Linda: "Let's just say the yacht club didn't always do Hanukkah." (LOL)
I'm sad the season's over, although it's the first one I've watched all the way through so maybe I'll find a few I haven't seen before in earlier seasons.
Christmas Special's are supposed to be better than regular episodes, so I gave it an extra rating point...jk
Solid episode! Happy endings all around.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-02-16T22:39:34Z
[7.3/10] A fun holiday outing for Bob’s Burgers. The main story works nicely. Of course Bob assumes that his unexpected invitation to help cater a yacht club gathering will go poorly, because a.) he assumes good things don’t happen to him and b.) because he finds out he got the invite thanks to his mortal enemy, Jimmy Pesto.
But I like the positive twist here. Bob’s paranoid suspicions that Jimmy will pants him turn out to be misplaced. In fact, Jimmy is trying to get into this Yacht Club, and recommended Bob for the job not as a prank or out of the kindness of his heart, but from the self-centered yet complimentary position that he thought Bob’s food would impress the yacht folks and then he could take credit for inviting Bob.
It’s a great way to set up Jimmy paying Bob the ultimate compliment, even if he does it for selfish (albeit honest) reasons. Bob turning around and giving Jimmy credit through gritted teeth, as a yuletide good deed, is the right mix between sweet and funny. It didn’t have me rolling in the aisles, but I liked the setup and the payoff.
Louise’s Xmas story hits some familiar notes for her as well -- do a bad thing, feel bad about it, fix it with a good thing. But you know what? I’m a sucker for it. Her plotting with her siblings to get first dibs on the gifts from Santa’s yacht leads to some fun hijinks, and her late-breaking pang of conscience is still very wholesome. I especially like Teddy’s part of the story, where he showed faith in the kids to do the right thing and even pre-planned to reward them for it, thereby fulfilling his aims to be a good Santa.
The best part of this one, though, is the pure comic material. For one thing, I just love Teddy fretting over his role as Santa. Teddy’s just the best. For another, we get the most we’ve gotten of Gus the sailor guy in a while, and he’s a lot of fun between enjoying the craft beers and describing stealing from Santa as “the ultimate heist.” Tina’s enjoyable as always for being against the theft plan but being too meek to put up much resistance. And Linda remains an utter hoot, from her description of Bob as a “pruny loony” to her obsession with the Mayor (right down to hoping she gets to do a planned out podcast with him).
Overall, this one falls a little short of other yuletide Bob’s Burgers episodes, but there’s still plenty to like here.