Bob's Burgers: Wild Steal-ions (15x17)

Poor Tina! This was a really fun one.

Cons:

This so sort of random but is there... "discourse" about this show and how the Belchers used their children for unpaid labor? Like is it a little fucked up that they can't operate the restaurant without their three kids helping? I mean, I'm not actually mad at it or anything but it did occur to me that it's a little wild that these kids have to volunteer their time to the family business seemingly against their will. I think we think of that family business aspect when it comes to working on a farm or something but when it's a restaurant business it feels stranger to me, especially considering just how young they all are - Tina isn't even in high school!

Pros:

I did really love the joke where Bob and Linda debated having more kids so they could have some help running the restaurant. "Did they graduate? Are they in college? No... we can't afford that, right?" lol. I also liked Teddy roasting the restaurant by saying that things were starting to fall apart without the kids there to clean the menus and fill up the ketchups. Teddy is such a funny regular to have at the diner, he's so rude but you know he'd never ever consider going elsewhere.

The main plot involves Tina's precious book of "Horse-Torical Fiction" going missing! I love how this premise shakes out - I assumed it would be a thing where Tina was ashamed of her horny musings and the blackmailer would threaten to reveal it to the school. But instead, Tina is really proud of her work, and the threat is that it will be destroyed! Loved that subversion of expectations.

Louise and Gene get involved in the blackmailing situation, even though Tina asks them not to - I like that there seems to be a blend here of actually wanting to help their big sis out, and also just having way too much fun with shenanigans. Louise can't help but stick her nose in, no matter what! But in the end she redeems herself by sticking her hands in the fire to save Tina's book.

Our bad guy this week is someone who used to be like Tina, but has "grown up" in high school, put away her childish things, and is now resentful of Tina for having weird fun. I kind of love that this episode shied away from being wholesome, in that Tina didn't encourage Regan to embrace her weird love, but instead incorporated the death of Regan's cartoon character into her own creative work, as a form of petty revenge. Tina is not here to teach lessons and mend fences, and I love it.

Also, shout out in general to all the funny horse puns, I love Tina's mind, never change, girl.

8/10