Last week may have served up an episode based on a famously scary movie, but “The Wolf of Wharf Street” is Bob’s Burgers traditional Halloween episode.
Like most kids, Tina, Louise, and Gene go all out for trick or treating. In past years, they’ve even crashed other neighborhoods to get the best candy. Unfortunately, an ill-timed wolf sighting threatens to cut their Halloween fun short. When Linda tries to make it up to them, she puts them in increasingly dangerous (and hilarious) situations in an effort to prove that she’s the “cool mom.”
Linda’s desperation to bond with her children has been the emotional fuel of many episodes in the past, but it’s always fun when she throws caution to the wind and does something completely insane to win her kids’ love and attention (although she’s always had that).
The latest in Linda’s schemes involves a wolf hunt on a mist-filled Halloween night. The news anchors have been really pushing the wolf angle and warn all trick-or-treaters to be on the lookout for the “Wonder Wolf, Beast of the Bay, and Monster of the Marina.” In news that they wish was unrelated, the Fischoeder brothers are desperately looking for their missing alpaca.
Linda and Bob decide it’s best that Linda, dressed as a Cher-iff in a visual gag that never stops being funny, goes with the kids. Bob, meanwhile, is stuck on the couch on pain pills after an accident leaves him on crutches.
Linda is impressed with the kids’ costumes (Gene is a bunch of grapes, Louise is Anton Chigurh), but is a little unclear what to think about Tina’s “mom-bie” idea. She’s also unhappy when the kids express disappointment with having to trick-or-treat with their mom.
The outing gets even worse when they realize that most houses aren’t even celebrating Halloween. News of the wolf means that no one was prepared for any kids foolhardy enough to go out. To make up for the sad haul of non-candy items they’ve been receiving all night, Linda organizes a spooky wolf hunt in a park that could be “full of Blair Witches”.
It doesn’t take long for the spooky wolf-hunt to turn into an actually frightening experience. The scarier it is, the more excited the kids get. Linda, meanwhile, is trying to balance being a responsible parent with being a fun friend. She initially swings too much in one direction when she agrees to help Randy the hapless documentarian catch the wolf on tape. What she and the kids lack in film experience they make up for in “lights and gumption.” When it looks like there is actually a wolf in the park, Linda’s maternal instincts come out and she attacks it head-on. It turned out not to be a wolf at all, but the mangy alpaca. The group declares the alpaca nice, in a “licey” sort of way.
Linda isn't the Belcher that actually sees the beast. That honor goes to Bob.
While Linda is out with the kids, Teddy has arranged to watch Bob in a costume that was either supposed to be a scary or sexy nurse but ends up being neither. Poor Teddy just wants to be a good friend, but he’s no match for a drugged-out Bob. Teddy’s pill-rationing skills are lacking, and Bob grows increasingly paranoid about the wolf that’s apparently stalking the town. When he sees a strange bite on Teddy’s neck, he becomes convinced that Teddy is a werewolf. In a pill-induced haze of insanity, he handcuffs Teddy to the coffee table, falls down the stairs, and tries to run for help. His crutches make that nearly impossible, and one of the best gags of the night is Teddy chasing after the hobbling Bob while carrying a coffee table on his back.
Bob’s mad dash away from the restaurant leads to the biggest surprise of the night – there actually was a wolf! Granted, it’s not a werewolf. Instead, it’s Felix Fischoeder’s prized pet, Lulu. As Bob stares in disbelief, the two brothers capture the wolf and vanish into the night. Naturally, no one believes Bob when he recounts the story.
While this Halloween may not have been as lucrative as ones in the past, it ends with everyone pretty happy with how the night went. The kids got a cool experience, Linda managed to keep them all alive, Bob didn’t get mauled by either a werewolf or one of the regular variety, and Teddy and Randy are apparently staying forever. Now that’s the scariest thing the Belcher family has had to deal with!
What did you think of this Halloween episode? Let me know in the comments!
