Gene Belcher is annoying. He’s loud, self-obsessed, and not especially bright. That isn’t a problem when he’s a supporting player to Tina or Louise’s antics, content to make alternately hilarious and bizarre observations off on the side of a story. But the task gets tougher when he’s the focus of the story, which Bob’s Burgers implicitly acknowledges by only rarely actually making him the center of an episode’s attention. When the show does go ahead with a Gene episode, a common solution is to put him opposite an even more enervating character—say hi, Wheeler family! But “What About Blob?” chooses a trickier path by openly and repeatedly pointing out in the story itself that Gene is getting on everybody’s nerves. The bold new noise he has discovered is so aggravating that it makes even Mr. Frond seem instantly sympathetic when he orders Gene to stop, and the family can’t even pretend to fake being supportive of Gene’s latest absurd obsession. Even when he becomes so upset with everyone’s refusal to understand his outsider genius that he stops making the noise for a while, he’s still a massive pain to his siblings, who tag along on his ridiculous adventure just because it beats cleaning the restaurant.
For a moment there, it appears “What About Blob?” is going to be a straight rehash of one of the canonically great Gene episodes, “O.T.: The Outside Toilet,” with the bioluminescent blob of plankton subbing in for the Jon Hamm-voiced toilet. Instead, the episode briefly makes what points it has to about how Gene sees himself in the outwardly disgusting but secretly musical blob, and then it moves on to a Bob’s Burgers version of a snobs versus slobs comedy. The blue bloods at Glencrest Yacht Club, represented by John Michael Higgins’ shorts-clad president, are the perfect foils for the Belcher children. What’s especially great is that Gene puts a lot of effort into fitting in with the rich people, even if that’s mostly because he just loves oysters so much, to Tina’s ongoing horror. But he also wears a hell of a dishrag as an ascot—Bob’s right, it looks good on him—and he’s very willing to do what it takes to charm the rich yacht people on their own terms. When that inevitably doesn’t work, it’s time for Louise to step in and involve Sasha, their old Kingshead Island Speeders racing rival.
What this episode does sometimes miss, with all due respect to the sometimes conniving yacht club president, is a proper antagonist. There’s no Max Flush to be found here, as this is mostly another episode where the plot can only barely be said to matter to anyone, and the kids only get as far as they do because a succession of adults can’t be bothered to put up a fight. That’s Bob and Linda defined, of course, but there’s also the greeter at Glencrest Yacht Club, who can’t be bothered to stop Louise when she and her siblings announce they are barging past, and the kayak rental woman, who ends up happy renting the craft to the kids and letting them rifle through the lost and found for disguises. This does make the episode feel more lightweight than “O.T.: The Outside Story,” but at least the episode does the work to make the adults’ indifference feel logical. After all, the kayak renter’s case is quite easily explained when you consider Sasha did give her a hundred dollars to look the other way, and it’s hard to understate how much fun the show can have when it gives Louise access to a huffy but basically malleable rich kid prepared to bankroll whatever the latest daft scheme is. It’s basically a more grounded, justified in-universe version of when The Simpsons started letting Homer randomly pull a thousand dollars out of his wallet when the kids needed it to keep the story moving.
Everything that happens once Sasha and his New Zealander sidekick Duncan get involved is golden, really. The attempt to switch the yacht club’s bleach for bread crumbs features some hilarious business as Sasha bluffs his way into distracting the Glencrest employees, all while Tina keeps trying to get closer to Duncan under the guise of ankle-based agreements and possibly being a spider. The failed heist also provides multiple opportunities for Sasha to look down on the Belchers in comical fashion, from the fact they don’t realize why a yacht club would have massive supplies of Panko bread crumbs to their mistaken impression about what happens when you flush something down a yacht’s toilet.
His refusal to make wake in a marina, even at the cost of being captured by the Glencresters, is a hilariously perfect character moment. His declaration that they’re not animals as he refuses to go any faster is one of those moments of perfect clarity into one of the show’s side characters, and guest voice Jon Daly nails his character’s utter indignation at the kids’ request. Even when the Belcher kids realize they can save the plankton by getting it out of the marina and Sasha raises the logical objection that the only reason he agreed to the scheme was to embarrass the rival yachters, the show and Daly have defined Sasha enough that his impromptu acceptance of Gene’s passionate argument doesn’t just feel like a handwave. Sasha’s willingness to go along with the plan helps lead into the story’s sweet ending,, at least in a Bob’s Burgers kind of way. It’s a nice callback to that thankfully forgotten noise when Louise realizes it’s what the kids can use to drive the plankton out. The yacht club president, for all his villainy, does eventually recognize that there’s no need to bleach the water with the plankton gone. And while Gene is briefly sad to see his beloved friend get immediately devoured by the fish, he finds the bright side when he realizes they can now find a home in his future oysters.
Then there’s Bob and Linda’s story, in which they learn that Jimmy Pesto’s lackey Trev has hitherto unknown depths. Of all the show’s recurring side characters, Trev is probably the least clearly drawn, as all he has ever needed to be is Jimmy’s high-fiving sidekick. What this episode asks, however, is what if he didn’t want to do that? The episode seizes on the fact that Trev has always appeared far more motivated by adoration for his boss than any actual malice toward Bob. I was as pleasantly surprised as Bob when Trev came through and declined to high five the newly tanned and dreadlocked Jimmy, even if he did have to make a lame excuse about his hand being sick. Then again, Trev did immediately reveal the cavalcade of intimate secrets about Bob that Linda shared when she was play-acting as Jimmy earlier. It’s a clever way for the episode to let a character change without altering anything about the underlying dynamic. I’d be shocked if Trev’s newfound conscience carried over to future episodes, even in this hilariously weak-willed form, but the resolution is clever in that it allows for tangible change without making it feel like future episodes are ignoring anything significant if they go back on it. That’s what shifting the focus to Bob’s peehole-shaped birthmark will do, I guess. Pretty sure that’s just Writing 101.
Stray observations
- It’s a bit odd we never got to see the beautiful side of the plankton again after its initial appearance. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it undermined the episode’s sense of stakes that we didn’t get more of a connection with why Gene cared about the plankton so much, but it couldn’t have hurt to get a little more time of those two misunderstood weirdoes communing.
- We need more Duncan and his Kiwi-isms in our lives. As does Tina, quite clearly.
- Of course Teddy things Bob is afraid of long hugs because he doesn’t want to hug him specifically. That’s the most perfectly Teddy detail.
77 Comments
Tina being a leg woman once again cements that she is my spirit animal. Also I literally LOLed at Jimmy’s braids at the end.I enjoyed this episode but I think the most apt word to describe it would be “lightweight”, even for an animated half-hour sitcom.
“That’s one for the Ank Bank.” was such a good line.
Interesting that Tina likes a body part besides butts.
I think Louise just likes bodies. And their parts.
I think Louise just likes bodies. And their parts.
Do you mean Tina?
Tina being a leg woman once again cements that she is my spirit animal. Also I literally LOLed at Jimmy’s braids at the end.I enjoyed this episode but I think the most apt word to describe it would be “lightweight”, even for an animated half-hour sitcom.
Duncan is the best. I’d love to see more of him. As I’m sure would Tina.
Two words: leg knobs.
Rhys Darby, yet another wonderful voice added to the Bob’s Burgers family. The show literally casts all my favorite comedians, most notably Darby, Funches and Andy Daly.
thank you! i missed who it was. I thought to myself – that sounds exactly like Murray from Flight of the Conchords. and it was!
Kiwi-isms are uniformly delightful.
honestly the Duncan and Sasha dynamic is hilarious too i would like to see more of them both
Oh, Duncan’s astonishment when Sasha briefly wanted his opinion!
it’s such a brief but nice moment!
buttle rubbies
“Gene Belcher is annoying. He’s loud, self-obsessed, and not especially bright.”This seems a little mean-spirited (maybe unintentionally so, but still). As Louise once observed (in “Beefsquatch”), Gene is just a classic middle child, craving attention.“That isn’t a problem when he’s a supporting player to Tina or Louise’s antics, content to make alternately hilarious and bizarre observations off on the side of a story.”We’re close to being in agreement here, though I’d emphasize how Gene often has some of the best one-liners (often non sequiturs, yes) in a given episode.“But the task gets tougher when he’s the focus of the story, which Bob’s Burgers implicitly acknowledges by only rarely actually making him the center of an episode’s attention.”
Nah. There have been several great Gene-centric episodes, from the aforementioned “Beefsquatch” to “OT: The Outside Toilet” to “The Unnatural” to “Gene It On” to “Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl” to “The Gene and Courtney Show” to “The Itty Bitty Ditty Committee.” Gene holds his own with the rest of the Belchers.
When I saw the headline I was like, “Damn, hot take.” I’d say Gene is my least favorite Belcher though—not in the sense I actively hate him, but in that I actively like him the least. If that makes sense. I think I’d say it’s Tina, Linda (hot take? I know she has lots of haters), Louise, Bob, then Gene in who I find the most entertaining.
I only actually like bob. Linda is like a more annoying peggy hill. i dont mind louise except i hate the screaming voice actress, never liked her in anything, and if tina was a boy she would be called out for how pervy she is.
Early on in the show’s production Tina was actually written to be a boy, also voiced by Dan Mintz. The production team decided to change the character to a girl (and keep Mintz, as they thought his voice still worked for the character), and I think in retrospect the most prominent traits about Tina might point to why they did so.
Without much hyperbole, I think the changing of Dan Belcher to Tina Belcher may be the most critical last minute change any show has ever made.
also, the initial concept was that the Belchers would be a family of cannibals. THAT was a pretty critical change.
Yeah. That version of the show might have gotten half a season on Adult Swim.
If you didn’t know you can actually watch a version of the pilot where Tina is Dan on youtube.
Nice! Thanks for the vid!
uhh.. yeah… because there’s never been a puberty-charged hormonal 13 year old boy on TV. except for Steve on American Dad, Morty on Rick and Morty, and every other middle school and high school male character in television history.
she molests people yo.
i’m not saying it’s okay but to act like there aren’t also plenty of examples of pervy teen boys on TV is just absurd.
True, Tina’s sexual remarks wouldn’t be tolerated coming from a boy, which is likely why they chose to switch her from a boy to a girl, which is how she was originally written.
What, not even Gravity Falls? (Amazing show)
okay also, not on the Tina topic – agree to disagree or whatever – but genuinely wondering why you watch if you don’t like any of the characters (except Bob) it’s such a character-driven show, i don’t know if i would if i didn’t love so many of the characters.
Personally I think this show is a great example of how the best ensemble comedies rely on the cast (voice actors or otherwise) riffing off of each other, complementing each other, and otherwise creating a gestalt. Louise is my probably my favorite Belcher, but even in Louise-centered episodes the other Belchers always shine. Your point about how Linda has a lot of haters is another good example: Linda might not be everyone’s cup of Teddy’s Brewski, but she’s the heart of the family, and I wouldn’t change a thing about her.Another good go-to example for me would be Arrested Development, one of my other favorite ensemble comedies. What bugged me way more than the non-linear narrative, which I didn’t mind at all, was the heavy focus on one character and the absence of the most of the rest of the cast in each episode (usually because of scheduling issues, I know). Contrast those episodes with those of the first three seasons, in which even in middle-of-the-road episodes the cast found all sorts of comedic moments to mine together. Bob’s Burgers also has an exceptional cast (even the ancillary characters are voiced by ringers), and my favorite episodes tend to always let everyone shine.
Well said—it’s pretty amazing how fresh the show has stayed for so long and it’s a testament to how well the characters are/were conceived, both in writing and acting. And as you mentioned, this extends to pretty much everyone on the show. My favorite episodes are probably ones involving the kids and their classmates since there’s so many personalities bouncing off each other.
Pretty much in total agreement here, except that I’d add “Stand By Gene” to your list, for my money one of the show’s best overall.
Oh, shit! I totally just flaked on that one. I agree completely!
No, I hate Gene. Though I occasionally feel for his lost causes, he’s somewhere below Gayle and Teddy as far as my most irksome characters. We do share a love of oysters, though.
You’re gonna be paddlin’ upstream going against the love of Teddy around here, mister!
I don’t plan to harp on it endlessly. That would be way too Teddy-like. I’d much rather bash Gene.
I have a lot of respect of Eugene Mirman and the show’s writers, on most other shows I’d despise a character like Gene. He’s all the parts of Bobby Hill I didn’t like taken up to 11 with a fart machine for good measure, but he works somehow.
Personally I love the drive-by non sequiturs. Like in “I Get a Psy-Chic Out of You” when Sgt. Boscoe is describing the Little Boy Bandit and Linda says that the description “sounds like Sandy Duncan,” Gene walks into frame to grab something from the counter, chides Linda with “Everyone sounds like Sandy Duncan to you, mom. ‘Sandy Duncan this, Sandy Duncan that.’ Ohhhhhh,” and then he walks back out of the frame again. Mirman’s delivery is perfect.
Not all Gene episodes are created equal. Remember Best Burger? Of course you don’t, because it was nothing but Gene either being frustratingly incompetent, or ANNOYING.
Of course I *do* remember “Best Burger.” It’s the episode in which Bob competes against Skip (his first appearance) and Jimmy to determine who makes the titular best burger, with Chuck Charles serving as host and working to undermine Bob because of how Bob (and Gene and Linda) inadvertently got Chuck fired from his morning talk show in the “Beefsquatch” episode. Bob is making a black garlic burger for the contest, and the inciting incident is that Gene forgot to put the the black garlic in the cooler with the other ingredients when Bob asked him to.As Linda herself notes in the episode, however, Bob trusted their “least reliable kid” to put the black garlic in the cooler because—and Bob himself realizes this is true—he subconsciously wanted to have an excuse for when he lost to Skip, a world-renowned chef. Gene also redeems himself at the end when he’s the one who delivers the new black garlic that the kids borrow/steal from Fig Jam, and as Bob tells Gene, yeah Gene is occasionally incompetent and annoying, but Bob loves him just the way he is. We should, too.
Impressive recall, but none of that changes my opinion. Yes, Gene can be a lovable dope, but Best Burger was not one of those occasions. I don’t think it’s coincidental that they’ve dialed down Gene’s aggressive nincompoopery since then, either. Pretty much all of the Gene-centric episodes post-season 5 have worked just fine, but that one will always be one of the most skipable episodes they ever did, at least for me.
See, for me a Gene-centered episode that would be in the running for most skip-worthy (at least its A story) would be the post-season 5 “Like Gene for Chocolate,” the one in which the formula for his favorite candy bar is changed and his in-person protests at the candy company lead to him befriending and advising the company CEO. It has a great B story (Bob helping Teddy recover shagged golf balls from a lake for the resell value) and yet another ringer guest voicing the CEO (Judah Friedlander), and since the CEO is basically an adult Gene you’d think that’d I like it, but most of its jokes just didn’t land for me. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
Gene’s so called “one liners” are way above his age level so it makes no sense he would say them. His loud, SCREECHING voice is enough to drive a nail through your brain.
I loved the running callback(s) to “Burger Boss” whenever the kids would breeze past the Yacht Club doorman. It’s rare for Bob’s Burgers to reference past episodes (“Hey, Marshmallow” being the exception.)
I feel like they’ve been gradually including and peppering in references to past episodes over the course of the series. BB will never be a show that is chalkfull of callbacks but they’ve been doing some world building, even just in terms of how many seemingly one-off characters as far back as S1 and 2 will pop in now.
I used to own a 38 foot 1968 Chris Craft Roamer and while technically a yacht this less than 10k boat was hardly a miniature mansion on the water. It did, however, give entrance into the world of yacht-people and more annoyingly, yachties, those dumb rich kids who cling to privilege, wealth, and access they didn’t earn like a barnacle to a boat bottom. These are, by and large, not good people. It is a shame that boating is such an exclusive activity – nothing beats a day on the water, drifting on the wind, having a few beers and getting so tan you start to look dirty…but it is available only to the rich, or those like me who don’t mind a third-rate berth and can do repairs on the fly. (Nothing scarier than an engine that won’t start as that dark wall of thunder clouds begins to bear down on you) *Climbs off soapbox and gets onto pontoon boat and sails off into the sunset*
Aren’t Chris Craft’s super-luxurious? I’m kinda surprised you can find one for under $10k.
Old boats are very inexpensive. They require a ton of maintenance and truly fit into the description of “A hole in the water you throw money into”. A new or newer Chris Craft is ridiculously expensive, no question there.
hmmm
https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/category/type/Chris-Craft/Roamer
As someone who grew up working at a camp on Catalina island, and getting tangentially exposed to yachtie life based on the proximity, I agree 100%.
Camp Fox?!
Emerald Bay
Wine mixer?
The worst are the people that bring stuff like that to hilariously small reservoirs, typically driven by high school kids out for a party on the weekend. I have fond memories of watching people damage their parent’s property backing it up down the ramps.
Got a song for you. “Yachting Type”, by late 70s British new wave/power pop band Yachts, is about the singer losing his girlfriend to a yachtie.
Can we talk about Tina’s sexual harassment of Duncan? Cause that was not okay.
One of the best things about Bob’s Burgers is its rich cast of characters: Trev has shown fleeting bits of insecurity when Jimmy slaps him down for this or that in the past, so he has a history which works perfectly here.There is an undeniable environmental message in this episode, which the writers skillfully integrate into the gestalt of the kids: they see something amazing in the glowing algae, which I am assuming is a real thing, and so are devoted to saving it, all within their own established characters, of course.I also loved how Louise was always on top of the persistent double-speak of the Yacht Club president. We have become so accustomed to that kind of bullshit from authorities and officials we just take it for granted. Hooray for Louise and the kids for not taking it!Definitely an A episode!
I was yelling at my TV “IT’S BIOLUMISCENT!” when they showed the plankton glowing:https://www.leisurepro.com/blog/explore-the-blue/bioluminescent-plankton-what-makes-it-glow/
they see something amazing in the glowing algae, which I am assuming is a real thingThere are actually really cool bioluminescent algae that will glow in response to waves, grazing, or other disturbances, although they almost certainly do not display coordinated movement in response to sound…also, they aren’t typically the same types of algae that would be in a “green blob” they depicted. The Indian River Lagoon in Florida and several bays in Puerto Rico are good places to check it out in person.-Algae nerd
That’s so cool!
Yacht people? Are those, like, old money Transformers who vacation on Martha’s Vineyard?
Meh, I thought it was a C average episode, the plot was serviceable and it just wasn’t that funny to me.
For Shuck’s Sake, a business name so good it’s in the episode instead of the opening credits.There were a lot of good Gene lines, like this one: “If Greenpeace looked as fabulous as us, there’d be too many whales.”
Also, yachtblockers!
I genuinely feel like Duncan might be one of the best possible matches for Tina. I can’t really explain it, but they should be a thing. I agree that a little Gene often goes a long way, but there have been some great Gene-centric episodes.
He’s awkward, but easy-going. Open to new experiences, but also just excited to be included. He’s the perfect Bob’s Burgers character.
We did get the glowy plankton again, if only for the credits skit. In previous seasons they’ve felt very skippable, but this season is nailing them out of the park.
“That jerk can’t catch us!”*one second later*“Oh crap. That jerk caught us!” -Louise
Not only did the yacht club president wear shorts, he wore madras plaid shorts—a genius touch by the animators. Its an immediate social signal, even more than a dish towel ascot.
“We have lives!…Oh, wait…”- I’d say “The A.V. Club!”, but that seems a little mean. I can only speak for myself, after all.I liked this one pretty well. Glad to see some familiar faces and settings (the kids’ plot being driven by something cool/gross they found in the ocean brought me back to “Ambergris”).
If your wife doesn’t get drunk, she just has fun, you’re probably married to Linda Belcher.If your wife tells people you were late because of diarrhea, you’re probably married to Linda Belcher.
If your wife tells people about your pee-hole birthmark, you’re probably married to Linda Belcher.
“Ankles aweigh.”“Come again?”“Ankie doodle damn, D!”“Sorry?”“Lil’ somethin’ for the ank bank.”“I’m not following. Oh, you mean my leg knobs!”“I sure do.”Yeah, we definitely need more Tina/Duncan interactions.
Was not expecting a pee pee hole birthmark to be brought up. Bobs burgers is the king of dirty jokes in momspeak
Watching Louise’s ability to manipulate everyone around her, especially dumb rich people and apathetic adults, makes me realize that she could easily grow up to be a start-up con artist of the Theranos variety. Without her family and Mr. Frond providing an anchor of morality she could easily become an untethered conscious-less megalomaniac super villain.
I love her.
Gene and his one liners are literally the funniest part of the show. He’s a perfect counter balance to Tina and Louise. This article is dumb.