Bob Belcher has already proven his primary personality trait to be that of pride. He has a constant need to prove himself and a stubborn reluctance to let things go, regardless of how out of control they get. In “L’il Hard Dad,” that pride is front and center, which for a while, works against it.
The episode mainly focuses on Bob discovering a new hobby, RC aircraft. After ordering a True Lies model remote control helicopter (similar to his model bus based off of Speed, another 1994 action movie, in season one’s “Weekend at Mort’s”), he immediately breaks it, and then demands a refund from the seller, Sheldon Felds. When Felds both refuses to give him back his money and insults his flying ability, Bob decides to confront him. Meanwhile, Gene, who is questioning his ability to be a heroic man of action, goes with Bob to see how it’s done.
Despite Felds being a pretty funny new character, Bob’s quarrel with him covers no new ground and, just a few episodes after “Late Afternoon in the Garden of Bob and Louise” seriously delved into Bob’s arrogance, feels like a bit of a retread. After all, that episode ended with Bob seriously considering how his inability to let things go can harm those around him. Here, he’s doing the same thing again, with a completely different member of his family being potentially harmed by it.
However, it’s Gene’s character growth that makes this plotline work out. He wants to be a man of action and, in the end, he becomes one, calling his father out and making him realize how insane he’s being. Of the Belcher family, Gene is the one the show rarely knows what to do with, and between this one and “Best Burger,” it seems like they’re at least trying to figure that out this season.
The other plotline of “L’il Hard Dad” focuses on Tina, who has a book report on The Call of the Wild due the next day when she hasn’t even started reading it. Linda and Louise, who have never read any of the books they were assigned in school, try to teach Tina how to do a book report without reading. This is a fun storyline, a b-plot that neither underwhelms nor overshadows the main story.
Rating: 7/10
Memorable lines:
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“The Call of the Wild? Is it about an insane telemarketer?”
“People never stop making you read books, Tina. It’s a sick world!”
“Fish in the sky! This was in Revelations. Kirk Cameron was right!”
“You’re shooting BBs at me. Ow, that one hit me in the nipple!” “That’s his good nipple!” “My good nipple is bleeding!”
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Jocelyn’s book report is incredible: “And that’s why it truly was like a tale of two cities. But I feel like, maybe next time, focus on the tale of just one city, and maybe that city has like a yogurt shop where cool teens work. I wanna work there. Thank you.”
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