Episode Grade: B-

Linda-centric episodes of Bob’s Burgers can be tricky, primarily because Linda is usually the craziest person in whatever room she happens to be in, and this can get overbearing if she gets too much focus. The better Linda episodes tend to use some combination of two approaches to counteract this: one is to dial Linda back a little, the other is to introduce an equally crazy foil for her (think Deirdre from “Eat, Spray, Linda”). Tonight’s episode did the former, but not really the latter, resulting in an oddly muted feel to the whole thing. It didn’t help that the machinations of the Wagstaff PTA is not the most compelling story line the show’s ever come up with. A few amusing beats, and some unexpected callback characters in Mr. Larsen and Colleen Caviello, but overall this one falls into the same ‘fine, but forgettable’ category a good chunk of this seasons has.

The B-plot seemed similarly muted, likely due to the relative sidelining of the kids. Bob inadvertently upsetting a hardware store owner by mentioning his missing bird was kind of a thin premise, and probably would have worked better as a C-plot in another episode. A few decent Teddy lines, but again, nothing all that memorable. Meanwhile, the kids have a bit of business involving a long plastic pipe that they tire of right about the same time the viewer does.

Hopefully, just a minor hiccup, as I have high hopes for the finale next week. Hopefully I’ll have more to say about that one.

 

Dad-Sandals:

• Storefront: Doll Things Considered- Accessories for Dolls. Exterminator: Into The Spider Hearse
• “It’s like typing a quiet message that says ‘Yay!’.” Mr. Larsen had a couple good lines. Could probably have used more of him.
• “OK, I get it. You like Joanne more than us. It’s fine.”
• Is this the first time we’ve seen Colleen Caviello since season one?
• “You sent a bouquet of Birds of Paradise to a guy who lust lost his bird. Is that some kind of sick prank?”
• I’d watch an episode based around Mr. Branca’s Bleach Boys.