Bob's Burgers: To Catch a Beef (14x16)

Delightfully chaotic!

Cons:

I honestly can't think of anything on this one I would have wanted to change? I guess as a very, very small note, I'll say that Teddy mentions Mort sitting in his seat, and it made me realize that we don't really see Mort anymore as a character on this show? They should have him swing by the restaurant more often.

Pros:

One of my favorite setups for an episode of this show is when some sort of crazy shenanigan is happening and the whole family gets roped into it. The lines between kids and parents begin to blur, as the elder Belchers lose all their semblance of authority and they all have to work together as a unified team. That's kind of what happened here, with everyone getting worked up about this undercover cop business, and Bob growing more and more panicked while the kids have more and more fun with it. All adds to a great energy.

There's also something very funny when this show can marry low stakes with high stakes. The low stakes here are to get Sargent Bosco to make a decent burger, but the high stakes are to fool a dangerous criminal so as to avoid potentially serious retribution and even death. So something like Bosco asking "salt is a spice?" becomes this moment of not simply comedy because Bosco's an idiot, but real danger because his success in this moment is so important.

I also really liked the restraint in the way the character of Vincent was written. He was genuinely completely nice and normal seeming, he joked around with the kids, enjoyed Bob's burger, there was nothing in the performance or writing that even lightly hinted at anything sinister. It's only when Bosco walks in and reveals that this is Vincent, the criminal in question, that you realize the situation for what it is. That was fun, I feel like they could have spiraled off and had him saying creepy shit with double meanings or whatnot, but they didn't!

Also have to give a shout out to Teddy for being simultaneously such a devoted and loyal friend but also such a complainer and stickler for things just the way he wants them. He's willing to be pushed out the door with his burger and then willing to come back when called, but he also demands his special stool and hangs around for his food after the fact, unwilling to pick up on the hints that something bigger is going on.

That's all for this one! Now next week I think we get the actual start of season fifteen!

9/10