"Burgerboss" is the fourth episode of the second season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers and the overall 17th episode, and is written by Scott Jacobson and directed by Jennifer Coyle. It aired on Fox in the United States on April 1, 2012.

Plot[edit]

Bob has a classic arcade game called Burgerboss installed in the restaurant. When Jimmy Pesto comes by and plays the game, he gets the high score and writes "BOB SUX" on the leader board. Bob continues to play the game in a relentless attempt to beat Jimmy Pesto's high score, but does not come close. When he finally develops carpal tunnel syndrome and gets put on prescription painkillers, Linda has the game taken away which enrages him. He tracks it down to the nearby Family Fun Time arcade. Bob brings the kids along with him as it is the only way security will allow him into the arcade. He convinces Linda, meanwhile, that the family is taking sailing lessons, something that she becomes very excited about as she thinks the family will soon surprise her with a sail on a yacht.

The kids are given one arcade token each to spend at Family Fun Time, as Bob is using them all to play Burgerboss. Instead, they spend their time crashing birthday parties of kids that they don't even know. Bob meets a kid named Darryl, who has the high score on every other game in the arcade (under the name "DRL"), and asks for his help in beating the high score. In exchange, Bob agrees to beat up Tyler, a rich kid who frequently bullies Darryl. Tired crashing birthday parties, the kids leave the arcade to crash a ball in Yacht Club next door. When Tyler and his friends arrive to beat up Darryl, Bob, who has taken too many painkillers, tries to reason with Tyler only to fall asleep. He quickly wakes up and hallucinates Tyler and his friends as enemies from the Burgerboss game. He chases Tyler out of the arcade and into the Yacht Club where the kids are. Tyler's dad just happens to be President of the club and has Bob subdued once he enters.

Linda is called in (believing that the family is about to surprise her) only to find Bob fighting off security, still in a drugged-up state. The kids confess to what they have been really up to all along. Jimmy Pesto happens to also be at the Yacht Club as he is on the waiting list to be a member. As he taunts Bob, Linda tell hims that all of this happened because of his "peeing races" with Bob. The other club members misinterpreted this as some sort of sexual act, causing Jimmy to get thrown out of the Yacht Club.

The next day, Darryl drops by the restaurant. Having been inspired by Bob, he has decided to face his bullying issues head on in the hopes of avoiding a future where he ends up being like Bob, who is still struggling with his own bully. Bob pays him under the table to get "BOB SUX" off the leader board.

Reception[edit]

The episode received a 1.7 rating and was watched by a total of 3.66 million people. This made it the fourth most watched show on Animation Domination that night, beating The Cleveland Show, but losing to The Simpsons, American Dad! and Family Guy with 5.05 million.^[1] Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A, saying "And yes, this episode was ridiculously funny, but the cherry on top of it all? It was still heartwarming and meaningful from a characterization perspective. Bob’s masculinity-based rivalry with Jimmy Pesto is always something that’s fun to explore, and his mostly-but-not-entirely coming to terms with it by the end of the episode is satisfying. Linda, meanwhile, is probably the most inconsistent character of the core family, but this was probably her at her best. Her excitement came across more as childish with glee than the sometimes-annoying childish wish demands. Honestly, the characterization and humor were both so good in “Burgerboss” that I have no idea how Bob’s Burgers can top this episode. But I’m starting to respect that they can, and that will be an interesting day."^[2]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Burgerboss at the Big Cartoon DataBase