12x04 Driving Big Dummy

[8.5/10] This one worked on so many levels for me. Teddy and Bob are a pairing I almost always love. Teddy as the oddball and Bob as the straight man is the kind of dynamic the show uses a lot, and it works well here. The two of them going on a road trip where they have to spend hours together makes for a great comedy engine, especially with Bob being anxious to just complete his errand, and Teddy wanting to stop at every wide place in the road to talk to someone. There’s a natural comic conflict there which pays off in a lot of fun interactions.

But there's something deeper here too. Bob getting fed up and telling Teddy he wasn’t coming as his friend but rather as a “pity passenger” is so harsh. You get why Bob reached that point, as you can be both charmed by Teddy’s low-stakes silliness and feel for Bob at having to deal with. But at the same time, you recognize how guileless Teddy is, and you’ve seen how much he both values Bob’s friendship and how little else he has going in his life, so hearing Bob lash out at him like that is hard.

The episode lands someplace sweet though. Bob’s annoyed at Teddy for making small talk with everyone he meets, but realizes that despite fearing Teddy is a lonely man, Bob realizes that Teddy makes friends all over the place. Bob even recognizes his own inability to “like people” in the way that Teddy does, and in that, even finds something he envies in the guy he otherwise rode with due to pity and necessity. It’s a nice recognition of Teddy’s best qualities, and some strong self-awareness and perspective from Bob. Very well written.

The B-story is great too! The kids think of Linda as the fun, “loosey goosey” parent while Bob is the more straitlaced grouser. So when they have to run the restaurant without Bob, the kids think it’ll be a breeze. An unexpected rush of fun-loving aunts patronizing the restaurant, however, forces Linda to take command, and even try to incentivize the kids by giving them twenty seconds at the soft serve machine. There too, it’s a strong, simple conflict, with Linda needing the kids to be serious, at least a little bit, so as to handle the crowd, and the kids wanting to slack off as usual.

The turn comes, though, when Linda herself gets fed up with the slacking and takes matters into her own hands, vowing to cook, wait, and serve all on her own, and still take more orders than the kids combined, with the soft serve visit on the line. And much to her kids’ amazement, she does it, only to find a technicality to allow the kids to “win”.

I love that turn in the story. It shows maternal kindness for the kids, letting them get a reward for their hard work and forsaking personal glory despite Linda’s usual competitiveness. And it also gives the kids’ a newfound respect for their mom, showing how even if she’s not the more disciplined parent, when push comes to shove she’s a “wizard” in the restaurant, and capable of much more than they realized.

Linda and Teddy are some of my favorite characters on the show, and often the funniest in my book. But they’re also often the object of fun, with Bob or the kids poking gentle fun or pushing back on them in little ways. So having an episode like “Driving Big Dummy”, which manages to not only generate some great humor using the two of them, put highlights their best qualities and capabilities in a way Linda and Teddy don’t always get, makes this one a real delight, and a sign that the show’s still hitting home runs in its twelfth season.