As great as an episode of Bob’s Burgers can be when the kids and the adults are given their own separate stories, such as in “Full Bars,” there’s something much more rewarding about a storyline that combines the two groups in an almost Simpson-ian manner. When the Bob and Linda story coincides with the stories of Tina, Gene and Louise, the family bonding aspect of the show almost always works greatly. With “Bob Fires the Kids,” the story revolves around Bob’s fears that he is an insufficient father, overworking his kids like his own father worked him.
Bob takes a look back at his childhood with some of his old toys—including a scrubbing pad, a dirty spatula and a dog made of soap—and worries that he is becoming too much like his own father, who wanted more work and less play. To make sure his kids maintain some semblance of their childhood, Bob fires the kids. But the kids are kind of terrible at being normal kids, as they can’t jump rope or fill water balloons and a trip to the beach ends in a wave of used diapers.
The kids would rather spend time with their family at the restaurant, but Bob fights the urge to keep them around by trying to hire a new employee. Since he can’t exactly pay a new employee, he hires Mickey, the recently released bank robber who took Bob hostage last season, voiced by Bill Hader.
Since the kids just don’t know what to do with themselves, they get a new job working on a blueberry farm that’s actually a cover for a pair of pot dealers, Beverly and Cooper, played by Megan Mullaly and Nick Offerman, sounding very different from Ron Swanson.
But in the end, everything goes back to normal. Bob needed the kids, and even with Mickey, he missed the way that they did things. The kids have it much better than Bob did, even if he does sometimes tell them to quit having fun and get to work. Their relationship is symbiotic; they both need each other.
Once again, Bob’s Burgers has some great guest voices appearing. Hader’s Mickey is a very odd character, but so much fun, especially as he sings during the end credits. It’s also always fun to see Mullaly and Offerman playing off each other, regardless of what show it’s on. Probably the best piece of casting Bob’s Burgers will do this season is Doug Benson playing an undercover DEA officer trying to buy weed from Tina.
Unlike most animated shows focusing on families, Bob’s Burgers actually has a heartwarming family dynamic. Considering that on Sunday, The Simpsons had an episode in which Homer regretted having all his children and Family Guy’s main storyline had a father lying bluntly to his daughter, it’s nice for Bob’s Burgers to not only have the biggest laughs on Fox’s Sunday night comedy block, but to also have some fantastic family moments.