Bob’s Burgers fandom, it’s been a while. Too long of a while, I might add. Two months since we last had an episode and now, here we are, with another installment of yours truly spouting stuff regarding this week’s episode. And it’s the season finale of all episodes that had to be brought up. I know that y’all wanted more episodes because 13 episodes aren’t enough and wanted either a full 22-episode set or what we thought was going to be 17 episodes as it was rumored leading up to the season premiere last year. Just be thankful that we got a season this year and Season 15 set to air later this year, so I don’t wanna hear any doom and gloom about the show going anywhere. I doubt FOX would ever do something as harmful to the franchise that, like The Simpsons and Family Guy, their golden egg to keep the business running. Well, aside from their live-action shows and sports programs...we don’t need to talk about its news department. That’s a toxic waste dump on the political scale that needed no explanation and they’re two separate entities mind you. Not one and the same.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, what was supposed to be Tina’s night out when attending Chelsea’s party turns into a nightmare when a wardrobe malfunction, primarily her coming up with a case of butt sweat, causing her to sit out while getting her skirt gets dried as the rest of the Belchers, along with Teddy, build stuff with trash as part of some family-friendly competition in my spoilerific review of the thirteenth episode of Season 14 of Bob’s Burgers, titled “Butt Sweat and Fears”.
It has been a while since we last had a Tina-centric episode. I’d say that because despite being a shortened season, Tina, before this week’s episode, had not had an episode this season alone. Sure, you could call “Bully-ieve It or Not” a bit of a Tina episode but it’s more of a Zeke-centric episode. Aside from that, Tina had yet to have an episode this season until we get to this week’s episode and as the season finale to close out Season 14 before going into the summer offseason. The girl had been taken the backseat all season long...like, deadass. She had been taken the backseat and didn’t have a single episode that focuses on her throughout the first twelve episodes of the thirteen episode count for this season until we get to this month’s episode with the season finale. I’m sure that’ll be fixed and go back to normal going into Season 15 in the Fall...hopefully. I mean, who freaking knows.
But aside from that, we waited two months since we last had an episode, and even though it’s the end of the season, going into the offseason that would last us for four months, six months if you’re The Great North because they got slated for the midseason slot, meaning January 2025, as I said, it’s gonna be more questions than answers regarding scheduling and the number of episodes we’ll be getting for the next season. If not, then FOX might as well have some explaining to do that made your boy into a dumbass. Again, a lot of questions than answers going into the summer months, especially with Comic-Con coming up in July because that’s where we should probably get some answers...if I have the money to go there and board a plane that won’t result in a door blasting off or problems with any part of the plan before of after taking off that won’t make me a part of a statistic. I’m saying that Boeing needs to get their shit together going into the summer season. That being said, more questions than answers for the next few months, and until then, it’s episode review time, this is “Butt Sweat and Fears”.
The episode starts with the Belchers at the breakfast table with Tina eating a bowl of cereal, or rather, getting a second bowl as she is prepared for what might as well be, for this episode only, the biggest moment in her life when preparing to attend a party hosted by a certain person when telling to the family about her plans for the evening. The person in question, of course, is none other than Chelsea who is hosting the party. A dance party mind you over at her house that Tina is excited to attend. Which is odd if you think about it because, well...it’s Chelsea. So, for anyone who doesn’t know who that is...I question how y’all even found this site without even playing catch-up. So, I might as well give y’all the rundown on her.
Chelsea is the eighth grader who’s in Tina’s class, voiced by Chelsea Peretti, aptly named for the character that resembles the actor, who made her debut last season in the episode “Cheaty Cheaty Bang Bang”. Accused Tina of cheating on the test when taking a peak of Susmita’s test for a nanosecond despite doing the cheating herself that caused her to undergo a shit ton of anxiety during a snow day over the thought of putting in the note into the fanny pack of Accountability Billy and would be exposed her for something she didn’t commit...ends up didn’t because she’s not a snitch. She can be mean but...she’s not at the same level as Tammy on the meanness scale. Just loves to get a rise out of people. That, and also yelling and writing out the word “fuck” with the one time in her life yelled out the word 23 times during a game of kickball that led to her suspension.
And I know that it sort of feels like I’m going to defend her...be it as it may in your own point of view, what she did in her debut episode was bad. It was bad for her to put Tina in a very tight spot for something she didn’t even do that would’ve exposed her to the school and, of course, Susmita. But remember, when Courtney made her debut back in Season 3, we all remember how annoying she was and not going to blow over the scene with her faking her death, and I’m not gonna call Gene a saint in that episode because he too did that shit by using her to get to her father. But come the later seasons, going into Seasons 5 and 6, opinions started to change despite that the personality is sort of there but it was toned down. Not saying that Chelsea should undergo the same thing as Courtney, though she should at least try to be friendly without having to go through homicidal tendencies, and have at least one, at least one moment where she had to serve as the dark horse to bail Tina out of her predicament.
We didn’t get that in this episode later along the line and boy, she was underutilized in her second appearance on the show. Just there for a few seconds and that’s about it. I was hoping for some bullshit coming out of the writers’ asses when writing this episode regarding Tina’s little situation regarding her skirt that she and along with a boy, and we’ll get to that, but going with this little what-if scenario, that Chelsea would notice something in the laundry room, seeing both Tina and the boy, who would later be named Sam, and rather than putting Tina in a tight spot once more, decides to give out a sigh, probably out of annoyance, and lend a hand for once to open the hatch of the dryer, though without getting the attention of any partygoer or her parents. You know...like a life debt of some kind. I feel like at this point, especially into the offseason, I should bring back the character discussions I did on the side characters that the Belcher kids are friends with (and also thinking of redoing the few that I did) that were left in the open in over three years.
Aside from that, Tina is excited to attend the party...just, it feels weird that Chelsea would ever invite her than have to go through a third-party invite because the past social gatherings she attended were all third-party invites whether it’s having the family cater at Tammy’s Bat Mitzhav or undergo peer pressure that led to her getting the invite to the hayride. And Chelsea inviting Tina to the event, even though the party seems more of the likes of an open invite, seems odd because, again, the previous season, the whole situation regarding the cheating accusation that put Tina in a very tight spot. I mean, they’re not even friends, for now even though Chelsea, according to...well, everyone, but mostly Bob, she can be scary that she could kill anyone, and even though the party at her house is pretty much an open invite, maybe start small the next time she appears, them being acquaintances at best. So, Tina is prepared for the night as long as she follows the rules of the party, that is not let Chelsea’s parents know since they’ll be at the house upstairs. Aside from that, she’s all set and ready to go for her to attend the event. Mostly because she wants to get her hands on some “upper butt”, which is the top part of the butt...so, basically the waist. But that’s not going to Tina for having a night of her life. Especially if Jimmy Jr is there and you know he’ll go because it’s a dance party. He ain’t missing that shit.
Hours later at the school, Tina intervenes in the conversation between Tammy and Jocelyn as Tammy is finishing fixing up her locker regarding the song choices that Chelsea told a student named Nikki Bernstein that will be used for the party, those songs, of course, available on Spotify as an EP album, about the tone of each song that will be played throughout the night, especially with three slow songs that will be used for the moment to arrive for every partygoer with their supposed partner with the last song, titled “Sweet Love Sugar”, has a track time of six minutes, so the last one has to be special before the night ends. So there’s going to be three slow songs with the last one being long but mixed into fast songs in between. Though, for a moment there, I thought that Tammy was threatening Tina to not mess things up because it is an eighth-grade party and a lot of moments had to be created for one night, but no, it was to give Tina some word of advice once the three slow songs play and gunning to get some upper butt action as if she (and Jocelyn) are somewhat rooting for her.
Okay, what that fuck happened in the past two months that led to Tammy being supportive of Tina for once without having to resort to gagging or having to go through a change of heart? Did she get some sort of brain parasite that messed around with her social skills that would cause her to be nice to Tina? She had her moments in the past but it does feel out of place for a moment there and there’s a character on The Great North in this week’s episode that I’ll get to that later this week after posting this review that is also acting weird and unusual. Other than that, Tammy gave Tina some words of advice and let her get her hands on some upper butt action. Especially when Tina has a quick fantasy of her having that moment with Jimmy Jr, before being interrupted by Mr. Branca when telling her to get to class because she missed the bell. Oh yeah, this girl is ready to go. And in typical Tina fashion, she runs to class, only for her to slip on the wet floor.
We might as well set up the subplot to the episode just as Tina is about to head out for the night to Chelsea’s house with Teddy coming into the restaurant and ordering a burger of the day despite being late in the day for him to visit the place because he had to do a job that he can’t get away from and having to order something different from a burger to consume for lunch. Gene and Louise make their way out of the basement when Linda brings up what she thinks is named “Palletsville”, only to be corrected by the kids that it’s “Palletropolis” because the name “Pallet Town” had been taken and doesn’t want to face a potential lawsuit from a certain company overseas. It’s pretty much the kids playing around with some wooden pallets that they found at the dumpster at the alleyway because some dumbass left it, probably thought it was a junkyard, and rather than let the garbage truck do its business for the next day to arrive, the kids decided to play around with the boards as if it's their own version of the Lego sets. Yeah...it’s sad. It’s pretty sad. But that doesn’t stop the kids and also the parents from having their own fun with the boards to the point where they had to make it a competition between the two parties on who can be the most creative.
A competition that Teddy wants to jump on board because of course he does. I mean, knowing that he’s a handyman, it should be a breeze for the guy, but upon hearing that the rest of the family did their part and were planning on continuing down at the basement, you might as well say that he pretty much wants to be shoehorned into the conversation and ends up jumping on board because why not. Gotta follow what the script says. Especially once Teddy gets his tools pulled out from his truck and for Tina to head out to Chelsea’s party, but not before telling the family about Jimmy Jr with him being unable to get a hold of him on the phone. But is still poised to get some upper butt action from the guy once arriving at the party. Speaking of...
Going into the next scene, Tina arrives at the party with Tammy and Jocelyn in tow in fancy clothing, all dolled up and ready to go despite that almost all, if not, about half of the eighth-grade class somewhat dressed in different clothing with the rest wearing their normal clothes. A lot of eighth graders in this party upon arriving. Of course, you got the usual suspects, that being Tina, Tammy, and Jocelyn once arriving. You also have Chelsea doing some dancing with some folks surrounding her. Jimmy Jr, of course, is dancing, and Zeke is here, he just appears right as Tina walks up to Jimmy Jr. And also, you have Will, the boy who was recently introduced earlier this season, as well as Susmita on the couch. Though no Henry in this event. I mean, not surprising because Henry doesn’t do large gatherings, which would make sense for his character, but the fact that he’s not there but Susmita is, either Henry had plans that didn’t make him go or don’t want to and Susmita tried to convince the guy to attend. You have to debate the guy to make him attend. It works for Tina. So, everyone is in attendance at the party with Tina attempting to greet Chelsea, a friendly greeting, with Chelsea when cutting over to her, while busy busting a groove, turn around at her and even though the music is blaring and Chelsea is too busy dancing, based on the mouth movement in silent form and says “hmm”, which almost like a “hey” back but the tone of that from her...close to having shades of how Tina greeted Zeke whenever he and Jimmy Jr are around but, of course, context. Tina, Tammy, and Jocelyn go on their separate ways to find some boys for them to dance with for the night...
Tina knows where she goes to, and that Jimmy Jr, who spotted him dancing by his lonesome. Catching up to him with Jimmy Jr apologizing to Tina for not answering back on the emergency phone that she had to use when trying to make contact, telling her that he had his phone off so it could get some rest, and hopefully fully charged, as well as Jimmy Jr also getting himself some rest because, according to Tina earlier in the episode, he just recovered from being sick throughout the week and god forbid if he misses out on a dance party. Tina was about to ask Jimmy Jr a question, mostly to ask him to be her dance date for when any of the slow songs play and for Tina to get her opportunity to get her hand on Jimmy Jr’s upper butt, only to be interrupted once Zeke and some of the random background partygoers surrounding him, causing Tina to lose her first of many shots to get Jimmy Jr to dance with her. But the night is still young for Tina. She has plenty of time to make sure she gets him once the first slow song hits. I mean, it’s not like she’s going to have herself a mishap that is going to hamper her shot and miss out almost the entire night, right?
We go back to the subplot for a bit, back at the restaurant, and it looks like, you can’t see the inside of the basement where Teddy is at, but you can see the Belchers’ reaction to what Teddy is doing when locking himself in the basement with the wooden pallets. This so-called “competition” that they had days prior is pretty much good as over and the look on their faces when hearing Teddy messing around with the pallets in the basement and the sound of power tools being used, which in Louise’s opinion, shouldn’t be used for this and should at least be disqualified. But yeah, you can already tell from their reaction that this “competition” is already over. I mean, they could one-up the guy, but it’s pretty much over before it even began. And we won’t be seeing the result until we get to the second act. Talk about a case of tell, rather than show. Or, I guess hear rather than show when hearing the sounds of power tools being used in the basement. This shit is good as over and we get the results going into the second act.
Checking back on Tina as we prepare to close out the first act of the episode with Tina hoping to get her opportunity to ask Jimmy Jr to dance with her before the first slow song hits. She, along with Zeke, sees Jimmy Jr busting some moves on his lonesome when going through the groove of one of the fast songs that was currently playing before the mood shifts once the first slow song hits. Her window of opportunity has finally arrived for Tina and just as she is about to walk up to Jimmy Jr, knowing that we’re only seven minutes into the episode, a mishap has to take place and putting a barricade between her and Jimmy Jr to dance together. Tina felt something wet on her back and it didn’t take long for Chelsea to notice when feeling her arm wet, accidentally bumped into Tina on her way to find her partner, the alarm bells had rung in her head that she developed a case of butt sweat. And yes, that is a thing. That can happen though never seen anyone with it with my own eyes. Case in point, Tina developed a case of butt sweat. Now, she has to be sent to the bench...which is what I would say by sitting, placing paper towels or napkins over her butt. Unless it’s Bounty or whether ShamWow is still relevant or not to this day, she can’t have what was supposed to be a good night for her at Chelsea’s party into a nightmare. Looking anywhere to find a place.to hide to get rid of the stains, primarily in a laundry room, it didn't take long for her to find one as she quietly moved away from the scene and locked herself to where the dryer was.
Once arriving, as we enter the final scene of the first act of the episode, Tina puts on a towel over her waist once she removes her now stained skirt into the dryer, putting the timer to 10 minutes for faster drying and it's only one piece of clothing instead of the whole thing. So, she waited...and waited...and waited until finally, the ten minutes were up and for Tina to wear her skirt once more...only to realize that it's too early in the episode for her to brush off her shoulders, even though she can and another mishap had to take place while on the dance floor, but no, the hatch of the dryer had to be stuck and thus, here we are. Having to face the possibility of missing the entire night because of one stain. At least there's a silver lining in all of this is that the night is still young and two more chances for Tina to slow dance with Jimmy Jr. So, as long as everything doesn't turn into a total disaster, she'll be fine. As long as she doesn't cause a racket loud enough to catch anyone's attention.
Going into the second act of the episode, Tina continues to struggle to get the hatch open with the fear of missing her chance of having a good night at Chelsea's party starting to heighten, and also the possibility of the embarrassment of having a butt sweat stained on her skirt, despite missing the first slow song and now have two more chances before declaring the night a total loss. But it looks like Tina won't be the only one who is hiding when attending the party where we get introduced to a boy named Sam, voiced by Ben Wang. And at first, when first watching this episode, I thought it was Steven Yeun voicing the character. Because the voice does almost sound familiar, mostly because I’d listened to any voice work or interviews, almost sounded like him and not someone else, please don’t dox me.
So, Sam is an interesting character when entering the laundry room, seeing Tina having trouble with the hatch to the dryer when trying to get her skirt out. He’s one of the few attendees that we saw when Tammy counted how many people were sitting on the couch doing nothing with no partner in tow and yeah, it’s a clear dead giveaway that Sam an introvert. He’s a shy kid who wants to hide for the rest of the party without giving any answers to why he even attended at all if he doesn’t want to be around people in a large social gathering like Chelsea’s party. Otherwise, he would have to stay at home but I’m already guessing two possibilities for why Sam is even at the party in the first place. It’s either he wants to go to the party, put on a brave face, and prove to himself that he wants to tackle his insecurities...but fails upon arriving at the laundry room. Or his parents told him to attend to break the mold and Chelsea’s party would be the perfect event for him to live loose, but not too loose, make some friends, share a dance, and shit. And we get a nice moment from the two later in the episode that helped the guy break some portions of his shell, but now, the situation with the dryer. Tina asks Sam to give her hand to open the hatch, but that doesn’t work. So, Sam suggests that Tina should call in Chelsea since this is her house and should at least serve as a lifeline to bail Tina out of her predicament.
Too bad that Chelsea is too busy dancing as the music blares with one boy talking to her about a soda spill...guessing calling her for help is a big fat no. So that option is now out of the table and mind you, this is her house. Yeah, she’s a teen, a rowdy teen that doesn’t give a shit, especially if it’s a mess or two at her own house while her parents up fucking stairs. And Tina and Sam...yeah, they don’t want any smoke coming from Chelsea, especially with Tina missing a skirt and wearing a towel as a backup skirt that had trouble opening the door and Sam being a shy kid as if seeing what happened back there would probably serve as a rejection. I mean, they could at least try to call any other partygoer as a lifeline, but, like Chelsea, would also be busy getting into the groove of the music that is blaring across the room. So, it’s just those two stuck in one room for the time being for the rest of the episode and finding a way to get Tina’s skirt out of the dryer.
We check back to the subplot and this is what Teddy built during his time spent off-screen inside the basement, lo and behold, he used the wooden pallets to create a replica of the restaurant upstairs as if he just created a speakeasy. The family is impressed by what Teddy did with the amounts of pallets that were used in the basement and uses the available resources to transform the basement into another restaurant, or an expansion if you want to call it that, even though it’s not. But aside from that, the Belcher family is impressed with what Teddy did...too bad that Bob now wants him to demolish it because the trash crew is about to make their way the next day to collect the pallets, and the rest of the family and Teddy are against Bob’s option to dismantle everything that Teddy built. Thinking that with the underground restaurant, it should help make the business thrive despite that it’s already nighttime and the business should be closed for the evening. So why not let the business open for another hour or two to make some moolah using Teddy’s idea? That is what everyone sans Bob wanted and despite being totally against it, he has no other choice but to follow along. Man, what is up with Bob not wanting to accept ideas that would help him succeed? It almost feels like he doesn’t want the success to help make ends meet and his business grow. The fandom had to call the fucker out and someone had to bring it up here.
We go back to Tina and Sam at their predicament with them continuing to attempt to open the hatch, only to once again be unable to do the job. Might as well chat away for the time being while trying to find ways to get the son of a bitch open for Tina to not turn her night into a nightmare. Tina tells Sam that he should probably leave the laundry room because she doesn’t want to hold him down and miss the party before asking him why is he in the laundry room. Telling him why is he even at the party if he’s just going to hide and waste away the night before the party ends and I had to pull out the transcript because Sam’s response has been going fast that you probably had some trouble trying to keep up like it’s the fast verse to “Rap God” by Eminem. Telling Tina everything about the reason why he’s even at the party despite wanting to go into hiding is...which was my first option earlier in this review regarding his situation. Him wanting to prove to himself that he can survive a large gathering like a party and break out of his shell. As well as him not wanting to make an ass of himself when being at a party, fearing that one fuck up would scar him for the rest of his life, and the next time if he plans on going to a different party. Case in point...yeah, yeah, I can relate to this guy. Because I’m an introverted fuck with piss-poor social skills who stutters a lot while talking through my mouth and a fuck up waiting to happen on the dime. In short, social anxiety. And also me hating on loud noises and shit, but that’s a difference between yours truly and the character. The point is that Sam has social anxiety and thinks that him attending Chelsea’s party would help get him to tackle the issue like he’s out in the gridiron.
So, you have two people who are in sticky situations in their own right. Tina has her issue with her skirt stuck inside the dryer after contracting a case of butt sweat in one hand. On the other hand, you have Sam who has social anxiety and just wishes for the party to blow over after thinking that this one-night event would at least help the guy tackle his anxiety, only to give in and hide in the laundry room where Tina is also hiding. What can go wrong for the two eighth graders who are stuck dealing with their own problems at Chelsea’s house? Try having Chelsea’s cat enter the laundry room and do its business in the litter box, resulting in the two having to cover their nostrils to not endure the smell while being trapped inside the laundry room. And we’re not even at the halfway mark of the episode just yet and I’m at pages 6-7 of this review on a doc when typing this.
Going back to the restaurant with Bob cooking up, or rather, reheating Teddy’s burger because he hasn’t eaten there for a while with him not wanting to sing a congratulatory song as if he’s in first grade winning a participation trophy just for building a kick-ass replica of the restaurant with the pallets. Just as Bob was doing the job of reheating Teddy’s burger, just as Linda was about to flip the sign from open to close, we got a familiar face that we hadn’t seen in a very long time making his return. Almost seven years since we last saw him and now, he’s back. I’m talking about the Dame Judy Brunch himself, Dalton Crespin, voiced by John Early, along with two of his posse looking for a bite to eat for the night when he comes across the restaurant because they’re looking for a burger spot for them to grab a bite. Linda tells Dalton and his crew that they’re about to close for the night, but the smell of the burger meat cooking courtesy of Bob reheating Teddy’s order, as well as the alcohol scent, has Dalton believe that the place is currently open. And, of course, Louise has to come in and tell Dalton and his posse that they’re open and telling them about Teddy’s restaurant replica in the basement that they’re going to treat it as some sort of hot spot for dining out. But much to Bob’s dismay, again, it feels like this guy is hating on the business that he’s going to get, it looks like the restaurant is going to have a late-night rush with Teddy’s replica setting of the restaurant made out of wooden pallets serving as the attraction. Shades of what happened in Season 11’s “Romancing the Beef” with the family transformed the restaurant's atmosphere to be fancy for Valentine’s Day.
Going into the final scene of the first half of the episode after going through a long second act, Tina, with the clock ticking before the next slow song hits, decides to improvise by thinking that it’s a “good” idea to leave the skirt and wear the towel over her waist with a pair of dirty socks that belonged to Chelsea’s father serving as a belt to hug her waist tight. Gotta take the MacGyber way out of this mess because it’s go time for Tina to make a move and march her way to Jimmy Jr so she can have a night of her life, getting some upper butt action and all. Tina prepares to leave, all without having the thought of a possible wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen, but not before asking Sam to head out as well and telling him that and at least try to let loose and tackle his anxiety despite him bringing up that he might accidentally step on someone’s foot if he were to slow dance with a partner. I mean, he’s not wrong on that, just putting it out there, just that the anxiety is really clouding over him just as Tina is about to leave, just as the second slow song is about to play on the radio. So, Tina asks Sam to remove the cat poop from the litter box, though I question how Tina even knows the condition that Chelsea’s cat is going through after taking a dump, but then again, she knows Gayle, who owns some cats (except for Mr. Business who she stole, so I guess that’s one way to know if the cat has digestive problems. Sam follows Tina’s instructions to scoop up the cat poop, but can’t withstand the smell, so Tina had to step up and do the job for him, braving the smell just as she was about to put it into the bag. And knowing that we’re at the halfway mark of the episode, less than eight minutes left to go in the episode, a very long second act...
Of course, Tina gets another mishap with her clothes with this time around, having her shirt stained with cat poop after accidentally landing on the litter box. And that was after she was about to scoop the cat poop into the bag before noticing that the towel is about to come off which would expose her...I guess her rear even though she’s wearing underwear underneath the towel, but then again, that would’ve been drenched in butt sweat as well, I don’t know, man. I don’t know. Might as well stop it right there while the iron is hot. Otherwise, Tina...once again, another mishap and that was strike two for her to miss out on yet another slow song going into the second half of the episode. Back to square one, we go. Though I just noticed something during the first half, and we’ll get to the second half in a bit, but let’s talk about a blink and you’ll miss moment from this episode...
Susmita and Will. What is going on here? Like...what is going on here? In one scene of the episode with Tina entering the party along with Tammy and Jocelyn in tow, you have Susmita and Will sitting on the couch. Having a friendly chatter and nothing more. Just a friendly chatter and remember, Will’s the new kid who was just introduced earlier this season, or this past season now that we’re in the offseason. But then comes a quick blink and you’ll miss moment once Tina developed a case of butt sweat that drenched her skirt and when looking for the laundry room, you have that scene, with the screencap above this paragraph, with the two slow dancing while the first song was playing. Like...I know that we’ve been out of the loop for the past two months...did something happen between Henry and Susmita that led up to this moment? Like, was there some sort of tension between the two that Susmita had to make her way towards Will? I hope that’s not the case and this is nothing more than the cast and crew having the two characters, both in non-speaking cameo roles, just for shits and giggles going into the offseason. Besides, if Henry and Susmita’s relationship were on the rocks, either one of those two would have Tina on speed dial to patch things up.
We enter the second half of the episode with Tina going back to square one after falling into cat shit that stained her shirt after attempting to remove it from the litter box that almost caused a wardrobe malfunction with the towel currently holding her waist. She got the stain out with some water, but the smell would likely be there despite the quick wash from the sink. She was thinking of putting on another shirt, planning on taking some clothing from the laundry basket filled with clothes that belonged to both Chelsea and her parents. But, no luck because the basket is mostly filled with dirty socks, towels, and underwear that have yet to be washed. Almost feels like a freaking pigsty with how Tina describes the laundry situation. Sam suggested that it’s a good idea for Tina to get Chelsea’s parents to help get her skirt out of the dryer and have to deal with a stuck door while the party is ongoing. There’s one little problem with that plan...oh yeah, Tina can’t do that. Because that would be considered snitching and would put in her a very tight spot with Chelsea. Bad enough that she once had to go through a massive amount of anxiety from her last season over the cheating accusations and thought that she (Chelsea) wrote a note that would tie in with the accusations, and knowing Chelsea, Tina wants to continue her subscription on life, so calling in her parents would be considered a bad idea. The clock continues to tick for Tina as the night progresses and now that there’s one slow song left since she missed the first two, the last song that she wants to dance to on the dancefloor with Jimmy Jr, the window is starting to close and she cannot miss out on the final song on the playlist.
Checking back at the basement of the restaurant with the business already on the high note thanks in part to Dalton’s influence when he and his friends got their food and loved the design that Teddy put up. That influence, of course, got a lot of attention from the public who read Dalton’s blogs, and even though the Belchers do need to make money, they’re going to get a lot of demand from the public as the night progresses, much to, of course, Bob’s dismay because he thought that Teddy building a replica version of the restaurant at the basement was going to be a one-time thing. See the finished product, keep it for a bit to view the craftsmanship Teddy put up with the pallets, and take it down to call it a night. That’s what he thought but instead, he’s going to be struggling to keep up the pace thanks in part to Teddy’s construction that led to a hotspot attraction, even if it’s for one night, courtesy of Dalton through his blog, thanks in part to Louise turning it into a business opportunity. Seriously, it’s as if the guy doesn’t want to succeed and make some money. I get that he doesn’t want to take shortcuts. I get that he wants to follow through the grassroots route and have to rely once in a while for lightning to strike. At least try to go with the flow if you want to at least make ends meet and provide for the family without letting the idea of ego take over as if you’re an up-and-coming content creator. That and burnout. You don’t want burnout. And not in the way where you have to work longer hours with little to no breaks and being unable to see your family. And that’s Japan’s work culture in a nutshell. And that’s just the MAPPA animators.
Going back to the main plot with Tina and Sam with the situation of having trouble getting the hatch open to retrieve Tina’s skirt with the clock currently ticking away with the third and final slow song just moments away from blasting, Tina is starting to get a little impatient with her window of opportunity to get some upper butt action fastly closing, wishing for a redo so she doesn’t want to go through that and have a fresh start without making an ass of herself. Yeah, that didn’t take long for the idea of “starting over” to get brought up because of Tina wishing for her night to start over, which ultimately leads to Sam coming up with an idea to get Tina’s skirt out of the dryer like with most technological devices whenever there’s an issue, unplug and plug it back in. Okay, time out, question...WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THAT BEFORE?! Like...no, seriously...the most obvious answer when it comes to rebooting technological devices like a cable box or a freaking dryer was right in front of them when dealing with a hatch door that won’t budge. And y’all waited this fucking long to finally have that brought up? I don’t know how to put things together on that. Waited this fucking long to do all that. What the fuck. What the actual fuck. Getting back on track, Sam decides to do the work by going behind the dryer to find the plug, which he does and unplugs it from the outlet, giving it ten seconds and not because Sam was struggling to put the plug back into the outlet, knowing how tight the dryer was placed, and ends up plugging it.
Resulting in the skirt out of the dryer, thank god, all dried up and ready to go. Meaning that Tina will finally get her chance to dance with Jimmy Jr and get some upper butt action once the final slow song takes place. She puts on the skirt, once she tells Sam to turn around so he doesn’t see Tina putting on her skirt by placing an empty box over his head. Guess that’s one way to put it when not wanting to make things awkward between the two. But aside from that, Tina could finally get her shot and not make her night a total loss. I still question why the unplugging and re-plugging aspect didn’t become the first idea to come up with earlier in the episode. But I guess what’s done is done.
Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, Bob continues to struggle to pick up the pace as more people flock over to the restaurant with Louise and Gene raking up the dough and Dalton giving the customers the rundown of the design that Teddy pulled out earlier in the episode. And as much as I can try to rack on Bob over him not wanting to accept some ideas that would at least help the business for a bit if it means helping them make money for only one night, you know, calling it an experiment, you have to give Teddy some credit for what he did to help the family give some business, even though originally, it was him wanting to partake in the competition as if he got a sudden case of FOMO and also Louise, being Louise and turning it into a business for a night to keep the place open for the late-night dinner rush, but his craftsmanship with the wooden pallets that the kids found days prior did become the big factor of why the Belchers have to work their butts off courtesy of Dalton promoting the basement of the restaurant did at least make things a busy night for the family and should be enough to make an amount that they would never expect to collect by the end of the episode.
I can have my gripe on Teddy and the issues he has as a character, especially in the later seasons with him being too overly attached to the Belchers, primarily Bob and sometimes both Bob and Linda, to the point it gets annoying and somewhat concerning, he has some moments where he can at least be helpful at times. Whether it’s helping Bob and Linda keep the business floating by creating a restaurant on the go-cart while having the sinkhole filled in the movie, yes, gotta include the events of the movie, as well as the later seasons and the early seasons, like him babysitting the kids while Bob and Linda are away in “Uncle Teddy” or the most recent...well, this, he has some moments where you have to at least give him some credit on being a good friend to the family and not because he had been a part of the main cast since...I guess around Season 3, maybe Season 4 going into Season 5, but at least he’s one of the few folks in town who doesn’t have beef with them. Just hoping that he can try to not be clingy for once each time Bob makes a new friend. Maybe do that for once.
We go back to the main plot of the episode as we prepare to close out the third act of the episode with Tina finally having her skirt back, all dried up from the butt sweat earlier in the episode. Ready to head out to meet up with Jimmy Jr once the “Sweet Love Sugar” song comes on, but not before asking Sam to come out of the laundry room, in which Sam replies to her that he’s good and fine where he is. So y’all already know that he ain’t coming out. He rather stay put in the laundry room and waste the night away in there than head out to the living room where the party is at once the last song plays. So, ending the third act and going into the fourth and final act of the episode and pretty much the season (unless there’s some bullshit coming out during the summer), you have Tina going heading out and about to march her way toward Jimmy Jr, got stopped for a bit by Tammy and Jocelyn who didn’t see her all throughout the party before shoving them aside, as if they ever looked for her and not spend their hours with whoever they paired with and partied like there’s no tomorrow, and about to make a B-line towards Jimmy Jr, ready to have a night of her life...
That was before she finally got a firm realization coming from what Linda said to her earlier in the episode before leaving the house for the night. Telling her that she (Linda) that she once had nights where she attended dance parties and the one line that is (predictably) drilled into her head is that everyone, and she means EVERYONE had fun at the dance floor in a no-person left behind type of event. Yes, we all know that Tina was going to drop what she is doing and not going to get her slow dance with Jimmy Jr. And I know there are some people bitching over the fact that it’s not actually the finale, mostly because they refused to accept that we got a shortened season and think there should be more...man, you know what? Shut up. Shut up. I know that it’s predictable that Tina was going to stop herself from reaching towards Jimmy Jr and going back to get Sam out of the laundry room, knew it right away, but...much like with that little moral lesson in “Manic Pixie Crap Show” back in Season 12...this is where I’m not gonna bitch and pout over how it all played out.
Tina, once the song plays, instead of going toward Jimmy Jr as what she was originally going towards since the start of the party, the start of the episode, makes her way back to the laundry room and sees Sam sitting on the floor, wasting the night away into hiding, where he comes across Tina once more and almost looks like he was crying for a moment where once we see him getting up and wiping his face, trying to make sure Tina or anyone doesn’t see him down, with him thinking that Tina got butt sweats once again but it’s not that this time around and instead, she’s going to get Sam out of the laundry room. Not by force, but instead, she asks him to be her dance partner for the final slow song of the night. Abandoning her shot of getting some upper butt action and instead, decides to help a guy who helped her earlier when her skirt got stuck get through his social anxiety by becoming her dance partner for the final song of the party...oh my god...
It’s shades of Louise and Kaylee. It’s straight-up reminding me of Louise and Kaylee with Tina and Sam. And it’s because of something else that y’all thought it was because of...well, the race of the friend in need, congratulations, you’re the racist. But the...I guess you can call it a relationship, more of a friendship than a romantic relationship but you’d never know because it’s Tina though wouldn’t rule out Sam having some feelings for her, but that’s aside the point, you have Sam, like Kaylee, has social anxiety and thought it was a good idea to avoid being seen in public and thought it was a good idea to hide away and you have someone in the Belcher family, primarily the sisters, stepping in and tell that person who had social anxiety that hiding away from the public isn’t the answer and should at least let loose and have their backs as if a friendship is being formed. Okay, sure, Kaylee went to Louise and asked her how to get into trouble so she can be homeschooled because she originally thought that Wagstaff is a bad school for her to have an education but in reality, she has social anxiety and was unable to make a single friend, or as Louise put it, finding her people...even though she was fine when being around Zeke during the week of the mentorship in her debut episode after switching mentors, a huge difference. A huge difference between Kaylee and Sam in their situations but they’re similar in that they’re socially anxious, have a lack of friends, and now, I’m guessing their first friend, unclear if Sam has some since he was just introduced, happens to be a Belcher.
And this scene, once Tina and Sam come onto the dance floor and share a dance with each other, this was a very nice scene and a very nice moment from Tina to help someone get through his social anxiety by dropping her shot of sharing a dance with Jimmy Jr with the last song of the party and instead, sharing the floor with someone who helped her trying to get her skirt out of the dryer. Case in point, it’s a very nice scene between the two who are awkward in their own right and had their back throughout the night and now, having to share a moment, especially with the tone of the song going from slow with them holding arms to fast with them jumping around on their feet. And if it is the season finale, which it should be, in my opinion, would be a good note to wrap the season despite everyone knowing that this was going to happen. This was a good scene and a good moment from Tina helping Sam get out of his shell. And honestly, looking back to it when doing this review, when it comes to Sam...y’all know where this was going with this. I want him to make a return in a future episode. He’s an interesting character and I guess a good friend to Tina. I want him to return and the show needs to stop doing the idea of giving Tina a proper friend, someone who won’t throw her under the bus and have an on/off relationship, and not make a return after their debut episode. And I mean it as a platonic friendship instead of having him as another love interest for Tina. Make Sam return as a platonic friend to Tina if you’re planning on bringing him back and not shelve him in the Shadow Realm.
I mean, we haven’t seen Dillon in a really long ass time. Not since 2017. Becky Krespe, they didn’t bring her back after Season 8’s “V for Valentine-detta”. Sage from last season, we haven’t seen her for a while. The closest we got in the better friends department is Susmita and I wanna see Tina and Susmita having a proper friendship without having to be paired as partners for schoolwork, just without having her relegated to the background. Chelsea...she’s uh...there. Bring Sam back for a future episode and as a platonic friend instead of a love interest. I mean, he would be the first platonic male friend since...well, Sasha from King’s Head Island. I would say Henry also but they dated even though it was more of Henry used to have feelings for Tina because of her debate skills. And Josh, they decided to stay as friends and really kick the nads at the Tina/Josh shippers. Just bring the fucker back for a later season and as a platonic friend to Tina. That’s all I have to ask! So, as Tina and Sam, along with the other eighth graders having the time of their lives in the winding hours at Chelsea’s party...
Entering the two-minute warning of the episode with the conclusion of the subplot with the Belchers closing up shop for the night. And even though Bob, once again, hates the fact that the late-night stint caused him to be as busy as ever, it did at least provide the family with a lot of money. And with the success of the wooden pallet replica of the restaurant, it looks like the Belchers are poised to give it another go for the next day...or so they thought once Gene spotted something unusual while wiping the table. He spotted some bugs nesting on the pallets. A lot of eggs nested there and oh boy...not a good look for the family and the restaurant in general when finding out the egg sac nesting on the pallets. So yeah, it was fun while it lasted for the Belchers to have a replica restaurant and with a lot of money made as they now have to tear the damn thing down piece by piece because of a possible bug baby infestation because that’s the last thing that the restaurant needed and that is facing possible health code violations.
And now, we get to the final scene of the episode and I guess the season, might as well treat it as a season finale just because it is even though some yammering that there’s more on the horizon, we have the aftermath of the party after going through the entire track length of the last song that was played with some still at Chelsea’s house as they await for them to be picked up. Tina and Sam had their fun on the dance floor leading up to the end of the party with Tina congratulating Sam for coming out of his shell and surviving the party without going into hiding thanks to her help. Pretty much her way of saying thanks to him for getting her skirt out of the dryer. Sam gets the message on his phone that his mom is here to pick him up and is about to head off, but not before telling Tina that a seat is open next to Jimmy Jr, telling her that though she didn’t get any upper butt action because dropped her goal just to help him tackle his anxiety, he tells Tina that her night isn’t truly over and still have a shot to share a moment with Jimmy Jr. That, and also telling Chelsea that she should check on her cat’s health and possibly get treated for possible digestion issues. So, out goes Sam as he runs out of Chelsea’s home to his mom’s car...
And in comes Tina sitting next to Jimmy Jr, who is worn out from all that dancing throughout the night. But that’s not the case, the real reason why he’s worn out is that he’s not fully healthy when telling Tina that his sinus infection hadn’t gone away, unclear if he took any medicine before heading out to the party, because you gotta take a dose if you don’t want to miss out. Might as well give the Tina/Jimmy Jr shippers their supper because it has been two months since we last had an episode, so might as well give them their supper once Jimmy Jr asks Tina to lie on her shoulder as he rests while he waits for his parents, and also Tina’s parents, to pick them up. Resting up on Tina’s shoulder, with one small moment in the winding seconds of the episode before cutting over to the credits with Jimmy Jr asking Tina if she has soup with her. She didn’t but at least for Tina for this night, it’s not a total loss. I mean, it was almost a total loss with one mishap after another, but in the end, it’s not a total loss. She finally made it to the final song on time. She helped someone get through his social anxiety (as well as making a new friend), and now, she got her moment with Jimmy Jr despite that she didn’t get her upper butt action, but once again, it’s not a total loss for the girl. And that’s after being in the backseat for the entirety of this season. Hopefully, that can be fixed going into Season 15.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? I know that some people are mixed with the episode and I guess the season as a whole that it had to be a shortened season thanks in part to the strikes that disrupted production last summer because the executives had to be freaking cheap asses, but if it is the season finale, and it should be, then I guess, in my opinion, a way to wrap the season up after a two-month wait. We waited for two months and here we go with the offseason with a good episode to enter the summer season.
There are some moments from the main that there are some difficulties or wish they should’ve done more. I mean, you have Chelsea returning in this episode, only to have her being underutilized for a few lines despite being the party host. Tina going through mishap after mishap, you knew that it was going to happen. Tammy and Jocelyn, especially Tammy, being nice to Tina for once in this episode only...out of nowhere though I’d bet you they probably wouldn’t care while Tina was in the laundry room. But it was a good episode regardless and it’s mostly because of the introduction of Sam. He’s an interesting character and someone that you can ultimately relate to when having to go through social anxiety and was a big help to Tina when trying to get her skirt out of the dryer after finishing washing. And even though the moment at the end was predictable that Tina would throw away her shot of having a slow dance with Jimmy Jr to get some upper butt action, it was a very nice scene between Tina and Sam sharing the dance floor and it was a good moment for Tina to give up her nightly goal and help someone who is socially anxious tackle his anxiety, so it was nice. It was good. Love it. And I do hope the show brings Sam back into a future episode and please...for the love of God, don’t make him another love interest for Tina. I mean, sure, Tina and Sam together is fine, but they’re better off as friends and they should do that the next time Sam appears on the show. That’s my wish for his return, as well as giving Tina a proper friend or a couple of friends that don’t treat her like crap.
The subplot, at first, I thought it was going nowhere but actually, it’s an alright subplot with shades of “Romancing the Beef”, minus the romance and more of Teddy outdoing everyone with the creation of the replica of the restaurant with the wooden pallets. It’s an alright subplot that I guess exceeded expectations. Pretty much boils down to giving Bob a shake of the head for refusing to take some shortcuts to make some money. Dalton’s return is something I didn’t expect to happen but glad that he’s back after an almost seven-year absence. That’s pretty much my thoughts on the subplot aside from giving Teddy some pointers with his creation of the restaurant using wooden pallets. So, final thoughts, despite some moments that are misses, it was a good episode regardless from both plots and might as well be the episode to close the books on another season of Bob’s Burgers before going into the offseason...well, before your boy starts working on the review for The Great North before officially going into the offseason. So I’ll give “Butt Sweat and Fears”...
An 8 out of 10. And to save the trouble with the calculations, it’s a 7 out of 10 for Season 14. But that’s my opinion on the episode and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. The review for the season finale episode of The Great North is currently in the works and should be out either later Wednesday night or sometime overnight, early Thursday morning as the ETA. So stay tuned for that.
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