It’s going to be hectic the next few weeks for yours truly, going into the summer months, AKA, the offseason. Of course, still the rest of Season 16 to get through with this episode and the next two episodes to close out the season, which happens to be a double bill to meet the 15-episode threshold from the four-year deal just last year. Not to mention, Regular Show is back with The Lost Tapes. No, I won’t do a mini-review of it because I got this show to deal with and need to go easy on myself. But I will do the live blogs because I am obligated to do it since I did the show from 2015 up until the original series’ finale in early 2017. At least it’s not a premiere bomb where they drop an episode every hour, so that’s good.
And if that’s not enough, the NBA and NHL playoffs are still ongoing, so by the time this review is posted, we’ll be done with the second round and going into the conference finals, or would still be going with the second round. At the time of typing the introduction, the Hurricanes and Knicks made it through. By the time of posting, probably the Thunder, Avalanche, and who knows if it's the Spurs, Wolves, Sabres, Canadiens, Ducks, and Golden Knights will make it to the next round. And if that is not enough, when talking sports, we have the World Cup coming up in a few weeks. And it's a big one, not because it's coming to North America, which we all know that it's going to be a shitshow, especially in the United States with Trump in office, but because with 48 teams since of 32 this time around, yeah, it's going to be a busy few weeks to cover.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, Nat decides to help Linda how to control her road rage following an incident on the road as Louise, Tina, and Gene, and later Bob, decide to mess around and sled down the stairs using an worn-out mattress in my spoilerific review of the thirteenth episode of Season 16 of Bob’s Burgers, titled “Driving Miss Ragey”.
Think it’s fair to say that, while on the open road, we feel something. The feeling that is quickly bubbling from the inside, and I’m not talking about your bowels, but the pressure surrounding it. The feeling of stress. The feeling of anger that is boiling like you’re trying to cook a pot of soup that you may have accidentally put on high heat, that you think it would heat it quicker, as if you don’t have the time, and the moment you try to simmer the oven, it immediately blows up in your face. That is what we call anger. It is inside us. It’s what made us human. It’s an emotion that, on one side, can easily be contained with stuff that should calm you down, but on the other hand, is like dealing with a rabid animal that you can’t contain and can kill you on the spot.
And when it comes to road rage, one reckless driver not knowing where they are going would be the trigger to ignite an uncontrollable flame within you, unless said otherwise. It takes one bad apple to make the driver feel triggered, and road rage is nothing new to anyone. It just comes down to whether or not you come across an experience like that while driving on the road, or you yourself had that experience when coming across a bad apple. And knowing road rage incidents, the outcome would range from breathing a sigh of relief to becoming a statistic and your face being on the nightly news.
And with this episode, nothing like the latter, well, almost, but you get the idea when tackling the topic of road rage. Especially when centering on one Linda Belcher, who had a habit of being rageful when driving behind the wheel. If you remember that one scene in Season 2’s “Food Truckin’” when driving the food truck. So, now, here we go with Linda needing some on-the-road therapy and with the help of everyone’s favorite limo driver. This is “Driving Miss Ragey”.
The episode starts with the usual at the restaurant with the Belchers doing their work and Teddy eating his food, when Nat enters the scene to make an order. The usual way she greets the family is by greeting Linda and the kids, but also calling Bob “Robert”, since that is his government name. But also calling Teddy “Theodore” the same way as Bob, as if he is one of them, since he is a regular.
So, Nat is at the restaurant to get her food. And on the clock too, because she has a job to do as the limo driver. Though not just a limo driver, but also as an instructor. An instructor who knows how to help people who have road rage. And quite the backstory we got from Nat when explaining her course. Especially when telling the family and Teddy that she once had road rage.
See, a few years ago, she used to work for a guy named Ronnie Glow at the height of the stretch limo trend, and the guy who happened to be her boss. Note that I said “used” when going through the scene, watching the scene, and reading through the transcript, it’s either that Nat went independent in the limo driving industry or the company she worked for is under new management. All we know is that Nat hated the guy who was the root cause of her road rage. And for good reason. And a valid one too.
Ronnie made Nat and the other limo drivers work for 70-80 hours a week of driving people around while they get wasted and shit. You’d think that Nat would have gotten used to it as a limo driver, but that is mostly owning her own limo and probably with fewer people, mostly the Belchers and a few clients. At least the limo was unharmed when giving it to Linda to make Bob drive around for Gretchen’s sister’s bachelorette party, so we have to include that. Though that’s more of having to run as an independent business or under whoever is in charge currently, probably the latter. Under Ronnie Glow’s watch, she was not having it. Treating it like she’s doing hard labor under a guy who doesn’t give a fuck about his workers’ well-being as long as he makes a buck out of it. Especially since the guy looked like someone who slept for 12 hours in the hot sun in the middle of the Arizona desert because the sun back home doesn’t shine too bright.
But yeah, just working under Ronnie made Nat’s blood boil. She wants to lash out at the guy and call him out on his bullshit. Wanting to rip the guy’s tanned skin off, but because she doesn’t want to cause a scene and possibly lose her job, she had to keep her cool. Especially in front of the passengers she is driving. So, she does that. Trying to keep herself calm and quiet while driving her passengers around. And the only time she could let her frustration out would be on her way home and going through ongoing traffic after a miserable day at work. Going after whoever is cutting her off and throwing stuff at them out of anger, like a walking punching bag on wheels. Mainly food like hot dogs, taquitos, croissants, and sandwiches, to name a few. At least it’s the PG to PG-13 kind of road rage on the show because in real life, you could be seconds away from having your face plastered on a t-shirt. Typical day on the Houston freeways. I’m not joking, when it comes to ranking which cities in the US have the worst road rage, Houston leads the charts. I-10, I-45, I-69, any highway might as well be labeled as a war zone, and one incident could potentially become a freaking crime scene straight out of a GTA server.
But the moment that made Nat snap into road rage in front of her passengers happened a few years ago on the day before Easter, which happened to be the day of the Easter parade. She had a gig to host a wedding party that she needed to get her passengers to the ceremony with the clock ticking because Nat doesn’t tolerate tardiness, and like a pizza delivery person, it’s 30 minutes or less before hitting the ETA threshold. But the moment she made a turn at the intersection, with her racing against the clock, a parade float of a giant Easter bunny sped by Nat, thinking it was cutting her off because that float also had to get there on time, because the parade would have begun. But for Nat, that was the final straw for her to officially lose her cool. Making a fool of herself by letting her anger take over in front of her clients when hightailing the float, putting the clients on the edge, as if Nat lost her focus on the road like a gambler at a casino who was on a losing streak, thinking that the system is going against them. Because that seems to be the case if you’re the wedding goers, but quite the story to tell right after the reception.
Other than that, Nat loses her cool and ends up throwing her tub filled with tomato basil soup, and the next thing you know, the kids in attendance to see the parade got scared. Seeing the giant rabbit being desecrated after getting splashed by tomato soup, thinking that blood is pouring from its head. Though if she can come up with an excuse that it was PETA’s doing, then they would believe it. It’s no giant Stan head float from Gravity Falls, but the image can scare the crap out of the kids. But yeah, Nat accepts full responsibility for what happened, and what happened on that day was not her proudest moment. Nearly had her limo license revoked because of the incident, but the possible punishment for Nat was a suspension.
But the incident still haunts Nat to the point where she decides to go off the grid to an Amish countryside in Pennsylvania. Her way to calm her mind for a couple of months while having to carve a rabbit, a reminder of the wrongs she did when committing a road rage incident, as she prays to never fall into temptation to let her anger do all of the talking, even if, as the saying goes, anger is within you. Then again, they also said that anger leads to hate, which would ultimately lead to suffering. So, after those months in the backwoods of Pennsylvania around Amish country, that’s more than enough for Nat to learn her lesson and decide to swear off on her road rage and would wind up teaching a course to help others do the same. And I think we know a certain someone who knows a thing or two about road rage when taking the driver’s seat.
Talking about Linda. And this isn’t new that Linda had a case of road rage. We've seen that a few times in the show with her having to yell to someone in front of her. Take the episodes “Tube for Tina” as the recent case, “The Right Tough Stuff” from Season 14, and who wouldn’t forget that infamous moment in Season 2’s “Food Truckin’” when driving the food truck with the family on their way to a music festival. So, this shit ain’t new, just should’ve at least brought it up just for continuity. Missed opportunity there, but other than that, the family... everyone is aware of Linda’s terrible habit behind the wheel each time she gets cut off by a random driver. But nothing more to get a front row seat to that than the rest of the family, who had to live with it. And as much as Linda wants to deny the claim, we all saw it. It was written in. And this episode will show her in full force since the topic of the episode is all about road rage. And it looks we’re about to see that at the end of the first act as Nat tells Linda to call her in the event she were to endure road rage of own her to enroll in her course. Even if she almost forgot to get her food because she thought she was making a dramatic exit like she’s Batman.
And the road to Linda erupting into rage on the open road begins with her getting impatient with the family hours later, as the clock is ticking for everyone to move their butts if they want to make it to the movie theater on time. Whether it’s Tina finding her glasses, Gene being told to put on his pants, or Bob taking a shit, Linda getting impatient is the first sign of developing road rage, much like what Nat had to endure a few years ago. At least Louise is ready to go, at least, as she spots an old mattress that is about to be thrown out. It was Gene’s mattress, and it was mostly because of a stain. Let the record show that it’s not pee; they even clarify it, it’s butter. Louise sensed an opportunity with the mattress and wanted to use it as a slide down the stairs, but Linda shot the idea down because it could result in someone getting hurt. But you know that’s not going to stop Louise from doing something like that because that is the subplot of the episode. The writers already wrote it.
But yeah, after that little scuffle of Tina, Gene, and Bob having to deal with their own problems at the house, much like Nat a few years ago, it’s a race against the clock for the Belchers to make it to the theater to catch the movie on time. And with Linda behind the wheel, going on hurry-up mode straight out of any driving game you would play back in the day, or I guess in preparation for the release of Grand Theft Auto VI later this year, that would probably put her and the family at risk of potential harm caused by Linda. And road rage usually ranges from a simple bump, and hopefully things won’t get worse, to making plans for your funeral.
At least the first option after that rageful encounter on their way to the movie theater makes you question whether Linda’s license should be revoked for that. Because that was a close call from Linda after going through a bit of a road rage herself, and she thought it was a good idea to go on another lane, turns out the open lane was not meant for driving. It was meant for parking. Especially for buses to pick up anyone to ride share. Not a good look for Linda that almost put her and her family at risk because who knows what would happen if Linda completely loses all of her focus on the road because a driver cut her off. And especially, getting that reaction from one of the bus riders, an elderly woman, giving the Belchers, primarily Linda, the middle finger in response to her bumping into the bus.
That road rage incident, once we get to the end of the first act of the episode, leads us to Linda taking up Nat’s request, once she makes the phone call to her, while feeding her Komodo dragon a piece of spinach, to enroll in her course to tackle road rage. In which Nat at first thought the phone call was about wanting to give the Belchers her homemade barbecue sauce, but no, it’s to make Linda her student when wanting to tackle her bad habit on the road after nearly putting her and her family at risk on their way to the movie theater. And with that, it’s a go, going into the second act of the episode with Linda officially becoming Nat’s student. Though, do we really want to know what’s in the barbecue sauce that Nat thought at first was going to give to Belchers via phone call? The world may never know.
Onto Act 2 of the episode, going into the next day, and so begins Nat’s little course to Linda on how to handle road rage at a limo garage, and it happened to be a PowerPoint presentation to give Linda the download on the risks of going through road rage. We know what anger is. We know a thing or two about stress. And road rage usually came from stress because a single bad day at work or anything else that made your day shit, like arriving late, dealing with a broken part, your shawty dumping you, anything that can make your day go down the shitter is going to result in a bit of road rage in the event you get cut off. And we know how your body reacts negatively to stress: high blood pressure is the main culprit, which would result in cardiac arrest or possibly a stroke if your body feels twitchy or your brain rattles out of nowhere. Though let’s not also count out digestive problems because that can happen when feeling stressed, turning your digestive system into a ticking time bomb. So, there are health problems when it comes to road rage, and that is bad to deal with because of the stress that has built up that can kill you, unless the person you cut off or trying to move away would pull a gun out of their compartment and try to shoot you point-blank.
But before Linda gets to the nitty-gritty of things, Nat decides to play therapist when questioning her about anything that can cause her road rage. Asking Linda if she has any happy places to go, and thinking about the positives that should keep her calm and collected, like her family and everything else that she can think of, before getting to finding out what is causing all of this. I.e., the root cause of her frustration on the open road. And all roads, no pun intended, lead to her past, her childhood, from where she picked it up. Let alone who she picked up from back when she was a kid, according to Linda. And, to no one’s surprise, on whom she picked up from as Linda tells Nat the origins of her road rage...
All roads, again, no pun intended, lead to her mother, Gloria. Because, of fucking course, where she got it from. Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh? So, yeah, Gloria is pretty much the person responsible for Linda inheriting her road rage whenever she is on the road. She was a honker back in the day and would get easily pissed whenever she was behind the wheel. And nothing worse than if you’re a parent is having your kid mimic what you said or do because a kid’s brain is like a sponge. They can easily absorb it. And it can carry negative consequences. So, if you want to blame it on who or where Linda got her road rage from, blame her mother. Also, a little fact with the episode, with Gloria’s return, makes Renee Taylor the oldest actor to voice an episode at 93 years old. Though you could probably go and challenge it, since the soundbite from Gloria in the flashback was her yelling, which makes you question if that was actually Taylor behind the mic, or they had to grab a soundbite from any of her previous episodes, and think it's her reprising her role. It’s the same way with Darryl in Part 2 of “Some Like It Bot” where Aziz got credited, but the only voicing line in the episode was a simple scream that you're sure that it was from any of the previous episodes in the Jurassic Park fantasy scene.
So, we got the origin of the road rage settled, and we can agree that it was all Gloria's fault for making Linda who she is, especially when being behind the wheel. So, now, as we prepare to rejoin them after the next scene, Nat introduces Linda to the BBURP method of her course. BBURP stands for Breathe, Become, Unplug, Release, and Play. Breathe as in taking deep breaths if you feel your anger starting to boil. Become is the act of pretending you’re the driver who cut you off. Unplug, go to your happy place if the past two steps fail. Release, let all of your anger out, because it is unhealthy to bottle all that anger, and you have to let it out at some point. Though, makes you wish the town has one of those rage rooms to let all just for Linda or anyone to go and smash everything, just to let the anger out. And finally, play, to find something to serve as a calming mechanism if all else fails. Though if all of the steps fail, the best you can do is let the designated driver take over or just walk home. Just walk home. And with that, the practice session is a go...
Right after going through the subplot. At least Teddy has his own way to deal with road rage when talking to Bob about Linda’s road rage habits and her having to take Nat’s course. And the way Teddy does it in comparison to the other eight billion people on the planet, his way is more of how people would usually follow when tackling stage fright, which is to imagine the cars naked. And I’m not talking about scrap parts that were built for the car; try to imagine cars with human parts. Makes you question how the Cars universe works when it comes to... well, the cars themselves. Everyone has their own method to deal with road rage, and Teddy has his. The talk gets interrupted by a faint thumping sound from the apartment next door. Which doesn’t make sense for Bob because he thought the kids would be doing homework... he should at least know that it's code for doing something behind their back. And it’s not drugs. And you can already tell what the kids were doing by taking Linda’s absence as their advantage.
We’re talking about sledding down the stairs that the kids were doing before getting caught red-handed by Bob. You remember earlier in the episode where Louise spotted the mattress that was going to be thrown away and wanted to use it for good use, which would result in indoor sledding, only to be shot down by Linda. Well, Linda’s not here. She’s with Nat. So, the kids would take her absence as an opportunity to do it. Okay, Gene would probably say yes. Tina, of course, would say the usual “Louise, Mom said no. We could get hurt” before having to find a loophole to make her do mattress sledding to where we are now.
And it looks like Bob, after some convincing, ends up joining his kids as he sleds down the stairs. I mean, this is typical kids having to improvise while living in an apartment with no yard to play on in the midst of the lockdown back in 2020. I swear to God, we are not doing this shit again with current events, if you know, you know. We’ve played these games before. We are not doing this again. But other than that, Bob ends up joining his kids in going down the stairs with the mattress. And with Linda being absent while having to take care of her road rage with Nat. Not to mention having Teddy to watch over the restaurant, let’s not forget about that. And while it looks fun as it sounds in having to use the stairs as a sled hill when trying to beat boredom at the house, it’s how the saying goes, “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.” And even though that didn’t happen at the end of the episode, spoilers, by the way, but who knows if riding high on this would result in a sprained or broken body part. Almost getting flashbacks to the subplot to “Fifty Worst Dates Adventure” if y’all remember that. No? You probably should.
Back to the main plot, where we begin Linda’s true test when handling her road rage with Nat on the passenger seat, to the one place that is considered the most congested. If you guess the airport, you should be right on that because airports are pretty much the most congested, whether it’s on a normal day or on a holiday, the traffic is a freaking nightmare. I’ve never been to an airport, and the most congested that I had to deal with would be... well, anywhere in Houston. But while I was living in Atlanta... yeah, same thing. But I think the section that would be considered the most congested would be Northeast Atlanta, going past or getting out of I-285, through the Spaghetti Junction, onto I-85, once you get to the Pleasantdale exit, crossing county lines from DeKalb to Gwinnett, toward the Jimmy Carter exit, where it's bumper to bumper. I know the Downtown Connector has something to say, and that is a total nightmare for sure, going through Downtown Atlanta, especially during rush hour, but that's how I remember, and the most ever to be used on the way home at the time.
But yeah, Nat chose the airport for Linda to drive through to test her patience and not fall into the temptation of road rage. She failed the moment they went onto the ramp and into oncoming traffic. And someone who cut her off while moving at a turtle’s pace quickly became the trigger to her road rage. Nat tries to reassure Linda to keep her cool on the wheel by reminding her to use the BBURP method so that she doesn’t cause a scene. But each of the five steps she was using doesn’t seem to work as her rage is trying to take over. Channeling her inner Gloria as if her spirit is lingering within her to channel the rage when behind the wheel. And as much as Linda is doing her hardest to follow the method, she pretty much failed at the first step the moment she entered oncoming traffic. Once again, you can blame Gloria for not being a good influence on her daughter when getting a front row seat to her road rage. She was a kid back then, and most kids, their brains are like sponges. And it will absorb easily in an instant.
And going into the montage to bypass the second act as we prepare to get to the end of the first act of the episode, it’s not a good look for Linda. The tiniest of moments when being on the road, and she would become triggered like she’s a Karen behind the wheel. She is dangerous to be around if you dare to cut her off. It’s like dealing with a rabid dog that you have to be taken to dog training class, and each moment in the course, especially when being next to a random dog, would cause a lot of problems. Makes you question how her license wasn’t even revoked as a result of it. At least it’s the PG-13 version, like the usual swearing and stuff, because otherwise, the open road would become an active crime scene. And that’s just American roads in a nutshell. I pray for everyone who will travel here for the World Cup in the coming weeks.
But I see that the rest of the Belcher family is having a time. Using Linda’s absence as an advantage for them to have a good time sliding down the stairs with a mattress. Even though, again, it’s all fun and games until they all get hurt. But that’s not going to stop them from having a good time as we end the montage portion of the episode, going into the next day, while Linda is having a horrible time because she can’t control her anger behind the wheel. Already admitting that got it from her mother back in the day and treating it like it’s genetic for this type of behavior. She just can’t help it. And with this being her last day of the course with Nat, she has to get her stuff under control and plans to do just that...
But ends up failing, going into the next scene as we prepare to wrap up the first half of the episode. Not even a second into this scene, and already, she can’t control her anger because the driver in front of her cut her off. You can take Gloria out of New Jersey, away from Linda, but you can never take her influence out of Linda. I think that’s how the saying goes, right? But Linda’s unsolvable problem with her road rage is getting to the point where Nat can’t help her with this. Linda tried everything she could from the course, but each time she’s on the road, she just can’t help herself from becoming angry to the point where she would probably put herself and/or her family at risk.
So, yeah, Linda failed her course. She can’t control her rage. She’s pretty much a dangerous person to be with as your driver. This leads Nat to take the wheel and prepare to take Linda home after having to fail the course because she can’t control her anger. Already feeling disappointed for not being able to contain it and never in her life, not since herself, she had to deal with someone who didn’t know how to control, because of a few bad apples on the road, as if they participated in the Bird Box challenge. Now, this is where things are about to turn a complete 180 on the sanity meter as we are about to enter the second half of the episode.
Because a neon green car pops out of nowhere on their way back to the Belcher residence, and the moment they saw the flashy car, a nerve had struck for one Nat Kinkle. Because Nat recognized who the driver of the neon green car was upon coming across the intersection. And, oh boy, this is where shit begins to hit the fan, going into the second half of the episode. Now, y’all remember earlier in the episode when Nat shared her story about her having road rage, and her boss was the one who caused her to develop the rage that led to the incident the day before the Easter holiday? And that she swore to never fall into the temptation of becoming a road rager like she’s being rage baited?
Complete 180, or rather, a complete 360, actually, 720. A complete 720 for Nat to lose her cool once more, the moment she saw the neon green car, believing that it belonged to Ronnie Glow. And knowing that she truly hated the guy, and I mean HATED, all caps, it looks like today seems to be the day that she goes and is about to have herself a body count of one on the docket. This would tell you how dangerous it is to be around someone with road rage. Let alone if that is you who had that experience. Nat is a different breed because these are years of pent-up anger boiling inside her towards her former boss. And now, it looks like the day has finally come for her to enact her vengeance on the motherfucker as she plans to throw food from the back onto the car. Putting Linda at risk of potentially being put in harm’s way. Oh, how the roles have reversed as the third act of the episode progresses. And speaking of things that could put people in harm’s way...
Back to the subplot and back to the restaurant, where another thumping sound was made from the apartment courtesy of the kids sledding down the stairs with the mattress. Bob gets a phone call from Louise to go join her and the others for another round of mattress sledding, and like that, he is set to go and join his kids. Of course, the restaurant has to be watched over for the time being. So, he again taps Teddy to supervise the place while he is away to the apartment to go indoor sledding. So, Bob heads to the apartment to see what the hubbub is this time around...
Only to see that cardboard has been installed on the stairs, as the kids plan on going to the extreme with the stairs. And the cardboard layout, according to the kids, think it would add some extra speed to the mattress sledding as if they’re going on X-Games mode. Bob thinks that it’s dangerous now that the cardboard has been installed to give the mattress a little more speed, like a shiny flood after it was muffed by the janitor, and it should be around the time when they should stop while they’re ahead. Because A: it’s dangerous and someone could get hurt. And B: Linda could arrive at any moment, not knowing that she’s on the verge of becoming a statistic from Nat’s road rage. Only for the concerns to be thrown out and say “fuck it” and decide to give it a whirl.
Only for the door to sustain some damage caused by the mattress. Enough to create a quick, loud sound, enough for Teddy to make a run for it to see the situation. The good news is that no one got hurt. And even if it is the case, it would likely be a sore arm or a sprain. I’m not a doctor, so who knows. But it could be worse. They could probably be at the hospital with a fractured arm or something. The subplot was giving me vibes to “Fifty Worst Dates Adventure” from The Great North, with the outcome of the subplot that resulted in Judy, Moon, Ham, Wolf, Honeybee, and Debbie being taken to the hospital with broken bones. That didn’t happen this time around, but still. They should really add a “don’t attempt this at home” label at the end of the episode. Putting it out there.
Onto the final scene of the third act, before going into the fourth and final act of the episode, we reached the ferry station, and Nat’s road rage continued to take effect as she followed Ronnie Glow’s car, docking on the ferry boat while putting Linda’s life at risk. Going from the calm, gentle nature behind the wheel while calm classical music plays in your mind to make things smooth and gentle like a breeze in the wind to the sounds of the opening verse of “Armed and Dangerous” by King Von playing in the background, ready to go on a killing spree after the car of the guy who she hates cutting her off when coming across the intersection.
This pretty much tells you how bonkers the second half of the episode was. Mainly the main plot with Nat’s road rage returning following seeing her boss’s car cutting her and Linda off on their way to take Linda home. This might as well be treated as an after-school episode about the dangers of road rage for anyone who plans on driving or is about to take up driving courses to get their license. It is not worth it if it means putting a strain on your mental health in the event you get cut off. Let alone wanting to stay alive for another day.
So, going into the fourth and final act of the episode, Nat is about to commit murder due to her road rage. Pushing the car in front of her slowly towards the edge. Planning on pushing Ronnie to the ocean and becoming a statistic. So, going into the final four minutes of the episode, Linda, on the verge of a panic attack over seeing what is about to transpire, attempts to calm Nat down with the steps that she taught her earlier in the episode. You know, the steps that Linda failed to follow the moment she got in the car. Pulling every letter from the five steps to use it on Nat, but to no avail, didn’t even freaking work because when it comes to succumbing to rage, you entirely lose focus. The anger takes over your body, both physically and mentally, and it would take a few people who would be brave enough to snap them out of it before the damage is done. Linda tries doing that to Nat, but ultimately fails as she (Nat) continues to push Ronnie in his car towards the edge of the ferry.
Onto the two-minute warning of the episode, and Linda decides to have her coming-to-Jesus moment in her attempt to stop Nat from pushing the car into the ocean. Telling her what everyone is thinking when it comes to the whole road rage issue, when watching this episode, and I guess some in Linda’s life in general, that it’s all Gloria’s fault. She is a bad influence on Linda, which led to her developing road rage behind the wheel.
All this is because her mom is mad about her life, not because she thinks she’s the problem for her mom’s road rage, which, hopefully, doesn’t make it sound as if Gloria doesn’t want children; it’s just the stress of being a parent. It can happen to parents who have their first child. And I think this is what Gloria had to go through, which caused her to go out in rage while driving, which ultimately led Linda to follow suit once she took the wheel. So, Linda admits that all her road rage was caused by her mother, which was passed down because, again, she was a kid, and a child’s brain is like a sponge; they can easily absorb it, because being a parent is too hard for her (Gloria) to handle. To the point where her new happy place is driving with her family, with Gloria just being tied up and gagged, so she doesn’t cause any problems. Or just stuff her in the trunk, that works too. And that method should be passed down to Nat when dealing with her own problems on the road, as she prepares to kiss her road rage goodbye, enough for Nat to hit the brakes with the car in front of her on the verge of being thrown off the ferry.
Only to find out that all of this was staged. It was staged. This was all part of the course, and Linda pulled it off, because of course she would, since we’re only two minutes left in the episode. But the entirety of the second half, with Nat going through road rage, I’m pretty sure we all bought that. We all bought it, thinking that it was real. Believing that Nat was actually going to kill someone off the boat, thinking that it was her boss driving in front of her. And speaking of the person in the car that Nat tried to overthrow from the boat, that is not Ronnie Glow. But instead...
It’s a random guy whom Nat came across while they were in Vietnam... not in the war, but she saved the guy while going bungee jumping there. And it also turns out that he is not alone in this staged process on the ferry, because there is a ferry captain who is also in cahoots in all of this. A playbook straight out of Scared Straight, where putting the person’s life on the line in a situation that is spiraling out of control would be the way to go when partaking in the course. Let’s not forget that the ship isn’t your usual ferry boat, because the cars in attendance have no drivers except for Nat and the guy who she has connections, being the only two aside from Linda and the ship captain.
But other than that, quite the process to tackle road rage. I mean, this is a course run by Nat, so you never know what to expect. Especially if you failed to learn through the BBURP method, like what Linda did earlier in the episode. Made it look real with that chase scene, but it does feel like something coming out of a Scared Straight program at a prison. Shades of what we saw in “The Hauntening” with this, and it worked. Linda finally got it out of her system and should be good to go the next time she goes behind the wheel. Who am I kidding? She might revert to it and pretend this never happened. Especially having to go on a very long ferry ride because, according to Nat, it’s a 45-minute ride before reaching land, where she has to wait 30 minutes for the boat to return before going on the boat again for another 45 minutes.
Which is plenty of time for Bob and the kids to have Teddy fix the door before Linda returns. And the clock is pretty much ticking for Teddy to patch up the damage that was caused by Bob and the kids as he puts in the final notch to the repair. Once again, no one got hurt, apparently. So, no trip to the hospital with a bruised body part caused by the mattress sledding. But at least the door is patched up and ready to go... now need to come up with an excuse to Linda...
Who arrived home with Nat, announcing that she is cured from her road rage. Even if she failed the BBURP method, all it took for her to be “cured” was for the program to go full Scared Straight to get it out of her system. Nearly had a panic attack for what she thought was Nat coming back to her old form. But that should at least put an end to the road rage saga, or until the show decides to revert it, and the next time we see her drive, we’re back to square fucking one. So, Linda is cured from her road rage, for now, and sees Bob and the kids, along with Teddy, trying to play innocent without wanting to cause a scene. Linda is calm from her road rage that was caused by her mother. Their actions that led to the door being damaged are the last thing they want. So, off-camera, they end up telling Linda about the whole thing. How Linda earlier in the episode denied Louise’s request to use the mattress as a sled, pretty sure things got heated as a result. But in the end, it’s the same way that the kids convinced Bob earlier to join them to sled.
And Linda and Nat, as we end the episode, did just that. Giving mattress sliding a try as the two women come down the stairs, as the credits begin to roll in. Once again, no one got hurt, but once again, there should really be a warning label to tell anyone not to try this at home. And the moral of this story: keep a check on your mental health, especially when being on the road, because otherwise, you might become a statistic yourself.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all in all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Well, this was an interesting episode. A slow start, for sure. A slow first half of the episode, but the second half of it, primarily in the main plot, was when things went through a complete 720 that really sold us to think that it was an actual chase and thought that Nat was moments from killing the person who cut her off. Straight out of the Scared Straight program from prison.
With Nat’s return to the show, and under the Molyneux umbrella, since the character is pretty much their baby because some of the episodes written by them had her appearing (except for “The Pickleorette”, which is under a different writer), expectations were already high just because of the character and how popular she quickly became since her debut back in Season 8. And following the past two episodes, where it felt like nothing burgers, just having her back on the show was fine, getting a bit of backstory from her as a former road rager was something. But the second half of the episode had us believe that it was an actual thing, not knowing it was staged, till after Linda admitted her faults behind her road rage, courtesy of her mother, sold it. Had us there for a moment, and leave it to Nat to use the Scared Straight method to get Linda to get rid of her road rage.
The subplot was okay, I guess. It was getting me vibes to the subplot of “Fifty Worst Dates Adventure” on The Great North, only without having everyone fall injured, but instead, resulting in the door being busted. At least Bob is having fun after being influenced by his kids to join in on the fun. Got to give him something for once with the season almost over. So, I’ll give “Driving Miss Ragey”...
An 8 out of 10, mainly for the main plot and how insane it was in the second half, even if it was staged as fuck. But that’s my opinion, and I want to hear yours in the comments below. This is it, I know that we came back after being gone for four months, but the season is almost over. We have a double header as the season finale on Sunday, with one episode with Bob and Hugo being stuck in an elevator at the mall. And the other, a rotten smell threatening a town event at the beach in the fourteenth and fifteenth episodes of Season 16 in “Stuck in the Middle with Hu(go)” and “Smellbound”. And yes, I’m aware that Season 17 is being pushed to 2027. I posted the news on the socials earlier this week when the news broke... we are in Hell. This might as well be our GTA VI before GTA VI actually comes out.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. The 2026 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament is already underway with another set of double matches for this week, with Group A between Uraraka Ochaco (My Hero Academia) and Artoria Pendragon/Saber (Fate/Stay Night), as well as Roronoa Zoro (One Piece) and Mash Burnedead (Mashle) in Group B. The poll for these two matches closes on Saturday. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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