13x14 These Boots Are Made for Stalking

[7.3/10] The kernel of truth at the center of this tina-focused story is fantastic. Every once in a while, Bob’s Burgers manages to really seize on something, and the desire to try to remake yourself to be cool as a teenager is, if not universal, than certainty widespread enough to be relatable to most of us.

In truth, I don’t love the execution of it. I enjoy Tina’s nervousness in general, but the show struggled to wring comedy from it this time around. Her extended awkward interaction with them in the Greek restaurant didn’t do much for me. And even the physical comedy of her trying to walk around in combat boots didn’t register too highly on the laugh scale for yours truly.

It did, however, provide Tina with plenty of pathos. She forces herself to try to like the right bands, wear the right clothes, go to the right places, even though it isn't her, because she’s chasing an ineffable, idealized feeling that she’s desperate to experience, and she wills the ends even if she doesn’t will the means. The bitter irony, of course, is that none of this is her, so none of it works. Being like someone else isn’t enough to get you into the club, let alone give you the glory of an ad for jeans on the side of a bus stop.

So even though I didn’t laugh much, or love the way the show dramatized Tina’s stalking and discomfort over trying to be something she’s not, I love what the show's trying to say and where it lands. Linda’s speech about being who you are as the coolest thing possible doesn’t sound trite coming from her. And the small montage of Tina loosening up, embracing the person she’s comfortable being, and then finding herself in the right headspace to make friends with one of the teens she’s been idolizing is wholesome in that marvelous Bob’s Burgers sort of way.

The B-story is a big nothing though. Gene and Louise wearing dirty socks around their necks to try to show who has the stronger will is not the worst idea for a b-story. But it doesn’t really go anywhere and the lesson never quite crystalizes.

Overall though, this one doesn’t have much in the way of laughs or sparkling entertainment, but it drills down deep into something real and very human with one of the show’s best and most sensitive characters, which is worth the price of admission on its own.