Line #55 Headscratchers/BobsBurgers


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3	* Okay. The [[PrecisionFStrike FUCK?]] Their restaurant has just been robbed and Linda cares more about her reviews? On that note, the robber is actually CAUGHT and ''she's'' put out cause now he can't star in her show? So Bob has to make it up to ''her''?
4	** {{Rule Of Funny}}?
5	** CharacterizationMarchesOn, I reckon. This was a pretty early episode.
6	*** Actually, this may be hard to believe but, to answer the first portion of the question, if a business has been robbed, it could affect the number of customers and how well the business stays afloat. Case in point would be that some businesses have either closed or moved after a robbery.
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8	* How is Tabitha Johansson (a.k.a "Oil Spill" Girl) a parody/tribute/{{Take That}} to Tori Amos?
9	** The way she stands up and leans into her piano as she plays it, and the breathy way she sings. You have to be a Tori Amos fan to get it.
10	** The song Oil Spill is also a straight parody of "Icicle" which is a Tori Amos song, clearly with overt sexual overtones, see for yourself: http://bit.ly/28W3iih
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12	* Why do the kids call Jimmy Jr. Jimmy Jr? They aren't on a first-name basis with his dad.
13	** Because a lot of times kids who share another family member's name are referred to something different than that family member at home, and they get used to it. It's entirely possible Jimmy Jr. always goes by Jimmy Jr.
14	*** Further proof of this is given in "Father of the Bob", namely Bob himself. Prior to distancing himself from his father, Bob was always called Bob Jr., Junior, or Little Bob, never just "Bob". It's entirely possible that should Jimmy Jr. ever split from his father in the future (which seems likely given their poor relationship), he'll start going just by "James" or "Jimmy".
15	** Any suffix attached to a person's name (Jr., III, IV, etc.) is often listed on birth certificates, so this is probably the case for Jimmy Jr. as well. This would also mean that whatever Wagstaff uses to keep track of their students lists his full name as "Jimmy Pesto Jr." (well, it'd actually be "James Poplopovich Jr." given what we know about the family, but Jimmy Pesto Sr. probably got his surname legally changed or at least put "Pesto" on his kids' birth certificates). Thus, whenever attendance is taken, teachers would read his name as Jimmy Jr.--so the students took to calling him Jimmy Jr. or variations thereof because that's what the teachers called him. And because Jimmy Jr. has almost never gone by anything else (even at home), he never bothers to tell them to just call him "Jimmy".
16	** In a Doylist sense, there is also the practical element of referring to Jimmy Jr in a way that distinguishes him from his same-named father for ease of reference.
17	** Jimmy Pesto is also fairly well-known throughout the town, so his son is automatically associated with him rather than being his own person.
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19	* I just noticed something... Why aren't the characters drawn with teeth... but the zombies in Tina's dreams are?
20	** Maybe to make the zombies look [[UncannyValley creepier]] [[BodyHorror and more mutilated?]]
21	** You don't see the characters teeth because their lips are in the way. On corpses, the lips are pulled back due to dehydration and decay, exposing their teeth.
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23	* Gene being in middle school is already a stretch but Louise? Or is it an elementary school that goes up to grade 7?
24	** It's a K-8 school--Tina is stated to be in 8th, Gene in 6th[[note]]which, even ignoring the K-8 answer, isn't a stretch--some areas group 6th grade with middle school[[/note]], and Louise in 4th. Public K-8 schools are uncommon compared to elementary/middle schools, but they exist. It's also worth noting that Wagstaff doesn't go by "Wagstaff Middle School" or "Wagstaff Elementary School", just "Wagstaff School".
25	** Uh last I checked, both Gene and Louise are eleven and nine, an age where, in some cases, children might be attending middle school or so I think from experience, as I've attended middle school when I was ten, a year older than Louise and I've had a few friends who was nine and eleven when they've attended. It's kinda regional thing.
26	** It's pretty clearly not a middle school. A lot of kids go to the same school from first to eighth grade.
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28	* The deformities on Mr. Goiter, Lady Big Nose and Henry Human Feet are pretty obvious, but what exactly was unusual about Mr. Down There Hair?
29	** Presumably, that horse had some weird production flaw that moved his tail to his crotch, making it look like he had long pubic hair.
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31	* Bob's clearly a great cook, but terrible everything else. Why doesn't he become a cook in another restaurant? He doesn't look an especially enterprising type, for whom being his own man is an end goal.
32	** The main appeal of cooking for Bob is getting to invent his own burgers, something he wouldn't get to do as just an employee--hell, he left his dad's diner over it. Being his own man may not be something he strives for, but the creative freedom that comes with it ''is''.
33	** In one episode Bob's wealthy friend invests in the restaurant only for Bob to chase him away when his creative vision becomes compromised. Expression and independence are more important to Bob than success.
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35	* Tina and Gene even thinking of voting for Millie in "The Millie-Churian Candidate" makes no sense! They also were trapped in the fort during "Fort Night", and thus know full well that Millie is certifiably nuts. It can be somewhat hand-waved in the case of the Pesto twins, who were also there and also stated to be voting for Millie but are also TooDumbToLive most of the time, and Daryl, the other victim of Millie's fort prank, doesn't show up in this episode. But Tina and Gene are usually at least a bit smarter than that!
36	** This might be more on a case of Millie being so similar to Louise, as they do tend to go along with what she does, so it's not that farfetched.
37	** If the Belcher kids, kids that aren't exactly the brightest lamps in the store, can notice that Millie is clearly not mentally well, then every kid and faculty member at that school must be an idiot if they don't notice it themselves.
38	*** Millie is a textbook BitchInSheepsClothing. Only the Belcher kids, Pesto twins, and Darryl were around to witness Millie's true self unfold, and otherwise Millie seems just like every other Wagstaff student (the usual brand of crazy). Henry also takes notice of Millie's insanity, but keeps quiet because it's part of his plan to get her disqualified. The twins, as stated before, are TooDumbToLive, and Darryl is a no-show during the election. While Tina and Gene considering supporting Millie is baffling, it's clear that up until she tried to strangle Abby she'd kept the worst of her behaviors under wraps from everyone.
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40	* How does Bob not know that turkey burgers exist when he specializes in burgers?
41	** I think the joke is that Bob claims turkey burgers don't exist because he believes a burger needs to be beef to be a burger. It's an "IHaveNoSon" kind of statement.
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43	* How is Bob in such terrible shape? He works on his feet, isn't noted to have a terrible diet, and doesn't seem to overindulge. People can totally be overweight in that situation, but he's usually floored by a little exertion or a mild injury.
44	** I think that's because of those things, however, the other bit to that would be that we haven't really seen him exercise.
45	** He appears to have several health problems that have little to do with diet or exercise. There's also the fact that he has no time or money for self-care. His occasional back problems could likely be fixed with regular chiropractor appointments.
46	** Considering Big Bob's own large figure, it's entirely possible that being plus-sized just runs in the family (it ''is'' proven that weight can be influenced by genetics, though how much varies from person to person). As a bonus, assuming the weight ''is'' genetic this could have been passed down to Gene in some way (while Gene's eating habits clearly contribute to his hefty shape, there could always be another hidden factor at play).
47	** He works on his feet in a small burger restaurant, it's not like he's walking huge distances and carrying heavy objects on a daily basis; while he's more active than many, he probably doesn't burn ''that'' many calories either. It's also a semi-failing burger restaurant which doesn't bring in much money, meaning there's not a lot to spend on high-quality, healthy food; poverty is often considered a key factor in weight issues (when you're poor, you tend to eat junk simply because it's cheaper), so while they might not eat terribly they probably don't eat great either. And he spends most of his time working, so doesn't really have a lot of time that he spends on exercise. It's entirely plausible that Bob would not be in the best of shape.
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49	* So if Bob is frequently visited by Jimmy Pesto coming into/around his restaurant to harass and annoy him on a regular basis and Hugo harasses him every time he does an inspection of the restaurant, why hasn't Bob ever secretly set up a tape recorder/Gene's keyboard (which has a sound recorder built into it)/the voice recorder their cell phone almost certainly has (despite being a really cheap, basic model) to record these obvious instances of harassment? Keeping in mind that Pesto is not a paying customer with no intention to order any food and Hugo is straight-up abusing his power as a health inspector. Why doesn't Bob ever do anything about it? Hell, in "Tina-saurus Wrecks," he uses Gene's keyboard to record the bragging of a crooked insurance agent who was trying to extort Bob into committing insurance fraud for him. If he has used this method to stop a harasser before, there is absolutely no excuse to never do that again. He could have gotten Jimmy to back off and leave him alone (or even sue for harassment) and could have gotten the drunk-with-power Hugo fired. Certainly would have solved a lot of problems.
50	** May just be a character flaw of Bob's. He has a tendency to not really be the one who wants to further complicate the situation (when he does, it's usually out of anger of others telling him what he can and can't do, and he usually just gets dragged along with his family's schemes) even if it could potentially benefit him, and he may simply consider doing these things a hassle, or the kind of zany nonsense the rest of the family would get up to. Note that in the insurance agent incident, it was TINA who recorded him, without Bob's planning -- he was just excited they had proof when he found out. It'd definitely HELP a lot, but Bob seems to prefer keeping things simple, and putting up with annoyances is apparently simpler than long-winded harassment suits to him.
51	** Suing for any reason typically costs money. Bob's accountant makes it very clear he does not have a lot of that.
52	** Jimmy's drop-ins probably don't constitute harassment, just a mild annoyance. Bob could ban him from the restaurant, but that might start one of their peeing races, and that's a lot of risk. As it is Jimmy usually only stays long enough to exchange insults. As for Hugo, I wondered for a long time why Linda didn't call his supervisor and tell him that Hugo was her ex-fiancee and was punishing her family for her breaking up with him because that is especially skeevy. But Nude Beach answered that one: getting rid of Hugo could likely lead to getting someone much worse, i.e. Tommy Jaronda.
53	*** Despite the constant harassment and rivalry, Bob and Jimmy have something that sort of borders on friendship. If you squint.
54	** Bob's generally quite conflict adverse. He doesn't like these people, but he's also generally not the one to escalate things if he doesn't have to.
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56	* So something has been bugging me after watching the older episodes, but how come Linda, who is keen for bed and breakfast's in her house, dinner theater's, and any other weird quirk, was against having a cow in her own house?
57	** Partially explained by EarlyInstallmentWeirdness; the characterizations in the first season weren't concrete. The other explanation is that Linda likes attention (potential praise from houseguests on her hostess skills), excitement, and the chance to perform (the dinner theatre). Having a cow in their apartment is just a messy inconvenience. That, and its ass was in her face.
58	** Because it's a ''cow''. In a small apartment. B&Bs and dinner theatre are not exactly good ideas in their circumstances, either, but they can potentially be fun / rewarding, and if nothing else at least there's not a huge farm animal pooping and peeing everywhere.
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60	* So regarding Louise, with a couple of examples from the show (being incredible jealous of Tina's skills in go-karting, wanting revenge against a food truck driver who lightly chided her for riding a tricycle at nine, always wanting to be in the right and refusing to admit when she's wrong, ignoring Rudy's pleas to have puppet show on his ''own'' birthday, and refusing to tell her parents that a teenage boy stole her bunny ears), could she have a superiority complex, or is it that she wants to act tough and not show weakness?
61	** The episodes seem to imply both.
62	*** Underneath it, while she tends to be gung-ho, Louise is just as conflict-avoidant as Bob is. She puts on a front, much of the time we see her.
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64	* In “The Fresh Princ-ipal,” when Bob had the yips, why didn’t Linda just cook for the lunch rush instead of them waiting for Bob to break through his mental block? She might not be as skilled as Bob, but she’s been shown holding down the restaurant in his absence on other occasions.
65	** Bob knows the recipes, and, in the times that she does hold the fort, the restaurant isn't as busy.
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67	* Why does Frond seem to be the one running the school? Seems to me the absentee principal should actually do some work and stop letting the guidance counselor (someone who clearly shouldn't be put in any kind of power to begin with) act like he's in charge.
68	** It's likely everyone at Wagstaff is either incompetent, [[ApatheticTeacher just doesn't care]], or both. The fact that Mr. Frond hasn't been fired yet despite openly admitting that he's not even qualified to do his job in that state points to school faculty being either too dumb to notice or too lazy to give a crap. Frond insisting on running the school himself would just incentivize them to keep him around; they probably figure that letting Frond do whatever he wants is less work for everyone else.
69	** The school could be hella underfunded for all we know and underfunded schools don't attract the best staff members. That said, Frond probably isn't "running" the school, he's just one of the staff members we see the most.
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71	* In the first episode, Hugo seems to be meeting the Belchers for the first time (and he openly admits he hasn't seen Linda since she dumped him). Yet not only is he implied to have been a health inspector for a while, Bob's restaurant has been open for what seems to be 15 years (give or take) before their meeting[[note]]No exact date is given, but the restaurant was open by the time he and Linda met in their late 20's/early 30's, and he's in his mid-40's in the present day[[/note]]. And yet Hugo not only hasn't been to Bob's Burgers ''once'' before the events of "Human Flesh", but he also hasn't even ''heard'' of where Linda ended up before then?
72	** He may have been working as a health inspector for awhile, but it may have been in another location and hence, nowhere near the restaurant. That would account for not meeting the family until that point. Also, if it hadn't been for Louise (who started the rumour in the first place),there probably wouldn't have been reason for him to show up at all.
73	*** While Hugo might not have worked there, "The Deepening" confirms he lives in that area of town. As bad as business can be for Bob's Burgers, it's still amazing that not ''once'' did Hugo pass by the restaurant, or even by Linda while just going about business in town.
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75	* Is there any reason Mr. Fischoeder's plan in "An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal" required anyone besides Linda? His description of Shelby only states her lovers were ''married'', not ''parents''. Having Bob and the kids involved only means there's a greater chance that something goes wrong because there's more roles that need to be done right. Also, if he ''had'' to have Bob as the cook, maybe he should've taken a few precautions so that Bob didn't rather understandably get jealous that, y'know, his wife is being flirted with by another man?
76	** Well, some married couples are parents, so, odds are, married couples with kids aren't off her menu. She does respect herself enough to ''be'' the other woman, after all.
77	*** While of course she'd be willing to pursue a married parent, the question is why Mr. Fischoeder didn't just pretend to be part of a childless marriage. Without three extra actors involved, there's less that could go wrong.
78	** He really wanted to play it up and it seems like Shelby finds the idea of breaking up families to be even more attractive.
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80	* Are the songs that the family sing diegetic music? What I mean by this is that. When the family sings a song, Are they singing it out loud, or just to themselves. I'm not talking about things like "Electric love" where that was a performance.
81	** The answer to this varies. Sometimes (like Bob's cucumber ballad in "Tell Me Dumb Thing Good") it's just in their heads (in the above example, Louise notes that Bob was zoning out and not listening to what his family was saying). Sometimes they sing out loud, where other characters can and often do make note of it (like "Alone" from "Roller? I Hardly Knew Her!", where Jocelyn overhears Gene singing and reacts with confusion). Songs that involve multiple characters (such as "Nice Things Are Nice" and "Bad Things Are Bad" from the Season 4 finale) tend to be out loud, whereas songs that incorporate an ImagineSpot or fantastical elements (like "Nothing Makes Me Happier" in "Roamin' Bob-iday" or every non-Boyz 4 Now song in the Season 9 premiere) seem to mostly be based in the singer's head, but this isn't always consistent, and some cases are definitely more ambiguous (like "Bad Stuff Happens in the Bathroom").
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83	* Do you think we'll see "Billy Banda" again. And why did he have a briefcase filled with walnuts.
84	** If memory serves, he was more like a one-off character.
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86	* Why do the Belchers keep going to Dr. Yap when they know he's a complete psychopath?
87	** Because he's the only (or at least cheapest) dentist in their insurance network.
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Context Headscratchers / BobsBurgers