BOB’S BURGERS “Spaghetti Western and Meatballs” Review

BOB’S BURGERS “Spaghetti Western and Meatballs” Episode 9 – In tonight’s episode of Bob’s Burgers we delved back into the relationships within the Belcher family and got another hilarious and charming episode.

Bob and Louise’s nightly father-daughter activity consists of flipping through the TV channels and making fun of everything that shows up on the screen – they call themselves the “Burn Unit”. I love this little ritual between the two of them because as much as Louise is more mature than kids her age, it’s pretty clear that she’s still at a stage where she still thinks hanging out with her dad is totally awesome. Tina and Gene, on the other hand, are both past that age and more interested in their own lives and hobbies. Unlike Louise, Gene doesn’t watch “Banjo” with Bob because he likes spending time with his dad, he’s watching because he thinks westerns are cool. Bob happens to agree, so I can understand how this development is all at once threatening and annoying to Louise.

Gene had a ton of great moments tonight. The faces he made when he was trying to imitate an intimidating look from Banjo were so classic. When Louise is playing with her food in the cafeteria and Gene has that ridiculous look plastered on his face I couldn’t stop laughing. I also loved the montage of attempted father-son bonding moments since it made it clear why Gene’s newly discovered love of spaghetti westerns was so important to Bob. I know that there are plenty of fathers and sons who can relate to not sharing interests with one another but still try awkwardly to find something in common.

I really appreciated the scene where Bob, Louise and Gene were hiding (or as Bob explains, politely declining) from a fight in a playground slide and were able to address all of the issues that had been putting a strain on the Belcher family’s relationships. I liked that Bob demanded an apology from Louise for her recent attitude and even though she didn’t actually apologize, it ended up being really sweet when she let down her tough facade and was honest with how hurt she was by Bob and Gene for ditching her and breaking up the “Burn Unit” and the “Lunch Bunch.” The name she gave her mom and Tina, the “Menstruation Nation,” was hilarious and after watching Louise attempt to spend time with both Linda and Tina, I understood how she would rather be spending time with her dad and brother. Louise’s tearful scene ends quickly, thanks to Gene’s anxiety induced flatulence and a follow up discussion about “fart fingerprints” that had me cracking up.

Linda and Tina had a sub-plot revolving around Linda’s goal of upstaging prior year’s spaghetti dinner fundraisers for Tina’s Conflict Resolution club. Linda’s nightmarish flashback of the baked ziti fiasco of the previous year was fantastic and I loved the way her eyes twitched as she watched everyone stuff their faces with the pasta. Tina was also wonderfully awkward in all her scenes and her strange groan makes me laugh every time.

Once again, there were just so many great lines and little moments in this episode of Bob’s Burgers that I feel like I couldn’t possibly capture them all. Even if I could put every hilarious moment in writing, the delivery of the vocal talent is really what makes this series shine.

I like when Bob’s Burgers explores the relationships between each character in the Belcher family because I feel like it makes them multidimensional and realistic even though they are completely absurd. This episode hit that balance pretty well so that while I was interested in their family dynamics, I was also laughing the whole time.