10x01 The Ring (But Not Scary)

[9.3/10] What I love about this episode is the stakes. It’s Bob’s Burgers, so unlike a Marvel movie, the stakes are never truly that high, but they feel big because of the emotional contingent of it all.

A $395 ring is not, in and of itself, a huge deal (though, you know, still a pretty significant one). But it’s a huge deal for Bob, not only because of how far outside the Belchers’ means it is, but also because it represents a grand gesture to Linda, something he couldn’t afford when they were just starting out and all he could offer was a “very romantic” high five. And losing it has stakes because it represents a violation of the kids’ relationship with their dad, something terrible that they can’t just undo or that can be chalked up to the usual Belcher kid mischievousness. The loss of and search for the ring has incredible stakes, not for the ring itself, but for what it represents for each member of the Belcher family.

But beyond all that highfalutin stuff, it’s also just a damn funny episode! Linda chasing Gail around trying to treat her pink-eye is an amusing sort of physical comedy, especially when Gail starts yelling “murder!” in the wine shop. The kids’ typical repartee about a “a belt on a sausage” and Tina trying to play it cool, or coming up with insane schemes to fix the problem is all just aces. And I was particularly enthused about the return of Nat the limo driver, whose kind of bizarre, but very interesting life, and whose helpful demeanor, are both great additions to this episode. There’s a lot major things happening here, but the show keeps it all funny.

The show also builds things up nicely. The initial effort to hide the ring from Linda, to the plan to retrieve it before anyone notices, to Bob being involved has a nice sense of escalation. And the final beat, with Linda just being happy for the life they’ve built, is some lovely, Up-esque bit of heart to go out on.

Overall, this is a hell of a way to kick off the show’s tenth season, in an episode centered on something literally very small, but whose significance ends up being both massive and miniscule all at once.