The calendar may not read October when this episode came out back in June, but man, they must love experimenting with horror-esque episodes when making this. Especially when having to talk about this episode again in December, with Christmas coming in the coming days. So, coming in at number 10 of the Top 12 Countdown is Bob’s Burgers with “The Place Beyond the Pinecones”.
And man, this is an episode, alright. A horror-esque episode to take place in an episode, and, of course, happened to be around the idea of camping out in the woods and having three troop members being the focus. Three happened to be from a rival troop, Tina being from Troop 119, and both Party and Rena from Troop 257, who had to be lost in the woods during their orienteering getaway. And boy, what an episode it was. Even if it feels like something coming out of a Halloween episode or a Treehouse of Horror story with this premise. But what an episode it was for something they’re experimenting on, even though we saw with the likes of Season 14’s “Escape from Which Island?” and “Fraud of the Dead”.
For starters, you have an episode solely focusing on Tina and Tina only, leaving the rest of the Belchers being sidelined. No subplot with them, nothing. Just focusing on Tina alone for this episode, while the rest of the family has to be sidelined. Benched. Put on a bye for the week it came out. And no subplot with them other than checking up on them for a few scenes at the house, with them messing with Tina’s sock drawer and watching TV. And that is an interesting concept for this episode. Nothing in comparison to the likes of “The Amazing Rudy”, where, even though it is focused on Rudy, the Belchers were sidelined for half an episode, or in “Radio No You Didn’t”, with Bob having to tell the story about his grandmother... even though the focus was on his grandmother. This is an interesting concept that they should try some more. Something that they should’ve done along the lines of later episodes, like “Wild Steal-ions” because Bob and Linda didn’t do Dickey McGee’s acts in that episode.
So, here’s the rundown of the episode: Tina heads off to her Thundergirls camping trip to work on her orienteering skills along with her troop, Troop 119. Of course, it’s going to be a long trip for her and her troop because they would have to share the campsite with their rival troop, Troop 257. And it’s Tina’s job to catch her most hated troop in the act after losing to them one too many times by an act of cheating. Mostly because Tina did end up drawing the short end of the stick, or in their case, a piece of string, to observe the rival troop as everyone began working on their orienteering skills, while also looking for the main prize for the trip: a golden pinecone. Which is pretty much a pinecone spray-painted gold, which is highly flammable. God forbid if that catches on fire.
Tina gets herself lost in the woods, especially finding the golden pinecone while in hiding, and decides to hide it from Troop 257 as if Troop 119 wants to give their rival troop a taste of their own medicine. And the same goes for two of Troop 257, who got separated from their troop: Patty and Rena. Leading them to getting lost in the woods as day turned to night, as they eventually found a creepy-looking house that happened to be a girls-only etiquette camp. Did I mention that the communication lines were down throughout the episode and the girls would have to rely on their orienteering skills, or lack thereof, to get back to their campsite?
You know, there’s a saying in all of this in this situation: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.” Then the same thing should apply to cults. The etiquette camp screams cult or a camp with cult-like behavior. And, of course, it had to involve a group of people getting lost in the woods during a camping trip and ending up finding a house that is nothing too suspicious, with the owner not being too suspicious in nature when running an etiquette camp.
Especially if the camp had to be paid for by the girls’ parents for the weekend, and quite a welcome it was when showing the one scene of the girls holding up paper plates with creepy-looking faces drawn on them. Having one girl to correct her posture to avoid being punished by the posture chair, straight out of the North Korean playbook. And also, you have one girl telling Tina, Patty, and Rena to get the fuck out of there, which should tell you that the house has too many red flags that you could potentially call it a socialist campaign. Did I also mention the communication lines were down throughout the episode? So, it’s typical horror movie rules when stumbling across a creepy house with an owner and their offspring operating the camp, and as long as you don’t cause a scene and don't fuck everything up, then you should at least survive the visit.
Too bad that Patty and Rena did not get the memo in all of this while having to wait for Ginny and Bethany to find them. Touching on the owner, Eve, who was upset by their rudeness and obnoxious behavior, to the point where they, along with Tina, had to be sent to another room and restrained in posture chairs as punishment while waiting for their troop leaders to arrive. Punishment by having one's spine straightened feels like something that the Geneva Convention should examine. Tied down to posture chairs while the please and thank you song plays on a loop, like it’s straight out of what you would think would happen in Guantanamo, because Patty and Rena can’t control their behavior. Just be lucky that the whistle that happened to be broken thanks to Jodi disinfecting it before handing it over to her earlier in the trip, has a special type of rope as a lanyard that can easily cut through the rope that was used to tie the three girls down, which is pretty much a napkin with pretty strong knot action. Freeing Tina first before the pinecone fell from her back got Patty and Rena’s attention. And that was after the two claimed that they and their troop aren’t going to cheat this time around for the trip.
Of course, Tina would have to come back and save Patty and Rena, despite wanting to beat her up for keeping the pinecone and accusing her of cheating, because it wouldn’t be fair against her judgment to leave her fellow troop members, even if it is from her rival troop of all the groups, and having to make a break for it. Especially when having to light the highly flammable golden pinecone to serve as a distraction. Hence, the fluid animation of Lacey in sheer panic while holding onto a heated vase, with the pinecone being burnt to a crisp. And it did buy Tina time for her to free Patty and Rena from their posture chairs despite the threats to beat them up for hoarding the pinecone in secrecy. Surprisingly, they didn’t even know it was hiding behind Tina’s back throughout the stroll across the forest, leading up to the exact moment it fell from her back after freeing herself. They didn’t even notice.
And, of course, you have this brief scene of Tina, Patty, and Rena making their escape after stumbling across Eve, dressed as Donna Dame, for a bit, with the three coming across the dining room as the girls were slowly eating their ice cream. Patty tells the girls when making their escape, saying, “You’re free now! You don’t have to be victims of society!” And you have one of the girls telling Patty that their parents paid for this camp and having to stay put because it would be a waste of money if they were to dip.
But at least Tina, Patty, and Rena all made it out at the end of it. Using their orienteering skills after getting the fuck out of there, but it’s mostly because Ginny and Bethany found them while searching for the three. But at least the three are safe and sound. But, of course, no pinecone. Everyone did not know that it was destroyed by Tina when saving Patty and Rena from the etiquette camp. So, with no pinecone, meaning no prize, which is a pizza party for the troop at Family Funtimes. Which sucks for them, but at least the organization doesn’t get hit with a lawsuit if something happens to the troop members. There was even a chant just to avoid a possible PR nightmare. Especially once the trip comes to an end and everyone in the troop reunites with their families on their way home. This is not a turning of a new leaf or something, because we would go back to square one the next time we’ll see them in a future episode.
But other than that, it was a wild episode when having to experiment the horror or horror-esque theme of the episode. And with an episode where it solely focuses on Tina and Tina alone, with the rest of the family being sidelined, was an interesting concept that I hope we can get more of in future episodes. Once again, “Wild Steal-ions” should’ve done that since Bob and Linda didn’t do jack shit. But it is an interesting concept to go through in this episode.
Especially when having a horror or horror-esque episode, when going for the idea of three campers, or three members of a troop, being lost in the forest during a camping trip. Coming across a house and a camp that almost feels like it should give out cult vibes. Because the place does scream cult if you think about how the camp is run. So, we might as well treat it as if it were coming out of a horror movie, even if the episode came out in June rather than being aired in October. But it was an interesting episode nonetheless. And for an episode that is trying out something like having to focus on one character from the main cast and the rest being sidelined for the rest of the episode, without even thinking of creating a subplot for them. Some parts were where the animation was fluid. The mood gives out a horror-esque aesthetic, going through the second half of the episode. And yes, a reminder that if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck. Everyone needs to work on their hindsight when suspecting suspicious activity.
Day 3 of the Top 12 Countdown of the year 2025 is in the books. What do you think about this episode? Should it be higher, lower, or stay put on your list? Put it in the comments below as we prepare to go into the Number 9 spot of the Top 12 Countdown. Hopefully, I can get through the whole thing for once. Which episode and series will be taking the eleventh spot? Find and see sometime tomorrow. Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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