Bob’s Burgers, Season 3, Episode 10: Mother Daughter Laser Razor, Review

Is there anything more awkward than a father taking his daughter to get her legs waxed? Probably not, but Bob’s a good sport.

At the start of the episode, Linda is trying to get the kids and Bob to participate in family game night (with Twister), but Louise is being resistant. She would rather play “Stone the Witch” with her dad and when Linda tries to change the game, the tension builds between the two until Louise is sent to her room. Linda is convinced that Louise likes Bob better, leading into a very funny flashback where Linda is “arguing” with a baby Louise, who keeps saying “dada” instead of “mama.” Insistent on bonding with her daughter, Linda even goes so far as to wake Louise up just to read her a story from a very alliterative baby book.At the restaurant, Tina waits on Claire and Jaclyn, two of the most popular girls in school. They text nonstop while Tina takes their orders and make fun of another girl in school who has hairy legs. Tina looks down to discover that her OWN legs are hairy and is so mortified that she asks Gene to cover her up, even as she walks away from the table. She asks Linda to help shave her legs, but as Linda gets more agitated with Louise, Gene suggests, “I don’t think you should shave angry!” He and Tina flee the bathroom as Linda has it out with Louise, crushing the disposable razor in her hand.Linda’s solution: An all day, mother-daughter healing seminar at the Nurture Center.  Louise thinks they’re going to play laser tag, and tries to escape once she realizes where they’re headed. She only agrees to it when Linda bribes her (for $29.50, after some negotiation) and they end up in a hokey class led by the blonde, clueless Dakota. His activities range from everyone shouting “I AM AN ESTROGENIUS!” to fake umbilical cords attached to the kids’ faces to the “vagisacs” used to simulate birth. Although it’s a mother/daughter seminar, one mom brings her son, Logan, who has called her the “B” word.Tina tries shaving on her own, but can’t do it, so she gets Bob to take her in to get her legs waxed. She’s so afraid of the pain that she gets Bob to do it with her. The waxing parallels Louise and Logan getting shut in the “uter-room” with an endless loop of the movie “Freaky Friday” and ALL of them end up screaming. While the kids are locked up, the two moms compete for the MVM sash, proving that one of them is the best mom in the seminar.  Gene is so jealous of Tina and Bob that he gets his own legs waxed; back at the restaurant, Bob shows his smooth skin off to Teddy. Tina starts to feel guilty for killing off her “furry little friends” and is upset that she got waxed just to avoid being picked on in school. (“I’m a sheep!  A hairless sheep!”  she laments.)Louise and Logan fake stomachaches to get the adults inside the uter-room, then escape and run next door to play laser tag. The adults break out and join them and that is where Linda confesses that she wishes Louise liked her more. They end up bonding not in the goofy, touchy-feely seminar, but in the semi-violent atmosphere of a laser tag shootout.

Final review:  

Bob’s Burgers always leans toward the bizarre, but it captures teen angst like few other cartoons do and hits on some awkward and painful spots in the parent-child relationship while being funny at the same time. You see Bob helping Tina through a tough time in adolescence, which is touching and you see a tenuous mother-daughter relationship go from combative to cooperative.  Kind of deep for a Sunday night cartoon, but this is one of those episodes that easily relate to real life. I’m really glad that the show has been renewed for a fourth season and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Best quotes:  

Linda to Tina, “Only shave up to the knee…only strippers shave above the knee.”

Teddy showing the gang his hairy legs and Gene saying, “Wow…you could wash a pan with that!”

Bob agreeing to get waxed and Gene yelling, “YAY!  SCROTAL WAX!”  

As usual, I think Gene wins for the best quotes.