TV Review: Bob’s Burgers (5×04) – “Dawn of the Peck”

As with the Halloween episodes, the Thanksgiving episodes of seasons three and four of Bob’s Burgers were pretty terrific. Season three’s “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” was a very funny, if somewhat minor episode of what is still the best season the show has done. Season four’s “Turkey in a Can,” on the other hand, was one of the funniest Bob’s Burgers episodes ever.

“Dawn of the Peck,” like “Tina and the Real Ghost,” shows that Bob’s Burgers doesn’t seem to want to stick with the familiar holiday episode format. Previously, the holiday episodes made their holidays central to the plots. This year, they hardly feel like holiday episodes at all, appearing almost like they were done out of obligation.

Strangely, “Dawn of the Peck” feels more like a Halloween episode than “Tina and the Real Ghost.” It’s essentially a horror movie parody, opening with a familiar horror movie setup: a man being attacked by a mysterious bird inside of a truck. The episode then moves to the Belchers’, where Bob is disappointed that the family has decided to go to Wonder Wharf to participate in an event called the Running of the Turkeys, rather than spend Thanksgiving at home.

This is the one aspect the episode retains from the previous Thanksgiving episodes. All of them deal with Bob’s frustration with Thanksgiving not going according to plan (although you’d think he’d be used to it by now). But while this was the main plot point in the other two episodes, here it’s a b-plot, albeit one that’s actually more entertaining than the main storyline.

The main plot involves the Running of the Turkeys going horribly wrong when Calvin Fischoeder’s brother Felix—possibly my least favorite character on the show, even though he’s only been in a couple episodes—accidentally adds chickens, ducks, and geese into the mix, resulting in what Teddy describes as a messed up pecking order. (“Aw, that’s terrible. It’s like the ladies on The View,” says Linda.) This section of the episode features numerous appearances from recurring characters, including Regular Sized Rudy, Andy and Ollie, and Mickey, but none of them have much to do. Meanwhile, the running joke where Calvin and Felix don’t realize that microphones are turned on gets old before it even becomes a running joke.

“Dawn of the Peck” has some great lines, but overall, it’s like a lesser version of season three’s “The Deepening.” Bob’s storyline, where he boycotts Thanksgiving by getting drunk, eating chips, and listening to Donna Summer, isn’t particularly new either. Still, it’s hard to resist intoxicated Bob, especially when he starts talking to a turkey baster. The simplicity of this part of the episode just makes the overblown Wonder Wharf plot stick out, and at this point, I think they should just do a bottle episode featuring drunk Bob.

5/10

“The real tragedy is that I don’t have time to get nachos before we start. Oh, maybe I do.”

“Is everyone ready for some poultry in motion?”

“A lot’s changed. We don’t have to start repopulating the Earth yet, but eventually we might have to do just that.” “Teddy, how long have I been in here?” “Five, maybe six minutes.”

“We’re gonna die like we were born. Spinning around in an egg.”

“We rejected Thanksgiving and now it’s attacking us.”

I love that Linda’s a Hocus Pocus fan. That’s so her.

“I’ll never forget his incredible legs.” “They looked like hot dogs.”

“‘Went to store real quick. Love forever, Bob.’ That’s a perfectly good note. That doesn’t sound drunk at all.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Go stuff each other.”