Recap / Bobs Burgers S 11 E 1 Dream A Little Bob Of Bob

"Am I tiny?"

"You can tell a lot about a person by how they keep their car."

—Tape

Bob goes on an epic quest to find a misplaced lockbox key; Tina attempts to learn a hand-slapping song that everyone can do — but her.

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Trope a Little Bob of Bob:

• Animate Inanimate Object: Bob's companions in his dream are a talking rubber band squeezy ball and motivational tape cassette.
• Bittersweet Ending: Bob never finds the lockbox key, but he's okay with it, because he's come to accept that there are things that he'll never be good at.
• *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Bob's back seizes up while looking for the key in his car, so he lies down in the seat for a moment and falls asleep.
• Cringe Comedy: Tina's ongoing inability to master the hand slapping routine. Not even Linda can muster a defense for her.
  Teddy: This is ruining my memories of childhood.
  Linda: You're making Mommy sad, Tina.
• Cue O'Clock: Mr. Fischoeder announces himself by saying that it's "half past rent o'clock."
• Dream Episode: Most of the A-plot is Bob dreaming that he's five inches tall looking around for the safe key inside his car.
• Funny Background Event:
  • After waking up from his dream, he picks up Squeezy Ball and Tape and kisses them, while a woman passing by in the background watches and looks concerned.
  • Squeezy and Tape can be seen dancing around in the background of the credits.
• The Ghost: Bob mentions that Hugo walked by while he was looking for his keychain in the car, but Hugo himself doesn't actually appear throughout the episode.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Tina has this when she finally gets the hang of the hand slapping routine. She winds up knocking over some things on the counter during her celebration.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: In his dream, Bob is only a few inches tall and trapped inside his glove compartment.
• Jury Duty: While looking for the lockbox key, Bob finds discarded jury duty summons.
  Bob: I wish I knew you were there since I'm a fugitive now, I guess.
• Macro Zone: In Bob's dream, his tiny size means the interior of his car becomes a cavernous expanse he must explore in order to find his key.
• Or Was It a Dream?: Averted. Bob's dream ends when he reaches for the key, and as he wakes up, he thinks he actually has the key in his hand. Then he opens it and nothing is inside, and Bob concedes that it wouldn't have made sense if he did have the key.
• Overly Long Gag:
  • The various hand-slapping routines are pretty lengthy. Special mention to Teddy's version, which is so long that Louise tries to cut him off.
    Teddy: A-one-and-a-one and a-one-and-a-two and a-one-and-a-three and a-one-and-a-four...
  • Tina asking Louise to slow down while teaching her the slapping routine, and then asking her to slow it down again... and again... and again...
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is one to the classic song "Dream a Little Dream of Me".
  • The Store Next Door is "Bend It Like Bedpan: Medical Supplies".
  • Dream Bob asks if he's a superhero now that he's been shrunk, a reference to Ant-Man.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Mr. Fischoeder's version of the hand-slapping routine is fairly tame at first if somewhat adult (due to references to alcohol)... and then the final line goes as follows:
  Fischoeder: How many people died in the fire?
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Who wants a hug that's not a pity hug?"

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Look what Tina can do with her hands!
Look what Tina can do with her hands!
Look what Tina can do with her hands!