Kyle’s Thoughts

“The Hormone-iums” was a Tina episode, and it was a satisfying one. Bob’s Burgers mines teenage angst gold any time it features Tina. Butts were tossed for kisses and that was a welcome change, but invention of The Hormone-iums was contrived. Bob’s Burgers does an excellent job of call-backs to previous jokes—it did that well with week’s secondary story—and it’s developed rich Tina lore, but this episode didn’t tap into either of those particularly well as far as Tina is concerned.

That’s not to say that “The Hormone-iums” is a bad episode. It’s a good episode. The titular musical theater group is straight out of something Mr. Frond would create but Bob’s Burgers has hinted at Frond’s ABS (his conflict resolution system) on multiple occasions and The Hormone-iums appear to be an extension of Frond’s ABS and yet we haven’t seen The Hormone-iums before now. Gene and the rest of the Belcher kids have thrown countless musicals and this is the first time we’ve seen The Hormone-iums. I wouldn’t ding a comedy this hard but Bob’s Burgers has done a better job of incorporating ideas like this in the past. I’m a little disappointed.

The rest of the show was good to great. Tina stands up for herself and challenges Mr. Frond—for right and wrong reasons—and that was good to see. Most episodes that focus on Tina take a layered approach and “The Hormone-iums” was no different. And it was fun.

Since Tina took center stage, the other Belchers served as the secondary story, and we’re back to Bob’s Burgers’ usual formula. That was also nice to see. The story for Linda’s booze shoes was a little flat but watching Bob come out of his shell made it worth it. And that also led to a tender—and awkward—moment between Tina and her father. The Marshmallow, Gretchen, and Fishoeder call backs added some needed spice.

“The Hormone-iums” had enough zest for a Tina episode, and I had fun watching.

Thanks for reading.