Recap / Bob's Burgers S5E20 "Hawk & Chick"

Bob: Father-daughter samurai team played by an actual father and daughter. It's like they based it on us.
Louise: I know. We could sue.
Bob: We won't, because we love these movies. But yeah, that's us.

Bob and Louise meet their hero, retired actor Shinji Kojima, and enlist the rest of the Belchers to reunite him with his estranged daughter Yuki. However, the plan meets some resistance from Yuki herself, leaving Louise to re-examine the fractured bond between father and daughter... and wonder if she and Bob are doomed to follow that same path.

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Tropes:

• Acting Unnatural: Bob has to tell the group of Hawk & Chick fans gathered for the secret screening to act like they're not a line. Cue the crowd staring at the sky, checking their phones, whistling, or adjusting their shoelaces (with Bob claiming there's too many people tying their shoes).
• Affectionate Parody: The Hawk and Chick series seems to be this to Lone Wolf and Cub, given its name and the focus on a traveling Parent-Child Team of samurai.
• All Part of the Show: Zigzagged. Most of the audience for the film festival are Hawk and Chick fans, meaning they quickly notice that Bob and Louise's dialogue (which they changed to grab Yuki's attention and keep her from leaving) aren't supposed to be part of the film. Two of them chalk it up to poor acting, but after Bob reassures Louise that they won't separate in the future, a third audience member is seen assuming it's just part of the complexity of foreign films. However, Bob's talk to Louise and Koji's reunion with Yuki are both heartwarming enough for them to forget all of this and break out in applause.
• Answer Cut:
  • Tina asks how they advertise a secret film screening. Cut to Gene and Tina (in traditional samurai haircuts) very unsubtly passing out flyers advertising the screening.
  • Bob wonders why the tape player they're using to dub the movie to English is low on batteries before the end of the movie even though they just replaced them earlier. Flashback to Gene rewinding and fast-forwarding the player repeatedly.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: This episode reveals that one of Louise's biggest fears is growing apart from Bob in the future.
• Badass Boast: When Linda asks why Bob and Louise are taking so long to get back, Tina (in the middle of playing a game with Gene) responds with the following:
  Tina: Maybe they're afraid to be around me. 'Cause I'm on fire.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Tina doesn't just roll over and let Linda voice the mayor, she actually stands up for herself and snaps back when Linda tries to steal her lines.
• Botanical Abomination: The Seaweed Monster.
• Broken Pedestal: Louise initially looks up to Hawk and Chick, seeing them as representative of her bond with Bob. When she learns that the two have split, however, she goes from wanting her and Bob to be like them to wanting her and Bob to be anything but. Downplayed, however, as this doesn't seem to affect her view of the movies, and her view of the duo improves after their reunion.
  • This trope especially hits Louise in regards to Yuki. While she's still friendly with Koji even after learning about the split, she gets borderline hostile in regards to Yuki (to the point that Bob has to rein her in). Even throughout the rest of the episode, it's clear that Louise blames Yuki for the split happening in the first place.
• Broomstick Quarterstaff: Koji wields a mop when he pretends he's about to attack Bob and Louise after they followed him to his hotel room.
• Casting Gag: In-universe; father-daughter duo Bob and Louise play the father-daughter duo Hawk and Chick when they dub the film.
• Celebrity Edition: Discussed; while watching Koji eat at Bob's Burgers, Tina remarks on how he chews his food, and Gene refers to it as "Celebrity Chewing".
  Gene: I'd watch that show.
• Children Are Innocent: Played for all the drama it's worth—as a nine year-old kid, Louise can't comprehend the complexities of adult relationships, meaning she genuinely doesn't understand why Yuki doesn't want to reunite with her father.
• Commonality Connection: Bob sympathizes with Yuki's side of the situation because he personally knows how stressful working with one's father can be. Louise, being Louise, has trouble seeing things the same way.
• Companion Cube: Bob opens the episode talking with a jicama from the farmer's market. Louise notes that this is why she's the only one willing to go shopping with him (probably because she does the exact same thing with other objects).
• Continuity Nod:
  • This is not the first episode to show Bob and Louise bonding over watching TV together.
  • When Gene and Tina slide saltshakers, Gene alludes to Tina's poor math skills.
  • When Bob sympathizes with Yuki regarding her fallout with Koji, he briefly alludes to his poor relationship with his own father.
  • Two of the women seen in the audience at the end were previously seen at Lolla-Pa-Foods-A.
• Cool Old Guy: Koji is this to Bob and Louise. He's The Gadfly, a fairly upbeat guy (well, as upbeat as one can be when looking for an estranged daughter), and he immediately fits in with the Belchers' antics.
• Cult Classic: In-universe; Hawk and Chick is a fairly obscure foreign series from the 70's, but it has enough fans within the town alone to fill a small theater, including Bob and Louise.
• Cynic–Idealist Duo: Bob is unsure about the reunion working from the start, while Louise is confident it'll go perfectly. When things start to go completely wrong, Louise's emotions go completely haywire because she can't imagine why Yuki wouldn't want to reunite with her father.
• Daddy's Girl: Louise is so terrified of growing apart from Bob as she gets older that it drives every single one of her actions throughout the episode.
• Deconstruction: Whereas most sitcoms would proceed with the Hawk and Chick festival without any consideration for the family's usual schedule (i.e. work or school), the Belchers realize (albeit much too late) that they still have to worry about that stuff. By the time the plan finally works, it's past midnight on a school night... and Gene has a big test the next day that's worth half his grade.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: The Seaweed Monster rather gratuitously blows up after being fatally stabbed by Hawk and Chick. Bob lampshades how sudden and unexpected it is.
  Bob (as the monster): I'm not sure why I exploded. I... I'm dead, I'm gone.
• Department of Redundancy Department: One of the movies playing at Top Hat Cinemas is My Life as a Person. Not any specific kind of person, just... a person.
• Description Cut: After getting her anger at Yuki's current occupation out of her system, Louise declares that it's time to get Yuki to "say yes to the fest". The first word out of Yuki's mouth is a firm no.
• Despair Event Horizon: Louise crosses it when it seems like Koji and Yuki won't reunite after all, worrying that she's doomed to repeat their mistakes.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Played for Laughs; when Bob and Louise follow Koji to his hotel room, they realize they don't actually have a plan for when they actually meet him. By the time they decide to come up with one (get him to autograph Bob's jicama), Koji rather abruptly introduces himself.
  • When planning to use the local movie theater to host their own Hawk and Chick film festival, Bob and Louise realize they need a film print of the movie to play in the theater and they were planning on using their VHS tapes that they record from their TV, which includes commercials and which he was thinking of just fast-forwarding through. After saying it out loud, Bob realizes how bad an idea it is.
  • One person in line for the film festival hails a taxi to act natural... and quickly realizes he has to actually get into the taxi. Bob tells him to just circle the block so he gets back in time.
• Disappeared Dad: A not-insignificant theme of the episode.
  • Koji would've rather had it differently, but after his divorce he lost custody of Yuki and hasn't seen her for thirty years—during which Yuki's opinion of him has gone down the toilet, to the point that she wants him to stay disappeared.
  • Bob defies it, telling Louise that so long as she wants him in her life he'll be there for her.
• Distant Sequel: Discussed; Louise believes that post-reunion, Koji and Yuki will make another Hawk and Chick movie and the Belchers will be invited to the premiere in Japan. Considering the previous film in the series was thirty years ago, any sequel would very much count for this trope.
• Double-Meaning Title: The episode title is a triple-whammy, referring alternately to the titular film series, the Parent-Child Team starring in said series, as well as Bob and Louise (whose own parent-child relationship is a major focus of the episode).
• Dropping the Bombshell: The following line from Louise makes Bob reassess why she's been so persistent on reuniting Koji and Yuki:
  Louise: But... but... how could a father and daughter not talk for thirty freaking years?
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Although the plan goes haywire, Koji and Yuki reunite after thirty years, and Bob and Louise's already-close relationship appears to have been strengthened even more.
• Faux Horrific: The Belchers are all surprised to learn that Yuki is now an accountant, but Louise is mortified.
• The Fixer: Dominic, an employee at Top Hat Cinemas, provides the Belchers the print of a Hawk and Chick film as well as a venue to screen the film at.
• Foil: Bob and Louise serve as this to Koji and Yuki. The latter pair seems to have been a happy father-daughter duo (being a close enough duo to be cast in 14 movies together), but in truth they were fairly fractured and later separated as adults. The former pair seems to be vitriolic on the surface, but they have a deep respect for each other, are terrified of growing apart, and have probably the closest parent-child bond in the series. The episode actually weaponizes this, by having their similarities and differences provide the backdrop for Louise's motives.
• Foreshadowing: In a flashback at the start of the episode, Bob and Louise comment on how similar the titular duo are to them. This turns out to be Louise's driving motivation for the reunion—after learning how the pair split, she's terrified of her and Bob's relationship turning out too similar to them.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: As seen on a sign that's on-screen for barely two seconds, the name of Yuki's accounting firm is the Deduction Junction.
• From a Single Cell: The Seaweed Monster can regenerate even if most of its body (including its head) has been destroyed, so long as at least a small part of it remains intact.
• The Gadfly: After realizing that he's being followed, Koji suddenly turns around wielding a mop to try and put a scare into Bob and Louise.
• The Ghost: Despite her divorce from Koji being a major cause of the split between Koji and Yuki, Koji's ex-wife/Yuki's mother is never seen on-screen. Considering how old Koji is, it's entirely possible she's dead.
• Gilligan Cut: Bob tells Louise they can't stalk Koji by following him on a bus. Cut to Bob and Louise seated behind Koji on the bus.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Gene assumes Koji saying "Find my Yuki" is this, with "Yuki" meaning "getting your groove back". Koji informs him that "Yuki" is in fact a name—his daughter's name.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Tina gets the mayor's lines to read. Linda is oddly jealous, and much of her remaining screentime revolves around her trying to pre-empt Tina and read the mayor's lines out before she can.
• Growing Up Sucks: After seeing that Koji and Yuki have not spoken in decades, Louise is terrified that she'll go through the same with Bob when she grows up, and even sounds on the verge of tears as she reveals this. Fortunately, Bob is able to reassure her that they won't meet Koji and Yuki's fate.
  Louise: Am I gonna turn into someone completely different someday? Is that what happens when you grow up? You-you grow apart?
  Bob: Listen, what happened to Hawk and Chick will never happen to us. This Hawk and this Chick will never not talk for 30 years.
  Louise: You promise?
  Bob: Yes, of course, Louise.
• Hidden Depths: This isn't the first hint that Bob is a fan of old, obscure movies, but it's the first hint that Louise is.
• History Repeats: The episode makes it clear that this is why Louise is worried she and Bob will grow apart—not because their bond is in any actual danger (it's not), but because that's the route every other parent-child pair around her has taken, including the one pair she thought was safe from that, so she takes it to its logical extreme and assumes it'll happen to her and Bob too. The end of the episode features Louise revealing her fear of this trope to Bob himself, who is quick to assure her that they won't repeat history.
• Holding Hands: While crossing the street without a green light was reckless, Bob at least makes sure to hold onto Louise's hand as they do so.
• Hong Kong Dub:
  • The small clip of one of the Hawk and Chick movies shown at the beginning shows that the English dubbing doesn't quite match the original dialogue in terms of lip syncing.
  • The Belchers provide one while dubbing the film at the end. When it comes to the live dubbing, they don't even bother trying to match.
• Hope Spot: The impromptu film festival with the Belcher-dubbed Hawk and Chick film goes surprisingly well. Yuki even starts to warm up more to the idea... and then the tape player dies in the middle of the Seaweed Monster fight, forcing the Belchers to step in and dub the rest of the movie live, which they then use as an opportunity to reconnect Koji and Yuki.
• Huddle Shot: The Belcher family huddle together planning to reunite Koji with his daughter. Koji himself enters the huddle, scaring everyone.
• I Lied: Bob and Louise have to lie that Koji won't be there to convince Yuki to attend the reunion. When Koji shows up and Yuki calls Bob on it, Bob's only response is "Uh... surprise!"
• Ill-Fated Flowerbed: Gene plucks some of the roses from Yuki's rose bush so he can throw them at her feet as if she were walking the red carpet. When Yuki notices, he tries to derail the conversation.
• It's All My Fault: Koji blames himself for driving Yuki away. Bob agrees (though not to Koji's face), but Louise doesn't.
  • It's later implied again at the end—The Reveal that Louise is projecting her own fears onto Koji and Yuki's situation suggests that Louise thinks she'd be the only one to blame if she and Bob ever grew apart in the future.
• Jumpscare: Koji provides an in-universe one when he jumps from a corner wielding a mop, terrifying both Bob and the normally-unscareable Louise.
• Kaiju: Most, if not all, of the monsters that Hawk and Chick fight.
• Large Ham: Most of the Belchers during the dubbing, especially Bob as the Seaweed Monster and Gene as a random villager.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Linda taunts Tina prior to the dubbing by claiming she has more roles to read than Tina (having four roles to Tina's three). Not only do Tina's roles have more overall dialogue than Linda's, but one of Tina's roles is the mayor, the one role Linda desperately wanted.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: The theater manager repeats Bob and Louise's plan to rent out the theater back to them, before closing the shutter without even entertaining the idea.
• Let's See YOU Do Better!: When Louise tries to mimic a crowd cheering, Bob notes that she sounds more like a ghost. Louise tells Bob to try and do it, and Bob's attempt also sounds quite like a ghost.
• Look Both Ways: While pursuing Koji, Bob and Louise cross the street when they don't have a green light, causing two cars to stop in their tracks to avoid hitting them.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Played for laughs; while dubbing the Seaweed Monster, Bob talks about the monster's fatal injuries and subsequent explosion in an extremely casual tone.
• Missing Mom: In-universe; none of the scenes we see of the titular series give any mention of Chick's mother or what happened to her.
• Mood Whiplash: The ending switches from emotionally resonant to humorous and back on a dime, with Bob reassuring Louise juxtaposed with the Seaweed Monster's hammy explosion.
• Motivated by Fear: This is Louise's motive for reuniting Koji and Yuki. But it's not out of fear that Koji and Yuki will be separated—it's out of fear that she and Bob will, and she's reflecting that fear onto Koji and Yuki.
• The Movie Buff: Dominic is familiar with quite a few film forums.
• My Beloved Smother:
  Gene: When I'm famous, I'll have a handler whose only job will be to keep people like Mom away from me. And Mom too, maybe.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: When Louise reveals her plan to reunite Koji and Yuki, she holds a family conference, with Koji left out despite being right there. Koji lampshades his exclusion.
  Koji: Don't worry. Doesn't seem rude.
• Nice Guy: Dominic is completely on-board with the film festival idea, and is even willing to go behind his boss's back to help them out.
• Non-Indicative Name: Tina notes that Yuki's green room (the car) is neither green nor a room (for the record, modern green rooms don't actually have to be green, though the name arose because they originally were painted that way).
• Noodle Incident:
  • Koji owes people money, though it's never revealed why.
  • Top Hat Cinemas had a Meg Ryan film festival, and according to Dominic the theaters were disgusting afterwards. As a result, they no longer do film festivals.
• Not So Above It All: Bob is fanboying over Koji just as much as Louise is.
• Occidental Otaku: Both Bob and Louise love the Hawk and Chick series, and regularly watch the movies together.
  • Dominic also reveals his love of the series, and we later see a 40-person crowd of other people who like Hawk and Chick.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Belchers somehow manage to dub an entire film using freshly-made subtitles within a few hours despite being far from professional. Having another dub to base the script off of certainly helped, but the fact remains that even professional dubs take much longer. Additionally, Dominic manages to get an original print of the movie in a similar timespan with next-to-no warning.
• Oh, Crap!: This basically sums up Bob's reaction when he realizes that Louise has a more personal motive for reuniting Koji and Yuki.
  Bob: Whoa, Seaweed Monster suddenly thinks this might be about something else!
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Louise acts more tame throughout the episode and is entirely cooperative, showing just how seriously she's taking the situation and just how terrified she is that she'll lose contact with Bob.
  • A literal case during the Belchers' live dubbing. Louise, who is playing Chick, breaks character to ask how a father and daughter could spend thirty years apart, which immediately leads Bob to the Oh, Crap! moment above.
• Out of Focus: While Linda, Gene, and Tina are involved in the reunion, they ultimately take a backseat to Bob and Louise's personal relationship.
• Overly Narrow Superlative: The Hawk and Chick series features "the most celebrated father-daughter traveling barber samurais in the history of Japanese cinema."
• Papa Wolf: When he thinks Koji is about to attack them, Bob immediately and instinctively puts his arms around Louise.
• Parent-Child Team: The titular duo both in-universe and out, which is part of why they appeal to Bob and Louise so much.
  • Bob and Louise also count, as the episode explores their attempts to reunite the titular duo and also places a spotlight on their own relationship.
• Properly Paranoid: Koji worries that Yuki doesn't want to see him after thirty years of separation. As Bob and Louise are upset to find out, he was spot-on.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Bob and Louise organize a clandestine Hawk and Chick festival to reunite Koji and Yuki.
• Red Herring: Gene hands Yuki some tissues for "when something life-changing happens". Gene (and possibly the audience) assumes it'll be the result of the movie, but what actually drives her to tears is Bob and Louise's talk about never growing apart.
• Redubbing: Dominic is able to obtain a film print of a Hawk and Chick movie, but he was only able to obtain the original version of it, meaning it's not dubbed in English—it doesn't even have any subtitles. To solve the problem, the Belchers have to resort to dubbing the film themselves.
• The Reveal: Louise's driving motivation throughout the episode has been an underlying fear that she and Bob will grow apart in the future, and she's been projecting that fear onto the current situation with Koji and Yuki the entire time.
• Running Gag: The second half of the episode has Linda constantly trying to read Tina's lines as the mayor.
• Sarcasm Mode: Dominic sarcastically lampshades that creating subtitles isn't nearly as easy as it looks.
  Dominic: Oh, yeah, sure, I'll just add some words to the screen? What do you think this is, future world?
• Saying Too Much: Koji stops himself mid-sentence when talking about why he's in town for this reason.
• Scary Scorpions: One of the monsters seen fighting Hawk and Chick in the credits.
• Sea Monster: Several of the monsters that Hawk and Chick fight are themed around marine life.
• Security Cling: Bob and Louise hold each other tightly when it looks like Koji is about to attack them.
• Serious Business: Linda and Tina get fiercely aggressive over the latter's role as the mayor. Bob lampshades to Linda that it's nowhere near as big a deal as she's making it out to be.
• Shadow Archetype: Louise sees Yuki as a glimpse of her future should her close bond with Bob ever go sour.
• Shark Man: A throwaway line from Bob confirms that one of the Hawk and Chick movies revolves around one of these.
• Shout-Out:
  • Hawk & Chick itself is an obvious parody of Lone Wolf and Cub, being about a samurai who wanders the land with his young child in tow.
  • The Store Next Door is "The Seven Year Itch Couples Dermatology".
  • Gene compares Hawk and Chick to The Incredible Hulk, albeit "less sexual".
• Show Within a Show: This episode introduces Hawk & Chick, a series of Japanese films about a wandering samurai who travels with his young daughter which is also an Affectionate Parody of Lone Wolf and Cub. Bob and Louise are big fans and try to help the actor who starred in the movies reunite with his daughter (who also starred along with him).
• A Simple Plan: On paper, the Belchers' plan to reunite Koji and Yuki is very basic. In practice, it naturally turns out that reuniting two people who haven't talked in decades is a lot more complicated.
• Simple Score of Sadness: The scene where Louise confesses her fears to Bob is backed by a simple piano tune (that has a brief ukelele added to it when Bob reassures her).
• Slow-Paced Beginning: In-universe; the opening of Hawk and Chick Versus Seaweed Monster starts with a completely unimportant conversation about a lantern, with none of the title characters even appearing in the scene. Louise tells Gene that this is a very common occurrence with Hawk and Chick, but that you get into it after a while.
  Gene: Already there.
• Squee: Bob and Louise give some very hushed squees when they recognize Hawk.
• Stalker without a Crush: Bob and Louise pretty much stalk Koji to his hotel room. Bob lampshades that this is not something they should be doing, but as it turns out Koji doesn't really mind—if anything, he's happy to see that he still has fans.
• Stock Audio Clip: In-universe; the dubbed version of the Hawk and Chick movies recycle quite a bit of audio, most noticeably Chick's battle cry.
• Supreme Chef: Koji certainly thinks Bob is one, after just one bite of a burger.
• Tear Jerker: In-universe; Bob reassuring Louise that they'll never grow apart is so emotional it drives Yuki to tears. Dominic can also be seen crying after Koji and Yuki hug.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Louise claims that Koji must be super excited to watch one of his old movies.
    Louise: Or not. He's crying.
  • Bob notes that it's entirely possible the audience won't notice the heavily distorted audio that came from the batteries dying. Then the audio completely cuts out.
    Bob: ...Okay, that's really bad.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Subverted by Gene. Initially, him playing with the recorder screws things up when it drains the batteries before the film ends. However, it leads to the live dubbing that in turn leads to Bob and Louise's heartfelt talk that ultimately reunites the pair, whereas the film itself didn't seem to be working. This in turn means that Gene actually helped reunite the pair.
• Verbal Backspace: Louise claims that working with one's dad is fun. Clearly embarrassed, she backspaces to say that Yuki working with her dad was fun.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Bob doesn't seem to pay for the jicama he was holding when they spot Koji, which he holds onto while they follow him. The jicama also vanishes by the scene after the hotel.
• When Trees Attack: The titular creature in Hawk and Chick Versus Tsukumogami takes the form of a tree that contorts its branches and leaves into hands.
• Yōkai: The titular creature in Hawk and Chick Versus Tsukumogami is one, specifically a variant that takes the form of an inanimate object that comes to life after a hundred years.
• Younger Than They Look: Discussed; Louise thinks the 44 year-old Bob is eighty, and that the eighty-something Koji is 90 to 100. This doesn't seem to be a jab at Bob, but rather something she genuinely believes.

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