Review: Bob’s Burgers “If You Love It So Much, Why Don’t You Marionette?”

If Avenue Q were about stamps.

Overview (Spoilers Below!) 

Louise plays with her stuffed animals, but she’s having trouble getting into the plot. Linda psyches her up for the field trip to the marionette theater, but Gene and Tina groan that it’s the same boring show every year.

Indeed, the puppet show is a horrifically mundane tale about stamps, performed by elderly puppetmaster Esther (and health inspector Rob, who apparently works here). Esther guides the kids in a “puppet-making” workshop, but they’re just putting stickers on pre-made puppets. Peeking into a closet, Louise discovers an incredible dragon puppet—but Esther shuts the door and sends Louise to work in the booth with Dot, an eccentric amateur musician who creates “beats” on her phone.

Louise builds her own version of the dragon Vladicus out of wires and cans, but when Esther belittles her accomplishment, Louise explodes at the puppet theater’s lack of creativity. Esther sends her to sit on the bus. Rob helps Tina and Gene escape, and Louise drops from the bus window into their arms.

While the kids put on their own puppet shows using Mad Libs-esque scripts, Louise gets Dot to cue a fog machine and some of her own beats. Louise takes center stage with Vladicus, squaring off against Esther in an epic puppet battle. Esther realizes that she let inspiration slip away from her and takes control of Vladicus, vowing to change up the puppet show in the future. On the bus home, Louise gets ready for the battle between her own homemade Vladicus and Kuchi Copi.

Right outside the restaurant, a man starts handing out flyers for a rave. Bob tells him to move, but the man said his boss promised to check on him during the day. He really needs this job to afford medicine for his ferret, Carrot. Eventually he runs home to his furry friend—but not before forcing his job on Bob.

Bob struggles to hand out flyers until Linda gives him some tips—although he does give up when the flyers all blow away. The boss comes back to check on his employee, but Bob and Linda cover for him, subtly convincing the boss to move his flyer operation across the street—to outside Jimmy Pesto’s, of course.

Our Take

Lines that I love so much I want to “marionette”:

• Louise asks if Rob got arrested and is working for the puppet theater as community service
• “They stay if you press really hard.” “If only that were true of men.”
• “If Dad’s taught us one thing, it’s not to comment on how long someone’s taking in the bathroom.”
• “The Tech Booth with Dot? I hate that podcast!”
• Dot’s iconic beats are titled “Can I Sell My Bed on Craigslist,” “Where Did I Leave My Bra I Only Have One Oh There It Is,” and “My Prescription Will Be Ready When It’s Ready I Guess”
• “What kind of place does the same show for thirty years?” “Maybe Phantom of the Opera? Sorry.” “Also, Les Mis ran forever.” “Don’t forget Cats!” (even better, it’s Jimmy Jr. and Zeke who know all this intel about musicals)
• Jocelyn asking if Vladicus and the humanoid puppet are going to make out (“Hot,” adds Tammy)

There are some quotes, too, that aren’t necessarily funny when printed on paper, but they’re turned into hilarious one-liners thanks to the brilliance of the Bob’s Burgers voice cast. I cracked up at the amount of tender care in Bob’s voice when he’s concerned for the canvasser’s ferret (“What? Carrot?”). I also chuckled at the genuine disappointment in Linda’s when she sees Bob in the canvasser’s ridiculous outfit and gently asks, “Oh, Bobby, what happened?” The moment also works extremely well as visual comedy—that outfit is just so silly. Another visually hilarious moment is achieved at the episode’s opening, when we see Kuchi Copi and his friend in the middle of the jungle, in the heat of Louise’s story—and then a massive Tina’s head pops out of the ground to tell Louise it’s time for breakfast.

This is also a great episode for puns. The rave is called “Supercala-rave-a-glowstick.” The storefront next-door is “The Lids Are All Tight,” and the burger of the day is the “Ruth Tomato Ginsberger.”

My only contention with this episode is that the moral—that we’ll only grow out of our creativity if we let ourselves—is a little too generic. The revelation that Esther stopped putting any effort into her puppet shows because she just lost inspiration? It’s a real thing that happens, sure, but it doesn’t make for a very exciting plot twist. I was expecting some kind of intrigue, some event that catapulted Esther into the land of bland craftsmanship and tired storylines. And if a lack of inspiration is really all that happened to her—and caused her to lose her spark for the last thirty years—I have a hard time believing one kid’s love of an old creation of Esther’s would suddenly pull her out of the doldrums and back into her prime. It seems a little idealistic when compared to this show’s usual realism.

That being said, I love the new character of Dot, who is much like many Bob’s Burgers staples—painfully awkward, a little bit sad, but lovable all the same. I love that Rob is suddenly appearing in an episode without Hugo for the first time and that he’s actually helping out the Belchers—perhaps without the pompous Hugo barking orders at him, Rob really is a nice guy.

But that leads me to my other issue with this episode: Bob’s Burgers has wonderful standalone episodes but almost no continuity over the course of the series, which means that it’s impossible for characters to really grow and change. Last episode, we saw Trev mature enough to not high-five Jimmy Pesto after making fun of Bob, but this week he’s doing it again, as if the last installment in his life never happened. I’m sure that next time we see Rob, his puppeteer stint will never be mentioned again. But ah well. That’s the danger of a sitcom, I guess. And when this sitcom is so clever, it’s hard to really complain.