Took us almost five months into the year, but we have finally made it. We have new episodes for yours truly to cover. Yes, I did promise y’all a Great North character discussion, it's coming. It's coming. Chill. A lot of things happened throughout the past four months. Mostly because of a slight burnout, getting things settled with the blog, and, of course, a lot of things out of this. The most recent was having to send my laptop in for hardware repairs, and I was dangerously close to having to replace it. The laptop I’m currently using will be about six years old come August. So, it would be the right time to make a replacement, even if Windows 11, from what I’ve heard, is a freaking tire fire over their updates.
Other than that, the past four months... whoever said that 2026 is going to be the 2016 is a freaking liar and should be beaten up just for saying that, in GTA, of course. Because 2026, so far, has been exhausting to deal with around the country and the world. From the shit with ICE in Minneapolis that claimed the lives of two people who haven’t done anything wrong other than exercising her first amendment right to an ongoing war in Iran that everyone, primarily everyone in the US, is dealing with the consequences because our president had to follow what a certain genocidal tyrant from a certain Middle Eastern country that is the size of Lake Michigan because the word peace is not in his volcabulary. People want to get to November so, one, to vote in the midterms, but mostly, to get to play GTA. Is that too much to ask? Let everyone have this before thinking about bringing in armageddon just to please your God, Satan.
In this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, Tina take up typing classes in hopes to improve her GPA if she wants to attend a class trip to go rock climbing, as Teddy, Bob, and Linda pay a visit to a fancy-looking grill at Teddy’s handyman spot and decides to mess around in my spoilerific review of the eleventh episode of Season 16 of Bob’s Burgers, titled “The Keyboard Kid”.
We all remember back in school, in the computer lab, where we all had to partake in a course, when facing the monitor of the computer, hands on the keyboard, and having to enter a program where you have to learn how to type on the computer by having to use the home key position with both your fingers on both sides of the keyboard, one side by the F key and the other on the J key that has the bumps on it. Most people know how to type using that position whenever they’re on the computer, whether it’s for work or anything else, and having to get on the internet to mess around.
However, some people are in the minority, like Tina in this episode and yours truly, who don’t even use the home key position when on the computer. Going on the wild side and type willy nilly, but still can get the job done. And you can see which side prevails in this episode over how people type. Even if Tina is doing this because her grades... well, she’s not the brightest in the academic levels. Not calling her dumb or anything, just... the girl really needs to focus on her studies instead of having to go into la-la-land about boys and stuff. Especially in the GPA department, having to take an elective would be her ticket to getting a good grade. That, and also wanting to participate in a class trip. Which we’ll talk about... right now. This is “The Keyboard Kid”. Not a great introduction to start, but it has been four months. It takes a while, even if there are a few episodes left in the season.
The episode starts at school with Tina getting excited over what is about to happen later in the week as she makes her way to catch up with Jimmy Jr at his locker about said event. The event in question would be a field trip to a rock climbing place where each eighth grader has to be paired with another eighth grader, one taking the role of the climber while the other has to take the role of holding the rope so that the climber doesn’t lose their step when climbing up the wall. Pretty much what you would see when coming across those rock climbing places, and I’m not talking about the rock climbing corner at your school gym, I mean the recreational places, I guess you would find at a strip mall that would cost you about $30 per person.
Of course, Tina is excited about the field trip at the end of the week because she wants to take up the position of the person who holds down the rope from the ground, since it is a two-person team. It’s mostly because Tina would get a front row view of seeing Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground. Hence, she wants to ask Jimmy Jr to be her partner for the trip. And like that, he agrees to Tina’s offer to be her partner, and the trip should be a go for her at the end of the week. There’s just one little problem that could pose a threat to her plans. And it’s about her grades. Rather, her GPA. How should I put it lightly to sum up Tina’s academic performance?
Yeah, what the thing said. And that’s not me saying it, even though it’s one way to describe Tina’s predicament. She goes to Ms. Jacobson and talks about her GPA after finding out from Jimmy Jr that, to participate in the field trip to go rock climbing, you need a GPA of about 2.8 or higher. Tina has a GPA of 2.2 (wasn't specified, but just a guess), which would make her ineligible to attend the field trip. Which would mean that she won’t be able to see Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground. Hell, she even asked Jacobson about how Jimmy Jr got a spot in the field trip because he got a 2.8 GPA because of a study session he had to take. I know that Tina shouldn’t be in this situation if she could just focus on her grades because that can carry consequences and such, especially for graduation, but she’s the best she can do to at least go above the 70 threshold, which, in the grading scale, anything about a 70 is considered passing. Anything below a 70 is not good. Just be lucky that it’s not school because GPAs won't be the only thing to worry about. It’s getting credits if you want to graduate.
But yeah, Tina needs to boost her GPA in a short amount of time by the end of the week if she wants to go on the field trip. This leads us to the next scene, where she, alongside Louise and Gene, is at the front office to talk to Ms. Selbo if she can find an elective to give her the boost she needs before the end of the week. Her golden ticket to improve her GPA is if she wants to join her peers on the school trip. Luckily for Tina, she may have found her window of opportunity to make some improvements in her grades. That is a typing course in the computer lab that is being taught by Mr. Grant. And for Tina, it’s pretty much now or never before the end of the week for her to boost her GPA because she really doesn’t want to miss out on getting a front row view of some Jimmy Jr ass.
We switch over to the restaurant, with Teddy entering to make his order of a burger with extra fries. Going for the extra fries route because of a handyman job that he just took up when announcing it to Bob and Linda. He got hired by a guy who lived in a fancy neighborhood to build a grill. A fancy grill, to be exact. A gaucho grill, which is a fancy type of grill, originated in Argentina. And if you know Argentina, if you're following the food scene, they love their meat. Phrasing, but Argentina is pretty much a meat haven where it’s all meat around the block. Vegetarians, apologies for having to drill that statement into your head. And I once brought up a short lesson about horse meat in a Bob’s Burgers review back in 2016.
Bob gets giddy over the type of grill that Teddy was hired to assemble while that grill’s owner is away on a trip, because why not? This causes Bob to be grilled by Linda and Teddy over his love for grills, which he should have gotten pretty much used to being grilled by his family by now, being called a “grill nerd”, just because he loves grills like he’s Hank Hill, minus the use of propane, because gaucho grills require wood to heat the meat. Already taking offense over that, even if Teddy was the one who brought up the damn thing because of the handyman job he was announcing upon entering the restaurant. That is pretty much on him to bring it up in the first place.
Going back to the main plot of the episode, Tina attends her chosen elective in typing class at the computer lab with a few random background characters and Jocelyn for some reason. Don’t know why she was there unless she too needs to boost her GPA, but she was there because why the fuck not. Rather her than throwing in another eighth grader or someone within the school that Tina knows. But other than that, the name of the game is simple when partaking in the typing course in an attempt to get an easy A: type at the home key position. The home key position, if you remembered what it is from school back in the day, and probably still do that position, both hands have to be on the keyboard with your left index finger by the F key, and the right on the J key, because the F and J keys have those bumps. Also, you can’t look down at the keyboard while typing as if you have to guess what you're about to type on the screen. In comparison to a phone where you have to look at your on-screen keyboard just to type a sentence, even if you have to deal with the frustration of auto correct. But yeah, the name of the game for this course is to learn how to type using the home key and see how much you can type at an X number of words per minute. Hence, the certificate that Grant received for typing at 110 words per minute, and hoping the students will go and do just that.
Tina, on the other hand, can’t do just that. She struggles when using the home key position while typing, unlike every other student in the room. Straight donkey balls behind the keyboard in her attempt to get a good grade and boost her GPA. You see, Tina struggles to use the home key, placing the left finger at the left side of the keyboard and the right finger on the right side. Typing really slowly at around 52 words per minute, and fearing that the way she types when trying to follow what everyone is doing at the position would cost her a shot to go on the field trip.
But when she decides to type her way, as in what the world would call “barbaric” by Mr. Grant and some people in the world, as if having not to use the home key position, all of a sudden, her typing skills decide to kick it to the pedal as if this is her preferred choice to type. There are some people around the world who, like Tina, don’t follow protocol in having to type in the position of using the home key. Hell, I’m one of them. This is how I type whenever I do the reviews and do the live blogs for the past 13-14 years since doing the blog. Call me a heathen for not following the home key position; this is how I roll. Even if I had hit a few errors and pretty much annihilated a few keys on my keyboard.
But yeah, Tina tries it her way to type and not have to rely on the home key position, causing her words per minute to be boosted from the 50s to around the 80s to 90s just by having to go willy nilly on the keyboard. That results in Tina having to strike a nerve with Mr. Grant over how she types as we switch over to later in the night at the Belcher residence with Tina going as fast she can when using the family laptop as if she is already becoming a pro at the keyboard, ranging from typing up a grocery list from Linda to being close from having to do Louise’s science homework, only to be shot down by Linda. Tina is pretty much in the zone when it comes to the typing business, despite getting onto Mr. Grant’s nerves over the way she types, as if she quickly became a pro overnight. Usually, Tina would at least be nervous about all of this because she doesn’t miss out on going to the field trip. Especially if, yes, the rock climbing trip and wanting to see Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground while he climbs up the wall became her motivation to boost her GPA at short notice. And while that is happening...
Bob gets a phone call from Teddy. Asking him for his help regarding the gaucho grill situation that he has to assemble. Of course, Bob refuses because Teddy (and Linda) poked fun at him for being called a “grill nerd” just for being excited about the gaucho that Teddy is tasked to assemble. Going for the “Oh, so now you want my help? After calling me out for loving all things grills.” So, Teddy has to take back his ridicule from earlier and begs Bob to help him with his work the next day. And just like that, Bob ends up taking Teddy’s offer and decides to help him out the next day at his client’s house. About to become all giddy the moment he lays his eyes on the gaucho grill like a kid on Christmas morning.
Speaking of the next day, sticking with the subplot, Bob finally gets to see the grill in person when tagging along with Teddy at his worksite. And you can see how excited Bob is when looking at the gaucho. Anything food or food-related that is fancy looking would grab his attention, like, as I said, a kid on Christmas morning opening the presents underneath the tree. You remember last season when the Belchers paid what was supposed to be a quick visit to Atlantic City, with Bob going into the buffet and seeing the station with the prime rib and hoping he could carve the meat with his bare hands.
Here we go again, when looking at the Argentine grill. And the grill itself looks like a beauty. Made with bricks, powered by firewood and charcoal, no propane needed, hangers attached to hang some items, like a pineapple or any other meat, you can see that Bob is getting excited about all of this, the moment Teddy brought up his handyman job a day ago. All we can know is that Bob is excited and wants to try it out. You know, give it a test run to see if the grill is good to go for the owner to use, even though Teddy mentions that the owner, his client, should be the one to light the first flame.
Going back to the main plot, as we prepare to wrap up the first act of the episode, at Wagstaff, with Tina feeling optimistic on her way to the computer lab, the day after attempting to boost her scores by not having to rely on using the home key position. Thinking that Mr. Grant would give her an easy A and the boost she needs for her GPA to participate in the field trip. And, of course, to get a front row view of Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground. Especially once Tina comes across Jimmy Jr on her way to the computer lab with excitement in her tone. About to be one GPA boost away from joining him at the rock climbing wall. Really giving the Tina/Jimmy Jr shippers something after being off the air for four months. The propaganda is real, folks. The propaganda is truly real. Did I mention that Tina was feeling optimistic about getting an easy A from Mr. Grant to boost her GPA for the way she typed as if it was going to be water under the bridge?
Yeah, Mr. Grant isn’t going to let Tina slide. Even though, yes, she did at least try to type fast when trying to catch up with the others, according to Grant, she is doing it all wrong because her hands were not in the proper typing position. Treating it as if she were being called a heathen just for not following protocol and having to type like a barbarian who has no skills in using a keyboard. Street keys are what Grant is referring to, what Tina is doing with her hands over the keyboard as if the guy has OCD or something, even if it is part of the course to learn how to type properly when entering the real world. Even if there are some in the minority, including myself, who don’t even do that. We saw that firsthand with Tina earlier when trying to follow along in having to do the home row, but she couldn’t keep up with the pace with her peers, the same way you were trying to learn how to drive a car, only to end up ramming a pair of cars like it’s a bumper car ride when trying to parallel park.
When using the home row key, Tina struggles. She couldn’t reach the 100 WPM mark, let alone the 80s or 90s range. Or hell, at least the 60s or 70s at best. But when using the “street keys” position, with the fingers going willy-nilly without having to follow protocol, she begins to pick up speed, as if you want to choose which running style you want to use while running track, and you decide to choose the Naruto run as your preferred choice. People would call you silly just for having the arms bend backwards while sprinting, but it would hold results... sort of. And this is where Tina decides to throw in a little wager to close out the first act of the episode.
A wager that could hold her fate in wanting to fill her spot for her class’s field trip, and that is to match Grant’s words per minute by using the street keys position by the end of the week, so she can get the boost she needs for her GPA. Especially with the field trip just a couple of days away, from now to wrap up the first act of the episode. Also, Jocelyn, you’re not that slick in trying to get out of typing class by creating a fake doctor’s note just because... well, a computer is nothing like a phone. Especially earlier in the episode, when asking where the emojis are. Though if you have a touchscreen laptop, there should be that keyboard icon on the right to let you program it, and it would show the emojis. But that’s just me.
Going into the second act of the episode, back at the restaurant, after school, while Bob is getting things ready for the following day, joining Teddy once more to give the gaucho grill a test run, writing down a few things on the list to give it a good test run, i.e., playing around like it’s a toy, we’re about to enter montage mode to bypass through the first few moments of the second act with Tina attempting to reach her target words per minute, 110 WPM, to get an A from Mr. Grant and to be eligible to go on rock climbing. And we see that throughout the night at the residence, with each passing moment, her speed while typing goes up, up, up in her moment, you know she’s gonna be typing, gonna, gonna be typing.
Whether it’s at the dinner table while hoping she doesn’t damage the computer, to brushing her teeth, to, yes, using the toilet while typing, which I’m sure some of y’all bring their laptop to the bathroom while doing your business, while also hoping the computer doesn’t get damaged, her typing skills, while not having to rely on the home row position, would be her golden ticket to get the boost she needs for the GPA before the end of the week. Say what you want to say about people who don’t have to rely on the usual home row position, but it can get the job done. Even if you had come across a few errors. Going from the 70s to the 80s to going into the next day at the computer lab...
Finally meeting the target words per minute at 110 WPM. Finally reached the target that she challenged Grant to meet if she wanted to pass the class and boost her GPA, all without having to rely on the home keys, and with that, she reached her quota. She reached her targeted number of words per minute, which is equal to Mr. Grant’s words per minute at 110 WPM. And lo and behold, she did the job. Treating the typing course as her golden ticket, struggled for a bit, but ended up doing it her way, you know, making a beeline, in her attempt to boost her GPA at short notice with the field trip just days away. Did I mention that all of this was because she was motivated by Jimmy Jr’s butt after asking him to be her partner, just to get a front row view of that ass? That’s her motivation, and it looks like things are about to go her way.
And take a look at Mr. Grant’s face upon looking at the results that Tina had to put up. That is a face of regret that he had to put up with Tina over the way she types and the speed at which she was going when behind the monitor. This is pretty much the equivalent of how to trigger someone who has OCD right in front of their face. Having not to follow the protocol like a normal human being when it comes to typing because it is what Tina is most comfortable with when it comes to having to type on the keyboard. Grant wants to punish Tina to make sure she gets the typing thing the right way, but would end up swallowing his pride and decides to give Tina an A. A passing grade that she needs to boost her GPA so she can be eligible for her grade’s field trip. And also, getting a front row view of Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground... or so we thought, since we are early into the episode. Not even at the halfway mark of it. So, you know that bullshit is about to be drawn from Grant to prevent Tina from going.
We check back at the subplot with Bob and Teddy, and also Linda, because she doesn’t want to watch over the restaurant by herself, in the backyard of Teddy’s client, to give the gaucho grill a little test run. And by a little test run, I mean deciding to mess around by turning this into a mini barbecue party of three and pretending what it’s like living in a house with a high-salaried job. Enjoying the life when having to mess around with another man’s stuff, especially the highly valuable gaucho grill, Teddy was only there to assemble the thing, and that’s about it. I mean, nothing wrong with a little test run to see if it's good to go or not, even if the owner wants to do it himself upon completion after returning home from his trip.
Shades of what Bob did in the subplot to “Prank You For Being a Friend” when messing with Jimmy Pesto’s stuff in his condo, only switch some toys and gym equipment with a fancy grill with three adults with low incomes enjoying the life despite this being a small test run after having the grill assembled. Enjoying the pretend life by grilling some steaks and having fun as if they’re treating the house like it's an Airbnb. Little do Bob, Linda, and Teddy know that just a few steps away from them, on the corner of the house from the backyard, there’s a camera that is recording everything. And I mean everything, which includes that little party that the three are doing with the grill after it was assembled. Caught in 4K, buddy. You three nimrods are cooked.
We reached the final minutes of the first half of the episode, and after getting an easy A from Mr. Grant, despite triggering the fuck out of him over the way she types, Tina, along with Louise and Gene, because why not, since they haven’t done anything in this episode, it’s pretty much their bye week despite being off the air for four months, but they tag along with Tina as she gives Ms. Selbo the green light to add her A to her file, thus boosting her 2.2 GPA (once again, an estimated guess) to a 2.8 GPA, finally meeting the threshold for her to be eligible to attend the field trip. And for her to be with Jimmy Jr and get a front row seat to his butt from the ground. You’d think that this should be the end of this story, right? Tina is getting what she wanted after getting an easy A and is about to go on a trip with her peers by the end of the week, and should be the end of it, right? Unfortunately, some bullshit had to be thrown at her, serving as a barricade or a ball and chain attached to the foot. And it’s in the form of an unexpected mandatory typing test set for Friday. As in the Friday that happened to be the day of the field trip, and at the exact same time, the bus will be loaded for said trip.
And Tina knows who it is in their attempt to barricade her from going to the field trip. I mean, the facial gesture that Mr. Grant gave not too long ago would indicate that he would try to pull some bullshit out of his ass. Especially once the siblings come face-to-face with Grant on his way to the teacher’s lounge to eat his lunch. Upset at the guy for trying to prevent Tina from going to the field trip just because he doesn’t like how Tina typed when reaching her goal at 110 words per minute, while not using the home keys like a madwoman. Once again, it’s the equivalent of triggering someone with OCD, with Grant becoming frustrated over how Tina would get the easy way out in typing without having to use the home key position. The very position that she struggled to do before having to rely on using the ol’ “street keys” methods to get herself an easy A. And Grant wasn’t going to let Tina slide because of it. And holding her down and making her do the mandatory typing test at the same time as the field trip was the only option for Tina to learn how to properly type.
This, of course, at the end of the first half of the episode, causes Tina, and also Louise and Gene at Tina’s behest, to challenge Mr. Grant to a one-on-one typing challenge that got the school’s attention to determine Tina’s fate on whether or not she goes on her school trip. And the outcome is simple: if Tina wins, she goes on her class field trip. If Grant wins, Tina will miss her field trip to take the mandatory typing test. But also, to clean out every keyboard across the room. AKA, doing hard labor like she’s a junior janitor. A little excessive, but Tina needs this trip. She needs to get a front row view of seeing Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground while seeing him go up the wall. And with that, the challenge is a go for the next day after school. Even though it’s pretty obvious who would come out the victor in their little competition to determine if Tina is truly eligible to go.
As we enter the second half of the episode, with the siblings on their way to school the very next day, Bob and Linda are rooting for Tina to win her thing if she wants to go on the field trip by the end of the week. And this is before Bob and Linda, and later Teddy, have to deal with their own situation as the second half of the episode progresses.
And switching over to the school in the next scene, Tina is already being optimistic about the competition and believes that she’ll mop the floor with Mr. Grant with the keyboard. And usually, when it comes to Tina, she would be nervous about this. Nervous about the idea of messing things up, which could potentially cost her the trip, and especially in front of her peers. Not this time around for Tina, with her spot in the trip on the line, and you could mostly thank the person for pretty much serving as her motivation to get things done. And that would be one Jimmy Pesto Jr.
Who would apply aching cream on his arms after dealing with a slight soreness. Rubbing his arms sensually right in front of Tina, and also Louise and Gene, but mostly Tina, because why not? Right as he applied the cream all over his arms before walking his way to class, but he does plan on rooting for Tina alongside the other students who challenged Grant in a one-on-one typing competition. The propaganda is real, folks. The Tina/Jimmy Jr propaganda is truly real, as if the cast and crew on the show already know who the show wants Tina to be with if the show were to end today. And while the students unanimously decide to root for Tina ahead of the competition at the end of the school day...
The teachers are not that excited about this. Especially Ms. LaBonz and Coach Blevins, who scolded Grant for getting into what he has gotten into upon agreeing to challenge Tina to the competition. Fearing a possible domino effect from the other students, in hopes of wanting a good grade or to get out of trouble. And if Tina were to win the challenge, the other students would follow suit. It’s pretty much, if you sum up the predicament from not just LaBonz and Blevins, but more of the rest of the faculty, not wanting Grant to win, even though they should, but more of wanting Tina to lose so it wouldn’t trigger a domino effect. Just be lucky that Frond is not in this episode, and try to intervene in all of this. So, we know the stakes with the competition, which begins... right after we get through the subplot of the episode.
And it’s not good news for Bob, Linda, and Teddy, primarily Teddy, once he ran into the restaurant to deliver the bad news. Remember earlier in the episode, with the three of them having to mess around with lighting up the gaucho grill and deciding to have a mini barbecue party for themselves and to pretend they live in a nice, fancy lifestyle? Yeah, their dumbasses did not notice that there was a camera installed right in the corner of the house, recording everything. Caught in 4K. And it’s not looking good for the three because the owner of the grill, Teddy’s client, arrived back in the US from Patagonia, currently in a layover in Miami, where he would get a great reception for him to check on the video from the camera to see the progress of the grill. And if he were to watch the footage of Teddy, Bob, and Linda messing around with the grill, it would put Teddy in a very tight spot. This caused Linda to step in to come up with an idea to bail Teddy out of his situation regarding the camera. Especially since the idea of smashing the camera is off the table. So, the next option on the list would be to fool the owner by making Teddy look like a hero by pretending that he is fending off a couple of burglars breaking into the house. It’s a bit cliché, but what choice does Teddy have in the matter? So, it looks like it’s a go on playing pretend.
The hour of judgment has arrived for Tina and Mr. Grant as we switch back to the main plot of the episode. Every student, well, a portion since it’s pretty much Louise, Gene, Jimmy Jr, Jocelyn, and a few random background characters, rooting for Tina to give Mr. Grant a taste of his own medicine when sitting behind the computer, hands on the keyboard. Of course, Frond is not in this episode, so someone has to be the insufferable one in the episode; that title goes to Grant, over attempting not to allow Tina to go on the field trip because of the way she types. Thinking what she is doing is pretty much her taking the easy way out to boost her GPA since there are no free, easy rides to take in life… well, unless you’re an oligarch, of course. And white. And a man. Society needs to be changed, alright? Other than that, Grant takes the insufferable role. And Ms. Selbo will be the one who will officiate the competition.
And not too surprising to make it look competitive for Tina and Mr. Grant in this best-of-3 competition as we prepare to enter the final act of the episode. Grant takes the first match while Tina clinches the second to avoid a sweep. Making match three a win-or-go-home situation. You’d think that with the competition to see who can type the fastest, regardless of whatever typing method you are the most comfortable with, it would be less about who would be typing the fastest and more about who would likely be going to get a cramp or something that would hurt their chances to win the damn thing. Most likely cramps, but that didn’t happen. But instead, going into the final act of the episode, it’s Tina dealing with slippery fingers serving as a restraint. Or, in Mario Kart terms, being hit by a flash of lightning from your opponent to make you small and slow. And easy to squish, even if it’s for a few seconds before returning to normal, but you would be far behind.
And you can thank Jimmy Jr for being a dumbass. He was being supportive of Tina in the competition and was one win away from going on the field trip. Jimmy Jr gave Tina a high ten for good luck going into the final match of the competition, not knowing that it may have given Mr. Grant an advantage against Tina. Causing Tina’s hands to be slippery, resulting in her having trouble typing in the position she was most comfortable with. And you can thank the aching cream that Jimmy Jr applied to himself. And you’d think when applying lotion or cream, it would go away once it was applied to a part of your body. So the fact that it somehow transferred onto Tina’s hands would restrain her from typing as fast as she could using the method she was using, either he just recently applied another round to his sore arms as if he just got out of wrestling practice or probably having to deal with Zeke roughhousing or use an extensive amount that gripping becoming impossible like it’s straight out of a crane machine.
So, going into the final act of the episode, Tina calls for a time-out to go use the bathroom to wash her hands to get the cream off her hands. She tried to wash her hands upon returning from the bathroom just moments later, but to no avail because, apparently, the school lacks warm or hot water. And you need that to get it off, and Tina doesn’t want to wait until she gets home just to get rid of the effects of the cream. Her fate of going to the field trip is still hanging in the balance, but with the cream still on her hands, which Jimmy Jr feels bad about it despite not knowing it was still there after giving her a high ten, Tina is pretty much screwed and needs to find a way to bail herself out of this predicament and win the competition. What’s not helping is Grant’s gloating that he now has the competition in the bag, now that Tina is unable to use her typing skills thanks to the secondhand cream that made her hands slippery. His way of saying, “Aw, you can’t type because your hands became slippery from the lotion? Well, boo-fuckity-hoo. Maybe now you know how important using the home keys method rather than whatever the fuck you’re doing.” Not really helping your case on that one. This is what we call an ego.
We go back to the subplot of the episode where Tina isn’t the only person in this episode panicking over the current pickle they are in. And now, all hopes lie on the phone call if the owner bought the idea that Linda cooked up to bail Teddy out of his predicament. Should probably talk about the scene regarding the staged attempt to make Teddy look good, since I forgot to mention it in the third act of the episode.
So, a few hours ago, or as the subtitles read “a few hours later” since I forgot to mention it in the third act, we have the owner of the grill, returning to the US from Panadrogia, currently in a layover in Miami, resulting in him getting a full reception for him to look at the security video. So, when the owner decides to spend his time waiting for his plane to return home to New Jersey, he looks at the past 24 hours to see if his grill, which he requested Teddy to build, is good to go. Which it is before looking at him, alongside Bob and Linda, to mess around with both the grill and pretty much the backyard as a whole. Mainly with Teddy in a brief shot, going into the pool as if the three adults were having a miniature pool party. He fast forwards to 24 hours later with Teddy back at the grill, but this time, this is where Linda’s plan kicks into gear.
Having Teddy working on the grill, per usual, to be on his lonesome, and no one else in the area. That was before Linda, in disguise as an old woman, drove into the backyard and nearly ran Teddy over. Dangerously close to becoming a statistic when pretending to be an elderly driver who either deals with a car that is starting to fail or the mind starting to deteriorate. God, I hope what Linda did when trying to play the role didn’t result in the fence being destroyed or getting the neighbors to notice what was going on. That was before Bob had to play his role in trying to make Teddy look by pretending to be a burglar who is about to knock Teddy out, before Teddy ends up beating up Bob, pretending, of course, as if he was trying to prevent a home invasion. So, that’s the video that the owner has to watch, which is a part of Linda’s plan to bail Teddy out. Now, it comes down to whether the owner buys it or not.
Now, back to the current timestamp of the episode within the final act of the episode, and good news for Teddy, since we are about to reach the two-minute warning, the owner bought it. He bought the video, and with that, Teddy is safe without getting into the owner’s bad side. Though, nearly had a slip up there when bringing up the idea of the owner buying the footage just to save his skin. But other than that, that should be the end of the subplot for the episode, with one predicament thrown out of the gutter for this episode.
And onto another as we reached the two-minute warning, with Tina returning from the bathroom. The leftover cream on her hands after high-tenning Jimmy Jr ahead of her final match of the best-of-three competition is still lingering because somehow, the school lacks the warm water in its pipes. Yeah, that school needs to be up-to-date when it comes to the infrastructure and... pretty much everything else. Tina knows she’s screwed as she returns to her computer, and with the effects still lingering, she might as well kiss her trip to the rock climbing wall and seeing Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground goodbye once the final match begins between the two. I would say that Tina had some trouble with her slippery fingers, and she did throughout the final match of her typing competition, but knowing that we are less than a minute left in the episode, along with the kids, led by Louise and Gene, to chant Tina’s name while having to fight through, as she’s an athlete straight out of a sports movie...
Lo and behold, she prevailed. She won the competition against Mr. Grant regardless of the hurdles she had to go through, which is pretty much the slippery fingers as a result of the secondhand cream from Jimmy Jr’s hands after getting her a high ten for good luck, but she won regardless. And because of it, she is free to go. She is free to go on the field trip. No more hurdles. No more bullshit, especially since we’re only seconds left in the episode. And with that, this whole pickle comes to a close. Yeah, Grant is not going to live this one down because, once again, if Tina can challenge a teacher like Grant to get a good grade, it would create some sort of domino effect for everyone else. So, have fun. Y’all are going to need it.
This leads us to the final scene of the episode, at the rock climbing place, and, yeah, I know it’s just them and them only at the site. No signs of the others, which I’m sure they’re there at the place since it is an eighth-grade thing, also including Jocelyn, since she was in this episode, yeah, it’s pretty clear that this might as well be Tinimmy propaganda at its finest, as if everyone knows who Tina will go with to spend the rest of her life with if the series were to end today. Even if we have three more seasons and probably more if we continue to get renewed, because the show will never die. But other than that, Tina got her way, and even though they said that there are no easy paths in life, especially when trying to get a good grade, pretty obvious that Tina would have to pull something out of her ass to be here at the end of the episode.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So, all in all, what do I think about this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers? Four months since we last had an episode and... uh... yeah, it’s middle of the road. It’s not that bad, but it’s not that great either. It’s average at best, mainly because of how predictable it is with the outcome from the episode. And I’m not saying it to take a shit on it just to be an edgelord and such, you do you with your opinions, but while some moments are fine, that didn’t downplay it one bit, some moments held the episode down a bit to make it around average at best.
Mainly coming from how predictable the outcome would be. Yeah, Tina would wind up passing her class and later win the competition against Mr. Grant to be eligible to go to her field trip and get a front row view to see Jimmy Jr’s butt from the ground up. And if there is someone who has to be insufferable in the episode, it’s Mr. Grant. All that because you don’t like how Tina typed when trying to type as fast as she can, in comparison to everyone else, when using whatever position is comfortable being on the keyboard? And putting in that bullshit of a call that is a mandatory typing test on the same day and time as the field trip was a petty move. It was a petty move for him to do something like that. And, of course, his ego in the final act of the episode with the competition pretty much cost him that, as expected, to grant Tina her freedom to go to the field trip. But, man, he was insufferable in this episode, and I know that he is only doing this because that’s how the world operates, but still. It was a petty move to do something like that, which didn’t happen, thanks to Tina winning at the end. And like I said, ego, especially when gloating over how great using the home keys, would eventually be one person’s downfall.
The subplot was okay. It’s not great, but it’s not bad either. It was sort of similar to the subplot of “Prank You For Being a Friend” when messing around with someone’s stuff. And in this instance, it’s the gaucho grill while the client is away from the trip. Though Linda’s plan in trying to bail Teddy from their little mess around with the grill was something with the camera capturing everything. Especially with Linda having to drive through the backyard in disguise, hopefully doesn’t cause any damage or draw concern from the neighbors, and Bob having to play as the burglar, just to make it look like a house invasion, and Teddy ends up becoming a hero in all of this. Enough to make his client buy the footage and to save Teddy’s skin. But other than that, it’s an alright episode. Average at best because of the predictable outcomes that we can see from a mile away. Just be glad that we’re back after waiting for four months since the last episode back in December. Better than having this aired in June, because God forbid, I want to deal with another summer slate. So, I’ll give “The Keyboard Kid”...
A 6 out of 10. But that’s my opinion, and I want to hear yours in the comments below. Four episodes to go since it is 15 episodes per season and the next episode up this upcoming Sunday should be a little interesting with Tina, Gene, Louise, Zeke, and Jimmy Jr making a little visit to a place that Tina, Gene, and Louise once visited in the movie, that being Carniopolis by the abandoned dog food factory (even though Tina was near the area when visiting the abandoned factory in “Don’t Stop Be-Cheesin’” as one of the few eighth graders remaining (alongside Susmita, Henry, Chelsea, Sam, and Will) in the Cheese Royale, AKA, the Eighth Grade Culling Game) after paying a visit at the retirement home in the twelfth episode of Season 16, “Children of the Carn”.
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