Bob's Burgers - Paraders of the Lost Float - Review:"Bog to Beach"

“Bog to Beach!”

When Teddy bursts into the restaurant and screams about the “Bog to Beach,” Bob isn't sure about Teddy’s enthusiasm about the town’s annual parade.

Bob has many reasons to dislike the parade. It’s full of loud, obnoxious people who are just looking to party. Naturally, both Gene and Linda are in even before hearing Teddy’s idea. Teddy’s friend had to bow out of the float contest, and Teddy convinced him to let the Belcher family use his float. They can make a Bob’s Burgers float and drum up some business for the restaurant.

Bob still isn’t on board with the idea until he hears about the $500 cash prize for last place. He has no beliefs that his family could put together a first-place float, but if there are only five floats entering the contest and there are prizes for the top five floats, the Belcher float has to succeed. It’s succeeding at the lowest possible level, but it’s still success. That’s kind of the Belcher family motto.

The kids, Linda, and Teddy manage to convince Bob to do the float, but they can’t convince him that he’s going to have fun. Bob is stressed out, hates the parade, and is worried about how the restaurant is doing. It makes sense that a little taunting from Jimmy Pesto would make him completely snap.

At this point, Bob already isn’t having a good time with the float. He was forced to buy fringe at a 1,000% mark-up from the crotchety old people at the art shop, and Linda made everyone wear homemade pickle outfits because she thought they would look good. When Jimmy saddles up in his own float, thus ruining the “last-place” plan, Bob is livid. It gets worse when Jimmy starts messing with the float and ruining the Bob’s Burgers sign. Now, it’s war.

Bob begins shooting Jimmy with a t-shirt canon and letting Louise do the same. Tina and Jimmy Jr. try to sit the whole war out, but are immediately forced to pick sides by their fathers. Bob finally demands that Teddy take the float off the parade route in an attempt to get ahead of Jimmy and stop him before he can bribe the judges with free pizza.

Because this is Bob’s plan, and it’s destined to go wrong, the family immediately gets lost. Now, it’s just a strange float wandering around town. The family realizes that this is a fruitless quest, but Bob is fixated on Jimmy Pesto. He manages to shrug off a funeral possession, help a hapless dog-walker untangle his dogs, and guide an easily distracted Teddy, but it doesn’t matter. Bob finds himself in front of a barricade blocking him from the parade.

Linda is sick of Bob’s shenanigans at this point. She and the kids exit the float to have fun in the parade, while Bob decides to ram the barricade with the float to get back on the parade route. It works. Sort of. They get past the barricade, but it destroys the float. Bob is stuck watching forlornly as his family has fun. Teddy tries to console him by telling him that the parade was all about money. Bob realizes that if Teddy is agreeing with him, he’s probably wrong. He plays Linda’s favorite disco song and decides to have fun with it. The other parade-goers get interested in the music and offer to push Bob to the finish line.

Thanks to Bob’s hail Mary, the float ends up stealing fifth place away from Jimmy Pesto, but it doesn’t matter. It also doesn’t matter that the family also will probably have to spend all of the money fixing up the ruined float. All that matters is that they’re having fun!

What did you think about tonight's episode? Let me know in the comments!