Recap / Bob's Burgers S11E2 "Worms Of In Rear-Ment"

"Itchy!"

"Butt worms, dad! That's what I'm being taught!"

—Louise

A night of attempted culture is interrupted when Gene brings home pinworms, which seem to be spreading fast among the family.

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Tropes of In-Rear-Ment:

• Ambiguous Situation: It's not clear by the end of the episode if Louise successfully managed to avoid getting pinworms from the rest of her family, though she takes the medicine anyway just in case.
• At the Opera Tonight: Linda planned to take the family to free admission night at the symphony, but Gene's pinworms derails that plan. The reason Linda is so set on this is because she feels guilty for not playing more classical music for the kids when they were younger and blames that for their poor grades.
• Bedsheet Ladder: Louise planned to trick Linda by tying some paper towels on the fire escape so she would think Louise escaped out the window. It doesn't work.
• Bottle Episode: Except for some flashbacks and Bob's trip to the pharmacy, the entire episode takes place in the Belcher's home and features only the Belchers, with not even Teddy appearing. It also appears to take place more or less in Real Time.
• Brain Bleach: Bob apparently sees some truly terrible things when he looks up pinworm cures online.
  Bob: Would anyone like to trade eyes with me?
• Clingy Costume: The dress Tina picks is too small for her, and ends up with her right arm stuck inside.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The melted Kuchi Kopi night light from "Flu-Oise" can be seen on Louise's shelf.
  • When Tina is looking in her wardrobe, her pink birthday dress from "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" and her purple dress from "Two for Tina" and "Mazel Tina" are among the clothes that can be seen.
  • Bob is served by the same weird drugstore clerk from "Poops!... I Didn't Do It Again" when he buys pinworm medicine and chewing gum.
• Disappointed in You: Each of the Belchers has this reaction upon learning the severity of Gene's pinworm infection, from how he got it by eating an incredibly foul tater tot off a bathroom floor to him mentioning he saw pinworms in his poop several days ago and didn't tell anyone. Though, to be fair, he initially thought that what he saw was rice. Bob actually grounds Gene for this.
• Disease-Prevention Aesop: Parodied. To stop the pinworm epidemic, Mr. Frond gave the school an oddly sexually-charged assembly demonstrating proper handwashing. The kids have been washing their hands thoroughly... but Gene got pinworms anyway because he ate a tater tot off the bathroom floor after washing his hands, and somehow didn't consider that hand-washing wouldn't be enough to prevent it.
• Everyone Has Standards: Peter Pescadero's visibly grossed out when he sees Gene eat that nasty tater tot without a second thought.
• Extreme Omnivore: Gene got pinworms because of his extreme eating habits, which culminated in him eating a disgusting tater tot that was left on the floor.
• Final Girl: Parodied. Little Louise is the last Belcher standing when the pinworms take over the family.
• Foreshadowing: Gene opens the episode by trying to invoke a Spaghetti Kiss, and Linda's reaction indicates she's done this with him before. Guess how the pinworms spread to Linda?
• Group Hug: The Belchers do one at the end, sans Louise (who is still paranoid about getting pinworms).
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Linda tapes oven mitts to Gene’s hands to keep him from scratching. When Gene asks if she can also tape the slotted spoon to his hand, Linda thinks that might look weird.
  • Linda spends the episode convinced bringing the kids to the symphony will show she's a good mom, when her actively downplaying the fact Gene and Tina most definitely have pinworms is only making that less true.
• Inconvenient Itch: Everyone but Louise ends up getting pinworms and gets an itchy butt. Linda tapes mittens on Gene and Tina's hands to stop them from scratching, but they just use a spaghetti server instead.
• Infection Scene: The flashback to Gene and Peter Pescadero in the bathroom shows how Gene most likely got pinworms. It's then followed up with a flashback to him high-fiving Tina right afterwards, and she realizes she also has pinworms.
• Innocent Innuendo: Mr. Frond's presentation on hand washing makes it look like the left and right hands are having a ménage a trois with a bar of soap. Made even weirder by the fact that the right hand claims the soap is its cousin.
  Gene: It was hot.
• It's All About Me: Linda's obsession with getting everyone to the symphony stems from the fact she wants to prove she's a good mom and get the kids to experience some culture in light of their bad grades.
  • The kids are also pretty much brats regarding their homemade hamster playground, refusing to move it even though it inconveniences their parents, they don't even have a hamster, thinking it was more vital to getting infected than their family business and outright screaming at Linda it wasn't going anywhere. They barely seem to register Linda is upset in the episode's climax, more concerned over their pointless playground being destroyed.
• Kids Prefer Boxes: After Linda accidentally destroys the kids' hamster slide, she offers to bring the cardboard boxes stored downstairs to build a whole hamster city.
• Kill It with Fire: Louise desperately tries to convince Linda that they have to burn everything Gene's touched to stop the pinworms from spreading, up to and including the entire building if need be.
• Naked People Are Funny: The flashback to Gene playing Bottomless Businessman after his shower.
• Noodle Incident: The drugstore clerk indicates that people have stuck gum in their rears to try and catch pinworms before, and warns a thoroughly-baffled Bob against doing the same.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: When Gene first scratches his butt, ominous music plays as the family looks on in complete horror. The voices are singing "Enterobius vermicularis," the scientific name for pinworms.
• The Pig-Pen: Gene, which causes pretty much the entire episode's plot.
  • Louise talks about Gene's lack of basic hygiene, mentioning the time they thought he had sunburn but was actually hotwing sauce on the back of his neck, which was there for three days. She also mentions it'd be easier to list the places Gene hasn't placed his bare butt.
  • And then there's how Gene got pinworms in the first place. While he was in the school bathroom, a tater tot fell out of his pocket onto the floor. It was then picked up by Peter Pescadero just as he was coming out of a stall. Gene, despite seeing the old tater tot had been on the bathroom floor and was picked up by Peter before Peter washed his hands, still ate it.
• Plague Episode: Gene contracts pinworms at school and all the other Belchers save Louise, who is deadly afraid of getting them, end up getting them as well (although it is suggested once that everyone but Gene's symptoms might be psychosomatic, as they only seem to feel the effects after they realize how the pinworms could've spread to them).
• Replacement Goldfish: Discussed; as part of her plan to escape the pinworms, Louise suggests moving out and finding both a new house and a new Gene. Bob seems like he's ready to agree.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • Louise grows more and more freaked out at being near her family as she realizes everyone else most likely got pinworms from Gene. Granted, she has a point.
  • Linda's obsession with everyone going to the symphony gradually unhinges her, regardless of the fact that they've all got pinworms (except Louise). She eventually ends up chasing Louise over it and destroying the hamster slide.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the other Belchers discuss getting a live hamster, Bob decides he'd rather put up with the symphony and leaves.
• Serious Business:
  • Louise is totally obsessed with the hamster slide she is building in the living room, striving to make it perfect. She becomes angry at Gene for touching it with his pinworm-infected hands.
  • Linda's borderline terrifying in her determination to get everyone to the symphony, regardless of the fact nearly everyone has pinworms.
  • Bob, usually a lenient and passive parent, grounds Gene for bringing a pinworm infection into their mouth, clearly angry at his son's latest stupid endeavour getting them sick.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode title is one to Terms of Endearment.
  • The Exterminator Van in the opening credits is for Earwig and the Angry Exterminators.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Linda grows increasingly desperate to get the family to the symphony despite it becoming clear that everyone except Louise has pinworms.
  • The kids, especially Louise, have grown fond of the "hamster slide" they have built in the living room (even though they don't own a hamster), and react angrily to any suggestion that it be moved or torn down.
  • When everyone else is mainly worried about pinworms being gross and afraid of whether they've caught them, Bob points out that they're running a restaurant which makes having pinworms among the staff an obvious health hazard to anyone eating there. Louise instantly yells at him to shut up and focus on more important things.
• Spaghetti Kiss: Gene invites anyone to eat from the same strand of spaghetti he's eating; also shown on the montage of things Linda had done to catch Gene's pinworms.
• Tempting Fate: Linda remarks that the Belchers will get to the symphony early and that nothing will stop them now. Cue the reveal that Gene caught pinworms.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Gene spreads pinworms to most of his family because he eats an unspeakably soiled tater tot, nor does he bother to mention it to anyone when he goes to the bathroom and sees what are clearly pinworms in his poop. Gene also directly gives the worms to each member who gets them: he gives Tina a high-five after not washing his hands in the bathroom, he wears Bob's shoes in the bathroom, and he's just his usual affectionate self with Linda.
  • Though the tater tot probably wasn't in the best condition to begin with, Peter Pescadero picking it up off the bathroom floor with his unwashed hands and handing it to Gene likely resulted in Gene getting pinworms from it.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Linda believes that she failed as a mother because of their bad grades and poor hygiene. The family ends the episode cheering her up by saying the kids turned out pretty good, because at least they're creative and Linda still loves them despite their shortcomings in academic achievements (which to be fair, Linda and Bob are also pretty bad at).
• You Are Grounded!: In a rare moment of parental discipline, Bob actually (but half unwillingly) punishes Gene with a grounding for bringing pinworms into the Belcher home. While it may seem like an overreaction, Gene admitted earlier he saw pinworms in his stool a few days prior and didn't tell anyone, and he knows they work at a restaurant (where pinworms would be a massive health hazard).

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Oh, I'm a bad bad mom
and it was my favorite job
and I'm gonna scratch my job right now.