Recap / Bob's Burgers S5E6 "Father of the Bob"

It's Christmas and the family is invited to the restaurant of Bob's father, "Big" Bob. The night ends up bringing back some unpleasant memories. Meanwhile, the kids try to build a last minute gift for their father.

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Father of the Tropes:

• Alter Kocker: Henry, one of Big Bob's regulars.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Henry's an Alter Kocker, but he's willing to eat beef with dairy, which is non-kosher.
• Ass Shove: In the flashback to 30 years ago, Big Bob is away getting his first prostate exam. When he comes back, he makes it clear that it was not a pleasant experience, and refuses to ever get another one.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Bob and Big Bob have a touching moment where they end up patching things up after their big fight...while line dancing at a gay bar.
• Berserk Button: Henry ordering “the usual” flashes Bob back to when he was 14 and tried to serve Henry one of his specialty burgers but Big Bob threw it in the trash before he could try it. This sets Bob off on a tirade and he becomes determined to remake the burger for Henry to finally try after all these years in an attempt to prove himself to his father.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Bob was absolutely in the right when he refused his father's partnership due to his controlling nature. That said, Big Bob wasn't wrong to feel hurt and humiliated when Bob did so in front of a very large crowd. The two eventually apologize to each other about it, with Big Bob acknowledging that he understands why Bob left and Bob saying that while he will never apologize for leaving, he will apologize for how he did it.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Invoked. When Teddy remarks that he has to either attend midnight Mass or watch midnight basketball, Gene tells him to do both and calls it "Massketball".
• Brutal Honesty: Bob not only rejects his father's offer to be business partners, he goes into a lot of detail as to why.
• Call-Back:
  • When the kids talk about the Mistle-Tony awards, they each try to call dibs on bringing one of their parents as a guest—all the way back in "Torpedo", they also tried to call dibs on one of their parents' custody should Bob and Linda ever divorce. The resulting scene is identical to that in "Torpedo"—Gene picks Linda, Louise picks Bob, and Tina doesn't actually pick because her siblings already took both parents. They even pick in the exact same order (Gene picks first, Louise picks second, and Tina "picks" last)^note There is one difference, however—in "Torpedo" Tina doesn't even try to pick, and it's left ambiguous as to who she would have chosen had she gone first; here she actually tries to pick Bob, but Louise beats her to the punch and tells her to pick someone else.
  • Bob has a heartfelt moment with his dad outside the restaurant, then moves to re-enter the restaurant, only to be locked out by the kids the same way they locked him out after he apologized to them in the first episode^note Much like the above scene, Tina is the key difference—in "Human Flesh" she was laughing with her siblings, but here Tina unlocks the door for her father.
• Chekhov's Gun: The newspaper the kids use to wrap their Christmas present for Bob has the first review for Bob’s Burgers on it and makes him realize how much his dad really does care about him.
• Christmas Episode: The episode takes place during a Christmas Eve gathering at "Big" Bob Belcher's restaurant.
• Control Freak: Big Bob likes things done a very specific way at his diner, which is part of the reason why Bob ended up opening his own restaurant.
• Crappy Homemade Gift: The kids scramble to assemble a Christmas present for Bob out of junk from their grandfather's basement. All of their homemade constructions collapse spectacularly, but the basement rummaging turns up an old newspaper with the first review of the Bob's Burgers restaurant. In a touching moment, Bob realizes that his gruff, seemingly uncaring father has held onto this memento of his son's success for years.
  Tina: One man’s trash is another person’s present for their father.
• Delayed Reaction: When Bob turns down his father’s offer to be partners and run Big Bob & Son’s Diner, it takes a second for Big Bob to realize what he said.
  Big Bob: You’re welcome! I thi - wait, what’d you just say?
• Dirty Kid:
  Tina: Dear Lord Santa, this year please bless me with a calendar of Australian firefighters holding puppies in casual settings.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Big Bob has aspects of this, as he refuses to let Bob get creative with the recipes and even discards the specialty burger Bob came up with (even though the customer himself was willing to try it).
• Foreshadowing: In the flashback to when Bob left his father, notice that all of the patrons are looking at Big Bob, with only Max paying any attention to Little Bob before redirecting to his attention to the senior Belcher. The fact that they were clearly more focused on Big Bob despite Bob venting his frustrations that would make him look more sympathetic shows that Bob isn't entirely innocent about how it went that day, something he'd realize when it happened again.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The flower shop next to Big Bob’s Diner is called “Florist Gump”.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Bob's loose parenting style and tendency to make unique Burgers of the Day are both revealed to stem from how his father was a Control Freak who wanted to keep things the usual way.
  • Big Bob gets a whopper of one in the ending, where we learn his wife's death took a big toll on him, and that he tried to raise Bob as best he could as a single parent.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Interestingly, it's not Bob who dismisses Big Bob's above explanation—rather, it's Big Bob himself who does, as he clearly doesn't believe losing his wife is a good excuse for all his shortcomings as a father.
• Kids Prefer Boxes: When Bob takes more interest in the newspaper it was wrapped in than his snow globe gift itself, Gene remarks that he’s “like a baby, playing with the wrapping paper”.
• Kissing Cousins: Implied. Teddy is trying to comfort Bob by telling him he has father issues too, as well as mother issues...and “beautiful, blonde cousin issues”.
  Tina: Awww!
  Bob: Ew.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Bob specifically does things the opposite of how his father did them. He never forces his kids to do things a "usual" way, and he doesn't set expectations for them like making them take over the restaurant (Louise wants to inherit the restaurant, but independently of Bob's wishes, much like how Bob opened his own restaurant independent of his father's wishes).
• Literal Metaphor: When the box Gene filled with canned beans to soak in breaks, he and the beans go spilling out onto the floor. This is lampshaded by Gene:
  Gene: Oh no, I spilled my beans!
• Manly Gay: Pete, who runs the gay bar next to Big Bob's Diner.
• "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: When Linda tells her to clean up a spill by the bathroom, Tina says "Bathroom Spill" is her middle name.
• Missing Mom: Big Bob very unsubtly implies that Bob's mother died when Bob was young.
• Mistaken for Gay: Bob is about to ask his dad if he's gay, but Big Bob says he's merely returning the patronage of the local gay bar's customers.
• Mouse Trap: Louise makes a “super trap” out of a bunch of mouse traps for her dad’s Christmas gift. Meanwhile, Tina tapes various items from around her grandpa’s basement to an office chair for Bob’s gift. When Tina’s chair gets too top heavy, it crashes into Louise’s tower of mouse traps and sends them snapping all over the place.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Bob’s reaction to Linda telling him that his dad saving the first review for Bob’s Burgers proves that he really does love him and that he drove him out of his own restaurant on Christmas.
  Bob: Oh my god, what did I do?
  Linda: I just told you!
• No Name Given: Max, the black patron at Big Bob’s Diner, is never mentioned by name.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: This episode reveals that both Bob and his dad have the same name, yet the only character to consistently call Bob "Bob Jr." is his father. Additionally, to further differentiate him from his son, Bob's father goes exclusively by "Big Bob", after the name of his diner.
• Parents as People: Big Bob tried his best to raise Bob as a single parent, and while he did a decent enough job considering how Bob turned out, it's clear that the mistakes he made have severely strained his relationship with his son, something that he clearly regrets.
• Parrot Expo What: When Little Bob introduces his “Baby You Can Chive My Car” Burger to his dad.
  Big Bob: A what you can what my what burger?
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: A reference to Father of the Bride.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In a Flashback to 20 years ago, Bob gives one to his father. It’s horrible timing though, as it’s Christmas and a crowd of the restaurant’s regulars are gathered to celebrate Big Bob asking Little Bob to be his partner for Big Bob & Son’s Diner.
• Shout-Out:
  • Bob's first-ever Burger of the Day (which he recreates during the party in the present day) was the "Baby You Can Chive My Car Burger".
  • Gene's favorite president is Bill Pullman. "Today we fight for our independence!"
• So Proud of You: At the end of the day, Big Bob reveals that he's proud of how Bob made it on his own, and remarks that Bob's late mother would be proud as well.
• Technician Versus Performer: The difference between Bob and his father, with Big Bob being the technician. This led to their eventual falling out.
• Unfortunate Names: Big Bob considers Gene's name to be this. It's never outright stated why, but it's implied that it's because Gene's name breaks the naming theme of both Big Bob (Robert Sr.) and Bob (Robert Jr.). Worth noting is that Big Bob outright asks Bob if it's too late to change it (he never says to what, but based on the above implication it's suggested he wants it to be to Robert III). Considering Bob wants to distance himself from his father, he almost certainly broke the naming trend on purpose.

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