Bob's Burgers: Running Down a Gene (14x04)

Cute episode! I love Tina and Louise getting some sister bonding time in the subplot.

Cons:

Still banging that drum and hoping we'll get a school episode soon. At least we got the library in this one! Also, and I don't mean to harp on things that this episode isn't, instead of appreciating what it is, but... why no Halloween episode? This came out on October 29th!

Pros:

Gene's music aspirations are always so fun to see, I love that he's a blend of genuine talent with silly little kid explorations. The support his family shows him is always touching to me. That's a general theme with this show, that Bob might be exasperated or overwhelmed by the antics of his children, but he never stifles their dreams, either.

Louise and Tina's dream this episode? To catch an annoying cricket that has been chirping and keeping Linda and Bob awake. They set messy traps all over the house and try to lure the insect with an enticing lady companion, all for the promise of $10 (split between them) for their success. This plot thread serves to create another night-time based story to accompany Gene's lucid dream attempts, so we get the whole family up in the middle of the night due to various shenanigans.

The main plot stays focused on Gene. I really loved the way his journey through the dreaming happened. He failed at first, but eventually actually did succeed to getting back to the piano and writing the perfect song he'd originally dreamed about. But then it turns out the song is no good. He then writes a song about the experience of striving for something without being able to reach it, and that becomes the song he's really proud of. But one last narrative twist: he decides not to submit it to the contest, because it's actually too good for such a thing!

I love Gene's confidence, I love his perseverance, I love that he's such a weirdo and he doesn't even care. When I think about the characters in this show I think I often rank Gene below his sisters and parents in terms of who I most like to spend time with, but this episode was a reminder that he's also pretty dang cool!

I'll stop there. I feel like my reviews of this show always come down to, "aww, that was cute, I liked it", and to be honest, that's exactly what I'm always looking for from Bob's Burgers.

8/10