At this time of year, this would be the end of the season, and just call it wraps until we get to the end of September or the start of October for the new season to begin. That wasn’t the case last season if y’all remember going into 2024 with one episode in January, a hiatus in February (mostly because of the Super Bowl), one episode in March, another hiatus in April, and another episode in May, and I remember that because I nearly missed it when the derecho came into my area, before going into into a summer break until early September to wrap up the season. And it looks like we’re doing this again.
We’re going into the Thursday slot starting May 29, if y’all haven’t gotten the news already, as if you’re just coming out of a coma, that’s where the new episodes are slated to return, despite we got one this week that I’ll cover in this piece, to burn through the summer months along with The Great North, so double work for yours truly for the summer. I can already tell that when doing this, Saturdays and Sundays will be hell when working on the reviews because of the voting tournament and having to get things ready for Toonami later in the night. Also Doctor Who, but the current season is set to wrap up on the week the next episode of Bob’s Burgers, which is the May 29 date, drops. Yeah, y’all better pray for me. Not for my downfall, but to get through the summer while doing this. At least till... I guess end of July, which is going to be a nightmare because that’s Comic-Con weekend.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, yes, Bob’s Burgers, The Great North is on break this week and will be moving to Thursdays, but in this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers to take its place, feels a bit good to be back to the humble beginnings, Mr. Fischoeder hires the Belchers to cater his party in preparation for his time on stage as the conductor for his upcoming performance and must make sure things go right leading up to his big night in my spoilerific review of the eleventh episode of Season 15 of Bob’s Burgers, titled “Mr. Fischoeder’s Opus”.
There was a lot of hype for this episode ever since the script cover came out last year during one of the table reads that got the people’s attention. There was a lot of hype since last year when the script cover was released, leading up to this episode. Mostly because it is a Fischoeder-centric episode, and Mr. Fischoeder is a fan favorite on the show, as well as this is the first episode for the show in the year of our lord 2025, nearly six months since the last episode was aired and that was back in 2024, the end of 2024, when we last had an episode. That’s a pretty late start to the new year for the show, and at the halfway mark of the season, no less.
But other than that, we can guess why the hype was being built up for this episode. Just the script cover from last year alone should tell anyone that it’s going to be an interesting episode. I never took a band class or became a part of the marching band, but I do remember when yours truly, and pretty much everyone, had to attend music class and had to be handed a recorder to practice, yeah, those were the days. No recorders are being used in this episode, but anyone who had band class or was a member of the marching band knew about how to get things ready for the big event, where you have to play the instrument you’re assigned to or are just good at.
But it’s the conductor, the person who leads the band, who will be in the limelight of this week’s episode, with Mr. Fischoeder ready to take the role based on... well, everything from the script cover to behind-the-scenes photos of an orchestra band doing the performance when the episode was in production. And when going through that, and this being a Fischoeder-centric episode, you’d probably think right away that it’s going to be a good episode, if not, a great episode, as if it’s going to be an automatic entry for next year’s Emmys. But, I’mma judge it by my own merit, and that’s exactly what I’m about to do in this piece. This is “Mr. Fischoeder’s Opus”.
The episode starts with the Belchers minding their business at the restaurant, with the kids wiping the menus while Linda is restocking things at the counter and Bob putting up the latest Burger of the Day on the board, where right away, instead of a few minutes, like one, two, maybe four minutes tops, but at the start of the episode, you have Fischoeder entering the building and pulling up his cart in front of the restaurant. And when Ficshoeder pulls up and enters the restaurant, the Belcher knew right away that he’s here for the rent, that don’t fucking have at the moment. Not in this economy, that it feels like we’re barreling towards a recession. But that’s not what Fischoeder is here for, even though he desperately needs that rent money to be paid off.
He’s here to hire the Belchers to cater for an event that he is hosting at his mansion for the night. And according to Fischoeder, even though in his head the family would be the first option on the table because he’s fond of the family, primarily Bob in general, they weren’t his first option when it comes to catering. He had someone in his mind as the first pick from the table, had someone named Irv who ran a shop called Irv’s Hors d’Oeuvres and More d’Oeuvres to be his pick, but he is currently on the IR due to a bacterial infection. Hence, why Bob’s Burgers is the next option on the list to cater his event. And also giving the family a last-minute notice to get things prepared for the event slated for tomorrow night. And for Fischoeder, he wants to make sure the event tomorrow at this mansion goes right, leading up to a very special event that he’ll be doing after.
He plans to be a conductor for a symphony at the Wharf Arts Performing Center, where he plans to do a song called “Fifth Symphony” by Udo Pfeffer. And if you were a part of band class or a part of the marching band, out of the many positions that are considered the most difficult, the conductor is the most challenging of all the positions. It’s the same with being a store manager or a director for a TV episode or movie because you have to dictate how things should go without having to fuck everything up. Take a look at “The Plight Before Christmas,” for example, when Ms. Bisselbender had to fill in for Ms. Merkin at the last minute after she suffered a medical emergency ahead of the Christmas performance and had no musical experience in how to lead a symphony before Gene had to bail her out. This isn’t like with how old-school cartoons back in the day, like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry, whenever there’s a short that features an orchestra in performance, and you think to yourself, “Oh wow, they make it look so easy.” Only to find out it’s not. Expectations vs reality, folks. They make it look easy, but it’s not. Even if it’s for slapstick comedy.
So, Fischoeder wants to make sure things go right leading up to the big night at the performance center, and the party at his mansion should be his big test to please the crowd ahead of the event. Mostly because his idea of how the piece should go had some people in his group, called the Pfeffer-philes, which is already sounding like a weird name for a group that is filled with old people who like the symphony, especially towards one musical artist, but they were questioning Fischoeder’s idea of wanting to liven things up a bit with the song in question by adding his own tempo and that’s what Fischoeder wants to do for when he hits the stage. That’s pretty much the game plan for Fischoeder to make sure things go right leading up to the night of the concert, and thus, hiring the Belchers to cater for the party tomorrow night. Of course, a deal had to be made before accepting the gig and wouldn’t you know, it’s the rent that Fischoeder brings up so that can’t refuse the offer by giving the family free rent for the month, before having to up the scales to two months if things go great as planned. And with that, it looks like the family is in business to cater the event, and for the party leading up to the concert to go smoothly.
This leads us to the next night, where the party takes place at the mansion with the Belchers serving sliders, both burgers and peaches, never in my life have I ever heard of a peach slider, having do to their part to make sure things go right at the party leading up to the event so they can get their hands on that sweet, sweet two months’ free rent. Of course, the kids didn’t get the memo, as they served as a distraction for Bob and Linda when serving the food. This results in Bob telling the kids to go to the back of the mansion so that they won’t continue to distract them and scare the partygoers. Though with a mansion this big, even though the house feels like something coming out of a bed and breakfast on the New England shore, let’s hope the kids know how to get to and from the station without having to get lost, since it’s a big place. And that is one of the rules for caterers, that being poking around, along with looking for secret rooms, using the bathroom, or looking at erotic paraphernalia, which I don’t want to know but it might tie in with some artwork on the walls if I were to describe it. But the caterers like Bob and Linda, for example, have to abide by the rules to make sure things go right for Fischoeder.
As he arrives at the station to check up on everything, while the kids make their way across the halls of the mansion to keep themselves busy for the night, already breaking one of the ground rules that were implemented when accepting the gig for this night. And this is where Fischoeder reveals his target for the night in an attempt to make things go his way, leading up to the night of the symphony with every member of the orchestra present and ready to woo the crowd. But there’s one person whom he wants to please the most and have a say in letting Fischoeder shake things up with the song that he’ll be conducting. That being the concertmaster named Jackson, who’s first violin, and having to look up the job description, he’s pretty much the boss in all of this. Remember when I said that conductors are like store managers or movie directors when having to dictate where this dog and pony show goes? If the conductor is the manager, then the concertmaster is the assistant manager. They have to make sure things go right and are organized so that things don’t fall apart. Though it would’ve been easier to just compare the conductor and concertmaster as the captain and first mate of the ship, but then I would attempt to make a One Piece reference.
But Jackson, the first violin and concertmaster, is the intended target for Fischoeder to please, because if he can win him over with this party, having to make sure nothing can go wrong for the night, he gets to do whatever he wants in having to mess around with “Fifth Symphony” and add his own spin to the centuries old song. But he can’t do that head-on as the first person on the list to go after. So, he decided to start slow by going after everyone in each position of the band, by difficulty, from the woodwinds, whom Fischoeder thinks are the easiest to convince, to the brass players, to the percussionists, to finally, the strings, where Jackson is positioned in the orchestra. Who knew that people who play string instruments like the violin have a complete say on what the conductor can do, as if they have complete power? But that’s what Fischoeder is planning on doing for the night. Make sure he starts playing hard to get with each of the groups of musicians and woos enough to make sure things go his way without any problems to disrupt it.
Of course, it looks like we got our first problem for this party, well, I guess two, because Bob did let the kids go wander off because they were serving as a distraction and didn’t want to scare the partygoers, once Inga, the Fischeoeder’s maid, voiced by Amy Sedaris making her return to the show after 14 seasons, 14 seasons... the last time we had her on the show, Obama was still in office. Though with a different character this time, voicing Inga and not Samantha, if y’all remember, was Mort’s date in Season 1’s “Weekend at Mort’s”. Inga alerts Mr. Fischoeder through whistling signals, though Fischoeder might be getting mixed signals on what each signal means, causing Inga to walk up to Fischoeder and alert him that Felix has come back to the mansion.
According to Fischoeder, to make sure the party goes right as planned, he needs Felix to get out of the house so he doesn’t scare the guests away because he can’t think while he speaks. And Fischoeder thought it would be a good idea to get Felix away from the mansion by having him go on an ayahuasca retreat, as if he’s expecting Aaron Rodgers to be there. So, with Felix back in the mansion, he might throw a wrench towards Fischoeder for him to get his shot to liven things up with the song he plans on conducting. And this leads him to get Felix out, going into the next scene.
But not before we stay with the scene with Bob and Linda as two people from each of the group, Jackson, the violinist and concertmaster, voiced by Stephen Root, and Kip, one of the other string instrument users who plays the viola, they do look the same, but there’s a key difference in appearance and sound, they came up to Bob and Linda at their station and their conversation upon arriving sounds like it’s going to be problems for Fischoeder as the episode progresses. Talking about hating the idea of someone who happened to be rich getting to do whatever they want, entering their ranks, and having to play pretend and listen to whatever they say. Going for the “just smile and nod” process as if they’re being held hostage just to get the funding.
We skip away from the catering station to the hallway with Tina, Gene, and Louise with Louise trying to get her hands on a saber that is attached to the wall as a priceless heirloom after the kids spot it when going through the mansion and Louise would probably think to herself, “Oh, lookie what we got here. That’s a cool-looking sword. Don’t mind as I take it home with me.” They got stopped by Fischoeder along with Felix, and they already knew right away that the Belchers had broken rule one of not having to wander around. But this does give Fischoeder an idea to keep Felix away from the party, so he doesn’t have to come and ruin it by having him watch over the kids for the night. Felix doesn’t want to do it, but ends up doing it once Fischoeder comes up with a deal for him to watch the siblings for a couple of scoops of ice cream, treating him like a baby... even though he does at times act like one. So, Felix ends up agreeing to watch over the kids, only to find out once Felix leaves the hallway...
It’s the kids who will be watching over Felix. Telling the three to make sure Felix does not go to the party for the rest of the night, so he can have the event go as planned, not knowing what’s about to come next is about to derail everything for him. The kids agree to the offer, but not before they have to make a deal with Fischoeder, as if the two months’ free rent weren’t enough. Fischoeder offers up $20, Louise wanted it raised to $30, $10 for each sibling (or 10 $30s that would add up to $300 each), and, of course, the saber on the wall. Highly doubt that the kids will ever take home the saber because there is no way in hell that Bob and Linda would ever agree to that offer just to keep Felix busy. Same goes for a dagger or bayonet, as if we’re about to have ourselves a gritty reboot of Home Alone. They might as well just take the money and run when accepting the offer. But other than that, the kids agree to make sure Felix doesn’t ruin things for Fischoeder, not knowing that someone else might be doing the job for him, going into the next scene.
Because we go back to the catering station where Bob and Linda are at with Jackson bitching up a storm about them rich folk having to cut the front of the line and having to fuck up everything we hold dear. Good luck reading that line in a Southern accent without having to make yourself sound racist. But Jackson has a disdain for rich people having to run the show like the upcoming symphony at the Performing Arts Center in the coming days. I mean, I don’t blame the guy for what he had to say about having someone who is rich and entitled having to go and cut the line just to have everyone do their bidding, just to push their agenda. My friend, you pretty much describe how an oligarchy works. And he hates it. Mostly because someone like Fischoeder, who is a rich guy, dared to step into the picture and wants to conduct the song that should never be messed with, since it was made centuries ago. Even though in the year of our lord 2025, people do that just to make TikTok videos.
Oh, Bob, you can’t keep your big mouth shut when being caught in the crossfire of Jackson’s rant about having someone like Fischoeder preparing to do Pfeffer’s “Fifth Symphony” once he accidentally revealed the truth to Jackson and Kip that Fischoeder is a tempoist and is planning on adding a tempo to the centuries old song, which to Jackson, who is now pissed over the revelation, feels like Fischoeder is about to commit a cardinal sin in having to mess with an old, yet sacred song that he plans on playing for the concert. It’s bad enough that he hates that he’s rich, which I don’t blame him for having a rich person running the show, but to find out that he’s a tempoist, which to him, are nothing more than scum who dared to scrutinize Pfeffer’s legacy by adding a beat. Saying that the song isn’t supposed to be lively because someone thought the first movement of the song should have a tempo... the point is that Jackson accuses Fischoeder of planning to scrutinize the song, speaking like a casual right here, thanks to Bob’s big mouth to close out the first act, so ends Fischoeder’s attempt to bring his own style to the show once the big night arrives. And if Jackson says “Fuck that, I ain’t allowing that shit to play at the Symphony. I ain’t letting that eyepatched asshole to metaphorically piss on Pfeffer’s grave over a tempo,” the whole band follows.
The tone at the party takes a massive shift going into the second act of the episode with Bob not having to shut the fuck up after accidentally telling Jackson about Fischoeder’s plot to mess around with “Fifth Symphony”. Fischoeder notices the tone shift once he returns to the party after dropping Felix off with the kids, with Bob telling him that he accidentally told Jackson about the whole plot to add a tempo into the song that he (Fischoeder) plans on conducting, and now, the whole band under Jackson’s directive will not be following Fischoeder’s direction once the night of the concert arrives. And even though Linda tries to tell everyone that it’s no big deal, thinking that it’s nothing more than just talk and no action, kind of like last week about teenagers when talking about Judy and how they’re nothing more than just talk, Fischoeder now has to quickly conduct a Plan B if he wants the night to be perfect.
So, for Plan B to make tonight a good night, and to now make sure Jackson changes his mind by having to create drinks for everyone enough for them to feel tipsy, so that it should be enough to have everyone change their mind and do the song. Going for a little “drinking the Kool-Aid”, minus the poison. No Jonestown. Asking Inga to whip up two pitchers' worth of a drink called Cleopatra’s Climax in his attempt to win everyone back so that he can get permission to let his tempo be part of the song that he’ll be doing. Linda also has to help out when having to do the garnish by Fischoeder’s orders, and for Bob, it’s for the best to keep his mouth shut for this one; the next time we go back to the party.
We transition to a new location within the Fischoeder mansion, a library that is filled with a lot of toys from back in the day. Ranging from the toy car and wagon in one scene, and the puppet show stage and a rock-a-bye horse in the other to the giant ass chest that Felix unlocks and opens it, revealing to be a pirate ship that almost looks life like just by having to open the chest. Felix and the kids enter the pirate ship replica in a box with Felix putting on a pirate ship, thinking that he’s the captain with Louise holding on to a saber with her, along with Tina and Gene, having to cover their ears as Felix prepares to fire the cannon... only to end up becoming a dud before it actually fired with a cannonball, a live cannonball mind you, into the wall. Good luck covering the damages, even though the Fischoeders are rich and would get that shit patched up in a jiffy like the hole in the wall or somewhere in the room didn’t happen.
We go back to the party with Linda and Inga being hard at work to get the drinks made in one fell swoop, so that everyone can have their opinions changed in Fischoeder’s attempts to win everyone back thanks in part to Bob’s big mouth of accidentally telling Jackson about what he is about to do once the night of the symphony arrives. Things seem to be going well for the party, and it looks like things might be going back towards Fischoeder’s favor, so that what happened earlier is all a thing of the past. A big misunderstanding, to be exact.
Too bad that the alcohol backup plan that Fischoeder conducted, which should’ve been his get out of jail free card, made things worse for him. Instead of having to feel wasted like how most people would feel when taking one too many drinks, or if the drink has a strong alcohol content level that it feels like your brain has taken a beating after getting jumped, Jackson becomes meaner than before when taking a sip of the glass. Unlocking pretty much a power boost for hating shit. Unlocking bitch mode is what I’m referring to. And uh... yeah, not looking good for Fischoeder when noticing that he had become meaner than before when taking a sip. But that’s not going to stop Fischoeder from feeling a bit optimistic about all of this, despite that it feels like this train ride had been derailed before ever leaving the city, and prepares for his toast to wrap up the first half of the episode. It’s going to be mad uglies once we get there.
Checking back up on the kids and Felix, with the kids continuing to keep Felix busy so he doesn’t get to the party with the four now having to play with Lincoln logs. And we’re not talking about the toy that people from the olden times remember being the logs that came from a box, we’re talking about life-sized logs that came from trees and turn it into a giant sized toy piece as if someone plans on going there if it were to get built as if we’re playing a game of construction worker simulator. Felix still plans on going to the party, but the kids won’t let that happen because they want that sweet, sweet Fischoeder money and are hoping to take home some centuries-old weapons. They need to continue to find ways to improvise so that he doesn’t cause problems for Fischoeder, even though Bob did the job for him by not keeping his mouth shut about him (Calvin) being a tempoist, and it didn’t take long until they spot a puppet show stage. Meaning that the kids’ next idea to keep Felix busy so he doesn’t get his ass to the party would have to create a puppet show for him to keep him entertained and hopefully get his mind off of the party.
Going back to the party to wrap up the first half of the episode, and with everyone starting to feel a bit tipsy just by taking a sip of Cleopatra’s Climax, this was the right time, in Fischoeder’s point of view, for him to make a toast in an attempt to win everyone back after the accidental reveal by Bob that got Jackson peeved off. Fischoeder attempts to play nice to get everyone back on his side by doing the toast, if he wants to play the song in question his way. So far, it’s working with everyone sharing a laugh and about to have a good time. Things were about to go right for Fischoeder and thinks that shit is about to be sweet leading up to the night of the concert having everyone flock over to him.
Of course, Jackson doesn’t buy it. He is still pissed over what Bob said, even if it’s by accident, regarding what to do with the song “Fifth Symphony”. Fischoeder still thinks that adding a faster tempo to the song “Fifth Symphony” would be considered a good idea, and thinks that is what Pfeffer was going for when writing the song. Jackson, of course, disagrees because that is not what Pfeffer was going for, turning this little argument into a game of he says, he says, since we have two old men bickering over which version they prefer and just don't want the song to be scrutinized just by adding something that won’t fit, or at least according to him. Pretty much painting him as a casual. And decides to go off on Fischoeder over how a song like “Fifth Symphony” should never be messed with because it’s a centuries-old song, a legacy song in that matter, though it’s no... well, I guess “Beethoven’s Fifth”, “Moonlight Sonata”, or “1812 Overture”, I don’t know any other classical songs other than the ones that been used by Hollywood trailers or for content creation, so don’t @ me at that, calling it sacrilege that someone like Fischoeder would have the audacity in having to mess with a song that he thought was fine as it is. Though I kind of wish y’all had a time machine and traveled back to when the song was being written to see whose point is correct, just to put aside this silly little conflict, but that’s just me.
But other than that, the confrontation has gotten ugly as Jackson continues to go off on Fischoeder over why he shouldn’t let him play the song the way he wanted instead of leaving it alone to the point where once we get to the end of the first half of the episode with everyone in the orchestra having to join in solidarity with Jackson to not let Fischoeder mess with the song. I mean, I get that where he was coming from because we’re in a day of age where, let’s be real, nothing is sacred. Nothing is sacred these days, where you like the original but hate that something new like a remix or reboot would fuck up the original material. Take a look at some of our shows, primarily shows we grew up watching back when we were young, very young, like Bob the Builder or Thomas the Tank Engine. We grew up watching the original, and we didn’t ask for the reboot, especially if we were to show it to our kids and grandkids. The same goes for movies, primarily Disney animated movies and no one freaking asked for reboots by having it to be translated into live-action. Thank God that it’s been put on pause following the mess that was Snow White after it bombed at the box office, but I feel like the upcoming Lilo and Stitch film might have a say about that.
But music is the name of the game for this episode, when having a song like “Fifth Symphony”, having to be retooled or remixed, and questioning if an extra item to the sound or the song in general, when having to be remixed for modern audiences, would be considered sacrilege as if you’re taking a piss at the original artist’s grave, even if the artist is still alive but their work is being covered or meme’d. And no, I’m not going to bring up who sang best with the song “I Will Always Love You” and hear if the original by Dolly Parton or the cover by Whitney Houston is better, but more of whatever song that is underrated to the point where it was lost in time gets brought back into the conversation, but is being used or a TikTok video, whether it’s the original or have the thing to be remixed, and the next time you listen to a song on YouTube, whether it’s a music video or a lyrics video, and the one of the comments ends up reading, “Oh yeah, this is from TikTok”. Having its legacy go from a nice little song you heard on the radio to someone having to dance in front of a camera that you would find on the For You page. Hell, if y’all remember Vine back in the day, similar things. Though the most that I know back in the day would be the “My Ding-a-ling” song, which was a remixed song from a line from The Simpsons. And the Little Einsteins intro... that too was remixed. But the beat was nice... so, there’s that.
So, going into the second half of the episode, with Fischoeder deciding not to mess with “Fifth Symphony” ahead of the concert, leaving the mansion and feeling defeated when failing to get everyone in the orchestra to flock to his side following that ugly little confrontation, Bob can’t help that all of this was his fault... which it is because he didn’t shut his mouth when getting caught in the conversation between Jackson and Kip earlier in the episode. Inga knows it since a lot of this was his fault because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut earlier. So, she tells Bob to go fix things by giving away Fischoeder’s location at the hedge house, which is a house in the hedge. And that’s where Bob is heading, but not before Inga gives Bob a slight warning to be on a lookout or peacock shit. I don’t ever recall seeing a hedge house in the property, and that was after going through some scenes at the Fischoeder property in both “The Oeder Games” and the movie. And I don’t even recall peacocks in the damn vicinity. Why are we treating this like it’s a freaking petting zoo?!
We go back to the library with Tina, Gene, and Louise, wrapping up a puppet show they had to perform for Felix to keep him entertained. They did the show by having the puppets resemble the cast of Friends and pretending to do an episode where they’re puppets. Felix somewhat enjoyed what the kids were doing, despite the one note he had towards Tina not doing a good Joey impression. Of course, the puppet show isn’t enough to get Felix to turn his attention away from the party, so the kids continue to find ways to improvise when going through the library with Louise going towards the bookcase filled with books and trying to pull one out to keep Felix busy, only to find out, something coming out of Scooby-Doo, a secret room inside from behind the bookcase. This got Louise excited because a secret room means hidden secrets that the Fischoeders are hiding, and the Belcher kids wanted to see that piqued their interest. They enter the room...
Only to reveal an exercise room. An exercise room with only one exercise machine that feels like something coming from a cheap hotel, not a motel, a cheap hotel where exercise equipment is present, and it’s not the one you want to try out to get in shape. The kids behind the bookcase would be on some hidden level of the backrooms, but instead, it’s an exercise room that you would find in a cheap hotel. And besides, besides, this is a big ass mansion. There are a lot of rooms to place an exercise machine, and you chose a hidden room inside the library from behind the bookcase as the place to place said machine, and for what? And for what? It doesn’t make sense to have a mansion with a lot of rooms to choose from.
We head outside the mansion with Bob searching for the hedge house that Fischoeder is hiding, according to Inga, and lo and behold, it didn’t take long for Bob to spot the house, which is in the middle of the maze hedge. Once again, had to check certain scenes from “The Oeder Games” and the movie, and nowhere to be seen, but to be fair, when looking at the screencaps, the middle of the hedge was the farthest that the camera shot could go when it comes when doing a flyover. Anyways, Bob locates the hedge house in the middle of the maze hedge because of the music playing from inside the house, you can already guess it’s Pfeffer’s “Fifth Symphony”, and that’s where Bob is heading... well, not until he scrapes the peacock shit off his shoe after accidentally stepping on it, which Inga did warn Bob earlier to not step on... well, shit. Literally.
Going back inside the mansion, and let’s be real, this is NOT how you use that machine when doing some exercise like what Felix is doing. This shit only works for flexing the arms, not the legs. So yeah, Felix was finishing up showing a demonstration and knowing that he’s getting tired of the bullshit that the kids are doing, he still plans on going to the party, but this time, he plans on trapping Tina, Gene and Louise from behind the bookcase as if he knew that his brother has something to do with what the kids are doing to keep him busy while the party is going on. Felix plans on closing the secret door so that the kids won’t leave, but is unable to do the heavy lifting because... well, of how heavy it is.
And this was pretty much tells you that Felix might be a bit of a dumbass because he fell for the “close from the other side” trick, or rather, Felix doesn’t know that the book that Louise tried to pull out of the shelf from earlier in the episode served as the lock and didn’t even notice that he would’ve imprison the Belcher siblings just by pushing the book back instead of pushing it as if that would serve as a lock in what is pretty much an inescapable room. Like, how did you miss that? How did you miss that? But let’s be frank, Felix isn’t the brightest of the bunch, and the kids, once they leave him trapped inside the secret room with only the exercise machine to keep him entertained, they plan on leaving the room and soon the mansion with them getting paid just to keep Felix away as what Fischoeder intended them to do. And speaking of Fischoeder, Calvin, I mean...
Bob arrives at the hedge house with Fischoeder sitting alone at his seat while Pfeffer’s “Fifth Symphony” plays through the record player, the dumb slow version, as he describes, as he is still upset that no one in the orchestra wants to follow what he wants to do with the song ahead of the symphony. All while holding on to a rag... that was revealed to be his diaper, which is uh... weird, to be exact. A lot of weird when holding a 19th-century diaper that belongs to a dead man who’d been dead for a really long time. He latches onto the diaper when listening to the song, and apologies for not being an expert in all things classical music, because according to Fischoeder, Pfeffer wore the piece when creating the song behind the piano for days when doing the adagio section. But that was just the icing on the cake when it comes to the song in question.
Fischoeder has the letter from Pfeffer that he had it framed, which is meant for his mistress when ranting up a storm over what happened earlier regarding him wanting to add an extra flair to the song ahead of the symphony but got called out by Jackson just for accusing Fischoeder of scrutinizng the song as if he’s pissing on the artist’s grave. Treating the word like it’s a slur just for wanting to add a tempo into the song when having to confront a casual like Jackson ahead of the concert. The letter is written in Austrian German and uses Italian for making musical references, which makes things impossible for Fischoeder to translate because he can’t translate the language, unclear if he had Inga to do the work to translate, but the letter reads that Pfeffer was excited to perform the song and that it will be “vivace con coraggio”, which in Italian means “lively with courage”. I.e., the song was meant to be lively and should deserve to have a tempo as what Pfeffer was intended to put when writing the song. And all of this stems from, wouldn’t you guess, the metronome when creating the song. 150 beats for the “vivace,” but should at least be at 170 beats for the “con coraggio,” the same way you would roast something for dinner at 350, but would have to raise that bitch to 400 if you want the dinner to be crispy, yet there’s going to be dryness that comes with it. Go search up a metronome and play a beat at 150 and tune it to 170 to hear it for yourself. On second thought...
Best that I'd best put it here to try it yourself through an embedded code. Bob tries his best to give Fischoeder advice when lifting his spirits over what happened with the confrontation between him and Jackson, because he was excited about having to perform in front of hundreds of people, but that was before the confrontation, and being exposed as a tempoist, and having the orchestra turn against him. So what’s Bob’s advice to give to his landlord leading up to the next scene of the episode, that being the night of the concert? Just say that he won’t do the song his way and instead will follow along with what Jackson says. Play the slow, boring version instead of having to liven things up. Does that help Fischoeder in his situation once the night comes to a close after both he and Bob leave the hedge house to go back to his mansion?
Going into the next scene, a week later, with the Belchers donning their symphony attire, you know, the ones they wore when they were supposed to go in “Worms of In-rear-ment”, only to hit a dead end because four-fifths of the family contracted pinworms thanks to Gene and worried that it would cause a superspreader event, that episode was made before COVID struck, just putting it out there, and like with Gene in the fourth act of “All That Gene”, yes, in the year of our lord 2025, that had to be brought up, Fischoeder took up Bob’s advice and let’s just say... this is a glimpse of a broken man. He is a broken man after taking Bob’s advice a week ago when having to drop the tempo idea and just go along with a slow, boring version. They did have practice sessions leading up to tonight, but Jesus Bob, think you may have crushed your landlord’s hopes and dreams just because you can’t keep your mouth shut earlier in the episode when being caught in the conversation at the catering station.
And Bob knows it once he and the family take their seat at the auditorium, the first time we see Harold without a hat and without Edith in this episode, when being the usher to the show, but yeah, Bob knows that he might’ve broken Fischoeder’s spirt because the mood he was giving when coming across each other when entering the building speaks for itself after taking Bob’s would-be advice just a week ago at the party at the mansion. And the conversation, of course, sticks with the whole Fischoeder situation, but has the topic shifting towards the peach sliders for a bit, in what is pretty much the argument of what you think versus what everyone else thinks when it comes to creation. Once again, going back to the original vs remixed/revamped/reboot conversation over which version you like better when it comes to... well, anything really, but any form of media in general. Bob says that the people enjoyed the peach sliders, but Jackson, on the other hand, hates them. Though... you know you could remove the peach from the slider, but the touch from the fruit would already affect the taste of the food, or you ask him, “Hey, can I have a slider but hold the peach?”
The point is that it comes down to “who cares about what they said,” and Bob should at least be proud of his craft and not let anyone’s opinion sour the mood. Even if it’s from a casual and I guess hater like Jackson, after stating his opinion. This, of course, causes Bob to go see Fischoeder one more time before the show begins as we prepare to enter the final act of the episode, only to be stopped by Harold, who tells him to get back to his seat since the show is about to start, only to distract him by telling him that someone brought food to the stands, which bought Bob some time to get to backstage where Fischoeder is.
This leads us to the final act of the episode with Fischoeder getting the finishing touches before taking the stage with Inga putting some facial powder onto his face, and Bob entering the dressing room and telling his landlord to take back what he said a week ago about having to follow along with what Jackson said. Telling him to reverse course and do what he was originally going to do before the disaster that was the party leading up to the concert, and add the tempo to the song. And Inga agrees to follow what Bob says to Fischoeder to do the tempo, mostly because she disagrees with the first advice just a week ago that led up to this moment before finally starting to have a change of mind leading up to the curtains rising once we get to the next scene of the episode, that being the performance itself.
But not before getting some things out of the way before we get to the main event to close out the episode. We have the kids talking to each other, and because it’s Fischoeder performing, of course, Felix would have to be there in attendance. And you can already tell what the reaction is coming from Felix after what happened a week ago.
That’s the reaction right there. He is not happy with what the kids did by trapping Felix inside the secret room. And I could guess he’s mad at his brother as well since he did tell Tina, Gene, and Louise to keep him away from the party so he doesn’t can any problems or more problems if it weren’t for Bob’s big mouth, but that I can guess that he’s mad at his brother for having the kids to stall him, just he didn’t expect locking him behind the bookshelf as the possible option just to keep him out. So, Felix is mad at the kids for locking him behind the bookshelf, and I guess his brother Calvin as well, which would include him having to boycott the performance before having to make a deal to make him attend the event.
Bob makes his return to his seat after a last-minute talk to Fischoeder, and it’s now coming down to pray that he takes up his advice so he can play the song his way. Especially since we’re now at the two-minute warning of the episode and it’s pretty much a wait and see for Bob to see if Fischoeder will follow along with what he said to him, but we’ll see, even though since we’re in the final minutes of the episode, you know he’ll follow what Bob said to him once we get to the performance.
So, the performance begins once Fischoeder takes the stage and begins conducting. Starting slow, just like how most classical songs begin. Kind of like with this episode where it started slow, but you know that they’re building shit up, you just have to be patient on when things pick up. And for the Belchers, mostly Bob, it comes down to whether or not Fischoeder would get the message before getting on the stage as he plays the song the way the casuals like Jackson intended. But once we get to the final minute of the episode, that’s where things begin to kick things up to gear.
Fischoeder decides to ignore what the others say and finally decides to do things his way. He decides to add a tempo to the song, and once the members of the orchestra follow along with what Fischoeder is doing with the song behind the conductor spot, the mood in the audience and the band begins to take a slow, but massive shift once Fischoeder decide to follow what Bob said before the start of the concert and lo and behold, this is what we are seeing with the final few scenes of the episode.
Of course, Jackson isn’t all that happy with what Fischoeder is doing, though just by his look and personality, he never is, as if he’s reversing course from what he was supposed to do at the end of the party leading up to the concert, and this ends up turning it into an all-out sound battle between the two old men, but regardless, despite what they’re seeing with two old men having to duking it out with Jackson now attempting to keep things go his way and Fischoeder continuing to make sure he continues to do what is doing just now and add the tempo to liven the song up, it seems people are starting to enjoy what Fischoeder is doing to enjoy the song.
One by one, the members of the orchestra begin to flock away from Jackson to Fischoeder and liven the place up. You have the audience starting to get into the groove from their seasons. Of course, you have Felix getting out of his seat and dancing to the song that his brother is conducting, and turning a night when no one wants to go to a symphony into something you want to jam to and will become a massive earworm once the night ends. Fischoeder got his moment in the spotlight by having his version of the song play to the audience, with everyone getting into a groove with the song playing all the way to the end credits, and not going to lie, the visuals for the credits do look good with Fischoeder continuing to play the song his way and it’s a nice little version to listen through as the episode was coming to a close and getting a win for this episode after as it’s coming out of... y’all remember the movie “Fantasia”, whenever you come across the thing whether in your music class or Disney Plus, then you know where the credits were going and yeah, took things slow before things got kicked up to high gear at the end. And the moral of the story: You do you on which version of whatever form of media or anything else you like best. Because you don’t want to be the asshole who dictates anyone to fall in line to something you or that person likes. Just don’t hoe them. Don’t hoe them.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Yeah, five months since I last said that, if we’re gonna treat the episode like a classical song, then I might as well treat it like one. It was a good episode to start 2025 for the show... by five months... what are we doing? Treating the episode like a classical song, it started slow... for the first three acts of the episode, it was slow, but I get it why because of what they’re building up once we get to the end of the episode, once Fischoeder takes the stage.
I mean, there was a lot of hype that was being built up for this episode, with this being the first episode of this year since December of last year, but also because it’s a Fischoeder-centric episode and that was surely enough for everyone getting excited for the episode since the script cover came out last year. Hell, I was one of them because I thought we would get some lore out of them, and I’m pretty much a sucker for that, but instead, it’s Fischoeder wanting to get a taste in conducting for a symphony. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that, and his version of “Fifth Symphony” was good, and the visuals being used in the credits were great as the song progressed once the episode fades to black, but I feel like that should’ve been the case. But then again, we all would probably be wrong once the synopsis for the episode gets released after months of speculation.
But despite the first three acts of the episode feeling slow, and again, I get what they’re doing and treating it like a classical song, you have some good moments in the episode. The visuals for the end credits were good as the song progressed. Inga was a breeze in this episode, and at least we finally saw her making her debut after it was mentioned in “The Oeder Games” and “To Bob or Not to Bob” with Gene having to dress up as her, or what we think was her, up until this episode, so Inga is an interesting character to have on the show. And yeah, the song itself that was revamped by Fischoeder was good. Surprising that we didn’t get an EP out of this before or after the episode aired. Seriously, what the fuck?! So I’ll give “Mr. Fischoeder’s Opus”...
An 8 out of 10. Will it be enough for the episode to enter the Emmys conversation? Who knows because “They Slug Horses, Don’t They?” is still the top pick to be submitted, so I doubt that it would probably be the talk of the town going into awards season. But yeah, 8 out of 10 from me, and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. New episodes of Bob’s Burgers (and The Great North) resume on Thursdays starting May 29 and Bob’s Burgers kick off the new time slot with the Belchers being forced to go a walk by Linda with Tina, Gene, and Louise having to split away and come across something that caught their attention regarding Blevins. Also, Megan, if you remember her from Season 10’s “Three Girls and a Little Wharfy”, yeah, she’s back in the twelfth episode of Season 15 of Bob’s Burgers in “Like a Candle in the Gym”. Also, please watch The Great North so it doesn’t get canned. Tell a friend. Get a Hulu subscription, yes, the one with ads, and all that shit, that includes watching the new episode set to air on May 29 (May 30 on Hulu) with “Sunset Beeflevard Adventure”.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. The 2025 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament is already underway with another set of double matches for this week, with Group C between Tina Belcher (Bob’s Burgers) and Hilda (Netflix’s Hilda), as well as Cole Tillerman (Central Park) and Bender (Futurama) in Group D. The poll for these two matches closes on Saturday. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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