“Land Of The Loft” is a solid enough episode of Bob’s Burgers, but it feels like it’s missing something. It certainly has plenty going for it, including lots of buns, abs, and frankly spectacular pickles at Pickles, the town’s finest male strip club. But even if that destination is an unexpected pleasure, the path the episode takes there is just a little too familiar. We’ve seen Linda and Bob feel intimidated by cool adults before, and we’ve seen the kids talk Jen the babysitter into going along with something she definitely shouldn’t. Setting the episode during an ice storm adds some distinctive complications, but even then “Land Of The Loft” doesn’t mine that unusual weather for material nearly as much of some of the show’s snowbound episodes have. This is what we might call Bob’s Burgers going through the motions, which, yes, sure sounds like a pejorative. But maybe it doesn’t have to be—perhaps this is better understood as a standard episode of the show, something to calibrate its riskier outings against.
So what do I actually mean by that? The biggest thing is that none of the Belchers have much by way of an arc this episode, emotional or otherwise. Bob and Linda know they are losers, go to a party that confirms this self-belief, and rush out to find their lost kids after putting on a performance that is indifferently received at best. Louise got in a whole season’s worth of introspection with last week’s “The Hawkening: Look Who’s Hawking Now!” and is back to pushing the story along through sheer force of will. Gene, as is his wont, mostly farts or talks about farts. Tina comes the closest to having something with her wavering between responsible teen and carefree kid, but that’s throwaway as Tina stories go. Bob’s Burgers doesn’t require that any of its main characters go on a journey over the course of an episode, but it’s one of the more effective tools in its storytelling arsenal. Not only can some character development take the pressure off the episode’s joke-writing, but also it can open up new avenues for humor. Here, all the Belchers are in their expected lanes, so there are fewer surprises to be found in the funny things they say.
The whole story with Becket and Maya is a tad undercooked. An artsy, vaguely wealthy couple unburdened by kids makes sense as a counterpoint to Bob and Linda. It’s a tribute to the show’s fundamental kindness that “Land Of The Loft” accepts these characters for who they are, without feeling the need to introduce some unexpected reason their cool alternative lifestyle isn’t so great after all. But without any of that, their part of the story lacks punch. More importantly, it lacks focus. Details like Becket making the whiskey real strong and Bob drinking a lot of it feel like they could lead somewhere—Bob acting differently because he’s super drunk, basically—but are just used for a quick gag and discarded. Now, not every joke needs to inform the larger story. Teddy’s open jealousy of the artsy interlopers is a good example of something that could mean more if this were a Teddy-centric episode, but also serves its purpose admirably as just a source of a few laughs in his one scene. But without any strong choices in either the comedic plotting or the characterization, Becket and Maya and their whole party’s worth of guests just exist as these two-dimensional artist types.
Again, maybe this would be that extra level of engaging if the party were a backdrop for Bob and Linda to push themselves in some unexpected way. There are a lot of theoretical permutations for the scenario of the two of them having to perform in front of the other guests. They could be awful, they could be great, they could be one but think they’re the other, they could both care way too much about this, Linda could care while Bob just wants to get it over with, Linda could care initially while Bob gets way too into it halfway through. (Even when listing all potential possibilities, it feels hard to imagine a version where Bob cares from the outset.) What the episode chooses is the most predictable version, with neither caring all that much beyond being resigned to how bad they sound, give or take Bob’s short-lived belief that he might actually have something with his Bobby McFerrin noises. There’s still some stakes to their performance, if only because I’ve had to bluff my way through enough impromptu public speaking to feel sympathetic anxiety for their plight. At best, their shambles of a performance does prompt them to admit to the other partygoers that they are not cool enough to be there—but then, that’s not an issue that anyone other than them was considering, as far as we know. All this sets up the amusingly abrupt mid-performance shift to worrying about the kids, but it’s not strong enough to offer a clear comedic contrast to Bob and Linda’s new priorities.
At least we still have Jen in all this. When in doubt, and even in weaker episodes, Bob’s Burgers can rely on its deep bench of weirdo side characters to help the story along. The family babysitter is in fine form tonight, picking locks and driving ice cream trucks with monotone gusto. She really is one of the show’s strangest characters, and in an episode that leans heavily on the one-off gags, that’s a real asset. While “Land Of The Loft” doesn’t exactly explore her relationship with Tina, it does have a lot of fun pointing out their similarities, including the fact that they are both the kind of characters who have no confusion when presented with a concept like “hot cousin.” Tina actually getting to go inside Pickles when a show is underway feels like the culmination of a whole decade’s worth of character-building, and it’s entirely appropriate that it would be Jen who is the reason for her being there. I was going to say that such a momentous occasion deserves a more fully developed episode building up to it, but then I remembered I’m talking about Tina inadvertently visiting the town’s pickle-themed strip club. On that point and literally that point alone, maybe I shouldn’t overthink this.
“Land Of The Loft” isn’t a true misfire or anything—10 seasons in and still the only example of that I can readily think of is “Pro Tiki/Con Tiki”—but it does feel like a bunch of missed opportunities for the show to push itself a little harder or try something a little weirder. The ice storm is a unique enough backdrop and an artsy loft party an intriguing enough setting that it’s surprising that this episode is as low-key as it is. A risk-averse Bob’s Burgers episode may not be a bad thing, but it makes me appreciate what else this season has already offered all the more.
Stray observations
- For the record… I agree with Bob. I think he had something with the Bobby McFerrin noises. They just had to really commit to the bit!
- I do understand the point of the party was for Bob and Linda to feel overawed by everyone around them, but if there were ever a crowd that might be legitimately impressed by Bob being an independent restauranteur, regardless of financial success, this might have been it!
44 Comments
I liked Pro Tiki/Con Tiki. Yes it was dumb of Bob to give up that money, but he is a terrible businessman. Have you seen how small his menu is? If you don’t want beef you’re out of luck, because Bob loves beef. He doesn’t seem to be open for dinner service except when required by the plot. He doesn’t seem to advertise much. He certainly doesn’t use social media for promotion. Also his phone is probably older than at least one of his kids. That’s unrelated but I was on a “dumb Bob decisions” roll so…Pro Tiki/Con Tiki is decently funny and so not a bad episode of Bob’s Burgers. Now The Quirkducers…
Bob is an artist. He’s a poet of meat and grease, and he decided a long time ago that his artistic integrity is more important than success. As long as he can scrape by while keeping true to his vision, it’s enough.
Bob could have wowed the partygoers by talking about his artisinal hand-crafted Burgers of the Day…..
He really could have! But he wouldn’t think to, because self-knowledge isn’t a strong suit in the Belcher family—they regularly prove to be better people than they believe themselves to be.I maintain that Bob is an artist, with an artist’s vision and principles, but he would never agree with that. He’d just scoff and say “I… just make burgers”, and silently decide I was kind of an idiot.
Bob is a terrible businessman. It’s not a secret. He just can’t modify his business strategy, even when it’s working out well for him.
Hum..I really enjoyed this one! I thought the writing was particularly fun. As someone who seldom stays out late or goes to parties my relating to Bob and Linda was through the roof. As always great to have Jen back! I thought it was a strong episode.
Yeah I liked it (and related to it), too.
I still frequently say “mick-rowave” and can now start saying “mick-rophone” too.
My favorite shenanigan the kids and Jen the babysitter did was when they all got black eyes.“There’s only one solution. We all have to have black eyes! Jen has a black eye. Tina has a black eye. Gene has a black eye. I have a black eye! Who did it? Nobody knows. How’d you get your black eye? I don’t know.”
“Purple Rain-Union” is such a great episode all around. The kids’ adventures with Jen the babysitter, Bob’s pimple becoming the life of the party, Gayle’s overly sexual lyrics (“won’t you enter my acropolis and make my yogurt Greek”), Linda’s rivalry with Bad Hair Day…
Derek Dimatopolis the Denver dermatologist. They should have kept running with that one.
I quite like Gayle’s song about her stutter, “Guh-Guh-Guh-Guh-Guh-Guh-Genitals”.
“Have a nice night.”“We will, My-ah.”Jealous Teddy was kind of a dick and I loved it.
“I just saw you eat two burgers really quickly and it wasn’t weird at all … “ Classic Linda tune.
I personally liked this episode – I always think it’s fun to see Bob and Linda a little outside of their comfort zone, and not quite knowing what to make of hipster loft parties. The throwaway joke about running out of glasses cracked me up. I’d probably give it a B+ myself.And Pickles! We finally got to see Pickles! I wanted Linda to say something about not having quarters with her, but was amused by Bob’s drunk pickle eating.
We’ve actually been to Pickles once before very briefly back in My Fuzzy Valentine.
BOB: “Excuse me, sir, do you have something called the love testometer?”STRIPPER: “I got your love tester right here, pal.” slaps his assTINA: “That’s going in the butt bank.”
Oh yes, sorry, I didn’t remember that they had been inside. I knew they’d stopped by. Thanks 🙂
Good review as always, but I’m surprised by the grade. This one was a laugh riot for me – probably would say an A- as far as season 10 of anything goes
My wife and I laughed more watching this episode than the last few.
I really thought the story line was going to be that none of the other people had kids, and that was going to be some blinding flash of obviousness that Bob and Linda drunkenly love their kids.
Bob’s Burgers is so great at capturing introverted nightmare scenarios. I shared their dread when they started to talk about performance circles.I also love that Linda sings like Linda Ronstadt by singing the words “Linda Ronstadt” over and over.
I felt secondary anxiety on their behalf when the performance circle was mentioned and immediately started thinking about how I’d escape.
I love that Pickles seems to have a protocol established for when children wander in.
Graded against other shows, this would be more B/B+ for me, but graded against the series as a whole, B- seems about right. It was slight and low-stakes, sure, but I man, have I ever been Bob and Linda at that party and did I ever cringe for them and sigh with relief when Jen called. Also 9-1-Buns and Ms. LaBonz made me guffaw.
Instead of Pro Tiki, I think my most hated episode is Family Fracas. It’s just mean.
It was mean but it was one of the episodes that won me over when I skeptical about Fox adding another animated family. It’s like the Frank Grimes episode of The Simpsons, mean and maybe not the best representation of the show,but funny.
Watch the German-dubbed version on Youtube. That should bring you around on Family Fracas.
YES. That’s the only episode I skip on rewatches and just generally pretend doesn’t exist.
The last act of the show was so good, with all the insanity of pickles, it made up for some weakness of the first couple acts.That said, I’m surprised that Bob didn’t use the excuse that his artistic talent is cooking, which it clearly is. I would have enjoyed an episode where Bob improvises an appetizer with the ingredients in the apartment, while getting progressively drunker as he goes to create some drama if it will be good.
I thought this was one of the cringiest Bob’s Burgers episodes to date (in a good way.) They perfectly captured that dread of them waiting to perform and Bob and Linda trying to hype themselves to go out so late was painfully relatable. I assumed the episode would end with Bob and Linda drunkenly making burgers as their performance so was bummed that didn’t happen.
“I met a guy that owns an urban ranch. I guess the cows live in office buildings”Also, that Ms. LaBonz cameo was perfect
And celebrating her 21st birthday, too.
I lost it at that out of nowhere Ms. LaBonz cameo. Such a perfect joke.
It’s her birthday!
I wasn’t feeling this episode as much too; for me the pacing felt really off. At least Jen returns again! She is indeed one of the strangest characters on the show, and there are a lot of them. And more of the inside of Pickles!
“We watch with the subtitles on so it’s like reading a book.” Relatable, Linda.“I’m not above floor sprinkles.”
I love how they paid off Linda’s “They have really good pickles” line from the Dinner Theater episode. Added to the excellent surprise Miss LaBonz cameo, Tina mistaking the stripper for an actual cop, and “9-1-Buns”, and I’d give this episode a B+.
So I’m a big fan of this show. But, I realize that not EVERY single episode is going to be brilliant. It’s not Rick and Morty. However, overall, the show is just as brilliant (in the longer term) as any other Fox animated adult-centric yet family friendly show.
I was coming here to post about the movie being canceled, but then when I googled I saw it was not. canceled.
https://www.cnet.com/g00/news/bobs-burgers-the-movie-still-on-for-2020/?i10c.ua=1&i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&i10c.dv=15So yeah I dunno why I’m still making this post.
In addition to everything about the terrifying ordeal of going out, the bit I found most relatable was the need to introduce oneself when calling someone even though phones say names now.
Are we not supposed to do that now? I always do, because I’ve been using phones since the rotary days. Do younger people just jump right into, “Hey! What’s up!” without confirming who they are or who they’re speaking to? Should I just give up and start with “Ahoy hoy!” like Mr. Burns?
I mean, I think it is still polite to do so. If nothing else, there’s always the possibility that one party or the other may be borrowing someone else’s phone. I just sometimes feel a little silly saying “Hi [Name], it’s Lydia”, because then I think they probably already knew it was me when they picked up. And yet I still feel I should.
A good episode, but since it was during an ice storm, a part of me kept hoping the party would turn out to be a key party. Mr. Fischoeder would show up and have eyes for Sigourney Weaver.
This one gets points from me for jokes about the horrors of trying to get around during one of those winter-ish nights where ice covers every surface outside.
Pretty sure Jen said she still had a key. It’d be kinda weird if she knew how to pick locks. Unless Louise taught her but that would also be weird.