Kyle’s Thoughts

“Secret Admiral-irer” had all the trappings of a great Bob’s Burgers episode: a hopelessly romantic Tina, a cynical Louise, Bob trying to please new friends, chuckles throughout, and the episode’s three stories converging in a satisfying way. But the show’s lacked something. I can’t put my finger on it but if I had to guess, it’d be Tina’s stand-in love interest.

Tina gets ignored by Jimmy Junior early this episode and spent the rest of the show trying to make romance happen for a 90-year-old woman. The elderly woman’s love story had its moments but I couldn’t help but question whether or not this romance was a faux-mance or a pale replacement for Tina and J Ju. There’s even a moment when Tina reads the lady’s mail, mentions a free gym membership, and the lady says that she doesn’t know any Jims. That was a little on the nose. Or perhaps we need to introduce the lady to our Jim.

I don’t know if Jimmy and Tina will ever happen—or if they should happen—and the elderly woman, her nephew, and her admiral would-be-lover provided enough giggles, but Tina stories have dominated this season and the story was contrived. You could say all sit-com stories are contrived, so I’ll let that go, but this coupled with Bob trying to please the wrong people—again—made for a solid, if not forgettable, episode.

“Secret Admiral-irer” is another good episode that shows that adds to an already solid season of Bob’s Burgers and yet it lacks in originality. I love Tina as a character–she’s one of Bob’s Burgers’ best–but she’s been over-exposed this season and I’d like to see a solid story for some of the other characters.

Thanks for reading.