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Bob's Burgers – Season 11, Episode 10

Yachty or nice, where to watch, bob's burgers — season 11, episode 10.

Watch Bob's Burgers — Season 11, Episode 10 with a subscription on Hulu, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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Cast & crew.

H. Jon Benjamin

Bob Belcher

Tina Belcher

Eugene Mirman

Gene Belcher

John Roberts

Linda Belcher

Kristen Schaal

Louise Belcher

Larry Murphy

Episode Info

The Avocado

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Bob’s Burgers S11E10: “Yachty or Nice”

“ It’s a Christmas miracle! We went really fast and also don’t look to closely at the quality of our work!”

Episode Grade: B/B+

You’re not going to believe this, but there are some drawbacks to my usual routine reviewing Bob’s Burgers episodes. No, no, it’s true. Perhaps due to my lack of renown as a critic of animated sitcoms, FOX does not see fit to provide me with advance copies of episodes (actually, is that even a thing networks do anymore?). This means I get to see each episode at the same time as everyone else who lives on the East Coast. Because most of the reason I do these reviews is to try and recapture some of the spirit of the comment section from the pre-Kinja Mothership, I like to get them up as soon as possible after the episode airs so people can get to commenting. The result of all this is I’ll watch each episode once, usually with a lot of pausing to make notes or whatnot, figure out an angle on it, then try and bash out something semi-coherent within and hour or two.

This week, Life and Bob’s Burgers conspired together to highlight how this approach can sometimes lead me to miss the mark. Somewhat. Or, to put it another way, had I been able to follow my usual routine on Sunday, I’d likely have been a bit harsher on this episode. Instead, as things played out, I was able to get a couple of viewings in before sitting down to write this thing. Get this: it turns out Bob’s Burgers episodes improve on rewatch. Who knew?

This isn’t to say this episode was without its issues. We’ll start with Bob. Everyone knows the drill at this point when it comes to nice things happening to Bob. He can’t trust them. He’ll get progressively more paranoid and irrational until he finally snaps and undermines whatever benefit he might have gained from the situation. Sometimes, as happened this week, he’ll manage to get a small win at the very end to keep things from getting too bleak. Either way, there’s a pattern here, and it’s usually identifiable from the get-go. Eleven seasons in, it feels like they might be running out of entertaining ways for Bob to shoot himself in the foot. Short of, ya know, actually shooting himself in the foot. They haven’t done that yet, right?

The kids b-plot ran into similar problems. Yes, of course Louise is going to try and scheme her way to the front of the present-line. Yes, of course Tina is going to ineffectually try and talk her out of it, even as she goes along with her the entire time. Yes, Gene is just going to go along with his sisters, occasionally spouting off some bits of nonsense. And yes, at the end of the day, Louise will see the error of her ways and do the right thing. This is all pretty standard stuff.

It’s also the kind of stuff that will bug you more when you’re looking for things to write about an episode than when you’re just looking for a half-hour of entertainment. Yes, this episode was pretty rote in a lot of ways, but it was balanced out by some good stuff as well. Teddy-as-Santa was a lot of fun, wisely leaning into the sweet side of the character rather than the frantic, shouty one. Even Jimmy Pesto was relatively tolerable this week, although that was probably due to plot-reasons as much as anything else (in a weird reversal, I found Trev to be the more annoying of the pair this week). MVP of the episode has to go to Gus though, whose drunken abetting of the kids’ Yuletide piracy was really the engine that made this episode go.

This is all a pretty long-winded way of saying that, had I written this review on Sunday night, I probably would have gone with my original reaction of being annoyed by the repetitive elements of this episode and rated it lower. Having had the chance to watch it a couple more times, I found those elements bothered me a whole lot less, and I was better able to appreciate the things the episode did well.

• “ How does the yacht club even know about us?” This actually kind of bugged the “But the continuity!” nerd in me. Glencrest Yacht Club should be pretty familiar with the Belchers by now.
• Also, when did their doorman start actually caring about his job?
• Linda’s mayor obsession was another element I found kind of irritating on first watch, but was less bothered by the next time around. I still kind of think of it as a joke the writers’ room must think is funnier than everyone else does.
• “ I need to prepare my remarks. Which is what I call the drinks I’m gonna have.”
• “Now what’re we going to do?” “Go back to work and try to make the best of what little we have?” “Wow, that’s a sad thing to hear kids say at Christmastime.”
• Was struck by a twinge of melancholy by the episode’s premise, as my town holds a similar event on the river in non-plague years. Ah, well…

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BobsBurgersS11E10YachtyOrNice

Bobs Burgers S 11 E 10 Yachty Or Nice » Recap

Tropey or Nice:

• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other : Turns out Jimmy Pesto really does respect Bob as a cook, and got him on the Yacht Club parade because he wanted the club members to like his burgers. True, it was because he wanted to join and thought he could impress the members enough to let him in, but the fact remains he wanted to impress them with Bob's food rather than his own.
• Louise is clearly unhappy with giving the toys back and even makes sarcastic quips when Teddy send the kids to get his "beard."
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs : Bob thinks it’s strange he was invited to cater the Yacht Club boat parade. Linda: It’s not strange. Louise: Pretty strange. Gene: Strangely pretty.
• Brick Joke : Teddy mentions that among the gifts are some RC cars that go a little faster than normal; one time someone got hit on the foot by one and lost a toenail. At the very end of the episode, Louise is playing with one of the RC cars and it hits Teddy on the foot.
• Call-Back : Linda is still obsessed with the Mayor, as last seen on " I Bob Your Pardon ".
• Christmas Episode : Though it deals less with holiday traditions (apart from Santa Claus and gift-giving) than a typical Christmas outing.
• Christmas Miracle : What Gene calls the kids getting done with prepping the sliders so quickly.
• Comically Missing the Point : When Jimmy takes Trev to go look at a boat with a dirty name, Trev says “Classic. I love names.”
• Conscience Makes You Go Back : Louise manages to get presents from the Santa Schooner, but then she sees all the kids waiting in line, feels guilty and brings them back. Teddy saves her a present she wanted as acknowledgement.
• Crowd Chant : As it turns out, this was Jimmy's ultimate plan—to have Trev fire up the crowd to chant Jimmy's name, getting him a yacht club membership.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance : Linda casually implies that the Glencrest Yacht Club used to have some... less-than-admirable membership restrictions. Linda : And there's a Santa, and they do Hanukkah, too, which is nice, 'cause let's just say the yacht club didn't always do Hanukkah.
• Department of Redundancy Department : Gus: I’m having craft beers and chicken satay and craft beers.
• Double Entendre : When the doorman tells the Belchers that going inside is for members only, Gene thinks he means a different kind of member. Gene: Members as in wieners?
• Female Gaze : Bob ends up wearing yacht club clothes after falling in the water. Linda admires how he looks in them, taking the time to look at his butt in particular.
• Gagging on Your Words : Jimmy can’t bring himself to say out loud that he thinks Bob’s food is good enough to be served on the Yacht Club boat parade. Feeling guilty about ruining his chances to be accepted as a yacht club member, Bob then turns it around by praising him to the president about how Jimmy is his "mentor" and a "great guy", clearly struggling just as much to praise him in return and telling Linda that he feels dirty and that he should jump off the pier again to feel cleaner.
• Good All Along : Turns out Jimmy legitimately wasn't setting up Bob for humiliation; he really, honestly thought the Yacht Club members would enjoy his burgers. While he and Trev did have a plan to do something during the parade, it only consisted of Trev trying to start a wave by chanting Jimmy's name so that he'd be accepted as a yacht club member.
• High-Five Left Hanging : When Trev happily announces that Jimmy Pesto is at the top of the wait list for the yacht club, he offers Jimmy a high-five and a low-five, both of which are left hanging.
• Honorary Uncle : The kids refer to Teddy as one while trying to butter him up so they can get presents early.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder : When Bob and Jimmy are wrestling around, the president of the club says, “Stop it! This is a yacht club, not a golf course!”
• Improperly Paranoid : Zigzagged. Jimmy actually didn't have an ulterior motive for inviting Bob to cater, but considering Jimmy's track record Bob has a very good reason to be worried about one.
• Instantly Proven Wrong : Louise reassures Tina and Gene that Teddy’s not going to see them, right before Teddy appears behind them.
• Mall Santa : Teddy is playing Santa at the boat parade, handing out presents donated by Yacht Club members. Louise thinks she can get Teddy to give her and her siblings good presents without getting in line, but he’s too nice to do that.
• Not What I Signed on For : Tina wants presents as much as the other kids, but objects to Louise’s devious ideas for how to get them.
• Pants-Pulling Prank : Early on, Bob sees Jimmy Pesto pants Trev. When Bob learns that Jimmy was the one who recommended him to the Yacht Club, he thinks he’s being set up to have his pants pulled down in front of everyone.
• Running Gag : When Louise and Gene are trying to butter up to Teddy so he'll give them some of the presents before he runs out, Louise tells him that she considers him an uncle and a father figure and proceeds to call him Uncle Father Santa Teddy, which is what the kids refer him as for the rest of the episode and what he signs the note addressed to them taped to the extra present he saved for them.
• Sanity Slippage : Bob becomes increasingly paranoid about Jimmy Pesto recommending him to the Yacht Club, to the point that he believes Jimmy is going to pants him in public and attaches bungee cords to his pants to prevent him from doing so. In the end, Bob attacks Jimmy thinking he’s about to prank him, and the two end up falling off the pier.
• Secret Test of Character : Teddy of all people pulls one of these, if in his own Teddy kind of way. When he spots the kids coming to get presents before the event he says he'll give to them "if they think that's the right thing to do". Once they decide against it and bring the presents back, he then asks them to go inside the boat and find his "spare beard"... in there, they find his bag with a note on it saying that he knew they'd do the right thing, and one toy car he couldn't give away (it's not quite up to code). The kids are overjoyed and play with it the rest of the episode.
• The Store Next Door is " Wreath of Khan Themed Wreaths".
• At the yacht club, Bob is serving "I’m Brie-ing of a White Crisp-mas Sliders" (with Brie and crispy onions).
• Supreme Chef : The mayor loved Bob's burger, even after it fell on the ground.
• Suspicion Aesop : When Bob finds out that Jimmy was the one who recommended him for the Yacht Club Parade, he spends the rest of the episode paranoid that he’s going to pull a prank on him. It’s later revealed that Jimmy had no such thing planned and recommended him because he genuinely thinks Bob’s food is good, albeit for the selfish reason of hoping it’ll help him become a member.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial : Teddy: I have to go now, and not because I have nervous diarrhea. Hey is there a toilet in this yacht? And not because I have nervous diarrhea!
• Bob's Burgers S11E9 "Mommy Boy"
• Recap/Bob's Burgers
• Bob's Burgers S11E11 "Romancing The Beef"

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Yachty or Nice Summary

When the Belchers get an unexpected invitation to cater the Glencrest Yacht Club's holiday boat parade, Bob wonders if there's a catch. Meanwhile, Louise has her eye on the present-loaded Santa Schooner.

Bob's Burgers Season 11 Episodes...

Bob's Burgers Show Summary

Bob's Burgers follows a third-generation restaurateur, Bob, as he runs Bob's Burgers with the help of his wife and their three kids. Bob and his quirky family have big ideas about burgers, but fall short on service and sophistication. Despite the greasy counters, lousy location and a dearth of customers, Bob and his family are determined to make Bob's Burgers "grand re-re-re-opening" a success.

Bob's Burgers - Yachty or Nice Synopsis and Schedule

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Yachty or Nice

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Every Bob’s Burgers Christmas Episode, Ranked

While Bob’s Burgers is best known for its beloved Thanksgiving episodes , the holiday that the series has celebrated most regularly is Christmas. From last-minute gift-giving efforts to many misadventures involving Christmas trees, the Belchers have made a Christmas appearance every year since the show started doing holiday episodes back in season three. (This year is no exception — “The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas” aired this Sunday.) Christmas episodes are classic trappings for a TV show — nearly every network series seems to have at least one — but Bob’s Burgers excels because it takes this well-worn trope and often gets very weird with it.

Where Bob takes the reins on Thanksgiving, Christmas gives Linda and the kids a chance to shine. Tina, Gene, and Louise are obsessed with presents — like most kids — and Linda just loves the spirit of the holiday. Christmas cheer is frequently peppered with very real concerns of end-of-year budgeting and the complicated emotions that extended family brings out around the holidays. Some of the most memorable episodes are also a bit spooky, embracing the often overlooked horror undertones of the holiday season ( A Christmas Carol is a horror story, okay?). Most importantly, the best Bob’s Burgers holiday episodes (regardless of what holiday is being celebrated) feel special , like they couldn’t air any other time of the year.

Whether you’re a newer viewer looking to binge all of the episodes or a longtime fan who just wants to watch the very best, we’ve got you covered. From the kooky episode that started it all to a recent front-runner, here is every Bob’s Burgers Christmas episode, ranked.

12. “Gene’s Christmas Break” (Season 12, Episode 10)

Christmas season means it’s time for DJ Gene to make an appearance, but tragedy strikes when he rolls over onto his beloved ’70s Christmas album (Percy McTinsel-bud’s “Tinsel Machine”) — breaking both the record and his heart. The kids attempt to track down a copy of the elusive soundtrack, taking them from the record store to Courtney’s musician father before finally calling it quits. The family eventually decides to surprise Gene by rerecording the album, to bumpy reception. Meanwhile, Teddy starts a neighborhood Secret Santa with the Belchers, Mort, and their mailman. The Secret Santa plot is actually pretty great, but it takes a back seat to Gene’s story line, which is … fine? It’s still a fun episode, but it doesn’t quite have the extra “oomph” that has come to be expected of Bob’s holiday episodes.

11. “The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas” (Season 14, Episode 10)

When a panel blows and the power goes out in their apartment two days before Christmas, the Belchers’ landlord Mr. Fischoeder agrees to put them up in his family’s empty hunting lodge over the holidays. They strap their tree to the top of their car and set out on the long, dark, and snowy ride to the mountain mansion — only to realize upon arrival that they lost the tree on the trek up. After getting settled, they attempt to replace it, and Linda eventually sets out on her own haggard journey to find it. It’s an interesting premise and a fun way to get the Belchers into a new environment (plus it calls on some fun, spooky elements), but the promising beginning ultimately flutters out into an okay story. There’s lots of potential for the Belchers to deeply explore their temporary digs, but it’s passed over in favor of the less intriguing tree adventure (which feels like it’s already sort of been done in past tree-centric Christmas episodes).

10. “Yachty or Nice” (Season 11, Episode 10)

When the Belchers are hired to cater the elite Glencrest Yacht Club’s annual holiday party a few days before Christmas, Bob is flattered but confused as to why his services were solicited. (Linda doesn’t give it too much thought, believing that they’re deserving, and instead fixates on the fact that “the mayah!” is going to be there.) When they learn that Jimmy Pesto recommended them, Bob grows skeptical and becomes convinced that his archnemesis is planning to humiliate him. The kids, meanwhile, hatch a plot to get some of the toys that Teddy (dressed as Santa) has been hired to give out to those in need. Goofy and heartfelt, the only real fault of “Yachty or Nice” is that it’s not that memorable in the grand scheme of things.

9. “Better Off Sled” (Season 9, Episode 10)

“Better Off Sled” is a great episode of Bob’s Burgers . It ranks lower on this list mostly because it doesn’t feel as Christmasy as many of the other entries, but it’s overall a very solid snowy tale that takes place over the kids’ winter break. After a particularly bad snowstorm, Tina, Gene, and Louise are pumped to go sledding with their friends at the big hill in town. Unfortunately, the older teens (including Louise’s nemesis, Logan) have taken over the area for snowball fights, and the younger kids get caught in the cross fire. Everyone is tempted to retreat, except for Louise, who plans a Spartan attack. Linda’s attempt to knit the kids scarves for Christmas, only to realize that she can’t knit to save her life (but Bob can!), is a highlight — as are her “Knitcracker” nightmares.

8. “Bob Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins” (Season 3, Episode 9)

The first Bob’s Burgers Christmas episode is so great and odd — very precedent-setting! In “Bob Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins,” Bob’s uncle dies and bequeaths him a storage unit. Bob inherits the contents of the unit, which include Chet, a man that his uncle was allowing to live there. The Belchers let the man stay with them in the days leading up to Christmas, during which time he decorates their restaurant window with increasingly elaborate holiday displays that attract customers, but they slowly come to realize that Chet might be a little “off.” Specifically, he believes that he is a mannequin come to life who has lost his mannequin wife, Nadine. It’s a niche plot that somehow works and establishes that the writers can do truly anything during the Christmas episodes.

7. “Nice-Capades” (Season 6, Episode 5)

When the kids upset a mall Santa, Louise fears that he’ll report back to the real Santa in the North Pole and they won’t get any gifts on Christmas morning. In an effort to appease the man, Louise helms a production at the mall’s ice-skating rink wherein she and her siblings will performatively recap their good deeds of the year. The best part, however, isn’t the kids’ performances and instead comes from the adults who help (featuring a bourbon-inspired performance from Mr. Fischoeder and his brother, Felix, as well as some skating accompaniment from Teddy and his hockey team). While this might be Louise’s most present-hungry episode, it also leads to some nice introspective thinking from the youngest Belcher about what it means to actually be a nice person. “Nice-Capades” is a sweet, solid entry into the Christmas-special canon, only hindered by the fact that several of the other Christmas episodes are simply even better.

6. “Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas” (Season 10, Episode 10)

In “Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas,” Linda gets a temp job at the post office during the holiday season to help rake in a little extra cash. She embraces the task with gusto and loves to see presents making their way to families just in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, one present accidentally gets left behind, and she takes it upon herself to make sure it gets to the little boy it’s addressed to. Bob, in turn, is stressed, because Linda’s parents and sister are coming over and he doesn’t want to be left alone with them to defuse the tension. Although Linda assures him that she’ll be back in time, the evening gets complicated and she takes off on a rogue mission (with Gene and Louise in tow), which forces Bob and Tina to get creative with their peacekeeping abilities back at home. This is a great example of a Linda adventure episode (à la the incredible “Lindapendent Woman” and “Eat, Spray, Linda”), where she’s able to strike out from her family and embrace her greatest, weirdest whims.

5. “The Last Gingerbread House on the Left” (Season 7, Episode 7)

When Mr. Fischoeder asks Bob to bring some food to his house for a party in “The Last Gingerbread House on the Left,” Bob initially believes that it will be a quick drop-off before he can join his family for caroling. Things take an interesting turn when he discovers that Mr. Fischoeder is having a gingerbread-house competition with his old, rich friends and wants Bob to participate — and lose on purpose. Bob accepts, with the knowledge that he won’t have to pay rent for a month and will be able to afford better presents for the kids, but he eventually develops a competitive edge for the elusive prize of getting to pet the albino baby polar bear at the local zoo. Linda, Teddy, and the kids’ caroling is just as fun, especially when they find a house that they believe a murderer (with an excellent singing voice) lives in. In addition to the memorable Belcher antics, the episode also serves as a loving tribute to the joys of found family.

4. “Father of the Bob” (Season 5, Episode 6)

While Linda’s parents and sister have been a prominent part of the show since the first season, the details surrounding Bob’s side of the family have had a slower unveiling. It’s not until “Father of the Bob” that we meet Bob’s father, Big Bob, and learn that he and Bob Jr. have never had an easy relationship (exacerbated by the passing of Bob’s mother when he was young). Bob is reluctant to attend his father’s Christmas Eve party, held at Big Bob’s Diner, but Linda hopes that this is the year they’ll be able to patch things over. Simmering feelings come to a boil, but things are ultimately hashed out in the best way possible: by line dancing in a gay bar. It’s a poignant episode that captures the classic Bob’s Christmas spirit while also building out Bob’s interior world. What pushes it ahead of “Last Gingerbread” and “Maily Linda” is that it actually manages to help propel the overall series lore forward, a rarity in a long-running animated comedy.

3. “Christmas in the Car” (Season 4, Episode 8)

When Linda’s love for Christmas leads her to put a tree up the day after Halloween (and then when it dies, to put up another one, which also dies), the Belchers find themselves tree-less on Christmas Eve. Bob is fine with this, but Linda finds it sacrilegious, and the family sets out to pick up a final Christmas tree on a snowy night. Things take a turn for the worse when they cut off a candy-cane-shaped long-haul truck on the way home and, to their horror, realize that the driver is hunting them down. Scary and high-stakes, it ultimately results in a hilarious showdown that reminds the Belchers that they’re lucky to get to spend the holidays together. Everything about the episode is pitch-perfect: the Dutch-baby jokes at the diner, the “where do babies come from?” answer in the car, and the kids’ Santa trap accidentally ensnaring Teddy. Also, the “Jingle in the Jungle” song that Gene is obsessed with is truly addictive and worthy of his fanatical hype.

2. “The Bleakening (Parts 1 & 2)” (Season 8, Episodes 6 & 7)

It’s kind of wild that eight seasons in, the Bob’s team said, “Hey, what if the Christmas episode were an epic horror-inspired musical two-parter?” Just as wild is the fact that it worked. In “The Bleakening,” Linda observes that it just hasn’t felt like Christmas this year and that they need to throw a neighborhood Christmas party at the restaurant to help spread cheer. But Linda’s holiday enthusiasm is dashed when the top of their tree (which displayed a collection of the kids’ ornaments) is stolen from the party. The Belcher children believe that the Bleaken — an animal that steals from children, according to Teddy — is behind the theft and set out into the night on Christmas Eve to track it, followed shortly after by a worried Bob and Linda. The spooky journey eventually results in the discovery of an underground gay Christmas rave (and Linda’s tree top) with a few familiar faces, and a grand sacrificial move from Bob. The episode has everything that makes Bob’s Burgers great: multiple catchy original songs, experimentation with genre, and an unexpected reveal that the whole family can enjoy.

1. “The Plight Before Christmas” (Season 13, Episode 10)

This is a really beautiful episode of television. Written by series creator Loren Bouchard (with a story from longtime Bob’s writer Kelvin Yu, who is credited in some way with all of the top-four entries on this list), “The Plight Before Christmas” is such a surprising delight after ten years of Christmases with the Belchers. The episode finds the family on a particularly stressful night, when Gene’s sixth-grade holiday concert falls on the same night as Tina’s Thundergirls play. Bob and Linda think that they’ve got it handled by splitting up and each attending one show, only for Louise to throw a wrench in the plans when she reminds the family that she has a poetry reading at the library. She quickly assures them that it’s just a gag and that they don’t need to attend, but Tina — the most emotionally intuitive Belcher — realizes that it might actually be an important occasion for her younger sister. As Gene’s class plays a gorgeous xylophone piece that could score The Leftovers , we learn that Tina has given up her star (not starring!) role in order to be there for Louise’s reading, which is a surprisingly heartfelt ode to Christmas morning with her family. The plot, along with the final scene, underscores just how much they all love each other, which has always been the show’s not-so-secret weapon.

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Review: Bob’s Burgers “Yachty or Nice”

The Belchers have been invited to help cater the Glendale Yacht Club yacht parade, but Bob has a bad feeling about it. While there, they meet with Teddy, who’s been tapped as the club’s Santa after the previous year’s pick got in too good of shape. The show’s favorite handyman is unfortunately not feeling the Christmas spirit quite yet, since he’s worried he’s not “Santa Schooner” material. He further explains that his role involves riding on the boat, then stepping off the boat to hand out presents to the kids. Louise’s ears naturally perk up at the mention of presents for kids, and Teddy goes on to explain the gifts have been donated by the yacht club members, and include picks like slightly-too-fast remote control cars. He comments that the good stuff goes fast, and they’ll have to wait in line to get it. The kids are all too eager to head that way, but their attempt to bail is hampered by their parents’ need for them to help with the fancy slider recipe Bob’s picked for the event, the “I’m Brie-ing of a White Crispness” burger. While they prep for the event, the yacht club president walks by, and Bob takes this opportunity to ask how they heard about his restaurant. “Mr. President Man” says they came highly recommended by one of the club’s members, but can’t quite recall who. At this point Jimmy Pesto and Trev arrive, confirming Bob’s suspicions that they got this gig as part of someone’s nefarious scheme. As the kids scheme to get on the Santa Schooner, Bob tries to figure out Pesto’s plan, and concludes it must be to pants him in front of everyone. He constructs some makeshift suspenders using bungee cords, but is still unable to calm his fears. It takes a tumble into the harbor to pour some (literal) cold water on his plans to reveal Jimmy’s scheme, and the two of them reconcile, at least as much as bitter restaurant rivals can. The kids seem to get what they want at first as well, but are soon swayed by their better natures. Everything comes together for the Belcher family (and Teddy) in the end though, ensuring they’ll all stay off the “yachty” list for this year.

This one’s just a touch preachy, but since it is the holiday episode, I’ll let it slide. It’s far from my favorite winter offering from the show (that honor goes to “The Bleakening” which is not only a fantastic story, but also features Todrick Hall in an extremely festive guest voice role) but it does have some nice character development, and an overall vibe of holiday cheer, even if it takes a second for all of the characters to get what they actually want.

I also appreciate the weird off-the-wall continuity played for humor here, like Linda’s obsession with the mayor, and Gus’s dreams of a Santa heist. This is at least the second or third episode though where Louise has to change her mind about something and “learn a lesson”, which again, gets a Christmas episode pass, but I’m hoping will fall to the wayside in favor of more story-focused plots as the season progresses. Although Kristen Schaal (tons of stuff, but recently Sarah Lynn on Bojack Horseman ) drops some quality one-liners, like “Great! A festive Christmas trap with my family.” and “You’ve seen what it’s like for us Uncle Father Santa Teddy.” making the writing and delivery in this one as impressive as they come.

Bob’s suspicions of Jimmy being way off help humanize his rival a bit, and more importantly, help humanize Trev. The fratty bartender is usually relegated to one-off lines with his boss, but this episode gives him a touch more personality, even if it comes in the form of self-awareness about being awkward. David Herman (you know him from classics such as Office Space and as Scruffy on Futurama ) delivers the line “Uh, yeah! I have social anxiety, BOB.” with such on-point weirdness I actually laughed out loud.

Finally, there’s John Michael Higgins (Principal Ronald Toddman from Saved by the Bell, folks!) reprising his role as Glencrest Yacht Club president from the episode “What About Blob” to say things like “Stop it, stop it! This is a yatch club not a golf course!” and “This is what happens when you open your doors to the boatless.” Overall a solid holiday offering, and a great addition to season 11.

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