Bob's Burgers, "My Fuzzy Valentine"

Bob's Burgers has quickly become the stand-out show on Fox's Sunday night Animation Domination line-up. Just the thought of a Valentine's Day episode of Bob's Burgers makes me chortle, and the episode itself did not disappoint.

Every episode of this show toys with the standard sitcom conventions. In this particular episode we see that Bob always gives Linda crappy Valentine's Day gifts. That's standard sitcom fare. But we also learn that Bob has no idea his gifts are crappy, because Linda always makes an effort to coo and fuss over them as if they were diamond rings. She doesn't have the heart to tell him the truth, thus sentencing herself to a lifetime of (e.g.) a heart-shaped pancake for Valentine's Day.

But the kids don't magically have the answer, either. They lead Bob to a store that sells a line of expensive porcelain figurines (similar in concept to Lladro figurines). Kids don't really have a good feel for what things cost, and they discover that even the cheapest figurine is priced ridiculously over budget, so that's a bust.

(It's probably a good thing, though... I mean, are we sure Linda even likes those things? I can't recall ever having spotted one in their apartment. I'll have to start looking for them.)

Meanwhile, Linda goes overboard with her idea for sparking romance among the burger shop's single customers. As Linda is wont to do. She sets up a speed dating event, which turns into an "Admit the most shameful thing about yourself" event, which was so hilarious that I missed a lot of the lines because I was laughing too hard.

One of the major differences between Bob's Burgers and other animated shows is that the actors record all of their lines together in the same room. This gives a lot more depth and realism to the rapid-fire back-and-forth banter that Bob's Burgers excels at, and the speed dating scenes are a great example of this. The energy in these scenes is fantastic, and carries the episode through some of its saggier bits.

Image copyright Bob's Burgers/20th Century FOX Television