Bob hosts a dinner party to impress his new archaeologist friend Steve; while Louise does her best to break up Aunt Gayle and her new boyfriend, Mr Frond.
The Trope, the Steve, the Gayle, & Her Lover:
- Abhorrent Admirer:
- Steve's son, Xander, to Tina. He's ten years old, short, dumpy, has a strange, grating voice and is also a kleptomaniac.
- As a child, Linda had one named Alfie Constanelli who made a portrait of her... out of his own hair and toenails. Bob can only react in disgust, and Linda implies her initial reaction was similar.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Bob assumes Steve to be this, and is dismayed when this turns out not to be the case, and that Steve is tired of people assuming his line of work to be like Indiana Jones.
- Big Sister Instinct: Linda's relationship to Gayle overrides her relationship to the kids as she threatens them not to screw up Gayle's budding relationship with Mr. Frond under a promise of extreme punishment.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: After Tina's song, Xander says 'el singer es muy caliente' - one part of this is clearly an intended bad translation, the other perhaps not so much. 'El singer' is clearly meant to be a joke. The second half 'es muy caliente' would literally translate as 'she's very hot'—but in Spanish, this phrase more or less implies the subject likes to have sex a lot. While trying to compliment her, Xander unwittingly implied Tina is a slut.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: When the kids plan to sabotage Gayle's date with Mr. Frond, Louise asks if they should convince the former that the latter is in the mafia or a witch. Gene responds with "mafia witch".
- Bromance: Two one-sided ones: Bob and Steve, and Teddy and Bob.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Mr. Frond, to the point that he spends much of the dinner puking in the bathroom. Justified; he's practically never had a sip of alcohol before the dinner.
- Cassandra Truth: Louise faces the consequences of her constant troublemaking when Xander steals the doll and everyone believes she did it instead, with nobody believing her claims of innocence.
- Chekhov's Hobby: Early on, Steve mentions Xander's kleptomania. This comes into play when it's revealed he stole Frond's doll.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Teddy gets way too worked up about Bob's liking of Steve. Bob and Linda actually anticipated this and tried to pretend Steve wasn't coming over, with Linda only confessing after Gene loudly mentioned it in front of Teddy and Bob only confessing once Linda informed him the jig was up.
- Death Glare: When Louise cooks up an elaborate scheme to blame Xander for everything and still keep Mr. Frond and Gayle apart, Tina just glares at Louise until she admits she's being selfish.
- Failed a Spot Check:
- Mr. Frond has been to the Belcher home before, all the way back in Season 1, not to mention there's a giant sign that says "Bob's Burgers" on the front of the building, yet it's not until he opens the door and sees the Belchers on the other end that he connects the dots.
- Steve somehow didn't realize that creme fraiche contained cream until he suddenly had to bolt to the bathroom for diarrhea, even though it's literally in the name (and is so obviously cream you couldn't mistake it for anything else).
- Foreshadowing: Louise's story about Frond and Gayle's breakup doesn't have any payoff here, but come "Lice Things Are Lice" it winds up hitting the nail on the head—Frond does indeed end up breaking Gayle's heart, and does it in such a way that breaking them up here would have seemed almost merciful in comparison.
- Fun with Homophones: When Mr. Frond remarks to Louise that "You're in trouble", Louise responds by telling him to drink some cranberry juice (as in, "urine trouble").
- Innocently Insensitive: Bob tries to justify inviting Steve instead of Teddy by claiming that Steve is divorced. As Teddy lampshades, Teddy himself is divorced, and he clearly doesn't appreciate Bob bringing up memories.
- Karma Houdini: Xander gets no consequences for stealing the doll and shoving it into the gutter.
- Keep It Foreign: In both Spanish dubs, Tina's song is kept in a different language. While the Latin American dub changes it to "Love, Please", the Castilian dub gets "Amore, per favore".
- Necessarily Evil: Linda's justification for putting up with Frond for the evening, acknowledging that her family is understandably not fond of him but feeling Gayle needs at least one stable relationship or she might end up living with them.Linda: She is one cat death away from moving in with us!
- Never Heard That One Before: Steve is apparently tired of people comparing his line of work to Indiana Jones.
- Oh, Crap!: Everyone freaks out when they realize Frond and Gayle are dating. Frond in turn freaks out when realizing that Gayle is related to the Belchers.
- Poor Communication Kills: When you're invited to dinner, telling someone about your food allergies or intolerances is a pretty important thing to do. Steve failed to do this, and it bites him when he unwittingly eats something with cream in it.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: It's a Shout-Out to The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.
- Prequel: In "Gayle Makin' Bob Sled", two episodes ago, it's mentioned that Gayle is dating Mr. Frond. This episode explores how this happened and the Belchers' initial reaction.
- Stalker with a Crush: Gayle has only been on second dates that the other person didn't know about.
- Status Quo Is God: Notably averted. There's no last-minute return to normal, not even a Snap Back—Mr. Frond and Gayle continue to date at the end of the episode, and are still dating in episodes set after this one. At least, until the halfway point of the season, when Mr. Frond ruins things with his infidelity.
- Sticky Fingers: Xander suffers from this, but is in complete denial. Even his father knows it.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Mr. Frond and Gayle turn out to be so crazy that they're perfect for each other. Tina lampshades it.
- Swapped Roles: Tina fully expects to fall for Steve's son Xander... until she realizes how young he is. Instead, he falls in love with her. And much like Tina's love interests tend not to be into her, Tina isn't into Xander.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: For once, it's Tina who's getting hit on by a creepy younger admirer with an odd voice and quirks, making her extremely uncomfortable the entire evening. Furthermore, Xander takes her retainer, similar to how Tina procures the items of her crushers for her own creepy ownership.
- Translation with an Agenda: Not the first time Louise has done this with Tina. Tina's song is just generic Spanish phrases (the lyrics literally translate to "Hello, my name is Tina", "My dog is large", and "Where is the bathroom?"), but Louise over-elaborately twists it into a monologue about Gayle staying away from Mr. Frond.
