"Burgerboss" is the fourth episode of the second season of the animated comedy series ''
Bob's Burgers
''Bob's Burgers'' is an American animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is centered on the Belcher family—parents Bob Belcher, Bob and Linda Belcher, Linda and their three children, Tina Belcher, Tina, G ...
'' and the overall 17th episode, and is written by
Scott Jacobson
Scott Jacobson (born 1977) is an American comedy writer and winner of four Emmys for contributions to ''The Daily Show'' with Jon StewartSerota, Maggie (2010)The Oy of Sex, ''New York Press'', September 22, 2010, retrieved 2010-10-17 and two Emmys ...
and directed by Jennifer Coyle. It aired on Fox in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
on April 1, 2012.
Plot
Bob has a
classic arcade game called Burgerboss installed in the restaurant in the hope that income from the game can help them buy new kitchen equipment, with Linda thinking that they will use the money for sailing lessons. Jimmy Pesto, being an aficionado of Burgerboss himself, decides to play a round. Jimmy plays so well that he gets the top overall score, and enters his name as "BOB SUX" instead to taunt his longtime rival.
An angry Bob plays the game obsessively, to try to knock "BOB SUX" off the
leaderboard, until Teddy notices that his fingers have become crooked. Bob visits a doctor for treatment but refuses to stop playing. Linda has the arcade machine taken out of the restaurant, driving Bob into a rage.
Bob tracks the game down at a local arcade called Family Funtime. Bob cannot enter the arcade without a child, so he returns home to grab Tina, Gene, and Louise. He tells Linda they have a "thing" to go to, letting her believe they are going to their first sailing lesson. Instead, he takes the kids to Family Funtime so he can play Burgerboss.
While Bob is playing the game, a kid watches his progress and then warns Bob of an oncoming enemy in the game. When Bob wonders how the kid knew, he realizes that this kid has the high score on every other machine in the arcade, "DRL". The boy agrees to help Bob on the condition that Bob beats up a bully named Tyler for him.
Over the next few days, Bob and the kids return to Family Funtime multiple times. Bob continues to get better at Burgerboss, while also abusing his painkillers. Eventually Louise decides they should crash the Commodores' Ball at the yacht club next door.
Around the same time, Tyler comes into Family Funtime looking for Darryl. Bob, however, is in no condition to fight, and he passes out. Tyler punches Darryl, which wakes Bob up. Finding himself in the middle of a drug-induced hallucination, Bob shoves Tyler. Tyler bolts out of the arcade as Bob chases him into the yacht club, where security tackles Bob.
Tyler's father calls Linda from the yacht club. Linda heads down to the club to discover that the kids have crashed the party there and that Bob has been trying to beat Jimmy Pesto's score on the game.
In the end, Bob pays Darryl to get "BOB SUX" off the machine.
Reception
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
Animation Domination (also called AniDom, Fox AD, and AD) is an American animated
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are d ...
that night, beating ''
The Cleveland Show
''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry (voice actor), Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Family Guy'', and the second television ...
'', but losing to ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'', ''
American Dad!
''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker (producer), Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the r ...
'' and ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...
'' with 5.05 million. Rowan Kaiser of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' 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. 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."
References
External links
*
"Burgerboss Fan Game"at GPAnimations.com
{{Bob's Burgers episodes, 2
2012 American television episodes
Bob's Burgers season 2 episodes
Television episodes about birthdays