Bob's Burgers: The Dead Bo-ats Society (15x19)

This was a super fun and inventive episode!

Cons:

I can't think of anything to complain about, honestly, I just want more of the vibes this episode was giving!

Pros:

Starting with the subplot briefly, we see Teddy taking care of butterflies in their chrysalises. He misses their hatching because he's in the bathroom, and then has a really hard time saying goodbye and letting them go. He eventually lets them fly free! This was just some good old fashioned Teddy goofiness. He gets weirdly invested in some bizarre thing, brings his personal life into the restaurant, ropes Bob and Linda into paying attention to it too. I liked that the drama/conflict of this subplot was focused entirely on Teddy's emotional turmoil. The butterflies were fine, nothing dramatic happened, but Teddy was Going Through It.

Then the main plot - the kids have this tradition of going on Saturday morning adventures, and Bob is annoyed because they always stretch their breaks into the afternoon and miss a big part of the day of work. He wants them to stay, because it's going to be busy at the restaurant now that it's cruise season. So, a bet is formed: if the kids leave today but are back late as they usually are, this will be their last roaming adventure! Bob and Linda are sure the kids will mess up and return late, so they agree to the bet, thinking to secure their free child labor in perpetuity going forward.

The kids end up in a junk yard, and then they get trapped by a guard dog, and many shenanigans ensue, all enhanced by the ticking clock - they could be risking their freedom if they don't get back by the deadline! There were a lot of hilarious moments in this plot, my favorite being this exchange between Louise and Gene: "The cabinets! The cabinets!" / "I know, they're so outdated! Oh, for hiding."

I think one of the reasons I really liked this plot for the kids was that it didn't feel like a Louise episode with the other two as sidekicks or a Tina episode, it felt like the three of them all had their roles to play. Gene was the MVP for me, he had so many good jokes. And Louise was of course the one pushing them to take more risks, while Tina was the one who came up with the risky plan that ended up getting them away from the dog. To Bob and Linda's chagrin, the kids run back to the restaurant just in time to win the bet, too!

I'll leave it there for now - this one was a lot of fun, it was a highlight for me of the season because it felt like a standard ep that gave everyone a chance to shine.

9/10