Bob’s Burgers is always in a weird place when it comes to its season finales. Because of its occasionally scattered production schedule and being so frequently at the mercy of whatever sporting event Fox airs on Sunday nights, you’re not typically guaranteed an episode that feels like a proper season finale. In ten seasons we’ve only gotten three installments that feel like they could be true finales, with higher stakes and production value than your typical episodes: “Glued, Where’s My Bob?,” “The Oeder Games,” and especially the two-part “Wharf Horse”/“World Wharf II: The Wharfening.” Otherwise, the episodes often feel like they could be swapped with other installments earlier in the production order and have the same effect.
“Prank You For Being A Friend” is in the latter category of episodes in that there’s no major event or disaster that the Belcher family is operating around. However, as a finale, it works because it’s a reminder of two essential truths about Bob’s Burgers. First, it’s a show that knows how to construct an entertaining caper, one where even though the stakes are low there’s plenty of room for people to get way too invested in how things turn out. And then there’s the fact that while the show is eternally frozen in time, it’s keenly aware of the potential for change in its characters, and that their reaction to a situation may be much different now than it was three or four seasons ago. “Prank You For Being A Friend” trades in on both to its benefit, leaving viewers with a good feeling as the season closes out.
On the topic of swapping episode orders, “Prank You For Being A Friend” does distinguish itself as you’d notice if they did that that this time around, following clearly in the footsteps of “A Fish Called Tina.” “A Fish Called Tina” was easily my least favorite episode of this season, pushing Tina’s intensity and inability to hear what other people were telling her to near unwatchable levels. Consequently I was a little leery of the sign that we were returning to any aspect of the episode, with a focus on Tina’s unwilling little fish Kaylee Morgenstern (Maya Erskine of Pen15). Thankfully it’s less a sequel than it is salvaging that character, further establishing her in the Wagstaff ecosystem by setting her up in a plot with a different Belcher sibling. The only baggage carried over from the prior episode is Tina’s deeply resentful attitude about those events, Dan Mintz delivering a solid tone of grinding teeth in two instances.
Kaylee’s newest partnership is with Louise, seeking the aid of the school’s most prolific prankster to become one herself in the hope she’ll get kicked out of Wagstaff and get to be home-schooled. (“I mean, you can’t beat the commute,” Kaylee says, in an observation that’s much less funny in this age of self-quarantine.) Louise, on probation due to one too many rubber cockroach-related pranks, revels in the chance to take an apprentice under her wing. Unfortunately Kaylee is instinctively terrified of any sort of disapproval from adults in a position of authority, sticking Louise right in the middle of an impossible thought experiment. It’s a much better meshing of the minds than Tina strong-arming Kaylee into a mentee position, with Kaylee’s nerves pushing Louise on the road from giddy to frustrated in short order.
But no willpower can stand in the way of Louise’s trickster goddess nature, a quality as intrinsic to the character’s DNA as her pink bunny ears. So determined to pull off the perfect prank, she’s even willing to approach the Think-gineers for the right tool to get the job done. Much like Kaylee, the Think-gineers are another great introduction to the Wagstaff ecosystem, the delightful idea that there’s an after-school group so nerdy that Mr. Frond uses it as punishment for the worst troublemakers and it’s mentioned in hushed tones by the rest of the student body. (The fact that Regular Sized Rudy is a devoted member of the group is perfect in every way.) Her subsequent negotiation and planning exhibits why Louise is such a perfect prankster, and why her repeated efforts to break with authority never get old: she cares about getting it right almost as much as she cares about challenging said authority.
The fact that she wants to get it right also gives way to another truth about Louise, that she doesn’t want it to happen if it’s going to be for the wrong reasons. When she learns that Kaylee wants to be home-schooled not just because of Wagstaff, but because she doesn’t want to be around everyone, it furthers the crack that started with season four’s “Slumber Party” and that’s kept running as recently as this season’s “Three Girls And A Little Wharfy.” The Louise of prior seasons might be willing to let this go through, but Louise has grown to the point that she can admit she enjoys the company of people outside her family. (Hell, even her stalker’s been able to break that shell.) It adds an extra level of poignancy to pulling the plug on the prank, that she subconsciously wants Kaylee to learn the same lessons she did.
Similarly, the energy of a slightly matured Louise runs through her interactions with Mr. Frond throughout “Prank You For Being A Friend.” At this point the animosity between the two has been worn down to a comfortable mild antagonism, from Louise’s commentary on Self-Care Claire to Mr. Frond writing out a probation dismissal on a receipt for Dr. Tootsie’s Sensitive Callus Cream. (It works, by the way.) When Kaylee asks if Louise was working with Mr. Frond, she can’t even answer the question substantively, and when Kaylee admits she liked working with the Think-gineers the two are unified in their disbelief. It’s about as much evidence of the good heart of Bob’s Burgers as you could ask for, that these ostensible enemies are now referring to themselves as a pretty good team. (Albeit one with plastic cockroach high-fives, since you can’t get too sappy with it.)
The episode’s other story is a slighter one, as Bob gets recruited to bring Jimmy Pesto his medication following his hernia surgery. The Bob versus Jimmy dynamic is one thing that hasn’t changed much at all in the ten seasons since the show premiered, the antagonism downgraded from Jimmy trying to take over the restaurant to simply throwing insults across the street. As such, the results of Bob getting involved here are largely expected, with Jimmy’s buzzer gag shooting up the list of the most annoying things he’s ever done, and Jimmy considering not being able to “Zoom!” his various digs at Bob without pain the worst part of the whole affair. And it’s a logical twist that Bob would feel like taking advantage of Jimmy’s home entertainments once the latter passed out, both resenting Jimmy his successes and being starved for any kind of personal gratification.
Things come to a head as you’d expect: Bob gets trapped by his hubris and lack of flexibility, Jimmy alternates laughing and screaming, Linda has to come and sort it all out. However, when Jimmy half-heartedly invites them to stay, that’s where the episode’s beats feel unfinished. While this is the most we’ve ever seen of Jimmy’s personal life—Trent saying that Jimmy doesn’t have any friends he’s ever met, Jimmy’s apartment reeking of divorced dad energy—there’s not as much acknowledgment that Jimmy would like the company or even appreciates that Bob was stopping by. Instead it just jumps right into playing with the cars, no other lines of dialogue exchanged. It feels like there’s something that could grow with an extra minute or two on the scene, but “Prank You For Being A Friend” is content to back away from anything that could upset the show’s own Hatfield/McCoy dynamic. Hopefully that’s something that can be explored in future episodes.
And if it sounds impossible that Bob and Jimmy could ever get along, just remember: it once sounded impossible that Louise would turn down firing a catapult of plastic cockroaches into the cafeteria for any reason, or that she’d have an earnest conversation with Mr. Frond about it. Stranger things have happened on Bob’s Burgers, and “Prank You For Being A Friend” is a nice reminder of that, a solid close to a solid season that also lets us know there’s still plenty of life in this crazy world.
Stray observations:
- Burger of the Week: Bright Leeks, Big City Burger (comes with grilled leeks)
- Store Next Door: Hey Now, We’re A Rock Store.
- Pest Control Truck: Wasps Your Problem? Pest Control. (Also re: Jimmy Pesto, has anyone else ever noticed you can see him reflected in the window of the truck?)
- Since regular coverage stopped with a few episodes left, here’s some capsule reviews to close out the season:
- “Poops!… I Didn’t Do It Again”: A-. Another sweet episode showcasing the Bob and Louise relationship to great effect, treating her issue with public pooping as more than just material for a cheap joke, and an episode that returned to the “Paraders Of The Lost Float” comic gold of the Belchers dancing in pickle costumes.
- “Local She-Ro”: B-. Leaning too much on Linda’s crazy side and Teddy’s pathetic side without enough context for either, and evidence that Linda/Tina is the one Belcher family pairing the show hasn’t cracked yet. Extra points for the Laraine Newman guest turn.
- Does Mr. Frond look different to anyone else, or is it just me?
- I would watch Gene do an entire reenactment of The Departed. Maybe that’s the material for his next musical!
- Zeke probably asks a lot of questions about creamed corn even on a normal day.
- Regular Sized Rudy’s fake confession and sheepish retraction is one of the best Regular Sized Rudy moments in recent memory.
- “Doing more school after school? What are you, getting your masters?”
- “Maybe she’s seeing if the tree’s ticklish? I’ve heard some of them are.”
- “I’m 48!” “Yeah you are!”
- “It’s made for regular people, not… whatever you are.”
- “This wasn’t part of the plan! Or was it? Did I miss a meeting?”
- That’s it for the tenth season of Bob’s Burgers. Thanks to everyone for reading, and thanks for sticking with me after I took over late this season. I don’t know if we’ll be able to come back for season eleven, what the media landscape or even the world is going to look like in a few months. Here’s hoping it looks better by then. In the meantime, stay safe, be kind to yourselves, and support your local independent restaurants by ordering takeout once in a while. For some reason, I could really go for a burger right now.
44 Comments
Hey, we’re back! Aaaaaand we’re gone again.This finale was serviceable enough, so I’m gonna use this as an opportunity to touch on “Poops, I Didn’t Do It Again”, which was probably my favorite episode of the season and fell on the first week coverage here stopped. It was super sweet, touched on a real issue people have that’s not comfortable to talk about (I can use public stalls, but not public urinals), and also gave me my biggest laugh of the season:
Regular-sized Rudy: “We’re all gonna sleep with the fishes, like the mafia when they kill people!”
Ms. Labonz: “There goes my opening joke, thanks Rudy.” *crumples paper and tosses on the ground*
Rudy was on fire that episode. His reaction to LaBonz picking him to replace Louise was perfect.
“touched on a real issue people have that’s not comfortable to talk about”Or constipation – or anything involving the lower G.I. tract in general. I’ve found that people are unbelievably willing to talk about all manner of their health problems and difficulties in general conversation – from carpal tunnel to bariatric surgery – but anything even remotely touching on pooping is still OFF LIMITS.
My mom’s said that one of the most basic human needs is someone you can talk about your poop with. Whenever I tell someone this, their faces light up and I become That Person They Can Discuss Their Poop With.
Ms Labonz is great, and used just enough to keep her great.
I’m so annoyed we missed out on a proper review of that episode. As someone with IBS I found it all too relatable. (Also I wanted to see if anyone else found the aquarium animations disappointingly flat in spots – the tanks in a lot of the shots looked like those paper reels you put over a lamp to get a projection on wall. This would be acceptable on a worse show, but Bob’s Burgers can do better.)
I am bummed I didn’t get a chance for a full review of that one. Easily in the top ten for this season, probably the top five but I’d need to rewatch a couple episodes first.
What happened to the reviews of the last two episodes?
Apparently someone at G/O Media decided that Bob’s Burgers reviews didn’t bring in enough site traffic to justify continuing them on a weekly basis.
Oh, that’s disappointing.. Did they make an official announcement of that, or did they just hope no one would notice?
Mr. Chappell warned us at the end of the last review. But no official notice, ‘cause how many page views would that have gotten?
AV Club dropped coverage of the show (along with The Simpsons and several other shows)
I own the Bob’s Burgers cookbook and we eat a fair amount of creative turkey burgers (I know how Bob feels about non-beef burgers, but c’est la vie) and I come up with my own punny names every so often.So in that spirit, I share with you the L-O-Elote burger, which comes with a riff on elotes on top: roasted/blackened corn seasoned with Tajin and mixed with mayo and queso fresco. (Couldn’t find any cotija for a reasonable price.) It was pretty delicious.
I can forgive a turkey or black bean burger, but I share Bob’s feelings on sweet potato fries.
Most sweet potato fries are not great, they just don’t have the right texture. I admire them for trying, though.I’d really enjoy hearing Bob’s take on Impossible/Beyond/other fake meat burgers. I made one at home last week (and then covered it in bacon and cheese, so it wasn’t exactly vegan), and thought it was a pretty good substitute.
I like sweet potato fries done right, which is seemingly quite rare. My preferred style is shoe-string, well-seasoned with garlic salt.
they absolutely have to be crisp and not have cinnamon sugar on them.
Did Jimmy lose custody of the kids? we didn’t see any of them this episode, which seems strange considering we saw Jimmy’s home for the first time.
logically, their unseen mother would take them while Jimmy’s healing, but jimmy’s apartment has no evidence that kids ever lived there. If it’s a temporary residence until he finishes healing when was he able to decorate the apartment? if it’s their home, how did all that stuff avoid destruction at the hands of andy and ollie? Plus as Les mentioned, it has strong divorced dad energy.
I just figured he’s an every other weekend dad and there’s a bedroom or two that the kids use when they stay over, but for the most part it’s just his place.
I think he has them on weekends, sits them in front of a TV, tells them not to touch his stuff, and mostly checks out.
Everything about the way Jimmy interacts with his kids tells me he’s a weekend dad. Come to think of it, it was him who dropped Jimmy Jr. off for Saturday detention in “The Runway Club.”
Has the Pesto family situation ever been explicitly stated? I always figure Jimmy to be a single dad, but I never heard of any mention of Mrs. Pesto from Jimmy nor the kids.Also, Seinfeld already roofied someone in order to play with their toys.
If I remember correctly, in “The Belchies” when the Belchers, Pestos and Zeke all get out of the abandoned factory and Jimmy is standing by watching it get demolished, he makes a comment that he thought the kids were at their moms house that weekend.
Also, Seinfeld already roofied someone in order to play with their toys.I was surprised there was no reference to this in the review. First thing I thought of while watching the episode. Still fun, though. Seems like they were humanizing Jimmy P at the end, with him not wanting Bob and Linda to leave. Up to now, he’s just been a pure asshole.
I don’t enjoy Seinfeld, so I’ve actually never seen that episode.
I don’t enjoy SeinfeldThese words, they have no meaning to metammy
Makes me wonder why I should ever read a review that you write.However…. great reviews on this awesome show. And now, I have to go watch the intro to look for Jimmy Pesto in the van window.
Me too! I had just watched that Seinfeld ep…nice to see some growth from Jimmy even if it was right at the end
Jimmy Jr. once wrote a ‘musoem’ about his mom’s new boyfriend Derrick.
“He’s OkaaaAAAaaay.”
I think Andy and Ollie had some packed lunches made by their mum (that sounded like she wasn’t great at it) in one episode, but I can’t remember which one.
I could swear we saw Mrs. Pesto in the background in the first season or two, and then they quietly started alluding to a divorce, but every time I watch the old episodes I forget to check that possible-Mandela-effect memory.
Thank you kindly, not just for the season finale review but also the mini reviews of the past two episodes (which I both agree with in their grades).I was gonna say it didn’t feel like a season finale but then again those come every three seasons or so.Louise’s growth is pretty admirable. And it’s nice to see Kaylee again after that pretty bad episode, initially being the worst prankster. Couldn’t even replace Ms. LaBonz’s chalk with a painted baby carrot.The B-plot was funny, just for Bob to say he’s Jimmy’s private nurse and thus deserves to play with his nunchucks.
Is it just my dirt mind, or did the actors really lean into the “cock” part of “cockroach” at least a couple times? “Rubber cock…roaches” is a nice quick misdirect, I think.
1.Gene following up Die Hard the musical with Departed the musical is an amazing idea. Like Gene with Die Hard, I kept asking myself throughout Departed: “Why isn’t anyone singing? Why isn’t anyone dancing.?!”2.If, by some miracle this happens, please do everything in your power to make sure that the AV Club supports a review for it. Thank you.
But it needs to be paired with whatever ‘The Departed’s sassy sister film is. ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, perhaps?
The Departed Wears Prada!
No mention of the awesome Thinkgineers song at the end of the episode? It even had a freeze frame ending!It also reminded me of the time in middle school where my friends and I made a catapult out of milk cartons and plastic utensils. We could shoot food clear across the cafeteria with them.
does anyone know who sang the Thinkgineers song?
I loved the rocket, which went up about a centimeter.
No mention of the awesome Thinkgineers song at the end of the episode? It even had a freeze frame ending!It also reminded me of the time in middle school where my friends and I made a catapult out of milk cartons and plastic utensils. We could shoot food clear across the cafeteria with them.
Jimmy Pesto reflected in the van window has been there for the last couple seasons. It’s a neat attention to detail, and another easter egg if they tweak the opening again.
I’ve always wanted to know just a little more about Trev. What are his dreams in life? Who is he when he’s not cheering on Pesto’s terrible insult jokes?
There was the episode when Jimmy was off trying to visit every location in “Kokomo” and we got some glimpse of his humanity, but it was only baby steps to seeing his life. We also learned in another episode that Teddy built him a really elaborate doghouse in exchange for Jimmy’s underpants. Otherwise, I think that’s all we’ve seen of Trev’s life.
RE: Local She-Ro: It impresses me that for this long, Bob’s Burgers has managed to take place in an unnamed town- even going this far as to highlight how great it was- without ever resorting to the lampshading jokes you see all the time on The Simpsons. I often forget it’s unnamed.