Tonight’s 10th season premiere gives us a real contender for the worst thing the kids have ever done. Don’t take my word for it: Bob himself tells the kids he’s never been angrier with them than he is after discovering they lost his big anniversary present to Linda at the waterpark. He even bans them from attending his funeral! What’s so brutal about this particular predicament is how unsolvable it feels. As Bob observes, the ring is so small and the waterpark is so big, and the kids’ efforts to retrieve it feel less like a grand season-opening caper than just a refusal to acknowledge the inevitable. The episode can’t resist the ending coda, in which we learn the engagement ring will be taking up permanent residence in a bird’s nest right outside the Belchers’ window, but beyond that flourish most everything about how the scenario unfolds feels all too real.
Of course the kids would root around in the secret present hiding spot and open whatever they find. Of course they would play around with the ring until it got stuck on someone’s—Gene’s, it was always going to be Gene’s—finger. Of course they would refuse to ask an adult for help even after all that nerdy sunscreen failed to remove it. And of course Gene would then forget about the ring while working on his plan on letting his bones slowly dissolve in the lazy river. I don’t know if I ever managed to string together quite that many thoughtless, idiotic decisions when I was a kid, but each of them rings true. That’s where Bob’s Burgers deploys its specific kind of realism to such great effect. A nighttime treasure hunt at a waterpark really ought to feel contrived, yet as presented in “The Ring (But Not Scary)”, it’s the most logical thing imaginable. The only danger with the show’s authenticity is when it touches a little too closely on the family’s poverty, a point noted repeatedly over the past decade. And yes, I do feel a little sad and queasy knowing Bob still has all those $15 payments ahead of him for a ring he never even got to give.
But what cuts against that, and indeed what makes the episode’s horribly plausible portrayal of the kids messing everything up so palatable, is the magical presence of Nat Kinkle. (Pronounced just like it’s spelled, why, what did you hear?) Full disclosure: “V For Valentine-detta” is one of the episodes I missed while on a break from watching and reviewing the show, so this is my first encounter with the town’s most awesomely self-realized limo driver. Jillian Bell is a complete delight as Nat, her performance perfectly pitched to match the writing’s characterization of Nat as someone who meets all of life’s challenges with resolute enthusiasm. Nat gets a lot of the episode’s best lines and most extended bits, like when she individually greets all the members of her old cannabis and scuba women’s group, complete with quick explanation of the emotional struggles that come with her commitment to sobriety. But there’s also all the little details the episode gets right about Nat, like her predilection for calling Bob things like “Robert” or “Mr. B.” I don’t think we’ve ever heard anyone call Bob by his presumed real first name—and it really is entirely possible his name is actually just “Bob”—and it’s such moments that capture Nat: She’s always here to do the right thing, even if she’s operating on a slightly different wavelength from everyone else.
If the episode had less fun with Nat, it’s possible she could come across as a mere plot engine. After all, she’s mostly there to bridge the gap between the kids’ dumb mistake with the ring and the preposterous solution that absolutely needs an adult to work. For the kids to get into the waterpark at all, they need someone with a connection on the inside and a willingness to get them there at a moment’s notice, preferably without asking for anything in return, as there’s already plenty going on in this episode. Nat makes all that possible just by her previously established trait of being a big fan of Linda’s and, by extension, the kids. There are some other characters in the show’s extended repertoire who might go along with such a ridiculous scheme—Mickey, maybe, and certainly Teddy—but their whole deal, especially Teddy’s, is that they make any situation worse. Part of the point of “The Ring (But Not Scary)” is that the kids have already made things as bad as Bob could possibly imagine. As such, tonight’s episode needs someone who can make being calm and competent funny, and that’s where Nat is such a uniquely brilliant character for the show. Plus, she’s given the most wonderfully fishlike animation when she dives back into the water to tell her friends the hunt for the ring is over.
The other fun decision tonight’s episode makes—and it’s a fairly fundamental one—is to actually bring Bob into the main story. A lot of stories revolving around the kids trying to fix a mess they have made will leave the parents on the sidelines, perhaps busying them with some ridiculousness in the restaurant. That structure still works after 10 seasons, but it’s one of the show’s more familiar narrative formulas, so I’m always happy to see Bob’s Burgers subvert expectations and have Bob discover the ring is missing as early on as he does. A big advantage of that choice is it lets the show explore the dynamics between Bob and the kids, even as he is barely on speaking terms with them. The episode actually tries some subtlety as it resolves that particular conflict: Bob never explicitly forgives them, but the kids’ desperate apologies—to say nothing of Tina pleading that Bob is actually “a land dad”—make it clear just how much they are affected by their father’s feelings. We also get so many wonderful reminders of just how much of a weird mess Bob is in his own right, from his searching the waterpark in his underwear to his nervously addressing the owner of the park as “Your highness.”
Besides, bringing Bob into the heart of the episode means the resolution can focus more on him and Linda than the kids. There’s less really to be said of them beyond simply that they screwed up. But Bob gets to tell Linda how much she matters to him, and Linda gets to assure Bob that material reminders like a giant honking ring matter so much less than what they already share. It’s a sweet, thoughtful ending. What happens after said ending is quintessential Bob’s Burgers, as the waterpark owner decides to celebrate the couple by reopening the park for all the unexpected visitors… just as a pink eye-stricken Aunt Gayle has jumped into the lazy river. By the very particular accounting of Bob’s Burgers, I’m pretty sure this counts as an outright happy ending. It’s certainly a lovely beginning for this latest season.
Stray observations
- It’s snuck up on me, but my favorite running gag in the show might be Linda always yelling “Stay out of my room!” before leaving the kids in the house.
- The whole subplot with Linda and Gayle is a nice reminder of how those two actually work as sisters. As ridiculous as each of them is—and yeah, Gayle is considerably more so—they do love each other, assuming one isn’t trying to force the other to take their necessary pink eye medicine.
- The show has trained me well, because as soon as Bob mentioned his and Linda’s anniversary is 9/3, all I could think is, “Right, nine is divisible by three.”
- “Nerd alert!”
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A fine season opener! I felt sure Linda was going to get that Ooh-la-la keychain as a consolation present, though.
And love it way more than any ring.
Gene was not giving that one up.
“Recurring Character Club” on 16! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7…
Let her finish!
All is right in the world when Bob’s returns for another season.Call me a complete fucking moron, but what is supposed to be funny about the name Nat Kinkle?
It sounds a lot like:
Of course, of course. Thanks for helping out this old moron.
What did you hear?
I should have stated in my OP that I hadn’t actually watched the episode yet. I have now and the reference is obvious. The reviewer made it seem like her name was a joke in and of itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_King_Cole
And to explain the joke of the closing song:
Got it now. Hadn’t watched the whole episode.
So much great stuff in this episode. Nat may now be my favorite recurring adult character (no one will ever surpass Rudy). I’m also a huge sucker for episodes where a bunch of strangers get together to help other strangers, and so as you can imagine this episode was wonderful to me.
And then they cap it off with the first scene in Bob’s Burger’s history I can think of that was just beautiful? Like, literally beautiful. Dammit, show.
Low-key one of the most impressive things in the episode was the shots of the kids talking with Nat on the innertubes. One of the hardest things in animation is to draw a bunch of slight angle changes for a character. There was a gag in Archer involving a bunch of characters spinning on chairs that was HELL on the animators (and was likely put in specifically to challenge them), and the shots of everyone slowly rotating with the camera at water level had to be similarly frustrating. (Obviously the overhead shots weren’t as big a deal.)
Cartoon Network has conditioned me to assume every time such a thing happens its because James Baxter showed up.
Lots of numbers are divisible by three.
Louise: “I’ll break you yet, Robert Belcher.”–“Brunchsquatch”
“We stage a burglary, and in the struggle we stab Dad, but only a little, and Mom is go glad he survived she forgets all about the anniversary.” Wow, you know Gene’s feeling the heat when he starts talking like Louise.
I liked Louise’s idea of saving that one for another occasion.
Bob’s Burgers has never been a foreshadowy kinda show.But I wouldn’t exactly be stunned if Bob gets stabbed in this year’s Christmas special.
Let’s take a moment to recognize after years of almost being an afterthought by Fox (despite being its best animated show, maybe best show) with having its time slot constantly jerked or preempted by football, Bob’s Burgers got the attention it deserves with the 9pm Primetime slot. Well deserved and long past due.Also, an all female dive team named the Puff Divers is hilarious.
Easily its best show. It’s a travesty that Family Guy ever received preferential treatment.
Puff Divers completely sailed over my head until just now. HA! Brilliant. (Apparently it sailed over the censors’ heads too!)
“I’ll be out front in 15 minutes”
“Better make it an hour, we need to pretend to go to bed”
“Copy that. I’ll pretend to go to bed, too”
So many of the adults on the show are operating either above or slightly below the kids’ level, so it’s really fun to have an adult character that’s exactly on their wavelength.
Why am I not seeing this on the main page?
Kinja is an unknowable beast.
Tina’s fearful moan was warranted this week by Bob’s wrath.
They missed a perfect opportunity for an “I love you but you’re all terrible” towards the end there. And an “ow my face!” during Linda’s pinkeye ministrations.
Fundamentally the problem with “I love you but you’re all terrible” is the first half. Bob is definitely not feeling the love this episode, except of course towards Linda. (It’s also, you know, a joke–deploying it would kinda undercut just how p.o.ed he is.)
Absolutely loved the season opener. Nat is such a joy to have back. This episode had so much heart and I love it when Bob’s brings strangers together to help eachother out. Best show on TV! Also “where’s your wine” “I don’t have any” “how do you relax” “I don’t” ….oh Gayle
Jillian Bell is a delight. I loved her in the Goosebumps movie. “Every teen boy needs a night in with his aunt!”
My first thought after hearing the anniversary date was also “NINE IS DIVISIBLE BY THREE”! Anyways, so glad avclub is still recapping/reviewing Bob’s Burgers.What touched me was how far Nat was willing to help the kids and when she told Bob that she was willing to do it because he has great kids, you can tell his heart softened just a little bit, knowing that deep down they are great.I also didn’t get the joke about her name… thanks for the links fellow avclubers!
Am I the only one who sometimes wonders how Linda made it to adulthood? The stuff with the sunburn . . . Oof.
My fiance and I are planning our wedding – specifically chosen to be September 3rd because of Bob’s – and this episode started as a fun reminder of why that was.Nat diving into the pool to move 3 feet in order to help Bob out of the filter was probably a highlight for me. Great physical comedy from a fully realized character.All that said, the second the kids lost the ring, the episode largely lost me. I can’t sanction their bullshit anymore, and the fact that Gene fucked up this badly then immediately claimed ownership of the first shiny thing pulled from (basically) the sewer makes me long for the Law & Order: SVU episode that finds him tied up behind a dumpster, rotting.
Cute opener, but it could’ve been a bit better. I think the episode would’ve been stronger if the kids screwing up was treated much more seriously, like in the Simpsons’ “Marge Not Be Proud” because while I love Tina, Gene and Louise, they get off really too easy for the bad stuff they do.
That ending was very cute and quaint and was like something out of a cheesy movie… but damn it, it worked on me, and I actually got pretty emotional after watching an episode of BOB’S BURGERS.
Another Gene queer moment: When they were in the car going to the waterpark and Linda asked them what they were whispering about, Gene said: “Boys we like!”
One of my favorite things about this show is that Gene can say whatever he likes about his gender identity or romantic preferences and it’s not, like. A thing? The kids get side-eyed for a lot of shit—“helping Tina with her diarrhea” tonight is a classic example—but nothing about Gene’s queerness ever gets that reaction.
A-? A FRICKIN’ MINUS?
Bob and Linda’s anniversary is my birthday and I like that I now know that useless piece of trivia.
The image of Bob standing on the pool deck talking to Mr Wetty in his wet briefs made me VERY uncomfortable.
Gayle used to annoy me, but when I started to realize that her whole deal was that she just makes everything as hard and annoying as possible for everyone else, and then realizing that I know people in my real life like that, she’s endeared herself to me.
I would just like to add that Linda and I share tanning techniques
Please correct me if I’m wrong here, but this might have been one of the worst episodes of Bob’s Burgers ever. No real consequences. Not much of a plot or story. No character development. Really just a day with the Belchers at the Water Park and not much else. (Which in it of itself is not necessarily a bad thing)Nat is hilarious as always, but the episode seemed like pure fanservice. If you love these characters, then you get to enjoy 20 minutes of them quipping and singing and doing their thing in a vacuum. Again, I’m probably totally wrong, and maybe it’s a good thing to sacrifice conflict for a week to show that some characters do just want to help others for the sake of helping others.Plus, I suppose “Nat Kinkle” and Bob referring to the waterpark owner as royalty is pretty funny.
I honestly forgot about Nat before this episode. And is it just me, or did Gayle get crazier and more of a dysfunctional mess?