[9.2/10] Love this one. The combination of a touching father/daughter reunion, some great Bob and Louise material, a nice homage to Lone Wolf and Cub, and plenty of other fun comedy on the margins makes for a superb capper to the show’s fifth season.
My favorite part is how much Bob and Louise have themselves wrapped up in these 1970s Japanese Samurai films and, by extension, the stars of those films. There’s something so sweet about how the both of them are so into the Hawk & Chick movies because they see the father/daughter artisans who fight monsters on the side as “basically us.” It’s especially sweet and adorable how excited they are to be dubbing the movies. You can tell how fun it is for them to project themselves into that world and into a heightened version of their own father/daughter relationship.
That’s what makes them each so interested in helping Kojima and Yuki reunite. It’s a way to spread one of their favorite film series to the masses and a way to vindicate their own parental relationship in a way that helps honor the actors who inspired them.
All the while, the show has lots of fun paying tribute to but also gently mocking those sorts of Samurai films and their American dubs. Just the way the episode captures the rhythms of those pictures and the stilted translations of what takes place has a fun element to it. The same goes for the fans of it like Dominic, and the hoops our heroes have to jump through to make the screening happen. And I was over the moon laughing about Linda trying to horn in on Tina’s part as the Mayor in a hilariously low-stakes bit of spotlight jealousy.
But the really soaring part of this one is how much stock both Bob and Louise put into reuniting Hawk & Chick, and their very different perspectives on it. Bob, as we’ve seen from past and future episodes of the show, had trouble with his own dad, so he’s sympathetic to Yuki’s frustrations with her pop. Louise, on the other hand, sees Yuki as near-villainous for having not spoken to her dad for thirty years, as it evinces a fear that when she grows up, she’ll grow apart from a dad whom she loves dearly, even if it’s not something she always vocalizes or expresses in a traditional way.
That’s what makes this one so sweet. Bob wants to support his little girl because it’s what he always does and because it’s in service of something that unites him. But he also assuages her fears and reassures her that they’ll always be in one another’s lives, no matter what happens. The fact that this lovely heart-to-heart takes place via the dialogue of junior samurai and seaweed monsters somehow makes it all the more hilarious and heartwarming.
The same goes for Kojima pleading for his daughter’s forgiveness and Yuki embracing him. It’s earned despite the brief introduction of the conflict, both because Kojima seems like such an adorable old man, but also because we understand the stakes and issue of their relationship through Bob and Louise. It’s just tremendously well done.
All-in-all, this is a sentimental favorite of mine, for how well it plays up two father-daughter relationships at once, how well it riffs on fun Samurai movie tropes, and how alternatively funny and heartstring-tugging it manages to be in the process.
[8.3/10] What a blast this one is. One of my favorite modes of Bob’s Burgers is episodes where Bob is basically the last sane man to the rest of the family’s antics. Him driving an hour away to try to get a runty Xmas tree because Linda went overboard in terms of getting trees too early is a great premise. The angry Candy Cane truck is both silly and scary in the proud Bob’s Burgers tradition. And the way Bob has to get by with Linda and the kids doing various nutso things along the way is great.
Plus, this has one of the all-time best insane B-stories. Teddy getting caught in the kids’ santa trap and flailing around has some of the funniest and greatest bits of animation the show would ever do. Him managing to crush himself with the fridge, comment on Gene’s drawing, and remark on the placement of bowls is funny as hell. A great Teddy outing for sure.
What I love most though is the little things in this one. Tina still believing in Santa at this age and Bob trying to cover for almost giving up the game was a very cute moment. Gene’s frantic efforts to request “Jingle in the Jungle” are a hoot, especially as an excuse for why they can’t use the cellphone. Louise’s strategy to get Santa is fantastic and true to form. And Linda’s Xmas enthusiasm, mixed with enthusiasm for dutch babies, is a delight.
Overall, this is a fantastic Xmas episode from the show, full of laughs, delights, and the utter insanity you expect from a Belcher family holiday.
9.8/10. What an amazing episode. Everyone is perfectly in character, and there's so many little comedic bombs where the episode just lights the fuse and then waits for them to go off. The twist that as tortured as Louise was by her mom forcing a slumber party on her in an attempt to socialize her daughter, she ended up finding something of a kindred spirit is perfect storytelling, and the fact that her "dull" classmate is not only as conniving as Louise, but finds a friend who doesn't care about the bed-wetting problem she tried so hard to avoid gives the episode just enough heart.
Plus Linda, who may very well be my favorite character, is in rare form. The way she envisions life as a television show, from the idea that Louise needs a slumber party, to the idea that Tina should be the blase older sister and Gene should be the pesky brother, is true to her character. The way she got sidetracked by a pair of raccoons, for whom she's concocted an elaborate backstory and power struggle is hilarious and delightful, made all the better by the way she's indoctrinated an enthusiastic Teddy and roped Bob into the event. She's just a barrel of laughs.
And everybody else brings the laughs and the great character-based comedy we've come to expect from the show. Bob's reluctant but unexpectedly invested response to everything is great, and though Tina, Gene, and Teddy are all smaller parts of the episode, they each get some quality laugh lines. Plus the slumber party attendees, and the manner in which they're given quirks and dispatched, is perfect, especially Bob and Linda's interactions with the germaphobe. Just a laugh-a-minute episode with storytelling that builds and builds and enough of an understated emotional kick at the end to give it all a touch of heft. Truly superb stuff.
