Misplaced Pages

"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

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 that night, beating The Cleveland Show, but losing to The Simpsons, American Dad! and Family Guy with 5.05 million. 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. 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

1. Bibel, Sara (April 3, 2012). "Sunday Final Ratings:'Once Upon A Time,' 'Bob's Burgers,' '60 Minutes' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
2. Kaiser, Rowan (2012-04-02). "Review: Bob's Burgers: "Burgerboss"". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2015-06-05.

External links

• "Burgerboss" at IMDb
• "Burgerboss Fan Game" at GPAnimations.com

• 2012 American television episodes
• Bob's Burgers season 2 episodes
• Television episodes about birthdays