“Bob’s Burgers” is off to a strong start for 10th season

Bob’s Burgers just entered its 10th season and somehow the charm and quirkiness of the show still hasn’t worn off. It’s so rare that I just focus on a singular episode of a show, rather than a season, so I wanted to focus on the Season 10 premiere episode “The Ring (But Not Scary.) ”

In this episode, Bob has remembered his and Linda’s anniversary for once and purchased a (very small) diamond ring and has hidden under the bed. Naturally, the Belcher kids find it and Gene slips on to his finger where it gets stuck.

Now, the episode could have easily been about the kids getting into more and more ridiculous antics while trying to slip the ring off. And I’d be fine with that. Instead, they end up losing the ring in a water park and need to go find it before Bob finds out.

It turns into a whole debacle, with the kids sneaking into the water park WITH Bob and Nat, the limo driver from “V For Valentine-detta.”

Nat is now my favorite character simply because of much of a ride-or-die person she is. Bunch of kids she met once call her to help them find their mother’s lost ring, and she not only gives them a ride but calls in a dive team as well. Everyone needs a friend like her.

The episode itself isn’t particularly strong. There isn’t a lot of the usual charm to it.But I do think it hits all the aspects that makes the show great: namely the relationships and family dynamics of the characters.

There’s Bob’s love for Linda, the kids who bicker with each other but are always willing to do help each other out and their acknowledgment of their parents’ care and love. Though Bob goes through a period of being (rightfully) angry with the kids, he realizes they’re trying to rectify their mistakes. (But they still get punished.)

And it shows that the world is, mostly, good. People try and help each other in the  Bob’s Burgers world. Even if it is kind of ridiculous.

It’s good. Linda spends most of the episode dealing with her very neurotic sister Gayle, who is probably my least favorite character. Aside from Jimmy Jr. 

What I like about the show, is that even though time doesn’t really pass, episodes still affect each other and it’s still like watching a year in the life of the Belcher family. Nearly every season has a few episodes or topics that get covered every year: Bob and Linda’s anniversary, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and there’s usually an episode with Bob bonding with each of his kids.

Though the characters don’t age they have evolved and changed. And not for the worse, which after 10 seasons is pretty impressive. 

It’s very fun and enjoyable to see how they choose to tackle these same ideas every season but keep the plots and ideas new and fresh. I do hope they do a Hanukkah episode at some point, Tammy is Jewish so there’s an opportunity there but the only reference has been her Bat Mitzvah.

(I could go into a whole post about why Bat Mitzvah episodes in kid’s shows always bug me. I haven’t seen one that doesn’t focus on entirely on getting invited to some outlandish over the top party, and very little if at all on the service the Bat Mitzvah girl leads.)

But as always, the show is extremely heartwarming. The family loves each other and aren’t mean or outwardly cruel, and we’re supposed to take the few moments when they aren’t cursing or hating each other to realize…that they really do love each other.

Sure, the characters are flawed, but they aren’t mean. I’m really glad that Bob’s Burgers is still going strong after 8 years. It’s hard to do that. Most family sitcoms by this point will have gone stale and annoying a long time ago, but they haven’t needed to resort to a red-headed cousin or new baby story line yet. 

Truly impressive.

And that’s the scoop.

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Score: 7/10

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Year of release: 2019

Length: 22 minutes

Creator: Loren Bouchard

Executive Producer/Developers: Loren Bouchard, Jim Dauterive

Voice Actors: H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Larry Murphy, John Roberts, Kristen Schaal

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