Bob's Burgers: Grand Pre-Pre-Pre-Opening (16x01)

This was so freakin' cute!

Cons: 

I honestly have no complaints!

Pros:

This felt so old-school Bob's Burgers in this really fun meta way because obviously the kids on this show are in this perpetual state of being the ages they are, but the show itself started in 2011, 14 years ago, and then here we get this flashback episode about Bob and Linda opening the restaurant 14 years ago... so fun!

I'll confess I don't really remember what the lore has been in the show up to this point, about the origins of the restaurant, so if we've heard some of this stuff before in bits and pieces, or if this contradicts anything, I'm unaware of it. The story is basically that Linda decides to use her savings to help open the restaurant, even though she'd been saving to buy a condo, and that right around the same time they start things going, Linda also finds out she's pregnant with Tina. So despite the huge risk and all the chaos of life changing so rapidly, they decide to go ahead with opening the restaurant at the same time they're growing their family! Linda ends up going into labor on the day of their first grand opening, starting the tradition of chaos always coming for the family when they try to get the restaurant going.

We are cutting back and forth to the present day, where the kids are writing an album about how this burger restaurant has ruined all of their lives, singing songs about how the idea of opening the restaurant was crazy and it started the family down a dark path. In the end, though, we see that Bob and Linda have succeeded with their dream, and Bob even makes the big step of raising the price to $6 for a burger instead of $5, to help continue to protect and grow his family's future.

This show has this really interesting relationship to hope and despair. The "gimmick" of the show is in some ways about this sad-sack man and his family, constantly broke and having to scramble to make ends meet, Bob in the back grumpily making burgers and limping on from day to day. But when you watch the show... all of that is true but not anywhere close to the full truth. Bob has an actual passion for his restaurant work, and the restaurant is actually a community watering hole where people meet and form connections with each other. It's really tough and money is constantly a source of stress, and yet the family has so much fun goofing off and being together inside and outside of the restaurant. It's a life, and I think the show does an admirable job of not leaning too hard on the cheesy side of things or too hard on the "life sucks" side. It's more... "life is hard and we have to laugh at it or we'll never make it". And I like that a lot!

We also get references to the other members of their community, like Teddy helping with the construction and then sticking around to eat burgers there a couple times even though he's "more of a burrito guy", and Mort experimenting with different ways to cover his bald head. Also, a younger Mr. Fischoeder deciding to rent the space to Bob even though it's a bad business decision, because Bob's mustache reminds him of his grandfather. Good to know he's always been a delightfully off-putting dude!

This was a strong season opener that felt nostalgic and special without going too overboard with the sentimentalism. I loved it!

 9/10