has finally made it back up to the road and later in the episode as we are about to enter the two-minute warning, she notices Bob walking down the road while driving up back to the cabin with Bob entering the car and Linda tells Bob that she got the flour but decided to abandon the search. I mean, she found the tree but was unable to get it up and had to fall a few times to the point where the snow ended up going inside her clothes to the point where the threat of hypothermia might be a bit of a concern knowing that she was outside for the rest of the afternoon after getting the flour from the store. But besides all that, the mission failed for Linda to retrieve the tree and got to the point where she had to drop what she was doing and leave the tree hanging. Sucks but it was for the best. I mean, predictable, yes. But it's not like we're expecting some sort of Christmas miracle where the tree mysteriously appears at the end of the episode because that's where you would have to call things out as "sorcery" and "bullshit".
And now, we reached the final scene of the episode with Bob and Linda returning to the cabin with the kids feeling relieved that their mother is back safe and sound after failing to get the tree, resulting in the three kids hugging their mother, though poor Bob to be left hanging with him saying, "Um, I'm back too you know." Which Tina, being the only one to break the ice, replied, "Nice to see you, man". Other than that, Linda is back safe and sound, finally got the flour for everyone to make the cookies for Santa but, of course, no tree present and that could hamper everyone's Christmas plans because no tree means no presents. Or at least I would say that if it weren't for the kids' little idea to patch things up.
That is the kids doing a little improvising by creating their own tree that is made out of skis and sticks alongside the ornaments they can gather, mostly the angel on the tree and the ornaments that the kids made to be a part of the decoration process. Well...without the potential fear of the supposed tree as if we're taking notes from "A Charlie Brown's Christmas" from collapsing. But, you have to give the kids some props on what they're doing and they had to do something to make up the tree and they did by taking the stuff they found like the skis and sticks from the giant message on the ground to create the tree. But it's not like they fully dismantled the message because the kids had to improvise that as well by replacing the skis and sticks with towels. And thus, ending the episode, Christmas Eve is on and for the credits, it was alright with each member looking through the oven window to see the progress of the cookies that they can finally make. And uh...yeah, that’s the end of the episode and thus, the end of 2023 for Bob’s Burgers until January.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week's episode of Bob's Burgers? I did say that this is nowhere near the same level as what "The Plight Before Christmas" did last year, I know, I know, setting a pretty high bar the same way you would treat a rookie player on the field or court and one good game have people think that they're the GOAT. Like, chill. And even though this episode isn't on the same levels as "The Pligth Before Christmas" or "The Bleakening" would ever do, but this was an alright episode, to say the least.
Sure, Linda in the episode was acting...well, I guess a bit of a child over the loss of the Christmas tree after it was slid off during the treacherous ride up the mountains on their way to the cabin to the point where she would put herself at risk because the tree was missing and even thinking of going out to the woods at night and during a snow squall but had to be told to stand down for the night knowing how dangerous it is to go venture out in the woods for the night. And I guess it was an okay scene with Linda having her turkey baster moment with her having no other choice but to leave the tree behind because she was endangering herself as the sun began to set. While predictable, it had to be the right call for Linda to make after failed attempt after failed attempt. I mean, she was endangering herself to get the tree back, and even though the power outage did hamper things on what was supposed to be a usual Christmas for the family...you can blame the dumbassery that Linda not knowing that the toaster was in use and Bob for using the toaster even though Teddy had to mess around with the wiring since anything with electric wires isn’t his strong suit and also Fischoeder since he is the landlord and the electrician did pull out the responsibility card onto Fischoeder to the point where he had to let the Belchers stay at his hunting cabin for the night.
That and also the kids worrying about Santa delivering presents at their home after being relocated to the cabin thanks in part to the power outage that hampered their holiday plans. But at least the kids did at least improvise when trying to get Santa to change course come Christmas Eve from the house to the cabin and also the tree that they had to create by the end of the episode. So, you have to give some credit to what the kids are doing when trying to improvise despite the fears of them not being present at home to open their presents despite the loss of power at their house. Just kids being kids I guess.
Other than that, the visuals and animation looked great, especially with how Louise was animated when Tina found the skis while constructing the giant message to spell out their last name on the ground. Caught me off guard when seeing it for the first time and it looked pretty good for how Louise was animated. The same goes for the visuals with the cabin and the outside looks spectacular. Like, the visual and animation department had done their best and I think it paid off for this episode. So, final thoughts, while it's not at the same levels as "The Plight Before Christmas" last year, I get, a pretty high bar to create, it was an alright episode. That's all I have to say. The animation and visuals are great. Story-wise...I mean, it's alright. Maybe they could've done a little more but I think that should be fine as it is. So I'll give "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas"...
A 7 out of 10. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. And that should do it for Bob’s Burgers in the year 2023. We return on January 7 with a brand new episode of Bob’s Burgers and yes, that does include the return of The Great North with Season 4, so double reviews like what I did earlier this year with “Mission Impossi-Bob” for Bob’s Burgers and “Bad Speecher Adventure” for The Great North, both set to air on January 7.
Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. With the reviews out until January, in comes the annual year-end countdown leading up to the new year, so stay tuned for that. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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Donate over on PayPal, Patreon, and Ko-fi pages to help your boy out in both improving the page and paying the bills to keep the lights on. And this is where the sappy moments come into the picture. 2023 was an...I guess, an interesting year when doing these reviews. Having to do both Bob's Burgers and The Great North in a week when talking about these two shows was a chore but hey, gotta shine some light onto The Great North and y'all should watch the show, believe me, do it. But it was an interesting year despite the uncertainty with the world, especially with the strikes that put a hold on everything, another year has come and gone. And I wanna thank y'all for tuning in for these reviews and giving me a chance to read my bullshit, whether it's perfect or not, mostly from start to finish for each review and looking as if it was rushed by the end, yeah...not my fault that I had to treat it has a deadline for a college course and writing these things can be a nightmare, but at least I can send out my thoughts on the show and I will continue to do that come 2024 alongside The Great North...may whatever God you worship hope that 2024 won't be 2020: The Squeakquel knowing that 2024 is a leap year. But yeah, end of the year, and thank y'all for checking up this excuse of a page and let's hope more of my bullshit continues going into 2024. And until the next episode in January or tomorrow, or I guess later today or tonight for the start of the countdown, wash your hands, wear a mask, get vaccinated and boosted, and a reminder that you are loved, you’re beautiful, ignore the haters, and I’ll see y’all later.
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