Well, here we go again. It’s Christmas, We’re nearing the end of the year and normally, this week’s episode would’ve been the culmination of the show for this year that is 2024 because the Christmas episode would at least serve as somewhat of a halfway mark of the season... I laid out my small frustration in the introduction of last week’s episode about the scheduling, mostly because we thought that The Great North was slated for return in January, only to find out that it’s earlier than expected, that is this upcoming Sunday at the time of typing and posting, airing this upcoming Sunday. I mean, yeah, glad to know that we’re getting new episodes but with what happened in November when the Winter schedule was released... yeah, I said it in my introduction to last week’s review, the scheduling department needs to get their heads together—especially with now, having to find out that we have a new Bob’s Burgers the week after Christmas on the 29th, a few days before the New Year.
Where does that leave the year-end countdown for 2024? Who freaking knows up to this point. I mean, I could try to start to do it as planned but I don’t want to overwork myself and the same goes for my four-year-old laptop that sooner or later I will have to plan on getting a new one. So... it’s either overworking myself completely that could result in burnout, not doing the countdown until next year, or doing the countdown but it won’t be held until we get into January, especially once the NFL Playoffs begin because that would usually be when the show would be hiatus until after the Super Bowl. A hard decision that I need to pick and with a short amount of time but the scheduling department needs to get their shit together once we enter 2025.
On this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, it’s Christmas (once again) for the Belchers and they decide to go on a last-minute Christmas light viewing outing after Bob and Linda made their kids upset over not getting the gift they wanted, coming across a dog during the walk, and turns into a wild chase after Gene accidentally gives the animal a piece of chocolate in my spoilerific review of the ninth episode of Bob’s Burgers, titled “Dog Christmas Day After Afternoon”.
And yes, folks. Here we are, episode review number two hundred. Two hundred reviews in a span of ten years since doing these reviews. It’s freaking unbelieve to think about when doing these things. And sure, the fandom in the past year has been... well, eventful when having to go through the Spring half of the previous season of having to go through one episode in a span of two months and God forbid if we do go that again going into the second half of the season, even though it did expand my horizon by having to do The Great North and that was a ride doing it, but the fact that I’m still kicking and have reached another milestone after four years, after having to go through a year of burnout between 2017 and early 2018 and with little to no budget, still going through the grassroots route in blog form instead of having to film myself in front of a camera, while it can be tiring when having to break everything down as if I’m writing a college essay that holds a lot of my grade, but here we are. Two hundred of these things and going to continue for God knows when. So thank you guys for... I guess the support, i.e. checking the page out because it appeared in your Google search, but good to know that this blog, mostly the WordPress site, gaining traction in the past couple of years but good to know and I’m gonna continue to do what I do... probably either the show ends or I die or decided to hang it up.
Oh yeah, and it’s also the Christmas episode for this year that ended up being the 200th episode review. So the fact that a holiday episode has to be the bicentennial milestone since doing the reviews back in my junior year in high school... it’s freaking insane that it went from I guess a hobby dating back to my high school days to where I am now that it feels like a job that should count as content creation because I am active sometimes on social media, of course, gotta take breaks, gotta take care of the mentals, but yeah, two hundred of these things and this happens to be a Christmas episode, let’s see if this holds up to be a special one in what I guess now is the second-to-last episode for this year, this is “Dog Christmas Day After Afternoon”.
The episode starts on the night of Christmas Eve and while most people usually go out to attend Christmas parties on the night before the big day, or consider Christmas a two-day event, but if you’re the Belcher siblings, knowing that they’re young, they’re excited for Christmas morning so they can open their presents and see what they got under the tree. And the one item that they want, for this year’s Christmas episode to be exact, is an item called the Gamewhiz. So what is the Gamewhiz you may ask? It’s the Nintendo Switch. It’s basically the Nintendo Switch because, by the end of the episode, the Gamewhiz is the show’s equivalent of the Switch. My dumbass thought it was like the SEGA Dreamcast when live blogging the night of the premiere but it’s mostly because my mind went to the emulator than the console. So, that’s the item that the kids want for the holidays, and nothing with wanting to have a device, especially a gaming device, for the holidays. Whether it’s the Atari back in the 80s, the PS1, or the N64 in the late 90s going into the early 2000s, or now whether to pick either a PS5 or an Xbox One during the pandemic portion of the holidays, we have fully accustomed into the technology age of our world. And would not be surprised if demand for consoles will spike once GTA VI rolls out in 2025. So the kids are optimistic that they could get their hands on the device, thinking that they’ve been good throughout the year... well until Tina has to point out the negatives that could hamper things.
Case in point, you have Louise’s actions with her having to jump onto a juice box that caused the juice to be squirted and landed on Frond. Don’t know why Louise did that other than just being bored and just want to wreak havoc. And having to wait for Frond to walk through the cafeteria was pretty much her idea to pull off a prank like that. And, of course, that resulted in her getting detention. And if you think that it’s only Louise, it’s just one person, and all three siblings are eyeing the device, so... two out of the three should be enough, right? Wrong.
Because Gene also got into some shit that landed him in detention. His crime? Disturbing the crowd by using the books as drums, at a library of all places, that annoyed the fuck out of Mr. Ambrose. That alone gives Gene detention just for causing some disruption in the library, again, of all the places for him to cause some disruption. Can you really blame Gene though for having to use the books as drums and the pencils as drumsticks? Are you really that bored? But okay, two siblings in trouble, and one remains to be the goody two shoes, not looking good but it was all small incidents. It’s just Louise and Gene and they don’t know what they were doing. So... I guess it’s free eats for Tina (and also Louise and Gene) to get something nice for the holidays...
Only for her to land in detention and by accident. Her crime? She was throwing a snowball, probably a snowball fight with Tammy of all people, probably tagged along with the others to participate in a snowball fight and was about to throw a snowball towards Tammy, only to aim it too high but enough for Tammy to dodge even though it probably not going to hit her anyway but Tammy dodged and instead, hits LaBonz as she was making her way to the building. Man, her aim has seriously regressed since winning the Cheese Royale for her to throw the ball too high. But yeah, all three got detention, separately of course, and even though it did hamper their shot of getting gifts from Santa, that’s not going to stop the siblings from feeling optimistic about opening their gifts once the morning arrives. But once the morning of Christmas Day arrives...
A complete 180 for the kids going from hoping to get the device to now feeling utter disappointment that they didn’t get the gift they wanted and instead, they got what is pretty much Gen Alpha’s nightmare: old-school hobbies. Puzzles, a Simon device, books, some toys, and a chocolate bar for Gene to eat, which should be a silver lining for him... only to turn out that it’s dark chocolate, which is the type of chocolate that he hates, dating back to “Bob Actually”. And as a certain someone from another show that I reviewed earlier this year who is now the newly-elected champion once said, “It’s basically a vegetable.” The one thing that no parent wants to go through on Christmas of all holidays or any of the 365 days that make up a year, is disappointing their kids. And Bob and Linda committed that cardinal sin going into Christmas morning. And that was after countless days, if not, weeks of convincing Bob and Linda leading up to the holiday about the gift they should’ve got. There’s just one problem with why Bob and Linda were unable to get the kids the gaming device as their holiday gift.
It’s money. The problem is money. Bob and Linda thought that the kids would get the hint leading up to Christmas Day that they’re not going to get the device to begin with because of the cost and having to spend money on something else, mostly on repair costs with the car, the walk-in, and even Linda’s glasses that needed to be fixed because December this time around is not too kind to the Belchers in the financial front and thought that with everything that is hitting the family when having to deal with things that were breaking down that they have to spend the money that was supposed to go to the device, which we know that’s not going to happen, that the kids should at least see the writing in the wall. Should’ve put two and two together leading up to where we are now but didn’t and now, mass disappointment for the holidays, especially going into holiday dinner. So I guess the lesson of the day, especially for the holidays, is don’t disappoint your folks with crummy gifts. Most importantly when having to deal with one person who wants something that you can’t afford, try to reason that won’t cause an outcry.
Once the holiday dinner is done, still feel bad over not giving the kids what they want in giving them the Gamewhiz as Bob and Linda are doing the dishes, they decide to do something to make up to the kids before the Christmas season ends because they don’t want to deal with their kids feeling upset or some resentment, though pretty sure it’s not that deep, especially when going into the nighttime hour. This leads Linda to come up with an idea to have a family outing to take a stroll through a random neighborhood to see the Christmas lights. Because nothing says Christmas like having strangers going through a neighborhood just to see the lights and hopefully not serve as a bat signal to declare open season to rob their place. Linda thinks it’s a good idea to take everyone’s minds off of things, especially the kids, and take a nice walk across the neighborhood to see the lights before the people who live there, in a neighborhood called Brookside Drive, start taking the decorations down. And it looks like Linda’s idea is a go because again, it’s her and Bob’s fault for disappointing their kids for not giving them the item they want, so the walk across the neighborhood has to be the way to go to make up for them.
Only for the car to break down before it was turned on. Thought that the car issue was solved with a portion of the money that was supposed to go toward the Gamewhiz, only for the sucker to break down on their way to the neighborhood before it even began. Adding more misery into the pot for the Belchers after what was the Christmas they ever had. Close to calling it a night and spending the rest of their holiday break in disappointment with no car to take them to the neighborhood to see the lights...
Only for a last-minute holiday miracle to come into the Belchers’ aid as Mort pops up and sees them having car trouble as he is planning to take his mom to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant, which I guess solidifies Mort being Jewish because it is tradition for American Jews to consume Chinese food on Christmas since I guess most Chinese restaurants are open for the holiday while everywhere else shut its door for the day, Google it or ask an AI assistant. That and also the episode “God (or Bob) Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins” where Mike the Mailman says “Happy Holidays” to Mort and not “Merry Christmas”. So Mort was on his way to a Chinese restaurant to have a meal with his mom when he spotted the Belchers had car problems and because it was the holidays, he decided to hand his work car, i.e. his hearse, to the Belchers for the night. I mean, better than nothing I suppose, so the Belchers have to take the hearse to get them to the neighborhood. Not like it’s going to draw some attention as if they think someone died during the holidays. Though, holiday stress is a likely killer if you don’t push yourself when having to do around the house or anywhere else.
The family gets crammed inside the hearse on their way to the neighborhood because no one wants to go to the back where... hopefully a casket isn’t there on their way to the neighborhood because that would make an uncomfortable ride going into the neighborhood. Especially Linda, who is pretty much more afraid of visiting graveyards than death or seeing dead bodies. But it’s pretty much picking your poison on where you’re going to be seated. They enter the neighborhood and right away, they get the people’s attention when seeing the hearse roaming through the streets while checking the lights themselves. Especially with that one kid who sees the hearse and says as if he thinks someone died on Christmas just by looking at the vehicle going through the streets. Okay, that one made me slightly chuckle over that moment. I mean, it’s like with “Saving Favorite Drive-In” with that one kid being scared shitless and thinking that Bob was a murderer, they don’t know jack shit and see things that could mentally scar them for the rest of their lives.
After parking the hearse and hopefully, not getting any more attention over the choice of vehicle, especially after having their car break down before it turned on, the family has now finally taken a stroll across the neighborhood, hoping for what happened earlier in the day back home to be nothing more than a memory that should fade away. Strolling through the neighborhood to check out the lights one last time before the holiday season become wraps with Linda being the only person in the family to be excited since this is pretty much her favorite holiday while the others... well, feeling unphased about all of this. That was before Gene got separated from the family when noticed a small dog, a puppy rather, sitting between two cars, after attempting to give the dark chocolate bar another try before regretting his decision. He tries to be nice to the dog with a red ribbon attached to its neck, meaning that the dog is meant to be a gift for someone, and tells the dog to get out of the street because the last thing anyone needs is the dog becoming a player in the real-life version Frogger. Only for Gene...
This was expected because it was teased in the Comic-Con panel back in July that Gene would do something like that. Was saving this frustration for months when this episode was teased and now... might as well let it out. What the fuck, Gene?! What the actual fuck?! Of all of the treats or something to get the dog out of the streets when trying to be generous... a piece of chocolate, doesn’t matter what kind of chocolate it is, is the last thing to give the animal something to grab a bite to eat. I’m pretty sure you should know about all of this because that’s the one thing everyone knows when it comes to what to do or not to do with a dog, especially people who don’t own dogs but know the lingo on what NOT to do. Jesus Christ, for someone who is part of the committee, that being your siblings, going on and on again wanting a pet, especially a dog, you are not doing your part in making an argument with your parents.
Gene rejoins his family and alerts them about a puppy that he found as we prepare to close the first half of the episode and tells them about him accidentally giving the animal chocolate, thinking that because it’s dark chocolate that it would not have any negative effects... except that chocolate is chocolate because it doesn’t matter what kind of chocolate it is as long as it poisonous to the dog. Grade A dumbassery from Gene in this episode. I get that he’s a kid and all and he doesn’t know what he was doing when coming across the dog, but that is some Grade A dumbassery. Even Bob knows that giving the dog chocolate is a bad idea once Gene brings up what he did after being separated for the moment. So now, it looks like the Belchers are going to spend their night, the night counting down to the end of Christmas, to find the dog and with a short amount of time, it’s pretty much a race against the clock before the dog gets sent into the upper room.
And that’s where we enter the second act of the episode with the family continuing to go on foot to find the missing dog that Gene found at the end of the first half to find the dog with Bob trying to find what do to in the event they do find the missing animal on his phone before bad things begin to happen. The tracks of course run cold quickly once they reach the intersection with Bob explaining how to treat the dog in the event they do find it when going through his phone. All you need is a turkey baster and hydrogen peroxide for it to be injected into the dog’s mouth and bam, the effects take over to cause the dog to throw up before the health effects take over from the chocolate. Luckily, the dog is a puppy, meaning that it’s easy to take care of when having to deal with an emergency, meaning that it’s considered harmless at the moment. Although, Gene, may don’t give the dog any more chocolate if you’re planning on how to draw the dog’s attention. You already signed that pupper’s death warrant the moment you gave him chocolate, and yes, the dog is a male because Gene saw his “dinky”, and giving the dog more of your dark chocolate is not the right idea to do. I mean, this isn’t Scooby-Doo where he eats a lot and can go through no ill effects whenever he and Shaggy eat, we’re talking about a puppy who could be half an hour away from being sent packing to a farm upstate. This of course leads the family to split up to find the dog with Bob, Louise, and Gene on one team and Tina and Linda on the other.
We go with Bob, Louise, and Gene searching for the missing dog when riding through the streets on a hearse, hoping to not garner any more attention over why a hearse is driving through the neighborhood as if there was a funeral about to take place during the holidays. And also hope that because the dog is small, a puppy, that hopefully the last thing anyone wants is for the dog to become holiday roadkill. Gene is already feeling guilty over the idea of him giving the animal something that could kill him and questions if there’s anything else that could harm the dog, which is really not helping the search to find the missing dog. Gene explains in more detail what the dog he came across looked like earlier in the episode with Bob bringing up if the dog has a collar, thinking that the dog might’ve run away from its home, not having to know if the dog Gene came across is a random stray dog, but Gene answers to his father that the dog doesn’t have a collar and instead, of course, has a ribbon attached on its neck. Causes Louise to butt in and says that the dog must’ve been a gift for someone for Christmas, something you rarely see in movies and commercials, meaning that if they do find the dog, they would have to find the owner who was about to give it to someone or the person who got the dog ends up being the owner and you already know where this is going once Louise finds out that the dog was meant to be a gift for someone. And that’s a conversation that is likely going to latch on once we get to the second half of the episode.
We check up with Tina and Linda in their search to find the missing dog and oh boy, Linda is too distracted with the lights as she and Tina stroll through the neighborhood. Already forgets about the mission at hand because it is Christmas and has Tina to remind her mother to focus. Right before changing the conversation to the Simon-esque device that the kids got earlier in the day that they pretty much hate because it’s not the Gamewhiz that they wanted instead, talking about the device and whether or not the kids have given it a shot. I mean, upon growing up, and I’mma speak to the Gen Z folks like myself who were born in the late 90s going into the early 2000s because I hear the jokes that we don’t get the technology or the fashion or anything well-known with the past generation, which I have to come out to say bullshit on that because when I was growing up, I had what was pretty much the millennial and Gen X’s sloppy seconds, being the leftovers like the Lite Brite or having to come across the Super Nintendo when visiting my cousin’s house. I’m aware of the stuff there before becoming a thing of the past. We’re not idiots and paint ourselves as quote-on-quote “iPad kids” and while yes, we do know how social media works because the Gen Z class is pretty much the quote-on-quote “last generation” where we know what’s life actually like before becoming too technological advanced the moment we get a hand of a device but we know what the old school stuff was like and often time use. So I don’t want to hear any stereotypical bullshit regarding my generation when it comes to... well, pretty much everything.
Didn’t take long for the Belchers to finally find the dog after regrouping with no luck to find it but it didn’t take long to find the missing dog as we are now nearing the end of the first half of the episode. And with plenty of time too if you think about it rather than having to wait until the end of the third act of the episode where they find the dog but the health effects would kick in. You know, to build up the tension instead of what we got later in the episode. I know that sounds a bit heartless to say but that was the idea you’d probably thought was going to happen when watching the episode. The family spots the dog and tries their best to not scare it away so they can easily pick it up and go door-to-door so they can borrow a turkey baster and hydrogen peroxide for them to treat the puppy before the effects take over as a DIY. I would say take it to the vet but don’t know if animal hospitals are even open for the night. Especially during the holidays. I mean they have to same way emergency rooms are 24/7 whenever there’s a health emergency. The family was this close to nabbing the dog without having to scare it...
Only to run away to one of the houses with the most decorations as we end the first half of the episode and going into the second. I mean, yeah, they did find the dog, rather, the dog found them, and with a lot of time left before the health effects from the chocolate took effect, but knowing that, yes, we’re at the halftime portion of the episode, about, they have to make it a wild goose chase, or rather a wild dog chase, to close the first half of the episode and kicking off the second half because treating the dog right away would probably end the episode early I guess. Even though you would still have the find the owner of the dog. Especially with only less than eight minutes left in the episode because the first act of the episode was the longest we got this season.
We now enter the second half of the episode with the chase of the lost puppy with the Belchers standing in front of the house where the dog appears to be hiding from the various decorations. And the flashing lights would have to serve as the hurdle that could stand in the way as the family continues the wild dog chase so they administer treatment before bad things begin to take over the dog’s system. The Belchers had some trouble in trying to catch the dog but each time they did it, they either fell to the snow-covered ground or were flashed by the lights of the decorations before cornering the creature from inside the Christmas tree decoration. Thought they have the upper hand in all of this with the family surrounding the dog and hoping for one of them, or all of them, to get the dog, only for the Belchers to get flashed because they were standing close to the decoration as if they were hoping for that tree to be defective and instead, all five got solar flare’d and enough to cause the dog to run again.
This time into the igloo. And because the igloo is a decoration, no one can go in, even though they can pick it up but they choose rather not to because the people who own the house, thus owning the decorations, mistake the Belchers as a pair of robbers. Luckily for the family, they have Louise, who is small enough to crawl inside, and luckily secured the dog, which is good to know and with only a few minutes left to spare. And yes, you already know where this is going but we’ll get to that in a bit. Also, we got our Louise being around puppies moment, so go ahead and declare that moment and a few moments in the episode later on as free eats.
The house owners come out to see the commotion, spot the Belchers from their front yard, and tell them what’s going on and why they’re in their yard. Bob tells the owners that nothing bad is going on here and reassures them that they’re not here to rob the place or anything and tells them about what is going on as of late when arriving at the neighborhood. Telling the couple about the current situation they’re in regarding the dog and that Gene accidentally gave it chocolate without even knowing that it would kill the dog, which again, Gene has to feel a sense of guilt because he didn’t even know that the chocolate would pose a harm to dogs. Just be lucky that the dog did end up getting comprehended, and now, we are getting more good news that the couple has both a turkey baster and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for use in treating the dog. Otherwise, there’s going to be a special place in Hell for you even if it is just an accident, Gene.
Of course, we gotta have our Louise treating a puppy like it’s her baby moment. I mean, Louise can’t help it. She can be tough as she wants to paint herself, but she can also have a soft spot at times. Especially when it comes to... well, puppies. We see that in “Eat, Spray, Linda” with her coming across a puppy named Colonel Fluffers at the pet store when looking for Linda and then again in “Lorenzo’s Oil? No, Linda’s” when having to comes across Angie’s dog Ringo to the point where she attempted to take the dog back to her place before the sounds got her caught at the end of the episode. And we’re seeing that now in this week’s episode with the dog that Gene came across earlier in the episode that became the center point.
The dog along with Louise is out of the igloo and comprehended. And with the couple coming out with a turkey baster and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for Bob to use, handing the bottle for him to administer the liquid for the dog. The liquid gets suctioned into the baster and Bob gets a hold of the dog, pretending to be an uncooked turkey because Bob doesn’t want to cause any problems that would scare the dog away... or have the dog go on the attack but knowing that it’s a puppy, a puppy that I guess happened to be either a few weeks or maybe a month old, won’t retaliate and bite him. The liquid gets inserted into the dog’s mouth and being forced to swallow so he doesn’t spit out. The liquid is in the dog’s mouth with no reaction, causing the family to feel some concern if they may have caused more harm than good when inserting the liquid... all it took was a few seconds for the effects of the hydrogen peroxide to kick in and the dog finally got the chocolate out of its system... there was a lot of chocolate that the dog ate courtesy of Gene. And some tinsel but mostly chocolate... just be thankful that the dog will live to see another day because the last thing everyone needs on this Christmas is a dog being sent packing thanks to Gene not knowing what is considered harmful to dogs. So once that’s settled...
You already know the moment the episode became a wild goose chase with the dog after Gene accidentally fed it chocolate, especially when finding out that the dog was meant to be a gift for someone after Gene brought up that he was wearing a red bow on its neck, and yes, the kids getting crummy gifts after finding out on the morning of Christmas that they couldn’t get their hands on the Gamewhiz due to the family’s ongoing financial issues and having to spend the money on repairs. Going I guess full circle back into the conversation of the kids wanting a pet, thinking that them keeping the dog, keeping the dog that Gene was this close from being responsible for having his life subscription getting the “cancel anytime” moment, as their way of hoping to serve as a make-up gift for not having the Gamewhiz. Once again, turning it into a debate between the kids and their parents with the three siblings hoping to keep the dog after finding and saving it and both Bob and Linda saying to their kids they shouldn’t keep the dog. It’s getting to the point where a portion of the fandom, myself included, already come to a realization that the family shouldn’t get a pet, let alone a dog.
Granted, there were attempts, mostly by Louise, for the family to have a pet, and yes, going to keep up bringing the fish that Louise got at the end of Season 6’s “Nice-Capades” because that’s the perfect example of why they shouldn’t get a pet in the first place. Granted, that’s mostly because the cast and crew of the show forgot about the fish Louise got and didn’t become some sort of a permanent staple after that episode aired to the point where they freaking forgot it existed and pretty much comes to a conclusion, not an official one, but like trying to find a missing person after days of searching since the news of the disappearance was made, face the music, that fish is pretty much long gone.
And even though Louise did try to take care of Arachniphoebie, the spider Louise found by her loft bed in Season 12’s “The Spider House Rules”, was the closest the Belchers got as a pet and Lousie did taking care of it despite her parents’ call to release it because no one wants to have a spider roaming in the building, especially in Australia with having to deal those giant ass spiders, once again, the kids can’t get their hands at a pet. And it pretty much stems from what Bob and Linda said at the breakfast table at the beginning of Season 8’s “Brunchsquatch” where Bob said that it’s expensive because they would have to buy the necessities like food, water, pads, leashes, collars, and a bed... in Lament’s term, money, it’s money. But it’s mostly the responsibility as Linda said in that same episode because taking care of a pet, especially a dog, takes a lot of work. And knowing the kids, them and responsibility don’t see eye-to-eye. But that’s not going to stop them from pleading once in a while for them to get a pet. And here we go again with this episode after coming across the dog after having to go through a wild goose chase after Gene accidentally gave it chocolate. I mean, that should’ve been the issue right there to serve as another example in the argument, but even if the dog was luckily saved before the effects started to kick in, the kids won’t budge and continue to think that the dog that they just saved would serve as a make-up gift.
Of course, going into the end of the third act and starting the fourth and final act of the episode with only less than 3-4 minutes left, the actual owner of the dog rears his head and finds the missing animal when noticing the Belchers with the dog at the couple’s front yard. As expected, Louise doesn’t plan on handing the dog back to its owner and decides to go into hiding with the dog in tow into the igloo. Plans on holding it hostage and hoping for the dog to go in the kids’ favor, but knowing that we’re now nearing the two-minute warning and because it is the holidays, Louise has to give up the dog back to its owner.
Especially when having to overhear the conversation between the owner and the rest of the Belcher family. Finding out that the dog isn’t even his and instead, it was supposed to be a gift for his kid and his kid, his daughter, was upset when the dog that the Belchers found while strolling through the neighborhood ran off and didn’t even notice how the dog even escaped either before or after the dog was presented on Christmas morning. And if the man were to take the dog back and have it appear on his kid’s bed once the next morning arrives, it would feel like, in his words, Christmas all over again. More than enough for Louise to have a super predictable and heavily expected change of heart and decide to come out of the igloo. Handing the dog over to the owner for the night, but not before giving the dog a few kisses, and thus, the dog situation has been settled, and be lucky that the chocolate is out of its system. Just hope that guy’s kid does not make the same mistake Gene made earlier in the episode. Don’t repeat the mistakes and you should be good.
Going into the two-minute warning of the episode and because the Belchers found the dog, the owner decides to give the family a cash reward for their heroism. Bob tries to tell the owner that the money seems unnecessary to take, especially for the holidays as if they’re desperate for some spare change, but that’s not going to stop the owner from giving the family something in return for finding the missing dog, though unclear if the family have the posters ready in the event this ended up becoming the long-term but that was averted and a cash reward has to be the gift back for the Belchers for finding the missing dog, again, much to Bob’s dismay because it is unnecessary but ended up taking it... mostly because the money is from a Christmas party and the owner happened to be a banker. I know that would’ve been the decent pick for Bob and Linda earlier in the episode but didn’t when talking about their ongoing financial struggles but it would probably require working in an office job and we know Bob hates that. But they do serve free lollipops... you can’t beat that. So, with the Belchers now having the reward money in their possession, it all comes down to what to spend it on. You’d think that the money would probably go to the car because it broke down before it was even turned on on their way to the neighborhood which resulted in them borrowing Mort’s hearse. But instead...
The money is spent on the Gamewhiz to make up to the kids for not giving it to them on Christmas morning as their way to make up to them for souring the mood the moment the presents were opened. And yes, the Gamewhiz is pretty much the show’s equivalent of the Nintendo Switch, I just have to put it out there. But yeah, we reached the end of the episode with the kids finally getting their device with the reward money the family got from finding the dog. Bob and Linda no longer have to deal with the sour mood that they had to go through with the kids just 24 hours ago but probably wish they had spent it on repairs but it was valiantly obvious that they have to make it up to the kids to get the device they want. Don’t know if it’s going to be a permanent staple is up in the air. So I guess what we learn from this episode is I guess it’s not the price that counts, even if it’s for a device that you desperately want. But the most important would be to not be like Gene and do something as stupid as giving dogs chocolate unless you want animal rights groups to put you on blast. Especially during the holiday seasons.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? It’s an alright episode if I have to say so myself. Pretty much one of the weakest when it comes to the Christmas episodes for Bob’s Burgers when it comes to how to rank the episodes. Mostly because of how predictable and a bit dragged out it was from start to finish. But I don’t hate the episode but it’s not my favorite, so it’s somewhere in the middle when having to watch when it first came out... and again when having to give it a second watch.
Sure, it’s nice to see a different part of town for once in a while with the family having to go through the neighborhood to check out the lights. And Louise being around a puppy and making herself lose it over how cute it is was interesting and also cute because Louise can’t help it when being around something small and cuddly like a puppy. And the lights were not that bad when being used across the neighborhood. Giving it a Christmas feel since it is a holiday episode after all.
But the problem that I have is mostly because of how predictable the episode has been ever since it was teased at Comic-Con earlier this year. Thought that something big was going to happen based on the script cover and even though some moments didn’t downplay the episode like Louise being attached to the puppy, but that didn’t seem to be the case despite the hype it was built up the moment the script cover was released. Thought it would be about a dead owner and the dog has to serve as that owner’s will to pass on to the next of kin and the kids, in a desperate attempt to have a pet, want to throw their hats into the ring to keep the dog. That is what I thought when seeing the script cover when it was released to the public on Instagram but it is what it is I guess. I don’t hate the episode but it feels like one of the weakest when it comes to where to rank in the Christmas episodes for Bob’s Burgers or rather with Season 15 in general so far since we are nine episodes in. So I’ll give “Dog Christmas Day After Afternoon”...
A 6 out of 10. I would’ve gone with a 5 out of 10 but seems a little mean going into the holiday season. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. No new episode this upcoming Sunday because we thought we would be done for the year because normally, a Christmas episode of Bob’s Burgers means that we would go into the holiday break... instead, we got an episode on December 29 and it’s the episode that was previewed through an animatic during the D23 Expo panel with Tina as an advice columnist for the school newspaper in the tenth episode of Season 15, “Advice Things Are Ad-Nice”. And, of course, we got a brand new episode of The Great North this upcoming Sunday with the start of Season 5 in “The Lies Aquatic Adventure”.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. Of course, no new matches until March since the 2024 season of the Battle of the Week Voting Tournament has concluded with Moon Tobin from The Great North being crowned the winner. And yes, because of the new rules, he is poised to run away once the candidates are announced in late February. Other than that, y’all should know the drill by now...
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