Characters / Bob's Burgers - Linda Belcher

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The Belcher Family (Bob Belcher | Linda Belcher | Tina Belcher | Louise Belcher) | Belcher Family Friends | The Pesto Family | Wagstaff School | The Fischoeder Family | Antagonists | Others | One Shot Characters

Linda Belcher (née Genarro)

"Mommy doesn't get drunk. She just has fun."

Voiced by: John Roberts (Actor)

"Only strippers shave above the knee."

Bob's wife and the mother of Tina, Gene, and Louise. Linda is always eager to chase new opportunities and get into the spotlight—though it often leads to consequences for herself and her family. Unlike Bob, she's very chipper and is always the first to look on the bright side of things. Even if she maybe shouldn't. Don't let that fool you, though—Linda does not take kindly to anyone who messes with her family.

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#-G

• '50s Hair: Her hair style and glasses look very much of that time period.
• Adaptational Villainy: Invoked in "The Gayle Tales", as the kids are angry at Linda for grounding them (not without good reason, however). When she makes the kids write stories in order to go with Gayle to get out of the house, in each of their versions, Linda is portrayed in a much more unflattering manner, with her worst traits (her shrillness, hogging the spotlight and alcoholism) exaggerated to an extreme degree; additionally, all three stories portray her as the main antagonist who meets a rather undesirable fate.
• Adoring the Pests: She's rather fond of the raccoons who like to prowl the alley behind the restaurant, especially one she calls "Little King Trashmouth". She's even willing to house Little King Trashmouth in the apartment, as shown in "Slumber Party".
• Aesop Amnesia:
  • Quite a few times in Gayle-centric episodes, Linda has to learn how to let go of the reins and let Gayle fend for herself (such as "Yurty Rotten Scoundrels"). However, it's inevitable that by the next time Gayle appears Linda will have returned to her ways of being overprotective towards Gayle.
  • Similarly, episodes focusing on her and one of the kids tend to have a moral about how Linda shouldn't be a My Beloved Smother, because her doing so tends to hurt her relationship with her kids more than it helps. By the time the next one rolls around, she's forgotten this moral completely.
• The Alcoholic: She really likes to drink, to the point that she has enough "backup", "emergency backup", and "secret emergency backup" bottles of wine to supply the restaurant for hours during a rather busy Valentine's Day evening. She denies that she gets drunk, insisting she just likes to have fun and refuses to see this as a negative quality. Louise even brings it up.
  Louise: Mom's the one with the drinking problem.
  Linda: The problem is I don't have a frigging drink in my hand. Ha ha!
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: As Louise puts it in "The Wolf of Wharf Street", she not only tries too hard, but also tries too hard to not try too hard.
• Ambiguously Bi: In "Two for Tina" she said Ms. Jacobson was attractive. She also appeared to be acting flirty when telling her that to her face, though it's hard to tell since she was drunk at the time.
• Backstory of the Day:
  • Discussed and arguably justified in "Manic Pixie Crap Show", where she suddenly talks about a neighborhood dog named Bottlecap that she befriended as a child before Bottlecap's untimely death. It's made clear that this is the first time she's ever told anyone about Bottlecap despite him supposedly being a big part of her childhood, and both Bob and Teddy lampshade that this whole thing came out of nowhere. However, it's made clear that there's an actual reason for her decades-long silence about Bottlecap—namely, she was just that traumatized by his death (between her closeness to the dog and the fact that she witnessed him die), opting to forget it entirely rather than properly cope with it.
  • Done again in "Sauce Side Story", where it reveals that Linda's side of the family has been divided for decades over a petty feud. Despite the feud being crucial to Linda's family history, and Linda herself knowing so much about it to the point that she's willing to perpetuate it despite not even having been around for the feud's beginning, this episode is the first and so far only time it's been mentioned—in fact, outside of her parents and sister, the only family member even mentioned prior to the episode was her maternal grandfather. Once again this is arguably justified since Linda mentions the last time the two sides of the family got together was roughly 50 years ago during Gloria and Al's wedding, and Gloria made things worse by overreacting to her cousin Lorraine wearing her wedding dress to the event. Since both sides had been avoiding each other for decades, it's more understandable why Linda never mentioned it before.
• Bad "Bad Acting": During her "Dreamatorium" show in "Hamburger Dinner Theater", to the point that the only thing people liked about it was a completely unscripted armed robbery.
• Berserk Button:
  • Dislikes being called a "boob punch", and being told not to have a "crap attack" sets her off completely, even though the other Belchers point out just how ridiculous and nonsensical these two phrases actually are.
  • Linda hates the words "Bad Hair Day", because that's the name of the band that overshadowed her own band at the talent show and went on to become megastars. Louise keeps repeating the phrase for this exact reason.
  • Do not ever imply her family can have Christmas without a Christmas tree or she will not react kindly.
• Big Eater: She's been banned from Devendorf's Bakery for taking too many free samples.
• Big Sister Instinct: She forbids anyone from insulting or making fun of Gayle, especially her family. This gets deconstructed as it's shown Linda is more willing to make Gayle happy even if it becomes a problem for everyone else, especially Bob. She won't allow Bob to say he hates Gayle, but isn't bothered by Gayle faking an injury to treat Bob like a servant.
• Birthday Hater: According to her, "You get to a certain age and they're no fun".
• Blind Obedience: She'll do whatever her mother wants or desires without hesitation, and won't fight her mother when she does something genuinely wrong, whether it's disrespecting Bob or stealing her charger and claiming it's hers. Linda admits she lets her do it out of love, even though Gloria doesn't really return that sentiment to either Linda or Gayle.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Due to her desire to support her family mixed with Rule of Funny, Linda has a moral code that, to anyone that's not her, seems very backwards and confusing. For example, she's okay with Bob murdering Teddy but not Tommy Jaronda's offensive music, and she will allow Bob to cheat on her with a woman she hates to get a space in a garden but draws the line at him bringing a cow in the house.
• Boisterous Bruiser: In contrast to her soft-spoken and non-combative husband, Linda is more than capable of throwing down the gauntlet and not above head-butting, biting, and using her giant hands. Even Bob is terrified of her, and he often tries to protect the targets of her fury; Bob later admits that Linda would absolutely attack someone if he gave the word.
  Doug Wheeler: Bob pushed me!
  Bob: Hey, I was just pushing you away from Linda. She's crazy!
  Linda: That’s right, honey!
• Brainless Beauty: In-universe, she's regarded as fairly attractive. However, she's shown to be very overemotional, immature, clueless, and dense, sometimes more so than her own children.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Linda's mother is emotionally abusive while her father enables her mother's worst actions. Linda, on the other hand, is kind and caring. However, while Bob deliberately invokes this trope, Linda is completely oblivious to the fact that she's doing it—she genuinely doesn't realize how awful her parents are.
• Bully Hunter: Apparently she used to pants bullies, just like Louise, and wasn't above other extreme actions to pay them back (extreme to the point of Disproportionate Retribution).
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Several characters have remarked that she's fairly busty. A throwaway line in "The Oeder Games" suggests her bra size is DD.
• Cain and Abel: Downplayed. She is the Abel to Gayle's Cain, but they're on good terms with each other. A rare case case of the older sibling being Abel.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Linda has a terrible habit of blabbing to other people about stuff that's supposed to be kept private—during a Cutaway Gag in "Tina-rannosaurus Wrecks", she arrives at a party and apologizes for being late because Bob had diarrhea, said episode proper has Bob hide the truth about the fender bender not because she'd freak out but because she wouldn't be able to keep quiet, and in "Turkey in a Can" she ends up telling all the kids and her sister Gayle about the second decoy turkey Bob wanted to keep secret. Louise remarks on this.
  :Louise Mom's like a vault... that's constantly open and constantly talking.
  Linda: Hey, I told you guys not to tell anyone I told you!
• Can't Take Criticism: Something she has in common with her sister, though she still handles it better than Gayle does.
  • Linda's not fond of people who criticize either her skills or the skills of her loved ones, even when she's the only person who enjoys it. Like the time Gene threw a one-man musical about Die Hard when everyone else, even Bob, called it bad.
  • In "PTA It Ain't So", she gets pissed off when Colleen Caviello points out Linda's idea for a fundraiser is too expensive and not practical, which only further endears Linda to PTA president Joanne when Joanne expresses support for the idea... which then allows Joanne to manipulate Linda so Joanne can get more free stuff.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Alriiight!" "Aw, Bohhh-beeee!"
  • Also whenever she goes out and leaves the kids at home: *kissing sounds* "Mwah mwah mwah, stay outta my room!"
• Characterization Marches On:
  • She's much more self-centered and rude in the first season, in contrast to her later depiction as a nice if naïve and energetic woman.
  • While she never cheats on Bob, the first few seasons imply she's not entirely emotionally loyal to him, making the occasional comment about another man's attractiveness (often right in front of Bob), outright insulting Bob for no reason (albeit in an Innocently Insensitive manner), and generally showing (very minor) discontent with her marriage. After "Seaplane!" establishes she would never actually go through with adultery, these tendencies fade and she's shown to be fully emotionally faithful to Bob, with the two coming close to being Sickeningly Sweethearts at times.
  • Some of the earlier episodes depicted Linda as a Wet Blanket Wife who's generally annoyed at Bob's impulsive antics, like hiding in the crawlspace in "Crawl Space" and bringing a cow into the house in "Sacred Cow". Later on, she'd become the impulsive one of the two while Bob became the Only Sane Man who tries to bring her down to Earth, to the point that many of Bob's earlier actions (such as the aforementioned cow) seem like something Linda would do now.
• Chubby Chaser: In "Full Bars" she's implied to be one. Almost seems to be a given, considering both her husband and ex-fiancé are on the fatter side.
• Character Tics: If Linda is upset at times, her left eye will twitch.
• Cloudcuckoolander: At times. It's pretty clear the kids get it from her.
• Collector of the Strange: Collects porcelain babies.
• Comically Missing the Point: Due to her childish and rather limited level of common sense, Linda tends to misinterpret or outright ignore things that should be obvious in comical ways.
  • "Lobsterfest" reveals she somehow didn't notice Bob had a very severe allergic reaction to shellfish on their first date, simply assuming he was nervous (even as he was swelling up to a concerning degree). She's still unaware of his shellfish allergy a decade and a half later, even as Bob tries to inform her of it (and eventually gives up).
  • In "The Hormone-iums", she spends her time looking for investors for an idea she calls "wine shoes". Louise hints that she should ask the Fischoeders, who are nearby literally throwing money at each other. Bob gets what she's talking about, and even Gene seems to get it... naturally, Linda does not.
    Louise: See what I'm talking about, Mom?
    Linda: (Gasps, then acts normal) No, no, what're you talking about?
    Bob and Louise: (simultaneously) Oh my God...
  • In "Are You There, Bob? It's Me, Birthday", Linda realizes she had forgotten that the day before was Bob's birthday. She freaks out and wonders if there were any hints that she missed. The first flashback has Bob comment that he needs to renew his license today, which would have been a dead giveaway since a person's driver's license needs to be renewed on the owner's birthday. He also seems to receive more mail than usual on that day, which were probably birthday cards. The Speedo Guy even goes by and says he read on Facebook it was Bob's special day, as most social media platforms will alert when it's a friend's birthday. Despite how clear these hints were (with the final one basically saying it was his birthday out loud), Linda concludes there were no hints.
• Control Freak: Bob notes that whenever Linda tries to entertain she goes completely overboard and then acts hostile when she doesn't get the response she wants. Case in point, when she tries hosting a bed and breakfast and the three people staying at the Belcher home are put off by Linda's embarrassing over-exuberance, she resorts to locking them in their rooms to get them to stay and forcing them to give good reviews.
• Cool Big Sis: Linda is the older sister by at least two years, give or take^note "Eat, Spray, Linda" confirms Linda just turned either 44 or 45, given Linda lists her age as "forty-f-" before cutting herself off; meanwhile "Boyz 4 Now" has Louise unambiguously state that Gayle is 42, and she's very protective of and helpful towards Gayle. Unfortunately, it's deconstructed due to Gayle being an emotional wreck who is now entirely dependent on Linda's help.
• Crazy-Prepared: As Bob quickly lampshades, Linda is way too prepared for a scenario where Bob murders Teddy, down to even having plans to homeschool the kids. Linda just considers it part of being supportive.
• Creepy Child: Linda was so off as a kid that she makes Louise seem tame in comparison. Some of her childhood past times including throwing rocks at car to the point people stopped driving down her street, breaking glass as a hobby, stealing, and setting fires.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Linda is goofy and boisterous and loves to crack jokes, but in "Driving Big Dummy" she demonstrates that she is a highly experienced restaurateuse, capable of waiting tables, bussing dishes, and cooking meals on a slammed dining room—without Bob to help her—all without breaking a sweat. Even her sardonic children are awestruck.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: Where do you think Louise and Gene got it from?
• Deadpan Snarker: On occasion. One such example occurs in "A River Runs Through Bob", when she calls Bob on his (lack of) nature survivalism, which results in his food poisoning.
  Linda: Oh, okay, you didn't eat a raw trout that didn't make you poop and barf your way through the forest like some kind of disgusting Hansel and Gretel.
• Demoted to Extra: In the Dynamite Comics adaptations, Linda gets very little focus and is sidelined in favour of Tina, Gene and Louise's various antics.
• Depending on the Writer: Even after Characterization Marches On, she's perfectly capable of lapsing back into her more jerkish behavior from time to time, such as in "Dr. Yap" (where she gets mad at Bob for Gayle sexually harassing him despite making Bob go along with it over Bob's own protests).
• Determinator: When Linda gets into something, she gets into it to the point of Sanity Slippage.
• Disproportionate Retribution: In her teenage years, after being made fun of for a Potty Failure, Linda decided the best way to get back at the bullies involved was to pee on one of their bikes, TP that same bully's house, and call the entire group at 2 AM pretending to be a serial killer... for an entire year. In the present day, she seems to recognize that she took it a bit far, and warns the kids not to copy her.
• The Ditz: Linda is not exactly bright. She's been shown to be gullible, impulsive, and childish on multiple occasions.
• The Drag-Along: Inverted. Linda is almost always the one who drags Bob and her kids along for any sort of endeavor she has her mind set on, and no matter how many times they protest she pretty much always ignores them and forces them to go along with it. Pretty much nobody has a good time whenever this happens (which is often), but because of Linda's tunnel vision, they are almost never given a choice to refuse.
• Drama Queen: Whenever something excites her or is great news for someone, she tends to be so dramatic that she also breaks into her own made-up songs on the spot.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Though normally lacking in common sense, whenever Bob does something genuinely wrong or just out of the norm, she will actually call him out on it.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Up until "Itty Bitty Ditty Committee", Linda's top had buttons. Starting in the aforementioned episode, the buttons were replaced with a v-neck^note though this design change is only seen in one scene, as Linda wears a purple tank top for most of the episode; the next episode ("Eat, Spray, Linda") displayed the v-neck more prominently.
• Eating Pet Food: It's revealed in "There's No Business Like Mr. Business Business" that Linda has had a longtime habit of eating cat food, which Bob is aware of and has tried talking to her about.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Death by Chocolate", which she got as a teenager after pooping her pants during a horror movie and loudly narrating the results in the bathroom.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Besides Colleen Caviello and Cynthia Bush, Linda is usually very friendly and loves to meet new people. But she never seems to like meeting Randy Watkins, since Randy's an Insufferable Imbecile who's so obnoxious to Bob that it actually makes him upset.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • She'll occasionally comment on another man's attractiveness (to Bob's chagrin), but she'll never actually cheat on her husband and is appalled when Upskirt Kurt tries to convince her to.
  • Linda usually encourages Tina to keep finding love and is fine with most of the latter's crushes, but she doesn't like Jimmy Jr. because she believes he's actively leading Tina on by refusing to commit.
  • As encouraging as she is of the kids, including when they're doing things they shouldn't be doing, Linda will either occasionally put her foot down or actually tell her kids to listen to Bob when they take their antics too far, whether it's threatening Louise with permanent cleaning for threatening Gayle's relationship with Frond, grounding the kids for embarrassing her with a prank at a market or telling Tina to listen to Bob and play with her Chariot doll after everything he did just to get it back when she tried to say she was too old to play with dolls.
  • She loves her parents and sisters very dearly especially in person, but in private even she isn't above commenting on how awful they are, such as admitting that Gloria says horrible things, feeling tired of Gayle during a Thanksgiving episode and even squeezing in a visit at the airport so they don't have to go see Gloria and Al in Florida.
• Evil Laugh: Whenever her more eccentric personality traits come to play, she has a habit of letting these out (and making her the most likely person Louise got her own Evil Laugh tendencies from).
• Extreme Doormat: Quite a few times.
  • In "Synchronized Swimming" the kids have thoroughly convinced her to do all their homework for them. Bob outright calls her on it and much of Linda's plotline throughout the episode is devoted to her overcoming this.
  • In "Lindapendent Woman", she takes a job as a shift manager at a local supermarket, and can't refuse any requests by her employees to take a day off. She ends up the only employee there.
  • Likewise, she takes all the crap from her side of the family, including her nagging parents (mostly Gloria) and Gayle as well. Neither of them appreciate or do nearly as much for Linda as she does for them, with them (especially Gayle) taking more than they give, yet Linda never complains about it for no reason other than she loves them despite Bob's regular insistence that she owes them nothing.
• Fanservice Pack: Linda in the Archer Season 4 opener Crossover is depicted more realistic looking and surprisingly hot.◊
• Fatal Flaw:
  • In general, Linda tends to have the overly strong desire to get her talents appreciated whether it be in running a Bed-and-Breakfast or working at a supermarket. Gene has inherited this.
  • When angered, Linda's brain basically shuts off: particular mention should go to the time she became annoyed with Sergeant Bosco, and to annoy him back she stole his gun.
  • She can be incredibly dense and oblivious to blatant hints or subtext, which frustrates other people when they eventually have to spell something out for her.
  • Her trusting and loving nature can also be a big detriment as it allows Linda to be manipulated by a number of people - including her own children, parents, and sister. Her whole shtick with Gayle is that Linda feels she has to watch out for Gayle and do things for her just because Gayle's her sister, even though Gayle's unwilling or genuinely incapable of returning the favor.
• Foil: To her husband Bob, not that it stops them from being a loving couple.
  • Bob is reserved, level-headed and monotonous, Linda is loud, extroverted and full of energy.
  • Bob and Linda both adore their family, however while Bob tends to prioritize business and long-term success, Linda almost always prioritizes family and short-term success even if it's at her or others (including other family members) detriment.
  • Bob is honest to a fault and isn't above being frank with people including his own family, but Linda goes out of her way to spare people's feelings (especially if it's her family) and is perfectly fine with telling fibs to just about anyone.
  • Bob has a distant relationship with his father and his mother died when he was very young, and he was also an only child, while Linda is very close to her still-living mother and father, and her sister for that matter. At the same time, Bob refuses to put up with his father's nonsense, while Linda puts up with her parents and sister's demands to a rather extreme degree.
• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: In the inversion, Linda is the Foolish Wife to Bob's Responsible Husband. Linda is recklessly enthusiastic, tends to be smothering regarding the kids, and is often a Horrible Judge of Character. Bob, however, is pragmatic in regards to difficult situations, can cook burgers quite well, and is often the first to object to whatever shenanigans Linda's got planned.
• Former Teen Rebel: Implied. Whether water ballooning mean pooping girls, throwing rocks at cars, or breaking windows and running and laughing. While both Bob and Linda have passed down shades of this to Louise, she primarily gets it from Linda.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Her tendency to go overboard regarding bonding with her children is easily explained by the fact that she's The Unfavorite regarding most of her children—Louise heavily favors Bob and Tina seems to lean that way as well—with Linda feeling like she needs to try and match the bond that her daughters have with their father. Which backfires because she's trying to match years of bonding in just one day.
  • Her obsessive love for singing and desire to have her talents and skills appreciated and loved may have originated from how she and her high school band were laughed off the stage during a talent show due to her stage fright and the band that outdid them went on to become successful in the music industry.
  • Her inability to recognize just how horrible some people really are until it's practically in her face may be related to the fact her mom and sister are both giant assholes who tend to inconvenience Linda a lot, so to her this awful behavior might seem normal. Especially because she excuses Gloria and Gayle's behavior because they're her family.
• Friend to All Children: Aside from being an unapologetic Mama Bear, she is naturally protective of all children and loves any opportunity to spend time with them, particularly babies such as Sidecar or Shinji Kojima’s grandson.
• Friendly Enemy: Subverted with Jimmy Pesto. Initially they seem to get along just fine, though Linda doesn't tolerate him insulting Bob in front of her. However, as it becomes more apparent that Jimmy is just a giant dick in general, not just to Bob, Linda grows less and less tolerant of his nonsense until she can tolerate him only marginally more than Bob does.
• Gasshole: Reveals in "Fast Time Capsules at Wagstaff School" that she can fart on command. She truly is Gene's mother.
• Genius Ditz: She's extremely impulsive and ditzy, but "Lindapendant Woman" shows she has an extremely complex system in place to manage the restaurant's finances and keep it out of the red; when she quits to work at a supermarket, Bob is unable to pay the bills or manage the restaurant without her.
• Genki Girl: Very enthusiastic and outgoing.
• Girlish Pigtails: Puts her hair in this style in "Slumber Party" while hanging out with Louise's classmates.
• Given Name Reveal: It took twelve seasons for her maiden name of Genarro to be revealed, and even then it's only in a Freeze-Frame Bonus^note in "Sauce Side Story", it's on the Volpintesta family tree Linda shows the kids.
• Going Commando: "Beefsquatch"^note Where Linda only had to lift up her shirt to flash at the cameras and the studio audience and "The Ring (But Not Scary)"^note When Linda and Bob are in the Lazy River at the local water park wearing their underwear, Linda takes her pants off but leaves her shirt on both imply that Linda doesn't wear a bra most of the time. That said, "The Oeder Games" and "Tappy Tappy Tappy Tap Tap Tap" confirm that she does at least sometimes wear one^note The former episode has the kids use her bra as a slingshot, while the latter episode has Linda claim that they can't be in heaven because she's wearing a bra at the moment.
• Good Parents: Despite her quirks and occasional slip-ups, she does love her kids and tries her best, just like Bob.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: In "Beefsquatch", she attempts to stop the live broadcast of Get On Up by swearing, but due to this trope fails miserably. So she resorts to flashing the camera.

H-Z

• Happily Married: With Bob — no matter the crazy things that happen in their lives, they both will always support one another.
• Has a Type: Likes men with mustaches. Naturally, this means it was Love at First Sight with Bob.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: Admits in the Season 9 premiere that she's not too fond of Jimmy Jr. and doesn't get why Tina likes him. Considering the increasingly frequent rate at which Jimmy Jr. grabs onto the Jerkass Ball, the most recent instance (at that time) of which Linda was a witness for, it's easy to see why she feels this way.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: More and more evidence keeps turning up to indicate that Linda's childhood was much worse than Bob's. While Bob grew up with no real friends and a Control Freak father who, despite loving him, didn't support his ideas, Linda grew up having to constantly shelter her neurotic and borderline unstable younger sister and also watched both a stray dog she cared for and her eighth grade teacher get run over and killed on two separate occasions to the point she repressed it well until she was in her 40s. Bob's idea of having fun was to bond with inanimate objects, while Linda would pass time by throwing rocks at random cars on the street or go around looking for glass to break. Linda also spent a entire year harassing some girls by calling them every night pretending to be a serial killer who wanted to murder them, and there's the fact that her mother is Gloria. Bob's childhood might've been rough, but Linda's was obviously a nightmare.
• Her Own Worst Enemy: Linda's obliviousness to the awfulness of others is one of the many things that creates problems for her and her family.
  • With her mother: Linda's unable or unwilling to see her mother has been emotionally abusive to her her whole life and will drop everything and force Bob to go through hell with her just to see her or make her happy. She admits to Bob she goes through with it out of love and asks him to do the same. Linda's blind loyalty to her mother has brought more problems to the family than anything, and she refuses to accept that she's awful and hated by everyone.
  • In regards to her relationship with Gayle: Linda means well, but at this point in their lives it's clear that Gayle's a complete wreck of a human being not simply because of her own neurosis and possible disorders, but also due to Linda's overprotection. Linda's spent so much time trying to shield Gayle she's now made it impossible for Gayle to ever handle things like criticism or to learn how to live on her own. This in turn means Gayle constantly imposes on Linda and the rest of the Belchers. She's unwilling to be firm with Gayle and is willing to drop work to help her, which includes listen to her complain about her new job and wanting to quit.
• Honor Before Reason: In "Boywatch", she gives out the wi-fi password, which gives the restaurant a boost in business. While Bob likes the change and wants to keep it, Linda gets pissed when she realizes customers aren't using it for reasons she likes (she wants to see an aspiring author writing a novel; she instead gets a lot of people doing online shopping). One customer also doesn't bother interacting with her as she brings his food, not even listening to her making a small crack, which angers her. As a result, she decides to unplug the router, and despite Bob insisting it's been nothing but beneficial she only doesn't go through with it because Sergeant Bosco arrives in pursuit of a hacker (and even then it's not because Bosco needs the wi-fi on to track the hacker, but because it's finally a use of the wi-fi that isn't online shopping).
• Horrible Judge of Character: One of Linda's main flaws is that she is entirely too trusting of total strangers, such as the Deuce of Diamonds and the Phenomi-mom who seem like experts but whose advice either does not make sense or is Instantly Proven Wrong, or Millie Frock (who she thinks seems fun). It's especially glaring in the Deuce's case, since his promotional video is very badly edited and it's clear he's a scammer, but she still thinks he's the only answer to Gene's bad baseball playing even when it's repeatedly shown to her face he's incompetent.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Zig-Zagged with her relationship to Bob. He runs the restaurant, but he's shown to be impulsive, stubborn and often makes poor decisions; thus, it often falls to Linda - who manages the restaurant's finances - to keep them out of the red. However, Linda is shown to be fairly ditzy and prone to making poor decisions of her own regarding everything else, so Bob has to play the Only Sane Man to her in return.
• Hypocrite: When it comes to the kid's behavior, Linda pretty much lets them get away with almost everything, even though it often leads to them walking all over Bob. However, Linda is much less tolerant whenever they walk all over her and has no problem calling them out for how unfair it is for her, but not once considers how unfair it is for Bob too. In fact, Linda only ever punishes the kids (or at least attempts to) whenever they do something that negatively affects her, meaning their behavior is only a problem if she has a problem with it, not so much if Bob does.
  • The first example is in "The Gayle Tales", where the kids are grounded after they pranked Linda which resulted in her embarrassing herself in public and she sulks about how everyone laughed at her. Despite the fact that she's not above poking fun at Bob every time the kids embarrass him.
  • Another example comes up in "Fight At The Not Okay Chore-ral", where Linda expects the kids (that she enables and never disciplines) to start listening to her new rule about doing more chores (even though they already work at the restaurant, unpaid) and is genuinely shocked and indignant by how disrespectful they are towards her, even though she should know by now given how insubordinate they are to Bob in general.
• Hypocritical Humor: In "Sauce Side Story", she urges Teddy to get his mother to reconcile with some friends she'd fallen out with. This is after the entire rest of the episode focused on a longstanding feud within Linda's extended family that Linda herself is willing to continue even though she wasn't even alive when the feud began. Bob wastes no time calling her out on it.
• The Idealist: She Thinks Like a Romance Novel and will often back new ideas that come to her with passion, no matter how outlandish or flawed it is. Expect Bob, the much more pragmatic of the two, to try and stop it before it starts (with his pleas often being ignored to boot).
• Informed Attractiveness: The art style is naturally pretty ugly, and thus Linda's multiple suitors can come off as a bit of a surprise. Then again, the majority of them are desperate losers and creeps, so it's still not that strange.
• Informed Deformity:
  • "Eat, Spray, Linda" states she has huge hands, but they look the same size as any other adult female character.
  • "The Unbearable Like-Likeness of Gene" has her state she's sick of having a muffin top after Gretchen's crash diet has helped her lose a lot of weight, and no other character says anything that would indicate this is solely Linda having a poor body image (such as disagreeing with her). Linda's body type is actually slimmer than most other adult characters, as "Nude Beach" shows she has no muffin top whatsoever. In fact, post-diet Gretchen still looks fatter than Linda.
• In Love with Love: Linda is a romantic at heart with rather simplistic ideas on how love works. It's no surprise that Valentine's Day is her favorite holiday.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: An In-Universe example. Linda gets herself into a lot of fanservicey situations without trying to be Ms. Fanservice. To date, she's been seen in swimsuits, in her underwear, in the shower and on a nude beach (though nothing of that nature is shown). Since the art style is about as far from sexy as possible, though, this is only really fanservice for other characters on the show.
• Innocently Insensitive: Nowhere near as often as Tina, but Linda has a habit of making an insulting comment about someone without even trying. And just like when Tina makes these comments, poor Bob tends to be on the receiving end.
• I Reject Your Reality: She seems to be in willing denial over the fact Bob hates her sister and parents and will insist that he loves them. Even though Bob repeatedly makes it clear he can't stand Gayle, Gloria or Al because of how obnoxious they are and because they treat Linda like garbage. Similarly, she seems very willing to ignore the fact that they treat her poorly at all, with her using their blood relation to justify everything she does for them despite Bob insisting that's not a good excuse.
• Irony: Linda was able to deduce Bob had a bad childhood simply because of his posture, but she's completely blind to how awful her own upbringing was in spite of there being much more evidence for that.
• It's All About Me: At her worst, she grows extremely self-centered.
  • In "Bed & Breakfast", she cares less about giving her guests a good experience than she does about getting a good review, to the point of effectively holding them hostage when they don't want to participate in her pre-planned activities. At one point, when two of the guests endanger themselves while trying to escape, Linda refuses to help them unless they give her a good review.
  • In "Purple Rain-Union", she's more worried at avenging her own embarrassment at the talent show 25 years ago than she is about having a good time with her band. It's so bad that Gayle calls her out on it.
  • In "Boywatch", she's willing to sabotage the restaurant and unplug the wi-fi router just because customers are too busy on their devices to pay attention to her.
  • She tends to only punish the kids when they do something that affects her, like when they pulled a prank that resulted in her falling into a maxipad display and farting in front of a bunch of shoppers.
  • She would very clearly prefer if she was the favorite parent of all of her children instead of just Gene. It's to the point that in "Mother Daughter Laser Razor" her attempts at bonding with Louise are less for the sake of bonding and more for the sake of trying to make Louise's bond with Bob seem puny in comparison. In "Carpe Museum", she grows jealous that the kids are spending time with Bob and not her (even though she'd chaperoned the past eight of their field trips), and plans a trip to the museum to counteract this.
• Jealous Parent: She's well aware that Louise is a Daddy's Girl, and the A-plot of "Mother Daughter Laser Razor" is driven by her well-meaning but misguided attempt to improve her own bond with Louise.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Linda has a tendency to never consider the feelings of others, her family included, when making decisions, causing her to often act selfishly. Despite this, she is generally shown to be a friendly woman who sincerely cares about her family.
• Jewish Mother: In voice and behavior, even if she's ambiguously Catholic (when sharing embarrassing stories, she mentions coughing out a communion wafer onto her boob). This is because John Roberts based his vocal performance on his openly Jewish mother.
• Kitsch Collection: "Burgerboss" reveals her collection of ceramic baby figurines. In "The Unnatural", Tina threatens to smash them after Linda hocks Bob's espresso machine to pay for baseball lessons for Gene, and actually does destroy a few in order to get Linda to reveal where the espresso machine went.
• The Lancer: In the sense that she's the quirky, fun-loving contrast to Bob's stoic, Only Sane Man nature, in their family's Five-Man Band.
• Large Ham: Particularly since she greatly enjoys musical theater.
• Lethal Chef: Downplayed. She cooks for the restaurant when Bob's unavailable and regularly makes family meals, both with decent results; she's not as skilled as Bob, but this both makes sense (Bob has years' more experience) and doesn't have much of an impact on the overall quality of her food. It's when she goes off menu and tries new things that it has disastrous results. Case in point, the muffin that looks like oatmeal in "The Laser-inth", or the ten sweet potato pies that have no added sugar or sweetener in them in "Long Time Listener, First Time Bob".
• Like Parent, Like Child: Bob has once said that Louise gets her craziness from Linda's side of the family, which Linda acknowledges with an unhinged laugh. The more that's revealed of Linda's childhood, the more Bob's statement becomes disturbingly true. Linda's admitted to have been more or less a delinquent who enjoyed throwing rocks at cars, went around breaking glass, stole things, set fires, barely did her homework, and once spent an entire year harassing a group of girls by calling their houses at 2 AM saying she was a serial killer who wanted to murder them. If anything Louise is a watered down version of her mother, as even she's a bit freaked by what a Creepy Child her mother was.
• Loony Fan:
  • She's repeatedly shown to be oddly enthusiastic about the town mayor for some reason, though it's more benign than most examples as her fangirling's more confusing than deranged (Bob has outright asked her why she's so fixated on the mayor, and no reason is given or implied). During "Hawk & Chick" Linda gets annoyed when she learns Tina's dubbing the mayor in the movie and repeatedly tries to read the lines herself, in "I Bob Your Pardon" she boos the deputy mayor simply for appearing in the mayor's place (and this is before the Belchers learn about his pardoning scandal, i.e. when she had no reason to hate him), and in "Yachty or Nice" she's fixated on getting the mayor to eat (and like) one of Bob's burgers. She just... seems to really like mayors.
  • She's a more straightforward example in regards to author Bea Cromwell. When Bea shows up at the restaurant in "Mother Author Laser Pointer" while waiting for a tow truck, Linda badgers Bea into the possibility of writing a new Snail & Newt book. While this is a result of Linda suffering from Empty Nest at the thought of the kids eventually going to college, and wanting to relive when she'd read Snail & Newt to them when they were younger, Linda goes completely overboard. It escalates to her cancelling Bea's tow truck to keep her in the restaurant until she can convince her to write another book, stealing Bea's car keys, and then chasing Bea to Mort's crematorium. Bea finally puts Linda in a headlock after she tries to hug her, refusing to let Linda go until the tow arrives out of fear for her safety.
• Love at First Sight: When we finally see their first meeting in "Sliding Bobs", it's clear as day that this is the manner in which Linda fell for Bob.
• Malaproper: She has a tendency to say one word when she means another similar-sounding word (Mister Holland's Old Penis instead of Mr. Holland's Opus, forge instead of forage, Meet Jack Black instead of Meet Joe Black, Netscape, Nescafe, and Netflixie instead of netsuke), especially in later seasons.
• Mama Bear: You do not want to mess with her kids or Gayle.
  • She spends the entirety "Burger Wars" believing Bob's feud with Jimmy to be petty, but when Jimmy calls the Belcher kids freaky she immediately encourages Bob to put Jimmy in his place.
  • Also an inverted example to her parents who she is protective of as she tried to shoo away other senior swingers from getting close to them and she also practically forbids Bob and her kids from making fun of them or saying anything against Gloria and Al despite their generally awful attitude.
• Money Dumb: Zigzags this trope. On one hand, she is the one to actually manage the expenses of the restaurant, she has an extremely complex system through which she controls bounces with the bank and manages to keep their heads above the water. However, whenever something she, or someone she likes, really wants shows up, she has a terrible time controlling herself with what little money her family has. This is best exemplified in "The Unnatural", where she pawns off Bob's espresso machine to pay for baseball lessons for Gene that everyone warns her to be an obvious scam, and "Yurty Rotten Scoundrels", where she freely loans her unhinged sister, Gayle, money to rent a yurt and make an art workshop, even though she is a terrible artist and even Linda herself admits that it's unlikely they'll ever see a return on that money; Bob even says that this is a recurring occurrence when Gayle is involved.
• The Music Meister: Lampshaded throughout the show in which she has a habit of breaking into song at impromptu moments.
• My Beloved Smother: She has shades of this with all the kids, but Louise takes the most issue with it. Whenever the two of them are the focus of a plot it usually deals with Linda trying to force Louise into bonding with her or into some activity that Louise wants nothing to do with.
• Never My Fault: Downplayed, but Linda has a habit of dodging responsibility when she's at fault for something, such as "Christmas In The Car" when Bob points out that she thoughtlessly brought a Christmas tree (that predictably died before Christmas) on November 1, but Linda just remarks that his "negative attitude is what probably killed the tree". And similarly, in the infamous "The Unnatural", she staunchly refuses to admit that she more or less stole Bob's espresso machine and instead accuses Bob of caring for it more than Gene, and still seemed to believe that Gene learned something from an obvious conman.
  • Linda also more than often drags the family into some shenanigans that they clearly want no part in ("Mother Daughter Laser Razor", "Slumber Party", "Motor, She Boat", "Poops!... I Didn't Do It Again", and "Die Card or Card Trying" for example) and never admits that she didn't take their feelings into consideration, instead trying to justify her reason behind why she dragged them into said shenanigans in the first place.
• Nice Girl: Although it doesn't really shine until Season 2, Linda has always been very cheerful, happy-go-lucky, friendly, helpful, and kind-hearted.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Not much is shown in how they interact, but when she makes a quip about her father-in-law shrinking with age, he makes his displeasure known quickly, making her shut up.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Despite her usual idealistic attitude, she completely loses hope when the Belchers are Buried Alive in the movie. Bob panics because he's used to being the pessimistic one while Linda remains optimistic, leaving him at a loss for what to do when he realizes Linda can't play that role anymore.
• Original Position Fallacy: In "Zero Larp Thirty", she believes the 1900's were a great time period to live in, basing her logic on a TV show centered around the American elite. When the LARP begins, she's excited to be able to experience this life she's put on a pedestal. Then she spends the weekend not as an aristocrat, but as a mistreated servant, with conditions so bad she and her fellow servants mount an uprising. By the end of the episode, she has been thoroughly disavowed of her previous belief.
  Linda: (at the start of the episode) This is the life I was supposed to have. I was born a hundred years too late.
  Linda: (at the end of the episode) Y'know, I think we put that era on a pedestal maybe a little too much.
• Ow, My Body Part!: "Oh, my face!" practically serves as a secondary catchphrase for Linda, and she says it whenever something hits her in the face (or, in "Tina-rannosaurus Wrecks", when something dangerous comes close to hitting her in the face).
• Parental Favoritism: For the most part, Linda does a very good job of averting it. That said, it's shown repeatedly that she seems to have something with Gene that she doesn't have with her other kids. "Gene It On" has her claim he's no longer her favorite, which is just about the only time Linda or Bob seriously claims to have a favorite child, but Linda clearly says it out of anger (and over-attachment from Gene being a cheerleader) and no other episode mentions it. It helps that, much like Louise does with Bob, Gene puts up the least resistance to Linda's attempts at bonding, and he's the only kid to not get quickly worn out when Linda's in My Beloved Smother mode.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Played with; she's fine with the idea of her parents having sex. The mere thought of her parents including other people in the equation, on the other hand, makes her sick to her stomach.
• Parental Substitute: Although she's Gayle's sister, she looks after her and supports her (albeit in a toxic sense because Gayle herself is a toxic influence) far more than their mother ever did. Bob even tells Linda that she needs to stop mothering her.
  • And for a downplayed example, Linda almost acts as one for Teddy—she's very gentle with him, helps him out with almost anything he needs (whether she's teaching how to dance or getting him to try and eat sushi), and she even encourages Bob to humor and support Teddy whenever he needs the validation, with their conversations about Teddy almost resembling a discussion they would have about any of their actual kids.
• Parents as People: Linda has quite a few slip-ups when it comes to her kids, but she still tries her best to be as good a parent as she can be.
• Person as Verb: Louise uses her as a verb that is heavily implied to mean ruining fun (whatever it truly means, though, it's clearly used negatively, highlighting their strained relationship).
• Playing the Family Card: Linda has a bit of a bad habit about using her love for her family as a mother or wife against Bob or the kids to get them to do what she wants, often reminding them that she loves them or that they love her, but of course they don't buy it since they're aware she's using that as leverage to make them buckle. Bob and Tina have at least once called her out on this.

  Linda: (to the kids) Sorry, we love you.
  Tina: No you don't!

  • It's a bit more Played For Drama in regard to her parents and Gayle. Linda admits to Bob that because they're her family, it means she's obligated to love them and go through with their ridiculous demands. The worst part is, Linda genuinely loves them regardless of their many, 'many' faults, but it's also Deconstructed because it's implied Linda does have at least 'some' repressed frustration with their selfishness. Additionally, her kids, but especially Bob, ultimately dislike Gloria and Al and have no real respect for Gayle either because of how often they take advantage of Linda, and how it inconveniences them as well.
• Plucky Girl: Very little actually brings her down.
• Pooping Where You Shouldn't: Though only seen once (in "Sheshank Redumption", where she actually gets arrested for it when she does it in view of a police car), she apparently has made a habit of it. Known victims of Linda's bowel movements include a porta potty that fell from a truck on the turnpike, a bucket in the middle of a wedding, a bush in the middle of a public park, and a convertible.
• Primary-Color Champion: She has clothing for each primary color—red shirt, blue pants, yellow shoes. In contrast Bob wears exclusively white, black, and grey.
• Promoted to Parent: Deconstructed. It's obvious she's the closest thing Gayle has to a mother because Gloria is abusive and neglectful. All she's managed to do is worsen Gayle's mental health by repeatedly shielding her from the harsh truths she needs to hear.
• Pushover Parents: Both she and Bob have acknowledged that sometimes they can't keep their kids in check, and that sometimes they don't even want to try.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The loud and energetic Red Oni to Bob's quiet and reserved Blue Oni. Also the extroverted Red Oni (with red glasses and red shirt) to her sister Gayle's introverted Blue Oni (with blue glasses and purple shirt).
• Rhymes on a Dime: While helping out picketers in "Carpe Museum", pretty much all of Linda's chants rhyme. The ones that don't are still near-rhymes anyway.
• Runaway Fiancée: She was engaged to Hugo for four days before she dumped him for Bob. Hugo never got over it and blamed Bob for the break-up, but it’s clear Linda didn’t love him and probably would've dumped him eventually even without Bob there to speed up the process.
• Running Gag: In later seasons, when faced with anything related to math, Linda simply yells out "Four!" regardless of whether it fits or not. She does it when trying to solve an equation in the escape room in "The Trouble With Doubles," when Gene and Alex are playing Robo-Wizard Quest in "Roller? I Hardly Knew Her!" and when she says she helped Gene with his math homework in the movie.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: She's the Energetic Girl to Bob's Savvy Guy. Linda rarely speaks in anything lower than a scream and frequently comes up with larger than life schemes, while Bob is calmer, more pragmatic, and generally more than satisfied simply with getting through the day without having anything bad happen.
• Second Love: Just as Bob was this to Linda, Linda was also this to Bob; he was in a relationship at least one year prior to meeting Linda.
• Selective Obliviousness: Despite Bob stating many times before that he can't stand her family, Linda seems to believe (or at least willfully denies his repeated statements of dislike of her family) that he loves them deep down inside even though in reality Bob genuinely cannot stand being around them, has no real fondness for neither Gloria, Al or Gayle and in general dislikes them overall because of the way they intrude on the family uninvited and for the way they take advantage of Linda.
• Sexy Whatever Outfit: She wears a "sexy burger" outfit (Gene's burger costume with a bikini over it) for the second half of the movie in order to draw attention to Bob and Teddy's food cart. She seems especially proud of it, to the point that she tries to badger a customer into claiming said costume is why he decided to get a burger (it wasn't; he was just hungry).
• Shipping Torpedo: Considering her idealistic view of romance, she's almost always supportive of anyone who pursues it. That said, there are a few occasions where even she's unwilling to support the pairing in question.
  • In the Season 8 finale, she spends pretty much the entire episode dismissive of Connor and Farrah's chances due to how little time they spent dating before getting married, believing they haven't endured the same hardships that longer-term relationships have. It's not until the end of the episode that she concedes otherwise.
  • By her own admission, Linda's "not sold" about the idea of Tina and Jimmy Jr. getting together because she believes the latter is leading Tina on by refusing to commit to a relationship.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis:
  • Had one in Colleen Caviello, who once sabotaged Linda's attempt at hosting a bake sale and apparently would not shut up about the baked ziti dinner she made for a school function a year ago. This is not helped by Linda's memories of said event, where she had to listen to people gush about how great it was with their mouths full. They seem to have buried the hatchet by the end of "PTA It Ain't So".
  • Cynthia Bush, mother of Louise's own Sitcom Arch-Nemesis Logan. Due to the fact that Colleen only has a presence in three episodes (and is only directly in two of them), Cynthia has taken her role as Linda's main rival.
• Sore Loser: In "Putts-giving" she throws out the mini golf scorecard, as it's clear Bob curbstomped her and she doesn't want to know the exact amount.
• Statuesque Stunner: If one looks closely enough whenever she and Bob are on screen. Linda's confirmed to be 5'10, only two inches shorter than Bob. Though the "stunner" part is only in-universe.
• Sticky Fingers: Downplayed. She is an honest woman, but has a childish delight in stealing things here and there, such as an answer sheet for trivia night, choice pickings from Teddy’s hoarding, and a bell from a soon-to-be-scuttled frigate. It’s hinted she was worse as a child and it’s from her Louise gets it from.
• Stylistic Suck: Her songs are improvised on the spot and clearly John Roberts' voice for Linda isn't exactly fit for singing. In-universe, Louise believes that Linda's voice is shrill.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: She has this bad habit of following through with an idea (no matter how outlandish, on-its-face ridiculous, or doomed-to-fail it is) until it implodes completely, Bob trying and failing to stop it both before it starts and as it's in-progress.
• Super Gullible: She tends to believe even the most blatant of lies, especially ones her kids tell her.
• Sweet Tooth: "Like Gene For Chocolate" indicates she has one, which she does a very poor attempt at covering up. Likewise, the kids spend much of "Some Kind of Fender Benderful" bickering over a bag of candy before it turns out Linda already ate a good chunk of it.
• Sympathetic Adulterer: There are a few throwaway lines that imply Bob and Linda hooking up actually came before Linda officially broke up with Hugo, leaving a day or two of overlap (and of course, meaning Linda cheated on Hugo with Bob). The timing would work out (Linda was still engaged when she met and fell in love with Bob), and Bob can recall the method Linda dumped Hugo with—this suggests Bob was there when she did so, in turn suggesting he and Linda were already seeing each other. Most of this is played for laughs, and the parts that aren't are still depicted in Linda's favor—namely, she escaped what would have been a dead relationship by choosing Bob.
• Temporarily a Villain: It's rare, but there are a couple of instances where Linda's attempts to fulfill her goals pushes her from a naively exuberant and well-intentioned woman to a myopic, borderline insane criminal. Unfortunately, most of these times she's a Karma Houdini no matter how unpleasant she gets.
  • "Bed & Breakfast" shows her becoming an unhinged Control Freak when her desired plans for the weekend don't go like she wanted. The episode's climax has her locking all of the guests sans Teddy in their rooms until it's time for her ice cream social. She's finally talked down when Bob sees how insane Linda's gotten, and even then she still forces Nora and Edward Samuels to give her a good online review before letting them leave (and before she gets a ladder after they got stuck trying to climb out the window to escape).
  • "The Unnatural" has Linda steal Bob's brand new espresso machine and pawning it to pay for Gene's "baseball camp" with the Deuce of Diamonds. While she wants to boost Gene's self esteem, it's obvious the Deuce is a con artist and Gene doesn't improve. She refuses to admit she's done anything wrong and calls Bob a dick for him being rightfully angry at everything she did.
  • "Mother Author Laser Pointer" shows Linda holding author Bea Cromwell hostage until she can convince her to write a new Snail & Newt book. Bea ends up terrified for her safety and resorts to finally putting Linda in a chokehold until her tow truck arrives. Bob and Mort both recognize Linda has gone way too far and try to make her stop. Unlike the other two incidents, while Linda's actions are a result of suffering from Empty Nest at the thought of the kids leaving for college in the future, she's still shown to be in the wrong and Bea remains totally sympathetic.
• Thicker Than Water: She firmly believes that family should always stick together no matter what. This is even though Linda's side of the family is genuinely abhorrent and she would be much better off cutting ties with them.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: For an added bonus she’s even shown reading them.
• Too Dumb to Live: Linda does not have the best record when it comes to law enforcement, such as by disobeying an officer's order not to leave the station or taking a sergeant’s gun to piss him off.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: She was never particularly bright, but whereas early seasons had her and Bob trading around the Sanity Ball nearly Once an Episode, in later seasons she's firmly The Ditz of the two.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She's much kinder and less naggy from Season 2 onwards, though she's occasionally given the Jerkass Ball every now and then.
• Trilling Rs: And much to Bob's annoyance, she does it repeatedly when she realizes he can't.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: As a girl, she used to throw rocks at cars that pass by her house. Her behavior gets even creepier when she reveals, after an accident when she had a Potty Failure at a sleepover and pooped herself, she got back at her so-called friends by pranking them—her idea of pranking, of course, being calling their houses at 2 AM pretending to be a serial killer who wanted to murder them for an entire year. She also considers glass-smashing a fun pastime, something only Louise agrees with (whereas everyone else is at least somewhat put off by it). Her growing list of horrid behavior also includes stealing and setting fires.
• Twitchy Eye: Sometimes gets one when angry. Louise inherited this trait.
• The Unfavorite:
  • Surprisingly enough, the one time Gayle interacts with Gloria and Al implies that this is averted. Linda is treated fairly poorly by her parents, but they seem to treat Gayle even worse. Gayle continually insists she's the favorite child in a manner that seems like denial, and Gloria and Al seem to be more invested in Linda's life than Gayle's (it took two episodes for them to meet with Linda; it took them ten seasons to meet with Gayle, and they have no idea what Gayle's life is actually like). Not to mention Gloria is at least cordial with Linda, but treats Gayle like a nuisance.
  • Inverted with Linda's own kids; while she loves her children equally, it's acknowledged in-universe that Louise heavily likes Bob better, and when given a choice Tina seems to slightly lean towards Bob as well. It's arguably why Linda dotes on Gene so heavily, given he's the only one of her kids to prefer her over Bob, and she has several times made attempts to be the favorite parent of all of her children, to no avail.
• Unreliable Expositor:
  • In "Gene It On" Linda mentions a former friend named Monica who took advantage of her and eventually ditched after becoming a cheerleader. When Bob meets Monica later in the episode she's shown to be pleasant to both him and Linda. Between this and the way Linda acts towards Gene once he becomes a cheerleader, it's implied that Linda was the one who took advantage of and ditched Monica and not the other way around.
  • When explaining the Volpintesta feud's origins in "Sauce Side Story", Linda claims that Tony stabbing Joey with a fork was on accident. But it quickly becomes clear that Linda is biased towards Tony, not to mention she wasn't even born yet when the stabbing happened, meaning that this claim is questionable at best.
• Vague Age: As of "Eat, Spray, Linda", she's either 44 or 45 years old (she lists her age as "forty-f-" before cutting herself off). Which one she is actually decides whether or not she's older than Bob (who was confirmed via "Father of the Bob" to be 44 at the time of the episode).
• Wet Blanket Wife: In Season 1, she played this role towards Bob, frequently nagging him (no matter how much she denied it) and disapproving of his antics. In Season 2 onwards, she tries to defy it, though she still frequently ruins the fun her family is having (albeit by trying to have fun in her own way rather than trying to prevent it altogether).
• White Sheep: By Season 11 Linda's proven that while she can be obnoxious and oblivious, she's still a much more caring and well-meaning individual than her parents and her sister combined.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: "Show Mama from the Grave" reveals she's terrified of graveyards, enough to sit in the car while Bob and the kids go to visit Bob's mother's grave. She admits it's because they make her think about losing people she loves.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Linda has some rather simplistic and childish views on many things, from friendship to romance. She is repeatedly mocked for it.
• Womanchild: Despite being in her mid-40's, Linda is rather immature and impulsive, often acting like her children would in certain scenarios. This usually ends up causing a problem to get worse.
• Would Hurt a Child: She would never lay a hand on any of her own children, nor would she ever allow someone else to do such a thing to them, but other children who mistreat the Belcher kids are fair game. In "Manic Pixie Crap Show," Linda's response to learning Tammy and Jocelyn insulted Tina's looks was to immediately offer to find the two, drive up to them, and smack them with her car door.
• You Were Trying Too Hard: One of Linda's biggest problems is how often she will try too hard to do something, whether it involves entertaining people or trying to bond with her kids. Both instances feature her doubling down and blowing things out of proportion until she gets a reality check and realizes she's done more harm than good.
  • While running her bed and breakfast, Linda's too set on running an "authentic" B&B and is adamant the guests attend her events even though her persistence ends up making them super uncomfortable. If she'd just let the guests do their own thing, things would've been fine.
  • With Tina, Gene and Louise she often goes overboard in trying to connect with them as she realizes they have an easier time hanging with Bob (especially Louise). She actually has better success when she backs off and lets these moments of bonding come more naturally.

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