Well, I can already see the pitchforks and torches lining up at my doorstep on this Christmas Eve going into number 8 in the Top 12 Countdown for this year. And it’s one of the episodes that I reviewed earlier this year that I gave a lot of praise. One of the few to be exact but before a certain episode that made it to this list, might as well talk about the one that was the talk of the town throughout the summer break. So, coming at number 8 in the Top 12 Countdown, and look at that, it came out on the same day as the second part of the “For Whom the Smell Tolls” two-parter, it’s Bob’s Burgers with “Amelia”.
I reviewed this episode back in May alongside “For Whom the Smell Tolls Part Two” from The Great North before the summer break and out of those two that came out on that night, this was a huge episode that I had to cover with this episode. And all of this focuses on one plot for this episode from start to finish, aside from the subplot with Bob hiring a masseuse for Linda on Mother’s Day, and that is Louise doing her class project on Amelia Earhart.
By now, everyone knows who Amelia Earhart is and what she did, and what she is most famous for, even before this episode came out. A pilot. She was the first woman who flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean and broke barriers when taking flight but is most known by a lot of people for her disappearing mid-flight while attempting to fly across the world and her disappearance became one of the biggest mysteries that had been yet to be solved. And that is what the episode was focusing on with Louise attempting to do her report for her class on who she picked to serve as her hero.
Though leading up to the episode’s premiere and I did touch on that when I reviewed it back in May regarding the episode title, there were a lot of theories and speculations about what the title means. And I mean a lot of speculation with the most popular before finding out what the episode holds when the synopsis came out that it would focus on the Fischoeders and probably want to know about Calvin and Felix’s mom. Hell, I was one of them because knowing some episodes with the Fischoeders, especially right after the movie’s release, you’d think that the Fischoeder lore train would not stop at the station. But once the synopsis came out a few weeks before the release of the episode, that did not seem to be the case. And instead, it’s a Louise episode with her doing a report on Amelia Earhart. I mean, the options were given when a fan asked Loren Bouchard a question on what “Amelia” is about.
Of course, you have two topics that are being shown for this episode with the main one being misogyny and sexism with Louise picking up a book from the library on Amelia Earhart after she along with the other fourth graders has to do a report on which historical figure is considered to be their hero where you have Wayne being a smug smartass and going up towards Louise’s business when seeing her picking up the book on Earhart and uh...yeah, this is where the misogyny comes in from the guy out of freaking nowhere when calling Earhart an illegitimate pilot for not being able to do the impossible of flying across the world and that her disappearance is nothing more than just putting on a show. That and also wish Louise to pick someone else to report on, mostly a historical figure who has a penis attached in-between their legs. You’re gonna have a lot of people questioning where all of this comes from for Wayne to act like this. Was it out of character for the guy? I would say it’s based on context, but the last I need for this Christmas to be canceled online.
And that is what Louise had to do throughout the episode leading up to the day of her presentation and you have some of the scenes where you have her presenting her report on Earhart throughout each scene with the visual aid being shown using shadow puppets with the help of her siblings, Peter Pescadero, and Benj. But it’s the struggles that Louise had to endure throughout the episode with her reading through the book she got on Earhart with the chapter on her disappearance being the part of her research that she had trouble the most. Trying to come up with something that won’t downplay Earhart’s disappearance when presenting the report to the class. And with the clock ticking, a lot of pressure had been building up for Louise to make sure the presentation would knock everyone’s socks off and for Wayne to shove it. Which, she did at the end of the episode, but it wasn’t easy for Louise to have everything all set up. But not without getting some help.
We were introduced to Benj in this episode and quite an interesting character he is when Louise comes to him to help her with the visual aid for her report. Nice to see a character with a disability making his rounds on the show and we’re pretty much past the point where back in the day, you have shows oftentimes poking fun of that. Though that’s more of the line of crude humor doing crude humor things. That and also being a different time. But it’s nice to see a character who is a part of the disabled community and love how the show is doing things right for the characters and hopefully, we can see more of Benj in a future episode. Him being the puppet kid who knows and makes puppets, actual puppets with fabric and strings and has to test the waters in using shadow puppets. As well as him having a liking towards older girls like with Jocelyn who was walking past the art room, and also Tina when being dragged by Louise to convince him to help her (Louise) with the project. He’s one of the two fifth graders that Louise had to come across, the first being Megan back in “Three Girls and a Little Wharfy” and hopefully either of those two, or both, can make a return to the show.
Let’s not forget that it has to be treated as a Mother’s Day episode because of that small subplot with Linda wishing that she wanted a personal massage for the holiday and Bob having to make a call for an appointment to send out a personal masseuse, a masseuse-in-training, something that Linda was excited to have once Mother’s Day arrives, only for things to take a turn once the holiday arrives that caused her to quietly developing some stress once her massage takes place courtesy of Louise’s struggles to find something for her Amelia Earhart report.
We also got the appearance of the masseuse-in-training named Pat to do the job for the hour on this Mother’s Day and it sucks that this was Paul Rubens’ last performance before his passing. I get that Pat is already deemed to be a one-off character much like most characters on the show but I heard that he passed away back in July and finding out that this episode of Bob’s Burgers was Reuben’s swan song when playing the masseuse is this amazing episode, it felt bittersweet when rewatching when FOX re-aired the episode back in August to present the in memoriam card at the end of the credits. Again, even though Pat is a one-off character with him to be used as Linda’s personal masseuse during her appointed massage that Bob booked for Mother’s Day, it was bittersweet to find out that this was Reubens’ final performance when the episode first came out weeks before his passing in July.
Of course, gotta get to the highlight of the episode, Linda’s conversation with Louise while getting her massage. And whether you like this or not, this was one of those moments that you can’t ignore. You have two topics that are front and center for this episode. Misgnony and sexism, combined into one topic, is one issue on the list with Louise having to endure Wayne wearing her down about Amelia Earhart and why he thinks that someone like Neil Armstrong or any guy in history would’ve been a better pick than someone like Earhart. Again, he (Wayne) was a smartass when coming to Louise about her project leading up to the presentation with her being carried with a lot of pressure to have create a presentation that would knock everyone’s socks off. And you have Linda talking to Louise while getting her massage, despite the few times for comedic measures for her to let out a few drools to come out of her mouth while getting her knot untightened. So, the topic of misogyny and sexism is one topic that the two had to talk about for Linda to help her daughter come up with a conclusion for her report.
You also have the topic of failure with Louise’s fear of not getting the report to be perfect in time for her presentation which led to Linda being stressed and, of course, tying in with the notion of the whole “B can do better than what A do” with Earhart wanting to prove to everyone that she can do the impossible by flying across the world, despite not knowing what lies on what might be her and Fred Noonan’s last trip of their existence. And I said this in my review that what happened with the events leading up to her disappearance doesn’t make her a failure just because of poor planning when continuing her journey across the globe. And Linda does make an interesting point when talking to Louise since it was Mother’s Day that because everyone was focusing on the public’s opinion on Earhart that you haven’t asked the one person who had Earhart’s back, that being her mother. And coming from Linda’s mouth, despite a couple of droplets of drool coming out of her mouth, again, for comedic measures, that no matter what happened, especially at the moment Earhart fell off the face of the Earth, Amelia’s mother has her back and regardless of the outcome, she knew that she’s proud of her daughter and her attempts and achievements. So uh...give props to Linda for comforting her daughter and also helping her out on what she needed for her report.
And that extra help from Linda, along with Tina, Gene, Peter, and Benj, we got a hell of a presentation from Louise that got her class in awe as she went all out with her report. Sure, she shouldn’t go all on the presentation since it’s just her reading her report out loud, but Louise knows what she was doing and something has to be done. The visuals were great, the storytelling was great coming from Louise when talking about Amelia Earhart’s life with the scenes showing her struggling to come up with her report for Earhart and knowing that it’s Mother’s Day, had help from Linda and it was shown in the credits. And speaking of the credits...give Nora Smith some props with her singing as the credits were rolling when seeing Louise and Linda making the props for her report on Earhart because...goddamn, what a way to end the show’s thirteenth season and I did say that this episode should be eligible for the Emmy, and it should, it’s just...there’s another episode earlier in the current season that might’ve had this episode beat. And that’s later in the countdown but I’m not going to reveal the position.
So, that was “Amelia” and it’s not even a hot take. This was a masterpiece. One of the few episodes that came out this year on Bob’s Burgers that is considered a masterpiece. From the serious topics like misogyny and sexism that Louise had to endure from Wayne over her pick for her report to Linda’s conversation with her daughter that led to her helping Louise with her project, it was a fantastic episode to end the show’s thirteenth season. Benj is an interesting character and would be nice to see him again in a future episode. Again, it was bittersweet to know that this was the final performance for the late Paul Reubens to do when voicing Pat the masseuse-in-training right before his passing. And despite being a Mother’s Day episode, even though it came out a week late, this was an amazing episode and I would save this for a higher spot in the countdown...there’s one other episode that pretty much tops it all. You have to wait and see later in the countdown before we get to the new year.
This wraps up the number 8 spot of the Top 12 Countdown of the year 2023 and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays. What do you think about this episode? Should it be higher, lower, or stay put on your list? Put it in the comments below as we prepare to go into the Number 7 spot of the Top 12 Countdown. Which episode and series will be taking the eighth spot? Find and see sometime tomorrow. Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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