So uh... quite the week last week, huh? Don’t mind yours truly because I just had to put out the review for the previous episode out on a Friday because I had to work with a hotspot. After all, I was in the middle of moving, but like y’all across the country and the world, I saw the results... the next four years are uh... I don’t know what to say other than buckle up, we’re riding on a roller coaster of whether things will be like the first Trump term and hit with turbulence after turbulence or go into levels of Hell that we didn’t even exist as if we’re this year’s Cleveland Browns or Carolina Panthers... or any other team that only have two wins in their column. Thought Kamala was going to have this in the bag based on the polls even though it’s the turnout that was important, there was a gut feeling and a queasy one at that of the night could go in Trump’s favor despite of what we thought it was going to be a red mirage. Yeah, Democrats... get your shit together. I mean it, get your fucking shit together and find ways to regroup because the next four years or more are gonna be rough. Let’s hope that’s not the case and I’m an Independent, for Christ’s sake.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, the Belcher kids decide to host an open mic night at the restaurant and have the whole town either perform on stage or spectate as some of the townsfolk, including the siblings themselves, perform for one night only in my spoilerific review of the sixth episode of Bob’s Burgers, titled “Hope n’ Mic Night”.
And after a week that we all went through with the election that we had gone through last week, this was pretty much our form of escapism and man, this was the episode that we needed to get our minds off the gutter. And it did not disappoint. Yeah, it’s nothing new where we have an episode from any series where we have a talent show and have some, if not, most of the characters having to perform their talents, revealing something that we don’t know about them, and show it off to the masses. And in this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, it’s like that... only to have the singing portion of the talent show and just make it an open mic night... with only singing and not include a comedy stand-up routine. And knowing Bob’s Burgers, going into this episode, I think some of y’all know that it’s going to be a musical-filled episode once we get to the performances.
You could say that it sort of feel like something coming out of the “My Butt Has a Fever” short from two years ago in anticipation of the release of The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Because you have characters having to perform in front of everyone and you have the Belcher kids doing their performance that would get the place moving and grooving in that short and once again, at the end of the episode after some of the townsfolk did their respective performances on stage. You could also say that almost feels like a carbon copy or at least have the magic of the short or at least use the song from the short to the canon of the show, but it’s not. With this being an open mic night at the restaurant, you could probably say it’s like a singing competition, only to take the competition portion out of the equation and it’s just them having to perform with no prize on the line like money, a trip to an island, or pride and instead, it’s pretty much to have fun. And that’s pretty much the name of the game for this week’s episode. So, we might as well get to the episode and break this sucker down, and hopefully, it won’t be as long as last week’s episode review because that took 13 pages and 47 images to use along with a very long waiting time for it to be released, just be lucky that there’s another bye week coming up after this week, this is “Hope n’ Mic Night”.
And for the students of Wagstaff when starting the episode, not the news that they needed to hear as they were preparing to head home for the day. Especially when going through the three classrooms, the eighth-grade classroom where Tina is, the sixth-grade classroom where Gene is, and ditto for Louise at her fourth-grade class once Frond at the intercom makes an announcement regarding something that is already gaming controversy within the school ground that got the students pissed. And man, they are getting hoed so far this season coming from Frond at the start of the episode or by the end of the first act of the episode. From announcing the game that caused the school to go through a bizarro world to losing their recess privilege without any given reason, aside from the Belcher kids, Jimmy Jr, Zeke, the Twins, and Peter knowing the true reason, even though it’s nice to see everyone present, except for some and some in the odd-numbered grades, it’s not a good vibe from what Frond is doing as if Wagstaff just enacted their own version of Project 2025.
So what’s the problem this time around? The upcoming talent show... they ain’t getting it. Frond decided to cancel the talent show and the students aren’t having it. At least we got a reason for why and I kid you not, coming from Frond’s words when explaining for why the school is not hosting the talent show this time around, is because of a lack of talent from either of the students willing to participate in the event. Yeah, I want to call fucking bullshit on that. A lack of talent from each of the students who want to have their time in the spotlight? Really? That’s your explanation for why you’re canceling the talent show? Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit. I mean, the only explanation that I can think of, and I’m pretty sure some of y’all already came up with the reason for the cancellation by Frond...
The last time the school had a talent show for one night and we all know where this is going, was two years ago, not in the show’s timeline but our own, the last time Wagstaff held a talent show in the theatrical short “My Butt Has a Fever” leading up to the theatrical release of The Bob’s Burgers Movie where the Belcher kids, after Rudy performed his juggling act, decided to hijack the show with their song that is against what Frond implemented to keep the show PG in a boring matter, no offense to Rudy with his performance, but the Belcher kids had to liven things up. And they did. We all saw it and I know that it sounded like I’m grasping at straws here, but if there has to be an in-universe explanation as to why Frond is canceling the talent show this time around, it has to be the talent show where Louise, Gene, and Tina stole the show. And you know damn well that Frond does not want to go through that again and canceling it seems to be the way to go as a precaution.
The Belchers and Pestos walk their way home for the day feeling upset upon hearing the announcement of Frond canceling the talent show and they were excited about having to participate, mostly the Pesto Twins who want to perform a song but can’t now. And the Belcher siblings, of course, they were going to have something up their sleeve to get the crowd going but now, they can’t, and again, grasping at straws here that the Belcher siblings getting the crowd going with their song of choice is what probably led to Frond canceling the show because he doesn’t want to go through that again. But just because there’s no talent show at the school doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world because Louise decides to improvise as a make-up to the talent show that will never be held at the school and that is to have an open mic night. Though... at Jimmy Pesto’s? Of all the places, you chose that? I mean, yeah, you gotta need an audience and the place has plenty of room... why? So, if not Pesto’s, that leaves the restaurant... the kids have to get through a hurdle first if they want to host an open mic night and it’s Bob, who is not going to like the idea of having an open mic night. And once we get to the next scene of the episode once the kids return with Andy and Ollie in tow, minus Jimmy Jr...
Of course, Bob has to say no to the kids’ proposition to host an open mic night at the restaurant. Hell, Linda wants Bob to host it because it would be nice to have something where people, including the kids, have their shot to sing as if they’re prepping up for an audition to be on a musical competition reality show. And we can already guess where this is going once we get to the next scene on why Bob is being hesitant over the idea of wanting to host an open mic night (spoiler alert, it’s money. It’s the money, stupid) and having to host an open mic night should at least give some benefits for the restaurant since there’s going to be an audience and that means making the bank for one night. So, for right now, after a few negotiations to get Bob to agree to host the open mic night at the restaurant, it looks like it’s a go for the event and for the kids to have their way, as their way to make up for the talent show that they’ll get to perform at the school following Frond’s announcement.
With the open mic night now set, the kids while brushing their teeth are in the planning phase for them to come up with a song for them to knock the socks out of everyone. Something that should at least be better than their performance with “My Butt Has a Fever”. And they have a few days to come up with something, so that should be plenty of time for them to find something for inspiration and, of course, it has to be an original and not a cover. Nothing wrong with a cover but coming up with something original has to be the way to go.
And now, Bob decides to have a change of mind of having to host an open mic. And yes, it’s the cost. It’s the cost, stupid that is going to put a massive damper on the kids’ plans to host an open mic night. Mostly the equipment and the royalties, yes, the royalties since some of the townsfolk are likely going to do a cover of a song instead of singing something original. That I did not notice and I had to Google it but yeah, renting out the equipment to be used to create the stage is one headache for Bob, but now having to pay the bills to the agencies for each performer having to sing a cover to a song. And knowing that the Belchers aren’t the richest folks in town and a struggling one at best, even though it’s only for one night to have all of that set up, one night seems too much when it comes to the bill at the end of the night and the money that they don’t have to pay the company back. Getting to the point where Bob decides to have his mind changed on having to host an open mic night and needs to break the bad news to the kids, hoping for them to forget about the whole thing because they’re kids. Short attention span and shit. Especially once he plans on telling them first thing in the morning or hoping for the kids to drop everything and go on their day.
Yeah, that’s not going to stop the kids and they ain’t forgetting shit once the new day hits with them passing out flyers to promote the open mic night, not knowing that Bob has already decided to can the whole thing. Promoting the event outside of the Wharf, and passing out the flyers to anyone who walks by them, and the passing of the flyers catches the attention of Mr. Fischoeder, who was minding his business on his cart when he noticed the kids passing out the flyers promoting the open mic night at the restaurant. And if you think that because Fischoeder is the Belchers’s landlord that hosting an event that is planned for a few days from now that could draw a huge crows might derail things and fear that it could put the family and the restaurant in a tight spot... only for Fischoeder to tell the kids that he wants in.
He wants to be one of the participants to perform on stage. Looks like the Belcher kids found their third performer to participate on the stages aside from themselves and the Pesto Twins. And for Fischoder with his performance for the show, it’s not just him having the stage for himself once he’s up and instead, it’s a duet. He’s planning on bringing in a plus one to join him and his plus one sounds pretty exclusive when revealing the details of what his performance is going to be. Fischoeder’s plus-one is named Princess Angelica Flavia, and yes, according to Fischeoder himself, she’s a literal princess, someone from the royal family to join him on stage... makes you question what kind of connections Fischoeder has with him being a rich man and now having to find out that the person he’s bringing is an actual member of the royal family. And can also play the harp and that alone should be enough for Fischoeder to bring in as his performing partner and the open mic night should be the place to do it. So I guess the stakes are now high to have the open mic night go as perfectly as it should, especially since Fischoeder’s plus one who will do a duet with him is a member of the Belgian royal family who is currently on tour through a train and uh... yeah, we now have three performers on the list and the promotion seem to be going well for the kids when it comes to the recruitment of course.
And in comes the bad news for the kids, they ain’t getting their show after all thanks to Bob having a change of mind but we already knew that he isn’t going to let it slide through. So it looks like the open mic night isn’t going to happen after all because of the fear of the cost and the bill that will come after if the event does go as planned. Yes, it’s the cost of equipment and royalties that had to put a massive dent in the kids’ shot of hosting an open mic night and as if losing the school talent show wasn’t enough for the Belcher kids for unknown reasons, other than Frond having to deal with their shenanigans once more, they can’t host an open mic night because of the family’s continuation of struggling to make ends meet. I would say open a GoFundMe but I dunno if that would be considered money laundering. Other than that, no show for the kids because of money. However, that’s going to change now that we’re in the final scene of the first act of the episode...
Because here comes Marshmallow (still voiced by Jari Jones since Season 14’s “Fight at the Not Okay Chore-ral”) and I gotta say this... Marshmallow is the MVP in this episode. Like, there’s no debate about it on who crushed on this episode and you’ll get to see why, both in this scene and one later on with her performance. But for now, Marshmallow enters the restaurant with the flyer that the kids passed out and announces that she’ll be throwing her hat into the ring, making the number of people performing up to five... only to enter in very bad timing with Bob telling the kids that he will not let the open mic night go forward due to the fear of having to pay too much with little money have saved up.
And this is where Marshmallow has to come in for the motherfucking save to make sure the open mic night goes as planned despite Bob’s decision to not let it go through. He has to let the people who are willing to go to the stage and express themselves and not having to let the show go on the road feels like you’re silencing them. That’s something that Marshmallow will not let that slide. You have to let everyone express themselves when being on the stage and performing on stage in front of an audience, whether it’s wanting to share your artistry like singing or wanting to do it just to tackle your anxiety but regardless of that, freedom of expression and the joys of having a good time seems to be the way to go for why the open mic night needs to happen. Especially once Marshmallow finds out from the kids that the reason why they’re hosting the open mic night to begin with was that the school canceled their talent show. The show has to go on for them, for everyone, and for her with Marshmallow throwing her hat into the ring. She has a song planned for her to perform and the open mic night that the kids are setting up is the window of opportunity that she spotted to express herself. And an important one at that because she plans on bringing her parents to the event to see her perform. That’s how important this event should be and shouldn’t be shut down before it even began just because of the concerns regarding the cost. And Bob can’t back out of it and it looks like he has no other choice but to let the show go as planned for a few days from now. Also, love the sass coming from Marshmallow. Especially when closing the first act with her leaving and you have Tina saying, “What the heck, Marshmallow” when responding to Marshmallow saying that kids should do some chores... love it. Love it.
So now, going into the second act of the episode and with the show now set for a few days from now after getting Bob to be convinced by Marshmallow to not shut things down because of the fears of what the bill would look like, the kids are on the planning stages to come up with something original for their song and are struggling to find any inspiration once we get to the scene with the kids in the living room with Tina writing down and Louise playing the bongos. Struggling to come up with something until Gene comes in and finds some inspiration for them to use and it’s from Tina’s journal where they need to take a nosedive to find something to write. And Tina ain’t having it when going through each page to find something for her siblings to write a song. She wrote a lot of things in there and I mean a lot and she’ll die of embarrassment if any of the stuff she wrote about Jimmy Jr from the journal is used in song form and the event of Jimmy Jr in the audience once the song is used would be the cherry on top.
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| From "Bad Tina" (S2e8) | Air Date: May 13, 2012 |
As if we’re not going to pretend that what happened in Season 2’s “Bad Tina” with her reading her erotic friend fiction to the school wasn’t a thing. Sure, it was mostly to get back at Tammy by using her embarrassment of uncontrollable farting to be weaponized, but again, she had some trouble in nothing to be released to the public and Jimmy Jr, but she pulled it off and Jimmy Jr liked it despite Tina makes sure the Jimmy Jr in her story isn’t him. At least Tina can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief because she knows that Jimmy Jr won’t be present because of a wrestling meet on the night of the open mic night but it’s going to be like that for the rest of the episode with Tina going on the defensive because again, everything she wrote on the journal... confidential shit. Then again, we re-elected a former president who kept boxes of classified documents as if he’s auditioning to be on an episode of Hoarders. Yeah, confidentially doesn’t mean shit anymore.
Going into the next day with only three days until the night of the open mic night and now, and we enter the practice phase for everyone to get ready for the show. At the school with Rudy and some band kids to serve as the band for the Belcher kids with their performance. And for a moment there, when watching the episode, even though it would be just the three siblings, when Gene brought up the Itty Bitty Ditty Committee and with Rudy, my dumbass thought that Gene would have the band back together for the open mic night. That's what I thought before Gene mentioned that Darryl and Peter Pescadero decided to go AWOL or not appear in the episode, or as Gene puts it, them doing their solo performances called “They Don’t Feel Like Doing This”. Don’t know about Peter if he were to do a solo act but the guy might as well be a boy of many talents but Darryl, this being an open mic event... I feel like that would’ve been his thing because we know that he’s been a good singer since Season 5 which led to him being a part of the musical version of the combined shows of Die Hard and Working Girl, sang Tina a song at the Valentine’s Day dance, being a part of the school’s acapella group The Hormone-iums, and of course, being the one of the members in Gene’s band as a vocalist. Do I even have to say this? Missed opportunity.
But yeah, Gene hands Rudy and a couple of band kids lyric sheets for the song they wrote using Tina’s journal. Knowing Tina as the episode progresses, she wasn’t going to let this one slide. Especially when storming into the music room and snatching the paper away from the band kids and she means business and the look on her face shows it. Taking from someone’s journal like Tina’s and using it as a song is one thing, but to take it from one of the pages where it talks about... most Tina things that she wrote on there, mostly about Jimmy Jr and his butt, she still has that scenario playing on a loop in her head with her thinking that Jimmy Jr might come or not as if her conscience is playing a coin toss with the universe with different scenarios playing in her head that the most confidential things that she wrote are about to be sung to the public. And again, this will be the thing that will stick around throughout the episode with different scenarios playing in her head once we get to the night of the open mic. And she read her erotic friend fiction to the whole school and that was Season 2. It’s not that fucking deep. So, as the band kids begin practicing for the siblings to get ready for their performance...
We go to the restaurant and we get our fifth performer to throw his hat into the ring and to no surprise, it’s Teddy. Teddy wants to be on stage and perform for the open mic night. And with Mort as his plus one since it’s likely going to be a duet... though I guess not really because Mort will be there just to play the guitar, leaving Teddy to do the vocal work. Yes, working alongside Mort seems crazy for Teddy, well, in this current era of the show because of the out-of-nowhere hatred towards the guy as the show progresses, mostly because of Teddy being too overly attached to the restaurant and the Belchers that most would think that it’s unhealthy, but for once, we’re getting a team-up between the two and the open mic night in the coming days would serve as the bridge to connect the gap. And yeah, there’s going to be some struggles, especially when going into the montage over the type of music that they’ll be doing with Teddy bringing up a “bossa nova”, which is some sort of Latin Jazz and that’s what they’ll be doing once they got on the stage once the night arrives.
And now, we go into montage mode with the five participants, rather four because we don’t see Andy and Ollie in the montage, and quite the short montage we got to bypass through the week and going into the day of the event as we’re nearing or already at the two-minute warning of the first half of the episode and for everyone who will be on stage once the big night arrives, it’s the three P’s. Practice. Practice. Practice. I know it’s only one P word but you know what I’m saying. Whether it’s Fischoeder playing the piano, Teddy and Mort attempting to get into sync, Marshmallow practicing the guitar through a video tutorial, or the band kids playing the song they wrote and Tina having to be forced to give her nod to approve, they have to make sure that they have to get things right with little time they have leading up to the big night. And mind you that this is an open mic night. This is not a competition. There’s no prize waiting in the wings and having to crown only one performer. The point of the open mic night is to have fun and express yourself. That is all that matters. As long as you let your heart out and sing, then you should have yourself a good time. Even if, yes, the song that Tina doesn’t want to go public because it came from her journal has now been given the green light by the girl herself.
A few days have passed and now, the big day is finally here. The stage is now under construction for the big night tonight and much to Bob’s dismay because again, worrying about the cost, he’s stuck with it, even if it’s only for one night. Mr. Fischoeder enters the restaurant to see how the progress is going with everything being set up and alerts Bob about having the piano installed by telling him that the window has to be taken out so the piano can be installed for him to use once his turn is up. And even though Bob isn’t fine with everything that is going on, having the stage set up and now having the window being taken out for the piano to be installed, to him, it does feel like he’s getting the short end of the stick, but that’s not going to stop Fischeoder for him to be generous and decides that tell him that everything will be free of charge since he is one of the performers who will be on the stage tonight. The setup with the stage and the equipment I mean, not everything else that is being covered. But at least the Belchers are getting covered, so there has to be some sort of silver lining.
And now, going into the end of the first half of the episode, the big night has finally arrived. The stage is set, the lighting is up for the mood to look like an actual open mic event as if you’re attending that event at a coffee shop, the piano, and harp are installed, and now, we await the audience and the performers to line up for them to enter. Louise has to take the clipboard from the school that has writing on the back that says that it belonged to Mr. Frond and says that it shouldn’t been taken and only Frond can hold it, but that’s not going to stop Louise from taking it if she’s gonna have the participants to sign their names so she can call up their names once their turn is up.
Of course, we got Jimmy Pesto, still voiced by Eric Bauza, coming into the restaurant and doing Jimmy Pesto things, which is to mock Bob and say Zoom. As much shit I gave on Seasons 11-12, especially Season 12 and the early parts of Season 13, it was a nice breath of fresh air to not have the character around and I get that it was because of the situation regarding Jimmy’s old voice actor Jay Johnston, who is going to prison for his role on January 6... in which he’ll likely going to get pardoned because Trump won the election and that’s one of his campaign promises... didn’t think about that. And I just painted a dark cloud, so, positives, positives... Bauza is doing a good job voicing Pesto in this episode and even though I don’t like the character, mostly because he mocks Bob from time to time for no reason and says “zoom” a lot, which is pretty much his character going into the later seasons, and a nice change and capturing the style when doing the voice. So, there’s that.
Pesto coming in, mocking Bob for hosting a mic night, bringing up stuff like the royalties, and having to deal with a packed house to the point where the fire marshall might be called in. Jimmy is about to leave, but not before Trev comes in and tells him that he needs a five-minute break. Not right now, but at 7:00. Jimmy questions why he needs to have a break at a specific time like 7:00, to which Trev responds that he’s gonna perform. He’s the last-minute entry to join the open mic night, hence, why he needs Jimmy’s approval to take a five-minute break for him to perform and also asks Jimmy if he can see him perform. Not just Trev, but also Andy and Ollie, who are also going to perform. So now, Jimmy can’t get out of it and now, he has to be in the audience to see his youngest sons and his employee perform and see where the night is going once we get a packed house. Speaking of a packed house...
We end the first half of the episode and going into the second half with the Belchers now noticing that they got themselves a packed house. Everyone lining up outside of the restaurant, whether it’s the performers like Rudy and the band kids, Mort and Teddy, and also Mike the Mailman with a ukelele as he too signed up to perform. And yes, the concern of the place being over capacity has become the new fear wrapping over Bob’s head because he didn’t expect a massive turnout for everyone to attend the showing. Sure, you need to make money, and hosting an open mic night is that one event where business should thrive... if the kids should’ve brought up the price of admission but didn’t, thus, turning this into an open invite, and thus... a packed house that would turn into a safety nightmare. So now, going into the start of the second half of the episode, Bob struggling to get some folks in the audience to buy something to eat since it’s going to be a long night, especially once the show begins with Louise stepping up to the stage as the host and calls up Andy and Ollie to take the stage first with their performance of “Moonlight Sonata”. And knowing that the characters who will be participating in the event, might as well judge their performances and at least give some honest opinions on each performance as the second half of the episode progresses.
And Andy and Ollie’s performance... we know that the song does not have any chorus and the open mic night does require singing but I guess it doesn’t mean you have to improvise when having to pick a song that has no lyrics and have to create the sounds themselves... or at least try to mimic when listening to the song on YouTube or listen too much that it drills into your head as if it’s drilling for oil. And that’s what we’re seeing with Andy and Ollie and they have this shit ready for what would’ve been used for the school talent show but ends up using it for the open mic night. I mean, they’re kids, you can’t shit on them for their performance and we all have that moment growing up where you play pretend and you have something to hold on to and pretend that it’s a microphone, or buy a toy microphone and pretend that you’re on stage. It’s like that and uh... what a way to start. However...
Take a look at Jimmy Pesto’s face when watching his sons perform. We know that he can be an asshole... sorry, the word “can” seems like I’m giving him a pass, this is one of the moments from him where he feels human. Attempting to crack a smile when watching his sons perform as if he’s becoming proud of them. Or I guess as this meme down below puts it...
Yeah, feeling a bit of pride for his kids when watching their performance. Yeah, we can question Pesto’s parenting and how he raises his kids, mostly because of how much we can defend or shit on Jimmy Jr and that might come down to how he raised when having to live in two different locations since both Jimmy and Mrs. Pesto are divorced. I’m not a parent. I don’t know how parenting works and we see oftentimes when Jimmy has some okay moments where he’s not an asshole from time to time. Take “Yachty or Nice” for example with him giving Bob a booth to serve the food for the yacht parade despite Bob’s paranoia of him (Jimmy) plotting to embarrass him in front of everyone. Or hell, “Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl” with him as one of the audience, one of the parents who attended the show to see his sons perform. Guess who was the last person who was in the auditorium as everyone left Courtney’s show to see Gene’s one-man show in the boiling room? Oh yeah, Jimmy. I can shit on Jimmy Pesto if I want to but with this scene, him trying to crack a smile as if he’s feeling pride in his kids, especially when watching Andy and Ollie perform, this is what I guess is the most human that you can see from Jimmy Pesto. And last time I checked, this isn’t 2020, and already, I feel like things are getting somewhat insane in having someone like Jimmy Pesto of all people to have a good moment. Once Andy and Ollie are done with their performance...
Here comes Mike with the ukulele doing a cover song of “Please, Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes and if you don’t know anything about the song... think back to that one Vine video from I guess 2015 where you have a kid singing the song and moves the camera to his grandfather to sing the one part of the song... yeah, it’s that song. It’s that song. And I don’t have a dog in this fight when it comes to covers and gotta bring this up, we have an EP album for this episode that has three songs listed, all original... okay, Teddy and Mort’s song for their performance is a cover and we’ll get to that in a bit, that got in the album but the rest in that album, all original. And Mike’s cover of the song was alright. As usual, because Mike is a mailman and the song is literally called “Please, Mr. Postman”, so the joke is there when it comes to his occupation as a mailman.
Now, Trev’s song... oh boy, Trev. My first thoughts when watching this scene come down to one question, who hurt you? Who hurt you to come up with a song, likely a cover, to perform at the open mic night? And the song that Trev is singing, almost feels like it’s taking a jab at Jimmy Pesto. And the scene with him and Bob listening to it... you can see the reaction from Jimmy as if he is catching strays like he’s being called out by his most loyal employee at his restaurant. You could say that it’s towards Jimmy Pesto, just by looking at Jimmy’s face when listening to the song when standing next to Bob, or someone that we don’t know of, there was some frustration coming out from Trev when singing that song... but it does feel like it might pointing towards Jimmy. To the point where he tries to change the subject by asking Bob if he has counted the number of people in the audience to avoid an over-capacity issue because that’s the last thing that Bob needs for tonight.
Fischoeder and his plus one Princess Angelica Flavia arrive at the restaurant where they come across Tina, who is serving as a bouncer because of how over-capacitated the restaurant is due to the higher than expected turnout thanks to the kids’ promotion of the open mic night, stops them from entering. Mistaken the two as audience members because, again, the fear of not making the restaurant even more packed than what we got, as if you wish the open mic night would be at Jimmy Pesto’s as Louise originally thought at the start of the episode or at least take it to a warehouse or... hell, the building next door where there’s no business taking place and only be taken as a part of an opening gag, that’s not going to stop Fischoeder and his plus one to enter the fully packed restaurant and getting ready for when their names get called up.
So now, we get to Teddy and Mort’s song that made it to the album, should be available on Spotify as of typing and posting the review and the song and performance... well, it’s alright I guess. It’s great to have Teddy and Mort working together. I mean, when was the last time we had that in the current era of the show we’re in? But aside from that, it’s an alright performance with Teddy doing the vocals with both him and Mort going for the Latin Jazz vibe that they’re giving to the audience. It’s not a bad song, don’t get me wrong, they’re the best they can here and again, let me give things straight, this is an open mic night, not a talent show or any of the singing competitions, it’s them having fun that is all that counts, this was alright and I guess you could say that I’m starting to feel a little bias here because there’s one other song later on in the episode that, in my opinion, swept the floor off the restaurant and spoiler alert, it’s NOT the kids’ song at the end that grabbed my attention. As the performance progresses, here we go again with Bob being all doom and gloom with him still having concerns about everything needing to be paid off and the over-capacity situation, you have the restaurant not getting any money collected when it comes to... well, food and drinks. Still think that should’ve at least put up an admission price to at least alleviate the concerns but a lack of sales to sell food and/or drinks aside from the band kids... yeah, it does feel like Bob is getting the short end of the stick in all of this. And things can’t get worse for the guy. Oh, it got worse for the guy.
We got the fire marshall, named Marty, voiced by Connor Ratliff, entering the restaurant and noticing the restaurant being over-capacitated. And when watching the episode this past Sunday, it makes you question one thing that might not get resolved if it weren’t for Marty himself explaining how he came into the restaurant and catching the building being over-capacitated. Could be anyone but the finger-pointing if it weren’t for the explanation from Marty would probably go to Jimmy Pesto because he brought up the fire marshall twice tonight before and during the show over having to deal with a higher-than-expected turnout to attend the open mic night. It could make sense but I feel like even though Jimmy can or is an asshole, but wouldn’t go as far as snitching and rather, let things play out and would probably have a change of mind if he were to call if it weren’t for seeing Andy and Ollie perform. Could be Jimmy Pesto. Could be someone else in the audience, maybe in incognito working for the health department and I know that it sounded like I’m grasping at straws here, but who knows? At least we got an explanation from the fire marshall himself on how he ended up at the restaurant and saw the place fully packed. And nothing like a “Romancing the Beef” type of situation, which was the last time the restaurant was fully packed and got the Belchers in hot water.
Ending the third act and now, going into the fourth and final act of the episode, Bob and Linda confront Marty, who oversees the restaurant being fully packed as Teddy and Mort are wrapping up their performance and he explains how he was brought up to here and seeing the scene in his own eyes. According to Marty, he was on his way to the papier-mache convention because of the fear of having to turn the convention center into a giant barbeque pit, knowing how highly flammable papier-mache can be. He was on his way there when he heard music blaring, mostly because of the window being taken out to have the piano installed, let’s not forget having Tina to be a bouncer and I guess bad at her job but knows that she can’t win a fight against an official. The same goes for Louise when intervening in the confrontation between Marty and the Belchers and not having the event shut down early because if the open mic night gets shut down early because of the family violating health and safety codes and will have to face a fine that could financially cripple them, she and her siblings won’t get their time in the spotlight to perform their song. Once again, can’t win a fight against the fire marshall and now has no choice but to comply with the orders. Ready to wrap this shit up...
Only for Marshmallow once again to save the day to keep the show going. This is the second time in this episode that Marshmallow enters the restaurant in awful timing with the open mic night whether not go as planned or on the verge of being shut down because of the family violating health and safety because of having a higher-than-expected turnout and for the second time in this episode, having to come in and save the event. And she will make sure that she will get her performance, especially when coming into the restaurant with her parents in tow because they are visiting to see their child perform. And wouldn’t you guess it, Marshmallow and Marty know each other. Marshmallow brings up the warehouse fire if you remember at the start of “The Bleakening”, the warehouse that served as a nightclub caught on fire because of being over capacity that forced everyone to find a new location and an underground room in an abandoned warehouse ended up be the place on Christmas Eve and brings up her saving to save Marty from the raging fire the night that happened. And she tells Marty to not shut the place down and let the Belchers continue to host the event because she wants to sing. She wants to have her moment. She brought her parents from out of town and the open mic night is her window of opportunity to give them a show because they never heard her sing and the last thing she wants is for the event to end early because of the turnout that could pose a safety hazard as if we’re still living in COVID era with social distancing. Marshmallow... MVP of this fucking episode and there’s no debate about it. She is cooking and that alone convinces Marty to change his mind and keep the event going. Only three performers left to take the stage...
And we have Fischoeder and Princess Flavia taking the stage and one make you wonder when listening to the song, once again, good performance coming from Kevin Kline and I guess this is the second time we have a duet between Kline and Megan Mullally, yes, that is Mullally voicing the Princess by the way... how the fuck did this song not made it to the EP album? Like, no, seriously, how does this not make the list? Because this was a good performance and makes you question how this doesn’t show up in the EP. I get that can it only go up to three songs like with the EP album for “Butt Sweat and Fears” back in May but it doesn’t seem right to leave one song from any of the performances in this episode aside from Teddy’s song from earlier and both Marshmallow and the kids’ respective songs later and a song with Kline and Mullally not on the list seems criminal if you think about it. But yeah, an alright song coming from the two, and with them wrapping up, that leaves Marshmallow and the kids to get ready to perform. Nothing can go wrong with any of the hurdles now gone away...
Here comes Jimmy Jr entering the premises and yep, not looking good for Tina with her and her siblings waiting for their turn to end the night. The last thing that Tina needs because she thinks that Jimmy Jr would be gone for the night because his wrestling meet would be away, as if away from the town or at least about 10-15 minutes from the restaurant and that is what she thinks but fate decided to have other plans as we are now less than four minutes left in the episode. Jimmy Jr enters the restaurant, in his wrestling uniform since coming into the restaurant from his wrestling meet, guessing Jimmy Pesto left after talking to Trev following his performance and preparing to pick up Jimmy Jr from his wrestling meet, not bothering to change into his casual outfit, and for Tina, she’s in a tight situation and a situation that she can not get out because Gene and Louise need her to be with them once their turn is up despite Tina’s call to not do the song because of how personal it is since it’s about Jimmy Jr. Again, Tina... you read your erotic friend fiction to the whole school... how many times do we have to remind you of that moment in the earlier seasons of the show?
We get to Marshmallow’s performance as she is the second to last performer in this episode in this open mic night and when I said that I was going to be a little biased when talking about Teddy and Mort’s performance leading up to where we are at the episode with Marshmallow’s performance... oh yeah, I’m gonna be biased. The song was anticipated because of a Deadline interview with Jari Jones leading up to the episode’s premiere and listening through the performance when watching/live blogging the episode when it first came out this past weekend... out of the performances that came out of this episode and we’ll get to the kids’ performance in a bit... this was the highlight. This was the highlight of this episode and after what was pretty much a hard week with the election we had, this is something that we need as a source of escapism. A good and somewhat powerful song that Marshmallow sang to the masses and the shots of her parents listening to their kid singing, having to hear it for the first time, you can see that they’re proud of Marshmallow. They’re proud to see what she can do with her performance and them giving Marshmallow a congratulatory hug once the song ends... fantastic. It’s as if this episode with Marshmallow getting a lot of screen time and her getting her time in the limelight and singing her heart out through the mic... I feel like this role as Marshmallow, especially when taking over for David Herman, who was the original voice of the character... this was the right casting choice. Jari voicing Marshmallow since Season 14’s “Fight at the Not Okay Chore-ral”, even if it’s only for one scene... this was a great casting choice and hopefully, that means we get more Marshmallow in future episodes.
So now, passing the two-minute warning and after watching a good performance from Marshmallow, makes you question how will the kids one up this. Well, the Belcher kids get on top of the piano, with permission from Mr. Fischoeder, and the band kids are in position for them to play their instruments, as well as Louise passes her bongo across the restaurant because it looks like she won’t be needing it and instead, using it as a collection basket as if you’re donating your money during Sunday service. And the money, of course, going towards the restaurant because they haven’t made shit with the food to be served for the audience during the show, and with the show nearly coming to a close, might as well donate as the kids’ way of them making things up to Bob and Linda because they were hoping to cash in on the open mic night... but didn’t and now, they have to make things up by using the bongo as a collection basket for everyone in the audience to pay up and yes, that includes the fire marshall. As for the song itself to close out the episode...
Yeah, it’s pretty much a rethread to “My Butt Has a Fever”. This is pretty much “My Butt Has a Fever” coming from their performance. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a bop. It’s a good song and was expected to happen to come from the Belcher siblings and again, grasping at straws throughout the whole review for what might as well be the real reason why Frond decided to can the talent show because he doesn’t want to go through that again as if he knows what the Belcher siblings are scheming and canceling it might be the way to go as a precaution, but I’m gonna be biased here and say that in my opinion, didn’t top “Seabird”, that’s the name of the song that Marshmallow sang before the kids get on the stage. I could give it a listen again and maybe my opinions can change from having to go through a second or third listen but above all else, it was an alright song. I don’t hate it and out of the two songs from the kids when having to compare “My Butt Has a Fever” from the short and this week’s episode with, and I gotta check the name on either Spotify or on the Wiki while typing, “Draw a Butt on Your Face”, I gotta go with “My Butt Has a Fever”. Again, not a bad song but you sort of knew that the kids was going to... I guess re-capturing the magic that they did in the previous talent show in the short.
And yes Tina/Jimmy Jr shippers, might as well eat this shit up as if Thanksgiving came early this year because despite the fear of embarrassment in the event Jimmy Jr listens to the song that was from her journal that Gene and Louise had to dig through for their inspiration for the songwriting process. And again, it’s like coming from Season 2’s “Bad Tina” with her having to read her erotic friend fiction to the school and this time around with the song, she didn’t bother changing the name or rather played it off as if it was about something else by playing the common name card and not about Jimmy Jr. But you can see Jimmy Jr upon hearing the song from the peanut gallery and seems dumbfounded at first when Tina gave him a little warning on what the song is about but once the song is played, he seems to be enjoyed it and, of course, dances along with everyone else inside the building. Oh yeah, and Linda. Can’t forget about Linda because open mic nights like this one should be her thing and was about to join the kids in the songwriting process before telling her to butt out because it was meant to be a surprise, but at least she joined her kids at the end of the episode. Thought that she was going to have something planned for the show with Gayle as if she was planning to throw her hat onto the stage before Gayle had other plans but other than that, it was quite the episode we have and, of course, an escapism mechanism following last week’s events.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? This was a good episode. This was a good episode and I know that there are some people out there who don’t feel that way because it felt like a musical-filled episode and they probably got tired of it or that we were overhyping it because this was an episode written by Bouchard and following what happened with “For Whom the Doll Toes”, I get it, I get it but in my opinion, it’s a good episode.
Nothing wrong with a talent show, or rather an open mic night event episode where there’s no competition, no drama unless you count the two confrontations to keep the show going over the concern of money and being over the capacity limit, and we have been a bit yearning for one to happen and this week’s episode, at least in my opinion, did not disappoint. Nice to see almost every character appearing but not most with some either in the audience or having to participate and take the stage to sing their heart out. And out of the performances that we got in the episode, there’s no debate that Marshmallow crushed it. She crushed it, not only in the performance of “Seabird”, but the episode in general with her having to come to the kids’ defense to greenlit the open mic night and also having to save the show from shutting down when throwing some sass towards Marty. And as I said and will say it again as if you’re accusing me of glazing, Marshmallow is the MVP of this episode, and handing the role to Jari Jones was the right call to make.
Other performers did their part as well. Andy and Ollie’s performance was fine and enough to have Jimmy Pesto crack a smile... or at least attempt to crack a smile; Mort and Teddy’s performance was alright; Trev’s song... again, who hurt you, man? Who hurt you? And love that it feels like Jimmy was catching strays from Trev from his song during his performance. Fischoeder’s performance was good and also need to explain how this wasn’t on the tracklist for the EP. And then the kids... back and forth regarding Tina’s approval over the song choice but they pulled it off at the end and even though I prefer “My Butt Has a Fever” to this song, it’s an alright song to end the episode on a high note and, of course, gotta have the Tina/Jimmy Jr eat this up like it’s Thanksgiving dinner. The rating for this week’s episode seems difficult when having to choose which number to pick, but I’ll give “Hope n’ Mic Night”... and get ready for somewhat of a controversy...
An 8.5 out of 10, was somewhat close, around the category of tilt or possibly leaning towards a 9 out of 10 because of the performances from everyone and having both the kids and Marshmallow getting the spotlight the most, I think rating this episode an 8.5 out of 10 seems like a... fair, maybe decent choice to rank. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. Apparently, we have no episode this upcoming Sunday, which is weird because there’s nothing important going on like an NFL game or some other event, so we’re on a bye this upcoming weekend, which is fine because I’m still in the process of moving, at the unpacking phase, and for content... eh... I don’t know... maybe a Thanksgiving episode ranking... or maybe doing the two Great North episodes that I haven’t touched since September, who knows. But we do know that we got an episode on November 24, the week of Thanksgiving, with Bob and Louise doing some boogie boarding father/daughter bonding in the seventh episode of Season 15, titled “Boogie Days”.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. The second match of the Semifinals is going on between Jolyne Cujoh (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure) and Rin Okumura (Blue Exorcist) with a short week but it’s to play catch up before we get to the December 1 date for the Final Round. That poll closes on Saturday. The winner faces Moon Tobin (The Great North) on December 1 for the championship title; the loser faces Louise Belcher (Bob’s Burgers) this upcoming Sunday, November 17 for third place. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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