Line #14 Recap/BobsBurgersS9E20TheGeneMile


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs09e20.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"WE DID IT!"'']]
3
4	->''"This scoop was not free, I EARNED IT!"''
5	-->'''--Gene'''
6
7	Louise, Gene, and their friends try to weasel out of the annual mile run at school so they don't miss "Free Scoop Friday" at the local ice cream shop. Unfortunately, Gene gets caught "going off course" by Mr. Frond and is forced to go through with the race. Meanwhile, Tina and Jimmy Jr. are determined to beat each other at the race, and Bob and Linda try to get discounted tickets for a show at the Wharf Arts Center.
8	----
9	!!The Trope Mile:
10	* BizarreTasteInFood: Rudy is the only one who actually ''likes'' rum raisin sorbet, which not even [[ExtremeOmnivore Gene]] can bear to look at.
11	* BorrowedCatchphrase: When Courtney [[TooMuchInformation reveals she says "Tinkle" when going to the bathroom]], Louise indulges in one of her father's deadpan utterances of "Oh my God".
12	* BrickJoke: When announcing the mile run, Coach Blevins says you can't get out of it unless you have a real doctor's note and not [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial a very believable forged note that would fool any regular adult]]. It's shortly revealed Alex and Gene have been giving Coach Blevins fake doctor's notes from a "Dr. Gooddoctor."
13	** When Louise slips the cat tracker into Large Tommy's backpack, she asks what drink is in his hydration pack; he says water but quietly admits it's milk. When Gene catches up to Tommy after being forced by Frond to stay on-course, he takes a sip from the pack and remarks "Mmm, milk!"
14	* CompanionCube: Bob talks to his phone. At one point Linda has to ask if he said "I love you" to his phone or to her (and Bob's reaction heavily implies the former).
15	* ContinuityNod: The tickets Bob and Linda are trying to get are for ''Cake 2'', the sequel to the stage show Bob became a fan of in "[[Recap/BobsBurgersS2E8BadTina Bad Tina]]".
16	** Gene makes special note of Louise using a bike, and Louise herself seems unfamiliar with it (she's seen wobbling as Gene talks). Louise had spent the entire series up until "[[Recap/BobsBurgersS8E18AsIWalkThroughTheAlleyOfTheShadowOfRamps As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps]]" riding a tricycle, and that episode ended with Bob helping her ride a bike for the first time.
17	* ADayInTheLimelight: Large Tommy, previously an incidental background character, gets some attention this episode as a companion to Gene in the back of the mile run group.
18	* TheDeterminator: Large Tommy, the slowest kid in class, nevertheless refuses to stop running, as he would cramp up if he did. In the end, Gene follows his example and finishes the run.
19	* TheDitz: After barely getting his phone running again, Teddy learns that the Arts Center sent a message and he has a limited time to respond to it. He thinks it's a good idea to ask random, unrelated questions instead, and he promptly gets hung up on.
20	** Subverted by Courtney. She claims she's been saving up her money for weeks for ''Free'' Scoop Day, but quickly reveals this as a joke.
21	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Gene not only finishes the mile legitimately, but he gets his long-awaited ice cream after all.
22	* EveryoneHasStandards: Gene, who is an ExtremeOmnivore to the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment extreme]] and later on eats things like cheese from a sock and a pinworm-infested tater tot from the bathroom, refuses to even consider eating rum raisin sorbet.
23	* GirlyRun: Jimmy Jr. has an ''incredibly'' uncoordinated running style which makes him flail his arms and legs all over the place. Even Tina with her own quirky running style (which, granted, is just letting her arms hang stiffly to the side) is able to outrun him.
24	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Courtney steals her cat's GPS collar tracker and sneaks it into Large Tommy’s water pack so she can track him while she and her friends get ice cream so they know when to get back. Unfortunately, her dad has the same app on his phone, and seeing the GPS collar at Wagstaff makes him think their cat ran away, exposing the whole scheme when he drives over to investigate.
25	* HopelessWithTech: Teddy apparently doesn't understand how phone batteries work. He thinks 23% is enough of a charge (or his phone and its battery are so old that it can't hold any more charge than that, as is implied when he yells to Bob "what am I supposed to do, replace my phone every 10 years or something?!"), so by the time he gets through to the ticket center, he only has a 3% charge and it gets cut off.
26	* HopeSpot: Teddy finally gets through to the ticket phone line... and then his phone dies in the middle of his order. Linda then gets through, but the tickets have already been sold. It happens again at the end when the ticket seller put aside 2 tickets for Teddy due to his interrupted call and sent a text message to call back within 5 minutes, although the end credits imply that he still managed to buy them by calling them back with Bob's phone.
27	* LaserGuidedKarma: Alex, Courtney, Rudy, and Louise are forced to redo the mile the next day when their scheme is exposed. Well, at least, that's what Frond threatens--it's possibly averted in that Frond might not have the authority to follow through on his threat.
28	* TheMillstone: Let's just say that while Teddy did come through by providing his phone, Bob and Linda absolutely should've taken it from him when the call got through.
29	* NeverMyFault: After singlehandedly screwing up the ''Cake 2'' phone call when victory was within reach, Teddy just absent-mindedly remarks that there's nothing anyone could have done. This causes Bob to ''snap'', and even then Teddy genuinely can't seem to grasp that he did anything wrong.
30	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Rudy is just as upset about the mile as Louise, to the point of [[SuddenlyShouting shouting]] as loud as his best friend.
31	* RageBreakingPoint: Bob gets as mad as he's ever been at Teddy after his phone battery dies in the middle of getting the tickets since he keeps getting distracted wanting to hear about their other plays and asking stupid questions about them. He then gets ''madder'' when he tries to apologize and Teddy interrupts him ''by telling him to apologize''.
32	* RightOnQueue: The last time the Belcher kids tried to get to Free Scoop Friday after school, there was a line around the block, and by the time they got to the counter, the only flavor left was rum raisin sorbet which Gene hates.
33	* ShoutOut:
34	** Gene hopes the opening assembly will be for selecting the next tributes of Literature/TheHungerGames, although he seems unaware of what that actually entails.
35	** In Gene's flashback to last year's free scoop day, Moo's Clues Ice Cream is next to [[Franchise/TheLoneRanger Hi Ho Silverfish]] Used Books and [[Series/TheFactsOfLife The Wax of Life]]. The name of [[WesternAnimation/BluesClues Moo's Clues]] itself is also a reference.
36	** When Doug follows the cat tracker, he tells Courtney he's Film/DesperatelySeekingSusan.
37	* SkywardScream: Gene lets out a BigNo ''and'' a BigWhy in the flashback to the last Free Scoop Friday, where by the time they got to order the only flavor left was rum raisin sorbet.
38	* SuckySchool: Wagstaff doesn't even have a designated track for the kids to run the mile on.
39	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Mr. Frond discovers the kids' scheme to get free ice cream and assigns them to redo the mile the next day... except he's neither the principal nor the gym teacher, so he might not have the authority to force them to.
40	* TakeOurWordForIt: We never learn how expensive the ''Cake 2'' tickets would've been if not for the phone call, but Bob and Teddy's commentary makes it clear that it's a lot.
41	* ThrowTheDogABone: The other kids leave a part of their free scoops uneaten and combine them into a single one for Gene, who finishes the mile ''and'' gets to enjoy the ice cream. From the subplot, the credits heavily imply that Bob managed to get the discount tickets for ''Cake 2'' even after Teddy messed up the phone call.

Context Recap / BobsBurgersS9E20TheGeneMile