2019…good god, this is gonna be a total shitshow. First off everyone, hope everyone had a Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. Like to apologize for not finishing the remaining nine spots in the Top 20 Countdown because I was out for vacation and access over there…pretty much shit. So there’s that. First review of the first episode of 2019 for Bob’s Burgers and uh…wow, lots of mixed feelings about this one with Gayle and the kids trying to get Linda to snap out of it when it comes to the essential oils while Bob and Teddy decided to help Bob’s neighbor from across the alley, Mr. Huggins, moving some stuff around his house in my spolierific review of the Eleventh Episode of the show’s Ninth Season, titled “Lorenzo’s Oil? No, Linda’s”.
Um…again, quoting the introduction of the review, mixed feelings about this week’s episode. Comparing this one to “V for Valentine-detta” or even in the likes of “Ex Mach-Tina”, “The Cook, The Steve, the Gayle, and Her Lover”, “Midday Run”, “Slumber Party”, and “Mother Daughter Laser Razor”, this was somewhat of a bland, decent episode in my opinion. But that’s up to y’all to decide because it looks like this episode has somewhat of a rewatchability factor now in play. Go ahead and compare my opinion to the other review sites like AV Club or any other site and probably tell their side of the story and probably gave it a high rating or whatnot…I don’t know, I just came back from vacation, so there’s that.
But yeah, this episode seems rather bland, mostly with the main plot of the episode with Linda being a part of a group of people interesting in buying essential oils, something that Gayle and the kids want Linda to pull out from mostly because of what Gayle did in the past fearing that history might repeat itself with Linda. It’s sorta more of line of “Hey, don’t do anything stupid. Don’t be like what I did in the past. Spending shitloads of money for bottles and bottles of oil. You’re better than this. Stop while you’re ahead.” Of course, that failed. Have the kids take matters into their own hands but failed as well. And all it took to get Linda to not buy anymore oil…just yourself. That’s what I’m getting at when it comes to the end of the episode.
And the subplot was decent as well with Bob and Teddy deciding to help out their neighbor, well Bob’s neighbor, Mr. Huggins, moving some stuff around. Yeah, you could say that it was going nowhere, but it was at least watchable and somewhat enjoyable. This isn’t like with “UFO No You Didn’t” when it fall flat on it’s face once the two plots starting their engines and head out onto the race track. There were some moments that I like, mostly with the whole Bob carrying the mattress, and later the bed, to Huggins’ place. Find it somewhat relatable when it comes to carrying around heavy stuff from one place to another. But everything else…decent. You could say there’s a lot of flaws in the episode, but again with “UFO No You Didn’t”, there are some good moments from this one that won’t be deemed as a bad episode. Now to the review and of course, somewhat breaking down the episode piece by piece.
We got to be introduced to what appears to be Linda’s new friend, Angie, who Linda just met over at the supermarket over at the toilet paper aisle and she to her that you know what’s good with toilet paper? Oil. Essential oils, in which Angie introduced Linda to. And wore it ever since their first encounter. Which explains we have Teddy smelling something odd going on in the very beginning of the episode, in which we have Louise telling him that the odd scent that’s been going around is coming from Linda. Anyway, Angie decided to drop by, being introduced by Linda to the family and Teddy, in which Teddy trying to make a first impression, even though Teddy…Teddy, your episode isn’t till next week. No, it’s not him hitting on her, it’s more of line of “I’m part of the family too. I’m a main now…hope that’s not embarrassing to say when meeting a new person.” Angie then asks Linda to attend an essential oil party, in which she can’t refuse to that offer coming from her and it looks like she’s coming over. But with Bob helping Teddy helping Mr. Huggins, the Belchers’ elderly neighbor from across the alleyway, that leaves Tina to watch over both Louise and Gene while the parents are away.
I see babysitting seems to be going…well with Louise and Gene boring themselves out and have nothing to do with Tina deciding to entertain the two young siblings by doing a jigsaw puzzle. Tina…chica…this isn’t the olden times. At this day of age, if the kids have phones or tablets, pretty sure you’re fine with them entertaining with that while you’re out there…locked in your room and write erotic friend fictions. Nope. Just Louise and Gene boring themselves to death as Tina begins to putting the pieces in place for the puzzle. Whatever happened to that babysitter earlier in the series…um…Penny was it? I don’t know, blonde woman who went off to France and never came out of it. Just as things barreling downhill even further, enter a phone call to the Belcher residence…
We have Gayle calling in and see how the kids are doing, hoping for Linda to be on the phone, and Louise tells her that Linda’s over at an essential oil party and that right there, if you already watched the preview clips back last Friday, we have Gayle in full on panic mode. Screaming her way towards the house. Picking them up. And drive towards where Linda is at…while screaming. Why are we screaming?! Oh 2013, you’re a riot.
So we got somewhat of information revolving around Gayle and it looks like she has ties to the whole topic of essential oils that she wasted a lot of money from her pocket, $600 worth of oils. Failed to sell it to the others and used half of the package on herself. You think it would’ve been a bit better if the plot of the episode…have the whole Linda attending an oil party and Gayle and the kids trying to get Linda out of it but have more in the line of the whole oil thing being a scam and Gayle, a victim of the whole scam shebang, wasting $600 from her pockets, getting Linda to not fall for it and becoming the victim herself. Because let’s be frank, we’re now living in times like this one where people can get easily duped into getting some stuff, whether if it’s on the streets or on the internet, for a cheap price rather than the price over at the store, but not noticing that there’s somewhat of a danger of a product being defective or was brought in illegally and your hard earned cash, whether you saved it for something important like paying bills or saving it for your child’s college or getting an operation for a new kidney for your dad, poof. Duped. That would’ve been a better idea, but nope, nothing like that. Second option in place, addiction. Gayle became addicted to it in the past because of that mistake that she made and Linda wore it and if she gets more of it, then she’ll…be the one getting addicted? The scam thing would’ve been the decent option. Just putting it out there.
Gayle and the kids got spotted later on after sneaking inside the house, poor shot of security we got here, by Linda mostly due to their conversation being out loud during the trip down to the house where she at. And when Angie came up to them, the kids now get separated from Gayle to another room but it looks like they’re not gonna be alone in that room because of the people currently attending in this oil party brought his son with him and just as the kids got out from being a part of puzzle duty…more puzzles. Wow, now you guys kinda wish you want to be with Bob helping out Mr. Huggins moving the bed around or do some scheme like retaking over the restaurant. For Tina, that’s fine since it looks like the girl is enjoying some puzzle time. Gene and Louise on the other hand, it’s like there’s no escape from it. It’s like you’re finally going home after what appeared to be a massive waste of time in your existence, waiting for someone to get out from let’s say paying bills or something like that and it looks like you finally got your wish and getting the fudge out of there…only to end up for the driver to do another errand. Thinking of yourself, “Oh god, when will this end? Why do I agree to this?” But of course, Gene and Louise’s boredom is about to be short lived because it looks like the MVP of the episode has finally arrive to the scene for his first and only debut of the series…
The dog! Wee Cuddly Joe, Ringo as of this episode, comes into play when coming in to where the event is at and walking towards Angie following his nap. Ringo, get it, cause it named after him getting ringworm. Also named after Ringo Starr from The Beatles. So Ringo gets to go to where the Belcher kids and Ronnie are at and just as Louise trying to think up of an idea to get out of the room and get Linda out of the house from making the same mistake as Gayle, but here enter Ringo, Wee Cuddly Joe, Louise being the first person to see the dog coming into the room and…can we talk this.
Louise treating the dog like it’s own her child. This is pretty much the only highlight of the episode here with Louise hugging Wee Cuddly Joe. Like, I know that Louise has a knack for dogs since “Eat, Spray, Linda” with Colonel Fluffers but it looks like it’s cute small animals that drive Louise to soft mode just like with that polar bear from “The Last Gingerbread House on the Left”. I mean, you can’t beat that. You can’t freaking beat that. And this is pretty much the only highlight of the episode from this what appeared to be a convoluted mess of an episode. Oh and everything has now fallen into Gayle’s hands…yay. Well, if you’re hoping for this episode to finally, finally getting Gayle to have her shining moment…well, hate to disappoint you guys but uh…looks like that may not be possible…for now at least. And here’s why…
As the event rolls on with Linda listening in to what Angie is introducing to each and every essential oil that she introduced the crowd to, Gayle tried to get Linda to not be around the oil by causing some distraction, possibly have some oil spilled out from the bottle and have a little mishap. But Linda stopped her and getting a little peeved off over what Gayle is doing. And what Gayle is doing is to get Linda to snap out of it and not fall victim to this whole oil craze by letting her have a say, but Linda stopped her from doing that and when Angie brought up the next oil, which have a peppermint scene, that right there is when Gayle has now fall out of commission and now have the control of the operation back to the hands of the Belcher kids. It’s pretty much handing the driver’s keys to someone else in the car when the driver, after a very long outing in the road deciding to take a quick nap, only for the car after his or her fifth, maybe tenth mile where the car begins to skirt around for a bit when the backup driver now begins to lose control for not having his or her nap, thus handing the car back to the original driver’s return. Don’t ask how I got that idea from. I was gone for two weeks. What the hell’s your excuse?
The kids tried their hardest to convince Linda to fall into the whole oil fiasco dog and pony show as they come up with ideas to get her to change her mind and exit it out early while over at the other room with Ronnie, busy with the puzzle, and of course, Wee Cuddly Joe. You could say that this might be their hardest challenge to date so far when it comes to the whole convincing a parent to change their mind, even if the situation gone somewhat dire. First attempt to get Linda to change her mind is telling her that Wee Cuddly Joe has been wreaking some havoc. Puking around the place all willy nilly like it’s an aftermath of a college frat party. And…can we talk about what the hell did Angie fed Wee Joe? Wasps. Really? I mean, I’m no pet expert but…wasps? Really? I mean I don’t have a pet but if I were do to have one, then I’m pretty sure wasps isn’t gonna be the food of choice for the dog. Feed it normal dog food and be done with it. But that distraction failed to get Linda to change her mind and got sent back to the other room as Louise watched Gayle getting back to her addiction stage with oils nudged into her nostrils. Getting somewhat of a contact high from the scent and the aroma from the oils.
Second attempt and this can’t fall flat on it’s face and we have the kids coming back to the living room with Louise pretending to have an allergic reaction to the oils, mostly because of the scent that cause her to have multiple rashes on her arms, despite that on her arms aren’t actual rashes, but red marker marks, to fool Linda to get her away from the oils because you can’t ignore a child in need when it comes to having a medical emergency. But Linda sees it through when holding Louise’s arm to see the rash, only to end up seeing it that was from a marker that is washable and of course, for the second time, the plan failed. But not before getting Gayle to stop being so stoned over the oils lodged into her nose and slapped some sense into her and ask her to convince Linda to not fall for the trap one last time, emphasis on the term “one last time”, telling Linda about her ties to the essential oil. Her attempt to sell them but failed and used half of the products for herself. So imagine if that in this episode, instead of what we got, like I said earlier if the plot of the episode would’ve made somewhat made sense, I don’t know, that’s up to you to decide, if this whole thing was a scam and Linda was about to finishing crossing that bridge to becoming the victim with the kids unable to get her to change her mind and have Gayle have her shining moment and telling her sister to not fall for it and that she’s better than this, she’s smarter than this. Don’t fall for this. Don’t be like me. And that would’ve gotten Linda to not fall in line and not buy the thing. But instead, we didn’t get that. Gayle told Linda about her past mistake with the oils. But that didn’t get Linda to not buy the oils and now her and the kids are now being ejected from the home and thinking that she’s gonna fall in the same path as Linda.
And then we get to the ending of the main plot following the ejection of both Gayle and the kids with the oil party now back on track but it almost seems like things might be going somewhat downhill since the ejection with everyone in the household telling about their sales when it comes to selling the oils to other people. Mostly about what they listened to with the whole Gayle thing and not able to sell enough oils whether it’s selling it to your family or had found a new lender or causing a friendship to end but helped out with the sinuses, mostly because it’s cold and flu season and uh…yeah, nasty, nasty stuff. Trust me, I ‘ve been there with the whole sinus thing. Anyway, everyone but Linda is pointing a little flaw they found when it comes to selling the oils to everyone else around the town where Angie thinks to herself that everything is all peachy keen and that she’s doing well and don’t want to say stutter, but it doesn’t looks like stuttering, as Angie said to everyone in the room that fifteen more people who bought oil seems very excited over it. And that got Linda to tell her that she reminded Angie of Monica, you know, Monica! The woman that was mentioned and introduced back in “Gene It On”? Yeah, well Linda called Angie the “nice Monica” and telling her that it wasn’t the oils that drove people to notice her, but rather…herself? So I’m what getting with this episode, mostly the morale of it, is that the oils is what it didn’t draw the attention, but rather her personality?
Like “Live and Let Fly”, we have ourselves a main plot of the episode where you think the episode would’ve have somewhat of a promising start, hoping to kick off 2019 with a bang like the previous years, this ain’t it, chief. That ain’t it. I’m not saying that it’s a bad episode because like “Live and Let Fly” and “UFO No You Didn’t”, lots and lots of flaws just out there. It’s like returning home from a very long trip, hoping for the house to be untouched. Only for house once returning to go very downhill whether if it’s a break in or caught on fire or storm damage and it would take weeks, if not months, for repairs till things get back to normal.
The subplot has to get make things right to say the least with Bob and Teddy helping their neighbor, Mr. Huggins, doing some errands. Mostly with moving some stuff around, mostly with the bed into his house. And if you think that this subplot would’ve like help cope with the main plot that seems like a massive train wreck, well…you’re like 30, maybe 40% right about that, but again, flaws as well with this subplot.
There was another fine moment to keep the episode at bay to avoid from being a bad episode, mostly with Bob and Teddy trying to get the mattress down the steps from one house and moving the bed up the stairs in Huggins’ home with Bob having some trouble holding on to the two things, getting squished by the door. Having trouble finding some arm strength to carry on. Like…how are you so goddamn relatable? I mean…I’ve been living in Texas for almost…it’s about to be ten years. Ten long years. Holy fuck and moving stuff around the house…man, moving day was a bitch. Pretty sure y’all had to deal with that before.
With the bed now all set up and ready to go with the bed stands or whatever it called and the mattress now in place with a remote to make the bed to look more comfortable for the user, think of it like a Tempurpedic mattress here in the states or a mattress like that in other countries, IDK, and if you think that setting up the bed for Huggins would be the only task for both Bob and Teddy in this episode like, “Okay, your bed is now all set up and ready to go, so we be going now.” You know, that? Well, looks like they now got handed another task for Huggins and finding the real reason why he needed to have a bed is not because he may need it for a good night’s rest, but more in the line of him wanting to get back to the dating game. It’s funny because Mr. Huggins, despite that he was introduced last season as a background character when Louise had to fend off against a food truck lady when it comes to who get the rights to the alleyway, gets more development in this episode than Gayle. Good god, Gayle needs some development. Alongside Mort, Mickey, Darryl despite that he had a proper episode but still felt underrated and not because of the whole…thing, Jocelyn as well, holy shit, Jocelyn…that’s something that may need to be brought up.
Yeah, so Huggins revealed that he’s been living in the single life for the span of two decades. I mean, you could say that he’s like…in his…I want to say in his mid-to-late 60s, maybe low-end 70-something, maybe he had a wife that unfortunately either had a massive falling out or passed away and Huggins want to move on from that and want to start again in the world of romance but somehow failed and had to cope alone in the house, living his life around the town and whatnot for the said two decades to where we are now when Huggins asks both Bob and Teddy after setting up the bed, that the reason why he need the bed in the first place is to impress his new lady friend and it looks like both Bob and Teddy have no other choice but to help him out. Oh yes, I mean asking Bob is one thing since he’s a married man, but uh…Teddy…the guy who’s currently single after being separated from his wife Denise…like, imagine what I said earlier and used that as a coping mechanism for Mr. Huggins. Yeah, let’s go with that.
Well, let’s just say, if this were to be shared from WordPress and that image popped on when being on Tumblr…good god, the appeals isn’t gonna be pretty for the staff. Bob and Teddy decided to help Mr. Huggins out on impressing his lady friend by doing some work on the body. Beginning with shaving. And with the 20 years passed by, I mean…it can’t be that bad. I mean, the chest hair, they could work it out on that, doing some shaving, maybe some waxing, not hoping for like a reference to that scene from the 2005 film “The 40 Year Old Virgin” with Steve Carrell getting a wax job on his chest.
Yowza…that’s a lot of back hair for an elderly old guy who wants to get back at the dating scene. And man, both Bob and Teddy are gonna have a massive hard time getting rid of the back hair coming from Huggins as he is getting ready for his face.
And look at Bob’s face when shaving the back hair from Mr. Huggins, that is the face of a man who now begins to regret on helping the guy out. You thought that putting up the bed was only a one job and done deal, but then this happened and it’s like he’s already regretting to the idea of that and should’ve like exit stage left and be put on hold till next Sunday. Just as Bob and Teddy about to do the finishing move on shaving Huggins’ back as they saw a tattoo on his back in which Huggins think that it’s a yin yang symbol. And we can’t even see the tattoo from his back. So…you could say that either maybe it is but there was a screw up and don’t want to offend people or maybe it’s not a yin yang tattoo and maybe it’s something more…I’m now beginning to think that this isn’t a yin yang symbol. And now beginning to have a mental image of that tattoo on his back and we should probably continue on. I don’t think that’s a yin yang symbol.
And now one more thing has to be handled before the moment of truth arrives to Huggins’ doorstep and that is lighting. Having two lamps on both sides of the bed and of course, picking on which light is better when setting up the mood. And Bob decided to say that enough’s enough and decided to tell Mr. Huggins, just like with Linda telling Angie in the dumpster fire of a main plot, just be yourself. But also more of line of this is getting too fast and that this should’ve taken slow because with the bed set up, yeah, that seems like with Huggins bringing in his lady friend, it looks like he’s taking a tad too fast. He just met her. And already you want to make a move. Take it slow. Have a conversation. Have dinner. Watch a movie. Do something that doesn’t involve getting laid. Look at that, getting freaking advice to someone who’s currently single. But that’s what Bob’s been saying and Huggins straight up agree with what Bob is saying and accepts his offer and do that. Which…the subplot, the subplot, this is like…the second time this season where we have the subplot being somewhat better than the main plot. And…that pretty much begins to concern me, not because of the whole which plot is better option because one has you already made you entertain while the other making you wishing that you wish when is it gonna be done or why that other plot isn’t the main one because that’s a rather decent one than the actual one that seem rather like it was going nowhere. I talked to someone over at the Discord and she was bored out of it coming from the main plot. And that’s the concerning part. That’s like the cardinal sin of an entertainment show. Because what is Bob’s Burgers meant to be? An entertainment show. And if someone said that they bored because of either this episode or the episodes beforehand since 2011, then uh…we may have some problems. So yeah, it’s like “Live and Let Fly” with a main plot that looks like it went nowhere and a subplot that seems rather decent.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what’s my final thoughts on this episode of Bob’s Burgers? Like I said earlier in the episode review, this seems rather bland, yet decent episode and to kick off the new year. And despite that there’s a lot of flaws spread around the episode, and I mean like a lot of flaws, there were some key moments from preventing it from being a bad episode.
Two to be in exact. First being Louise and Wee Cuddly Joe. Promo kinda gave it away but it’s Louise, you can’t ignore the cuteness coming from her with the dog as they tried to get Gayle to snap some sense into Linda and taking matters into their own hands, it’s like with “Eat, Spray, Linda” with the puppy in the pet store when trying to find Linda, who had her own misadventures on her birthday, or at the end of “The Last Gingerbread House on the Left” with the baby polar bear, you can’t deny it. It was a cute moment for Louise with the dog, even if it was a distraction for Louise to take matters into her own hands. I mean hell, she smuggled Wee Cuddly Joe out of the house without anyone noticing it, until the bark comes from her dress and now being told by Linda to give it back. Like…”Brunchsquatch”...Season 8…give the Belchers a pet. I now already forgot about that fish Louise got for Christmas back in 2015.
Second being the subplot with Bob and Teddy helping Mr. Huggins. There some moments in that subplot that made the episode avoiding the bad episode title, mostly with Bob from him moving the mattress and later the bed to Mr. Huggins’ place and shaving Huggins’ back like he’s automatically regretting the option of helping him. Help Huggins? No, help Bob because it looks like he is not having a night of his life. But despite all that, the subplot was somewhat decent yet enjoyable. But as for the main plot…oh god, the main plot of the episode.
It was going nowhere and I have to keep it a 100 here, this seems bland and you could it bored the fuck out of me, but there were some moments, mostly with Louise, that prevented from that. The whole Gayle thing…like…I was hoping for that being her shining moment, thought this episode would’ve been more of line of this being a scam rather than a pyramid scheme to get some sense into Linda…we didn’t get any of that. It’s like whenever there’s a Gayle episode, it’s like you’re on a roller coaster that you want ride for like weeks, if not, months and once the big day arrives, finally getting the moment and once the ride is done, you felt nothing but disappointment. Exceeding all expectations coming from that ride.
This is not me shitting on Gayle. Gayle’s…an alright character, just…how an episode that features her in the spotlight and how it was executed, it was more of line of either a mediocre taste and have it decent in the line of let’s say a grade of a D, if not, a low end C, or fall flat and try to extinguish the flame that seems to be losing control or like a plane crash just as the plane just got out from the airport and experiencing engine problems enough to come crashing down. The main plot seems feel empty. It’s like it was going nowhere as the kids and Gayle tried to tell Linda to not buy the oils because of Gayle’s past mistake. Felt nowhere with the ending, excluding the Louise smuggling Ringo out of the house. So just like with “Live and Let Fly”, the subplot has done wonders for the episode, making the main plot feels like a cluster shambles. So I’ll give “Lorenzo’s Oil? No, Linda’s”…
A 6 out of 10. The first lowest rated episode from yours truly, for now, for this season, because the main plot felt like it was going nowhere. It feels like a mess, mostly with the whole Gayle and the kids trying to tell Linda to not fall in line with the oils because of her mistakes. But if it weren’t for Louise having a cute moment with Ringo and the subplot with Huggins, yeah…it would’ve gotten a much lower rating. You could say that it bored some people but that’s something the show would never do because it’s a cardinal sin of an entertainment show and Bob’s Burgers is meant to entertain people. We’re now in 2019, in January, we are now at the halfway point of the season with the current one, Season 9, about to close the book come mid-to-late May. And…I refuse to believe that we’re in the halfway point. I refuse to believe it. So let’s hope next Sunday’s, this upcoming Sunday’s episode of Bob’s…let’s hope it can be better than this one in the Twelfth Episode of the show’s Ninth Season, “The Helen Hunt”. But tell me what you think about this week’s episode since it’s up to you to decide. Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you think Gayle should’ve gotten some development? How would you fix this episode? And do you think that it’s time for the Belchers to get a pet for the household? Tell me what you think in the comments below.
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