This episode of Bob's Burgers features a road trip and a peek into Teddy's psyche. Hint: both are very disturbing.
There's a leak in the ceiling of the restaurant, and while Teddy fixes it the mess keeps customers away. One customer who stays, however, is a Belcher family friend. Nat Kinkle is back, and she's not alone. She's on her way to an exotic animal sanctuary (Shaw-Shank-Tuary Animal Sanctuary, ha!) run by her ex-girlfriend, Teresa, to deliver something. She's there to fuel up on burgers before taking her pink limo out on a little road trip. The Belcher kids, more bored than usual, are jealous, and before we know it the Belcher's are being offered the chance to tag along on Nat's errand.
While most of the family are yays, Bob is most definitely a nay. He hates road trips, and with good reason. A flashback shows us one road trip that ended in lots and lots of vomit, and a bottle full of pee. But Bob is turned with promises of petting monkeys at the animal sanctuary, so he reluctantly agrees, but with a few stipulations.
- No reading for Tina, since it makes her puke.
- No stopping at road side attractions for Louise.
- No peeing in bottles for Gene.
That is one good looking, and highly visible, limo.With those guidelines the group takes off, but before they're even out of the city there's a snag. The something that Nat is delivering is a snake named Steve, who is sad about being away from his partner snake Adam, who lives with Teresa. Steve and Adam where separated Parent Trap style when Nat and Teresa broke up. Nat is going to reunite them.
When Gene finds Steve in a cooler he freaks out and jumps out of the limo. Louise finds him hiding in a cardboard box, and she tries to coax him out so that they can continue the road trip. It's revealed that Louise has her own agenda for the trip. She wants to go to the Madness Castle, a roadside attraction on the way to the animal sanctuary. She ends up bribing Gene with old Halloween and Easter candy, including Peeps that she stole from him. Gene finally clues in that they didn't turn into real chickens and run away.
Once Gene is back in the limo, this time in the front seat with the privacy divider keeping him safe from Steve, the trip starts pleasantly enough. Bob gets in a much needed two minute nap and Linda is popping open the bottle of rose. But Louise sets part two of her plan in motion, tempting Tina to break Bob's no reading rule with a "found" diary of one Guy Handsome Teen. The first entry is about his teen boy butt. Tina is hooked. Louise knows all of her family members' weaknesses and she's not afraid to exploit them.
Tina is smitten, then nauseous, then she's outright vomiting all over the place. Gene is not doing much better, with Steve having escaped his cooler and found a nice spot to rest right around Gene's neck. In the midst of all this pandemonium Nat pulls over, with Bob having to rescue Gene while Tina tries to clean up the vomit all over herself.
Oh look, what a coincidence, they're right in front of the Madness Castle! I've got to give Louise credit, her plan worked perfectly. When the group notices that Steve is gone and has slithered into the Madness Castle Louise is the first to volunteer to go inside and find him. Bob ends up spending $175 dollars for three changes of clothes for himself, Tina and Gene since they were covered in vomit and three tickets for the Madness Castle. He is not happy about these unexpected expenditures at all.
Has anyone ever looked as happy as Louise is going into the Madness Castle?The Madness Castle ends up being less of a castle promising madness and more of a house with cheesy decorations, but they do end up finding Steve. They make it to the animal sanctuary, which should be more accurately called exotic snake sanctuary. There are no monkeys for Bob to pet and he is pissed that they wasted hours on a 90 minute drive with no payoff of cute animals at the end. The kids point out that they had a decent time. Sure, Tina vomited, but she really connected with Guy Handsome Teen. And Gene was traumatized for only 99% of the time. And the Madness Castle might have sucked. But they made some family memories on the trip, and that's all that Linda really wanted. The Belchers hug it out and I have a sappy smile on my face.
Unfortunately the trip didn't go well for Nat, whose proposal to her ex-girlfried was turned down. Harsh. But she does receive a bag of baby garter snakes for her troubles. Nat is too emotional to drive so Bob takes over. He ends up bonding with the babies as everyone else sleeps in the limo.
And just to be thorough, I must mention that Teddy, left alone in the restaurant, fantasizes about a life where he and Bob are still friends but Teddy takes over Bob's life, including the restaurant and his marriage. Yikes.
Odds and ends:
Favorite quote: "Kids, can we have some privacy?" "No way, you had us, that's not how having kids work."
Favorite blink and you'll miss it moment: Nat's air freshener is called Cinnamon Seduction. It's a sexy way to hide the smell of vomit.
The real Madness Castle: Nat's limo horn was broken by Gene in his panic and goes off randomly. "That way madness lies." Thanks Willy S.
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