Down to one episode and one show to kick off July, since there are no new episodes of The Great North until later this month on the night of July 17. This should be an interesting breather, as the previous review I did, which was the second of the doubleheader for The Great North, was the longest I've done in a while. The longest that I did, by the way, the deal still stands while there’s no new Great North until the 17th, 100 likes to the review of “Serendipi-Beef Adventure”, and I might do a character pairing analysis on Moon and Quinn unless I could do some sort of character discussion on either of the two, still, the offer stands. And also, please watch The Great North so we can get more seasons.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, the Belchers are invited to attend a birthday party at Mr. Fischoeder’s mansion to celebrate an old tortoise’s milestone of reaching 100 years old where the guests have to play a couple of games to win the birthday turtle’s attention in my spoilerific review of the sixteenth episode of Season 15 of Bob’s Burgers, titled “The Shell Game”.
Well... this might as well be an embarrassing moment to state to kick off the review. I have no introduction planned. Yep, you read that right, I have nothing planned for the introduction to start the review when coming up with some sort of ways to describe the episode that we got for this week unless I can try to half-ass it when talking about turtles. Most notably, tortoises. And some of the facts that y’all are probably aware of when it comes to tortoise facts are that they’re big ass turtles and can outlive us because they go up to 150 years. Ain’t no way a human would beat that unless you’re immortal, which sounds impossible and fictional, to say the least.
But yeah, I didn't think I would not have anything to say in the random department other than that I'm still recovering from having to do three episodes from two different series within a week and a half and use the off day, which was last week, to do the doubleheaders. So yeah, might as well get this episode review and breakdown going with this episode, this is “The Shell Game”. Once again, the offer still stands on the 100 likes thing on the recent Great North episode review to do a discussion piece. The offer still stands. I’ll try to come up with an introduction piece in the next episode’s review.
The episode starts with restaurant work for the family, with Louise deciding to mess around with some napkins by writing on said napkins, with Bob telling Louise to stop because he thinks that Louise is doing some fake promotion where someone could get free burgers for life with Louise somewhat correcting her father that it only works for someone who has the tenth napkin. Of course, it’s Louise being Louise when messing around with some stuff. But that’s not important.
Because Mr. Fischoeder comes in, a la what we saw a few episodes ago in “Mr. Fischoeder’s Opus”, with him enters the restaurant and decides once again to invite the Belchers to an event that he is hosting. But this time around, it’s not a catering gig, and the rent was not brought up to serve as a deal for the Belchers, especially Bob, to accept the offer to serve as a favor for the guy. It’s a full-on invitation with Fischoeder giving Bob the envelope with the invitation to an event that he is hosting. The event in question was a birthday party for the oldest member of his family. A member of the Fischoeder family who isn’t even a human, but instead, it’s an animal. A tortoise, to be precise.
Ulysses Fischoeder is the tortoise’s name who will be celebrating a milestone. He is turning 100 years old and the creature has quite the history as Fischoeder shows various photos of the tortoise, different photos, the same tortoise. All withstand the evolution of the camera when the photos are being taken from the old school one where the photographer had to go into the cover since it was flash photography, to modern day... probably using a film camera and having to go to the film section of the pharmacy store and have the photo exported from the film reel if y’all remember that. Did I mention that the tortoise has quite a history? He met three presidents and had them shake his foot, met Charles Lindbergh, and made Greta Garbo smile. It’s quite the experience that tortoise has gone through, but then again, most tortoises have a life expectancy between 80-150 years of age, so uh... he might be getting there within that range. He’s getting there. So yeah, it looks like the Belchers will be accepting the invitation and can’t get out of it. And once again, it’s not for a catering gig, and the topic of rent was never brought up as a bargaining chip to convince them to do him a favor.
So, onto the next scene with the Belcher family arriving at the party, and quite the turnout this little party got. About three people and Felix are in attendance, as if this is what Fischoeder got, as if he was expecting much bigger, since the old tortoise is turning 100. Major milestone. You’d probably think that there would be some big bash to take place, but no, there are a few fewer people who are invited, with some in attendance being familiar faces.
One was Randolph Brackenbrown, whom we saw a few times, with the last time we saw him was when he and the others were trapped on an island during a storm while having to survive the night, trying to find a way out, but also, apprehend one of their own who happened to be high on bath salts as if he had experienced the Florida Man Simulator. He’s one of the attendees who is attending the tortoise’s big birthday, as he leaves the Belchers alone after Bob introduces him to the family once Fischoeder arrives to welcome the Belchers and gives him the gift for the birthday tortoise, who is yet to be seen because according to Mr. Fischoeder, Ulysses is currently under the care of Inga at the moment and getting things ready to be presented to the crowd. Of course, Felix isn’t all too happy with the idea that a tortoise would get the special treatment because apparently, Felix’s birthday falls on Ulysses’ birthday. This was supposed to be his big day, but instead, the spotlight went to the tortoise. Especially since the tortoise is turning 100, but yeah, sucks to be Felix.
Linda comes across another guest of the party who Fischoeder brought up during that small encounter at the drink station, a woman named Bailey, voiced by Jessica St. Clair, and it seems that both she and Fischoeder have some history with each other. A lot of history, to be exact, and Fischoeder knows that because he told Linda and the others just moments ago when talking about the guests who are present. I really don’t want to imagine the lovemaking between the two due to the fact that they’re old and you can tell that Bailey here is kind of horny. She was kind of horny when being Fischoeder back when they were dating. Of course, the relationship didn’t last long, as Bailey had to focus on her business, which was taking off, and frequently travel. By looking at the outfit she’s wearing, you can tell what kind of travel she does and the business she’s operating. You can tell there are some red flags once we get to the competition later in the episode.
Oh yeah, this is also the second appearance, as advertised, of Ian Anderson, once again voiced by John Oliver, who is one of the attendees for Ulysses’ birthday party. Though no need for an introduction for Fiscoheder because Bob knows who Ian is since they last crossed paths back in Season 7’s “There’s No Business Like Mr. Business Business”. Though a bit of a missed opportunity to have some continuity from the episode regarding Ian and bring up the whole thing with the audition and not having Gayle’s cat, Mr. Business, to be the cover for the cat food brand. Also, should’ve brought up whether or not the Belchers are still eating said cat food, which they don’t after that episode. But instead, it’s him trying to remember if he’s the guy who had a squirrel land on his head. Just putting it out there, a missed opportunity to have some continuity in this little reunion, but I guess what’s done is done.
So after the introduction, and especially once the guest of the hour decides to come into the greenroom, accompanied by Inga, and have to go through the gift opening process of the party, with the gift that the Belchers give to Ulysses being a ball for him to play with, we get to the entertainment portion of the event with Fischoeder announcing a competition for the party guest to participate. He laid out the rules of said competition: he’s looking for a successor. Someone to inherit Ulysses because, according to Fischoeder, he’s not getting any younger. He could be dead at any given moment. And because tortoises outlive humans by the average life expectancy or passing through the title of “World’s Living Person”, someone has to take the tortoise under one of the guests’ care until the animal dies. And it looks like it’s going to be a non-Fischoeder who might be taking home the rights to the animal.
Felix is one of the contenders in this competition, and you’d think that he would be the next man up because he’s younger than his brother, but he hates him because he stole his spotlight. That, and the responsibility that comes with it. Sure, Inga would be there and probably do most of the work, but she'd be biting the dust soon as well. So, of course, it has to be a non-Fischoder to take home the tortoise because who else is going to take Ulysses? Felix hates him and doesn’t want the responsibility that comes with it. And the other member of the Fischoeder family, oh right, is currently in fucking jail. But aside from Felix, you have Randolph, Ian, Bailey, and Bob as the possible candidates to be Ulysses’ owner and carer, with one of them to take home the tortoise and also $10,000/year, mostly towards the tortoise, Ending the first act of the episode and going into the second, it’s something that Bob doesn’t want to be a part of, but that’s not going to stop the kids, especially Louise, from wanting both the tortoise and the money if Bob wins.
So, going into the second act of the episode, of course, Bob doesn’t want to do this. He didn’t expect a competition to be brought up from Fischoeder to come up with for the tortoise’s birthday, let alone the prize of said competition, where the winner would get sole rights to Ulysses. And of course, the kids, especially Louise, want their father to win this thing. Going back to, wouldn’t you guess it, them wanting a pet. Time and time again, and going to keep saying it, they ain’t going to get a pet. Never. Call me a hater all you want, but go back to the beginning of “Brunchsquatch” at the breakfast table. Taking care of a pet includes a lot of money for food and other necessities; hence, the $10,000/year that might go toward Ulysses, but also, of course, the responsibility that comes with taking care of the animal. And you know that the kids and responsibility when it comes to... well, anything, especially when having to take care of a pet, they don’t meet eye to eye like Republicans and their voter base. But that’s not going to stop the kids from wanting to have a pet in their lives, even if the tortoise has another 50 years to live and for their kids and potential grandkids to the creature before Ulysses decides to go off to turtle heaven. So yeah, Bob cannot get out of this one and has to follow along with what Fischoeder says for him and the other guests, along with Felix, to follow along.
And so begins the first challenge of this competition in an attempt to please Ulysses. Each party guest, consisting of Bob, Randolph, Ian, Bailey, and Felix, all have carrots to be put into their mouths for Ulysses to crawl towards. And the name of the first game is to stay calm and collected with a carrot attached to their mouths for Ulysses to consume the carrot as a sign of affection, the same way as you’re trying to spoon-feed a baby. And if you think about it, the competition is pretty much a party competition meant for a one or two-year-old, even if the party in question is for a just-turned-100-year-old tortoise who is ready to test out the free market if any one of the five ends up becoming the winner. Of course, as expected, Bob sucks as this. He tried to be cool and collected once Ulysses went to him and the carrot from his mouth before scaring him away. And this is only the start of this.
Because we get to the next competition of the event, that being kicking the ball to Ulysses without having to kick too high, where it hits his head, and could cause CTE. Everyone did their part in gently kicking the ball to the tortoise so it wouldn’t upset the turtle. But once it gets to Bob’s turn to kick the ball, it hits Ulysses hard in the head because he sucks at this. He doesn’t want to do this but is stuck doing this anyway. I mean, just be lucky that Fischoeder didn’t flaunt the rent idea to make Bob to make him participate, because otherwise... well, it’s going to be the same result. And we’ll get to Bob’s little claim in a bit about him being around animals. And we’ll get to that short topic in a bit.
As we prepare to move on to the next event of the competition, Randolph is talking to Bob about what he would do to the tortoise if he were to win the contest. The first thing he would do with Ulysses? Draining the life force from the animal so he can live past whatever age he’ll die because, like Fischoeder, he’s not getting younger. Hoping to outlive everyone at 150 years of age and thinks that siphoning the life force from Ulysses would be the way to go. We’re treating what Randolph is planning on doing to Ulysses as if you read those conspiracies about Hollywood celebrities not getting old. That is exactly what Randolph wants if he were to win the competition. And uh... nothing too concerning on that front.
Onto the third and fourth event of the competition once we go back inside the greenhouse, that being the guessing game and a stand-up routine. Do I even have to say this if y’all watched the episode already? Everyone but Bob did their part in trying to entertain the tortoise. Bob fucking sucks at this. I would say he could tap in either Linda or any of the kids, mostly Linda because the competition is meant for adults, but still, it’s not looking good for Bob with this competition. I mean, just be lucky that this didn’t get stretched out because then we’d be in the long haul when trying to play nice with the tortoise in question on his special day.
And before we get to the next competition, which is the final competition before deciding to find out who will be taking home Ulysses, where we get both Ian and Bailey’s reasons for why they want to get a hold of Ulysses, starting with Ian. And out of the three guests who are a part of the competition, we’ll get to Bailey’s reasons, even though the outfit she’s wearing speaks otherwise, Ian’s reason for why he wants Ulysses to be with him seems to be the... I guess “sanest” of the bunch, but on the other hand, not really. And that is that he wants the tortoise to be a part of a film or TV show... that happened to be a murder mystery... set in high school... and is unclear if putting the animal in show business would be considered a good idea despite the little wording you see in the end credits that reads “no animals were harmed in the making of this film”, like... unless the title of the would-be show in the event you win the competition is titled...
“Last Tortoise Tonight with Ulysses Anderson”, I would’ve saved this for when we get Bailey’s reason for why she wanted Ulysses under her care, but knowing that her job description may have given it away on who she is just by the way she was dressed, Ulysses might be cooked. Ulysses might be cooked. No hyperbole. It’s almost as if they don’t even want to take care of the tortoise at all and instead, they go to the party and the moment Fischoeder announces the competition where the winner will take sole possession of the birthday tortoise in the event Fischoeder dies, it’s pretty much them saying that when the time comes, it’s about to be free eats.
And we know that Bailey ain’t no saint in this once we get to the next scene of the episode, as we are about to enter the next and final event of the competition, or already in progress once Randolph and Ian are done with their turn, and Bailey about to be next in line. This is pretty much pure “they had us in the first half, not gonna lie” moment coming from her. Her business happens to be a park for the animals, which you think that shit was going to be sweet. Probably thought that Bailey’s business was a wildlife sanctuary for the tourists to visit like it’s... well, the only other wildlife sanctuary place that I can think of would be the Yellow River Game Ranch down by Stone Mountain in Georgia. But nope, it’s not like that, and instead, she wants to use Ulysses as sport. She brings up “big game” as part of her business, and y’all already know what those two words into one sentence means. I mean, the outfit she’s wearing pretty much gives it away. Did I mention that Ulysses might be cooked in this?
So yeah, this little competition that Fischoeder decides to throw for Ulysses boils down to the lesser of a few evils. That is pretty much what it comes down to. Because three of the four, rather, four of the five guests in attendance at the party fucking sucks. You have one who wants to harness his life force just to stay young as if he wants to go and find the Fountain of Youth. The other, while decent to say the least, would rather exploit the tortoise into the limelight as if he had found his next big thing. Don’t get me started with Ms. I’ll Turn This Tortoise into a Lovely Soup, with her big game ranch and wanting to use Ulysses as target practice. And then on the other side of the four-way coin, you have Felix, who doesn’t want to deal with the responsibility of taking care of a tortoise and can barely take care of himself. I mean, of course, it has to be a non-Fischoeder who has to take the reins of having to take care of Ulysses because you have one Fischoeder who, as Bob says, barely knows how to take care of himself. And the other, of course, is currently locked up in prison. So, the pressure is now on Bob as his turn is being called up to play in the mud with Ulysses despite not wanting to do the competition. Not because he wants to, but because, according to him, he and the animal kingdom don’t go hand in hand. Or hand to paw or hand to claw... You know what I mean.
Which, I have to call cap on that one with that little statement from Bob. Sure, when it comes to Bob and the animals, they don’t meet eye to eye. But we are not going to pretend that some animals took somewhat of a liking to him. I mean, the prime example would have to be Gayle’s cat Mr. Business, and despite Bob’s allergy to cats, the cat does take somewhat of a liking to Bob, but it’s mostly the cat having to listen to Bob more than Gayle. Not to mention, the pigeon, if you remember the pigeon that invaded the restaurant in Season 6’s “House of 1000 Bounces”, with him being paranoid over the bird, only to realize that he got that fear from watching a movie, and then decides to bathe him. The point is that even though Bob can say that animals hate him or isn’t an animal person, but it’s good to know that some in the fandom have receipts to call out on his claim since this little competition is pretty much a lesser of few evils since four of the five competitors are horrible regarding what to do with the tortoise if either of them wins
This, of course, causes the Belcher kids to call for an emergency kids' meeting in private because they need this. They want the tortoise to be their pet, much to Bob’s dismay. They saw the performance and heard about what each guest would do with the tortoise in question, so the pressure is mounting on Bob to win this one. So far, it’s not looking great, and they don’t want to miss their opportunity to get a pet for free, along with $10,000/year for necessities for the tortoise. So, knowing that we’re already entering the final few scenes of the first half of the episode, it’s only a matter of time for the Belcher kids to intervene and help their father win the competition.
And by that, I mean going towards him and making some adjustments to Bob once his name is called up by Fischoeder, not knowing that the kids might’ve planted something into him that should serve to “help” him make a good impression on Ulysses. But in actuality, it’s getting Bob to cheat his way to win the competition by planting something that should attract Ulysses, and it’s the type that we saw earlier in the episode, back when Inga brought the tortoise into the greenhouse.
So, in the final few scenes of the first half of the episode with Bob now enters the area where the mud pit is for him to make a good impression on Ulysses. At first, we thought we knew that Bob wasn’t going to win this with him having to fall into the ground by the mud once Ulysses decided to crawl towards him, thinking that it was all for naught for what the kids did to him. However, it looks like things are starting to take a shift for Bob once Ulysses crawls to him and does not cause any problems, surprising everyone at the party as if the tortoise may have found a new favorite, despite that it wasn’t his doing, but more of the kids planting something that cause Ulysses to go to him the same way how the smell of cooked meat would attract a dog in the streets. But that should be enough to say that Bob has officially won the competition, and thus, the tortoise will go to the Belchers to wrap up the first half of the episode.
We enter the second half of the episode with the aftermath of the competition, with the party coming to an end and every guest heading home for the day, going home empty-handed and wishing that it should’ve been them who would take home the tortoise, but alas, they didn’t. So, everyone leaves, of course, Bailey once again flirting with Fischoeder on her way, and Bob continues to ride high on the idea that the animal likes him. Thinking that it’s all his and thinks to himself that it was all luck’s doing. Not knowing that it was the kids who did the work by planting something, a plant of some sort, that being the dandelions that Inga fed him earlier in the episode. Hence, the scene cuts over to the kids getting some sense of guilt that Bob didn’t win fair and square, but that’s not going to stop them from the fact that they finally did what they did. They’re finally getting a pet. Though you have that small scene with Inga walking back to her booth, looking unamused as if something is up, upon the news that Bob won the rights to Ulysses. And we’ll get to what is really going down later in the third act of the episode.
We have a bit of a private conversation between Bob and Fischoeder, just as the Belchers are about to do some paperwork to make it official, with Fischoeder telling Bob a confession to make before getting to the nitty gritty of things regarding the competition. And that is when he tells Bob that he wants him (Bob) to win. He wants Bob to take home Ulysses because he thinks that Bob is the most suitable candidate to inherit the tortoise. Don’t know why Fischoeder could’ve rigged the damn game to make sure Bob wins or, as Bob says, didn’t just talk to him. The second option, Fischoeder would know that Bob would say no to the offer if they talked things out to inherit the tortoise. So, the competition would be the way to go, and having the likes of Randolph, Felix, Bailey, and Ian to be the party guests and competitors to make sure it’s an easy breeze, not knowing that Bob would suck at all of the events up until the final event of the competition and probably wishes he could’ve rigged the damn thing. Not knowing, again, the kids had to intervene to make sure their father won this.
The signing is about to take place at the greenhouse. I know that Fischoeder is calling it a “solarium”, which is just a fancy way to say greenhouse, or at least that’s what we’re accustomed to, but that’s where the signing of the transfer documents is about to take place where the kids try to play with the tortoise, i.e. their soon-to-be-new pet to take home, is where Fischoeder enters the building with the notary Christopher, voiced once again by Joe Pera, in which the kids already knew who he is because he is currently dating their babysitter Jen if y’all remember that in Season 12’s “Ferry on My Wayward Bob and Linda”.
So, he will serve as the notary to make sure the transfer process goes through for Ulysses to officially become property of the Belchers; it just needs a signature, Ulysses’ signature that would require Inga to stamp his foot on the document, to make it official. The only problem is that Inga hasn’t gotten out of her room, and remember that small scene with Inga being unfazed about Bob winning the competition, which it feels like she’s not taking the news well? Well, it looks like, according to Fischoeder, Inga has a change of heart and wants to take care of Ulysses. Don’t know why Inga wasn’t even a part of the competition, or if Fischoeder would even let Inga be a part of it, but here we are. Inga, out of nowhere, was upset at the last minute of having to let Inga go to the Belchers the moment Bob won fair and square...
Or so we thought, once the kids came out clean, they planted the dandelions into Bob’s pocket, which caused Ulysses to go to him and win the competition. Once again, you’d think Fischoeder would’ve rigged the damn thing for Bob since he thinks that he’s a suitable contender, but no, the kids had to butt in because they’re in desperation mode in wanting a pet. So yeah, it’s the dandelions that the kids planted that caused him to get to Bob, who handed the Belchers the sole rights to the tortoise at the end of the event, and that results in Ulysses crawling away from Bob as if it only wants the dandelions. It only draws to the plant. That, and also having to take a shit. So, as a result of what happened, the Belchers, I guess, are disqualified from inheriting the tortoise. Thus, at the last minute, because of the mood she is going through, it’s Inga who will be taking sole possession of Ulysses. There’s just one little problem going into the next scene...
Inga is nowhere to be seen once everyone makes their way to Inga’s living quarters, which so happens to be next to the solarium, with Tina reading a note that Inga wrote to everyone, especially Fischoeder, that she placed on her bed. Pretty much telling her boss that she has sent in her resignation notice, effective immediately, as she prepares to go back home to Sweden for a picker and stomper job since it’s lingonberry season, but it’s mostly because she got upset over Bob having to win the tortoise, despite that his kids had to butt in and plant the leaves to cheat, and also, questioning why she didn’t jump into the competition if she knew that she doesn’t want Ulysses to be with someone, but instead, she decided to sit out and waited until the last minute to find out that she didn’t want Ulysses to be sent with someone else. Plus, say if Felix had won the competition, and we know that he can barely take care of himself, Inga would still have to take care of Ulysses, but not in sole possession of the tortoise. So, to sum up, this little situation as we prepare to wrap up the third act and go into the fourth...
As Linda stated, Inga pulled a “Clueless” where in that movie, you have Alicia Silverstone’s character not liking Paul Rudd’s character until he was about to be with someone else, and then she knew she was in love with her stepbrother... what in the Folgers commercial, Sweet Home Alabama fuck was that description?! Holy shit, dude. Holy shit. But yeah, let’s go with that reference when describing Inga’s situation, where she plans to defect because of how upset she was over Fischoeder having to give away Ulysses, and thus, calling it quits, and is about to make her way to the airport. Ending the third act of the episode with everyone now needing to get Inga back with Bob already pitting all of this on Fischoeder for what just transpired, and the two, just the two of them, are about to make their way to the airport, going into the fourth and final act of the episode...
Only to spot Inga at the gate just moments later. Not the gate at the airport, the gate outside the mansion. So, I guess no need for a trip to the airport then knowing that we’re only less than four minutes left in the episode. At least we’re not going through the whole “stopping someone from going through the gate and telling the person who is planning on getting on the plane to rethink their decision and hoping for things to be water under the bridge” trope as you see in most romance movies. Definitely nothing like that.
We check up on the others back at the solarium, with Louise still wanting to get on the tortoise, much to Linda’s dismay, and telling her not to do that. Saying as if someone like a kid like her would cause some damage to the tortoise’s back, even though Louise wants to do it as if she wants to be some sort of turtle/tortoise hermit, a la Master Roshi, minus the perviness nature. This causes Louise to find another option to ride on Ulysses as she looks around the solarium, and it doesn’t take long for her to spot a wheelbarrow. Taking some of the stuff out of the barrow and decides to use it as a ricochet as she and the others, except for Christopher, join both Bob and Fischoeder at the gate where Inga is expected to be picked up via ride share. Speaking of which...
Going to that scene with three minutes left in the episode and about to enter the two-minute warning with Bob and Fischoeder, mostly Bob to convince Inga to stay put and not quit her job, and not leave the Fischoeders behind just because of the Ulysses situation that, of course, the rights now have gone to her after the kids butt in to help Bob to win the tortoise and thinks that Ulysses should go to her since finding out about, well, everything since she did all of the work to take care of the animal. Just hoping that her character in the show doesn’t let her become one big Swedish stereotype with the way she mentions lingonberry one too many times. Of course, the only way for Inga to stay put would be for Fischoeder to apologize, since it was his idea to give away Ulysses on his birthday in the event he dies. As expected, Fischoeder hesitated to do just that, causing Inga to get ready to put her bags into the trunk right as her ride arrived for her to be sent to the airport.
Especially once the rest of the Belcher family and Ulysses arrive on the scene, in which Bob thinks that Ulysses still wants to be with him without having the leaves planted, but no, that ain’t happening. He is going toward Inga right as she is putting her luggage away and about to get into the car, going into the two-minute warning of the episode. So it took until just now for Fischoeder to formally apologize to Inga in hopes that she doesn’t leave both he and Felix behind, because he knows that he took good care of Ulysses as much as taking care of the Fischoeders, especially Felix who can be a handful because, once again, he can barely take care of himself. So Fischoeder somewhat apologizes to Inga in his last-ditch effort for her to rethink her decision... that, and also, he hid her passport, so she’s pretty much stuck, but that should be enough for Inga to stay put and continue to be their caretaker and housemaid. With a few things she has to list out, of course, when planning to retake her job: that being a pay raise, a second ottoman so that Ulysses doesn’t think it’s another tortoise for him to mate, and also something called wakey-time powder. Which is pretty much a morning-time supplement in a tub you would see at the health department of the store. So, Inga is staying put, which is good for everyone.
And also good news for Felix, who was observing the whole thing from the comfort of his treehouse. Hoping for Inga not to leave the premises after what his brother did, but alas, she’s staying put, which is good news for him. Because let’s be real, he’s pretty much a handful to deal with. He really is.
Finally reached the end of the episode with the documents now fully filled out, with Inga now the sole recipient of Ulysses after what just happened throughout the birthday bash, if you even want to call it that. Quite the milestone for the tortoise after a competition that nearly had his caretaker having to leave the country thanks to one man’s decision to give him away in the future for the remainder of the tortoise’s life. So, not a lot to say with the final scene of the episode other than Inga making things official that she’ll be the one inheriting Ulysses and having to keep her job. And other than that, the whole event has been blown over, and the moral of this story: it’s probably for the best to not piss off the person who is hard at work by giving away something that they don’t like at first, only to have a change of heart come after. I mean, make the decision, will you? Either keep it or send it away instead of having to hide it until the last minute.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? This episode has some in the fandom hyped up because it’s a Fischoeder episode, and well... it’s fine. It’s fine. Average to say the least, and you could say it’s probably that I just got out of having to do three reviews that came out on June 19, and you might be right on that. But it’s mostly because it felt like an average episode, where it’s not a bad one, but it’s not that great either. It’s somewhere in between.
It’s somewhat interesting that the episode went from focusing on Fischoeder despite it’s Bob having to do all of the work to Inga after it was revealed that she has a soft spot for the tortoise since becoming the plot device for this episode. I mean, it’s not that major, and even though Inga became the central focus by the end of the episode, especially since there were some moments where she was showing signs that she was getting upset over the idea of getting rid of Ulysses and having someone to inherit, treating it as a competition with Bob having to win despite the kids having to butt in beacuse they were in desperation mode when it comes to wanting to get a pet. If I had a nickel each time the Belcher kids want to have a pet of their own, despite the cast and crew not giving to give them one, and also, like Felix, doesn’t want to bear the responsibilities that come with having a pet. So, it’s sort of interesting to have Inga, whom we just met a few episodes ago, have some time in the limelight right around the end of the episode.
And I guess it’s fine to have a few familiar faces back in the episode, like Ian Anderson from Season 7’s “There’s No Business Like Mr. Business Business” as one of the guests who attended the tortoise’s birthday and Christopher from Season 12’s “Ferry on My Wayward Bob and Linda” to serve as the notary when having to make things official on the whole inheritance paperwork that was supposed to go to Bob before having that transfer to Inga at the end of the episode. And, come on, we know right away that the kids aren’t going to get a pet like Ulysses by planting the leaves into Bob’s pocket for him to cheat. They’re not going to do it anytime soon. So, I’ll give “The Shell Game”...
A 7 out of 10. But that’s my opinion, and I want to hear yours in the comments below. We got a brand new episode of Bob’s Burgers coming this upcoming Thursday, and only Bob’s Burgers since The Great North is still off until the week after on July 17, but until then, it’s only Bob’s Burgers for the upcoming episode with a Tina episode when her semi-erotic horse fiction gets stolen and a mysterious stranger decides to become an op when holding it hostage. Let’s hope that the identity isn’t uber predictable in the seventeenth episode of Season 15 of Bob’s Burgers in “Wild Steal-ions”.
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