[7.7/10] Holy hell! I was not expecting Bob’s Burgers to pay tribute to One Cut of the Dead of all things. Doing a found footage, first person-style zombie flick within the universe the show is a conceit that pays dividends and turns this episode into a really fun challenge and change of pace for the show from a visual perspective.
I am a sucker for a good zombie movie, so seeing the Belchers play the greatest hits--boarding up the windows while the undead reach through, having someone be bitten but pretend they’re fine, having to shoot someone you love because they’re attacking you as zombies--is a lot of fun. There’s a trademark slanted take on all of these things. I particularly like Andy getting bitten and then ending up biting Ollie in their closeness and poor construction injury excuse. But the show partly plays the horror here straight, which is impressive and unexpectedly convincing as horror.
I also liked the ambiguous space that the episode plays in. At first, you wonder if there’s some logical explanation for why Teddy seems like a zombie and is biting people. Then you wonder if it’s just a non-canon scary story a la The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror. Then you start to pick up on the likelihood that this is a show-within-a-show (within a show, given the faux-documentary style). And then you actually cut to the Belchers watching it at home, commenting on the “real life” bugaboos that made it into the final product. There’s an appropriately layered take here, and the episode parcels the hints that this is playacting nicely, to where once you can easily see dummies and trick editing in play, you’re with the show, not surprised by it.
The zombie material works well. I like playing with the mythos to where zombies are vulnerable to mustard rather than headshots. The found footage concept lets there be fun interactions between Tina and Gene as the camera people. Louise’s song, while a little out there, was heartfelt and catchy. And the show changes its visual presentation to a largely first person perspective without missing a beat, and using it to make the horror feel more tense and claustrophobic, which is impressive.
I also appreciated the layers of Lousie’s situation. In-universe, she’s a fraud who pretends to be a big archer online, but can't even pull back the bowstrings when push comes to shove. If you stuck with the bottom layer of the story here, you’d still have a good story of Louise accepting the truth and finding her own way to be an archer, while accepting herself and embracing her capabilities. But adding the other layer of the real Louise struggling to pull back the bow, and choosing to tell that story through her character, makes it more meaningful, and speaks to the kids’ sensitivity and self-knowledge.
Overall, I love the creativity that abounds in this episode, and the break in the format to tell such a neat and layered riff on the genre is outstanding.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2024-01-25T06:49:31Z
[7.7/10] Holy hell! I was not expecting Bob’s Burgers to pay tribute to One Cut of the Dead of all things. Doing a found footage, first person-style zombie flick within the universe the show is a conceit that pays dividends and turns this episode into a really fun challenge and change of pace for the show from a visual perspective.
I am a sucker for a good zombie movie, so seeing the Belchers play the greatest hits--boarding up the windows while the undead reach through, having someone be bitten but pretend they’re fine, having to shoot someone you love because they’re attacking you as zombies--is a lot of fun. There’s a trademark slanted take on all of these things. I particularly like Andy getting bitten and then ending up biting Ollie in their closeness and poor construction injury excuse. But the show partly plays the horror here straight, which is impressive and unexpectedly convincing as horror.
I also liked the ambiguous space that the episode plays in. At first, you wonder if there’s some logical explanation for why Teddy seems like a zombie and is biting people. Then you wonder if it’s just a non-canon scary story a la The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror. Then you start to pick up on the likelihood that this is a show-within-a-show (within a show, given the faux-documentary style). And then you actually cut to the Belchers watching it at home, commenting on the “real life” bugaboos that made it into the final product. There’s an appropriately layered take here, and the episode parcels the hints that this is playacting nicely, to where once you can easily see dummies and trick editing in play, you’re with the show, not surprised by it.
The zombie material works well. I like playing with the mythos to where zombies are vulnerable to mustard rather than headshots. The found footage concept lets there be fun interactions between Tina and Gene as the camera people. Louise’s song, while a little out there, was heartfelt and catchy. And the show changes its visual presentation to a largely first person perspective without missing a beat, and using it to make the horror feel more tense and claustrophobic, which is impressive.
I also appreciated the layers of Lousie’s situation. In-universe, she’s a fraud who pretends to be a big archer online, but can't even pull back the bowstrings when push comes to shove. If you stuck with the bottom layer of the story here, you’d still have a good story of Louise accepting the truth and finding her own way to be an archer, while accepting herself and embracing her capabilities. But adding the other layer of the real Louise struggling to pull back the bow, and choosing to tell that story through her character, makes it more meaningful, and speaks to the kids’ sensitivity and self-knowledge.
Overall, I love the creativity that abounds in this episode, and the break in the format to tell such a neat and layered riff on the genre is outstanding.