Recap / Bob's Burgers S7E1 "Flu-oise"

"I mean, who builds a fortress that blocks the sun and makes everything dark and gloomy?"

"I used to trust my family
Now they're just a sham to me
Destroyed my favorite thing in the world
Broke the heart of this little girl
No amount of slaps can make this right
I guess I'm not the forgiving type."

—Not the Forgiving Type, Louise's part

Louise has the flu, which is made even worse when the family accidentally destroys her Kuchi Kopi doll. As Bob searches for a replacement, Louise has a fever dream starring herself and Kuchi Kopi.

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Tropes:

• The Alcoholic: Akkorokamui sings a song about excessive drinking. Fittingly, Akkorokamui uses Linda's voice.
• All Just a Dream: After Louise wakes up and sees the replacement Kuchi Kopi, she thinks that her toy getting destroyed was a dream. The Belchers try to go along with this, but then Gene causes Bob to drop the melted Kuchi Kopi he was hiding behind his back. However, since she learned a lesson in forgiveness during her fever dream and because her family went through a lot of trouble to find a replacement, she's okay with that.
• Ambiguous Syntax: Teddy offers to take Bob to "a toy guy" to replace the melted Kuchi Kopi. Then he clarifies that he means a live person who sells toys, not a toy shaped like a man.
• And You Were There: The sentient toys in Louise's dream are voiced by her family. The toys voiced by Bob and Linda also share some of their traits (Bob's love of a simple, quiet life and Linda's alcoholism).
• Bait-and-Switch: Teddy asks Bob if he's watching the hockey game... then asks to come over and watch it because his cable's out.
• Broken Record:
  • Akkorokamui sings about how, at her monster parties, they would drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink. She is voiced by Linda, after all.
  • Teddy dips into this when he keeps calling out "Mumaluma" in a high-pitched voice to get the Belchers to remember the toy, which only serves to freak them out.
    Teddy: "Mumaluma, Mumaluma!"
    Linda: Stop saying that!
• Continuity Nod: In Louise's dream, Kuchi Kopi has the same voice that Bob gave him during his own dream in "Crawl Space".
• A Day in the Limelight: Kuchi Kopi has been shown before, and had a sizable role in its debut episode, but this is its largest role in the series.
• Department of Redundancy Department: "Thirty minutes? That's a half an hour!"
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Louise talks to her toys about having a favorite (namely Kuchi Kopi) as if she's a parent talking to her children.
• Forgiveness: After her family accidentally melts her Kuchi Kopi, Louise is so pissed off that she declares she will never forgive them. However, once she gets to the fortress in her dream, Good Kuchi Kopi shows her that staying angry at them won't change what happened. So after waking up, and seeing that the family went through a lot of trouble to get her a replacement, she's willing to forgive them.
• Foul Medicine: Louise refuses to take her medicine, spitting it back out after her mom leaves the room and fighting off her entire family when they try to make her take it. It's partly because of the taste and partly because she doesn't want to get better and go back to school.
• From Bad to Worse: All of the Belchers contributed to Kuchi Kopi's deformation in a series of escalating events. Louise left it in the bathroom, and when Linda was instructed to retrieve it she dropped it in the toilet twice, clogging it with water. Then Tina made the ill-fated suggestion to dry it off in the oven. Then Bob decided to turn up the heat to decrease the wait time so Louise didn't question why Linda was taking so long to retrieve Kuchi Kopi, causing it to melt when they left the oven unattended to give Louise her medicine. Then Gene decided he could fix Kuchi Kopi and grabbed it, squishing it and leaving pretty much no hope of restoring its original shape. Just to add insult to injury, Teddy shows up to save the day, only to further deform it in the process.
• Get Out!: Louise screams to the family to get out when she sees what happened to Kuchi Kopi.
• Knotty Tentacles: Louise defeats Akkorokamui by swimming underwater and tying its tentacles together. Akkorokamui isn't too mad since the mass of tied tentacles looks like a cute ponytail when held over its head.
• Musicalis Interruptus: When the last two toys try to sing the "This fortress is the worstest..." song, Louise cuts them off immediately, sick of songs.
• Obviously Evil: Melted Kuchi-Kopi is very obviously evil. To everyone except Louise that is.
• Oh, Crap!: The family is absolutely mortified when they realize they've melted Kuchi Kopi.
  Linda: Oh we're dead. We're dead!
  Bob: Oh God. We should just leave. Town. Get in the car and go. Far away.
  • Melted Kuchi Kopi says this verbatim when Louise presses the button to destroy the fortress.
• Oven Logic: Bob thinks it'll take less time to dry out Kuchi Kopi if they turn up the heat. Between the logic being faulty from the beginning and the fact that the family loses track of time trying to feed Louise her medicine, this backfires and melts the doll's face.
• Overly Long Gag: Akkorokamui's song has a verse where "and drink" is repeated ad nauseum.
  Melted Kuchi Kopi: Kind of repetitive.
• Pint-Size Powerhouse: Even while sick from the flu, Louise is able to resist the combined strength of the entire family.
  Bob: How can she be so sick and yet so strong?!
  Gene: Like the economy!
• Reactive Continuous Scream: When Louise enters the dream and comes face to face with the melted Kuchi Kopi. It ends when Louise expresses confusion over the melted Kuchi Kopi doing the same.
  Louise: Wait, why are you screaming?
  Melted Kuchi Kopi: I thought that was what we were doing.
  Louise: Well, let's not.
  Melted Kuchi Kopi: Okie-dokie.
• Replacement Goldfish: When the attempt to repair it with a heat gun fails, Teddy suggests getting a new Kuchi Kopi at a nearby toy store. Louise accepts the gift at the end.
• Rule of Symbolism: Lampshaded heavily when Good Kuchi Kopi points out the fortress represents Louise's resentment towards her family for accidentally destroying her toy.
• Running Gag: After Teddy fails to repair Kuchi Kopi with a heat gun, everyone (except Teddy himself) thinks Kuchi Kopi has boobs.
  Louise: I mean, I knew this day would come, but not so soon.
• Self-Destruct Button: The Good Kuchi Kopi installed a self-destruct button in the fortress, which symbolizes Louise forgiving her family.
  Melted Kuchi Kopi: What kind of contractors would put in a "destroy fortress" button?
• Shout-Out: The store Bob & Teddy visit to find a replacement Kuchi Kopi is named About a Toy.
• Sick Episode: Louise spends the episode sick with the flu, though the illness itself takes a backseat once Kuchi Kopi is melted.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: While dreaming, Louise gives Kuchi Kopi the exact same voice Bob gave Kuchi Kopi in his dreams.
• Weight and Switch: While Louise is napping, Bob swaps out the damaged Kuchi Kopi with a bottle of mustard so the family can try and fix it. Gene helps by eating enough mustard to lower the bottle's weight.

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