Mannequin Love

Bob's Burgers, S03E09

Bob was left a storage unit from a deceased relative and found a man named Chet living there.  The family took him in until Christmas and got a lot of business thanks to Chet's talent for making eye-catching window displays.  The family was forced to help find Chet's mannequin wife when Bob refused to believe's Chet's story about being a mannequin and the town was expecting a final Christmas Eve display.

First of all, I was really reminded in this story about how broke Bob is.  He couldn't even afford to give Tina a dry-erase board, the most financially feasible of his kids' Christmas requests.  I think sometimes I forget how poor they are until something like this makes it obvious.  In the end when the kids were happy to get things like exit signs and shoe sizers, you can really see how they are low on funds but imaginative enough to appreciate such meager gifts.  The family may be annoying, but at least they're not spoiled.  After all, they gave up their Christmas money so a crazy man could have his "wife" back.

Second, I'm glad that Bob at least didn't believe Chet's story.  It would be cool if he was an actual mannequin (and possibly explain why he is so good at creating displays), but people just tend to be insane in the town where Bob lives.  I sort of wished that there would have been some good evidence to prove that Chet was just crazy, so that Bob wouldn't look like a jerk.  I mean, why does he have to humor the guy?  Yes, he was helping their business tremendously, but surely that kind of behavior has to be destructive.  Bob was trying to help him, as Chet had helped Bob.

Third, I sort of liked Chet's displays for some reason.  I guess it was because the kids got involved and were forced to freeze-frame in a holiday-themed pictures.  My favorite was when they were elves.  I guess the kids just looked cute.  Then again, when Chet was depressed about Nadine and made this horrific scene of a disemboweled snowman and reindeer below an elf that had hung itself, I really loved it too.  I don't know if I could technically call it a display since they never used that one.  Still, as sick as it was, it was pretty good.  Especially the ketchup bottle squirting to make it look like blood coming out of the snowman's neck.  My least favorite was the nativity scene because it turned out to be a "love-triangle" fight and a make-out session with a head.  The latter was especially gross.  I don't mind if the guy wants to love an inanimate object, but no one should have to watch him actually kiss it.  I mean, it's a little funny he was doing that while dressed as Joseph and the mannequin dressed as Mary, but not more so than it was gross.

My favorite joke in this story was when Chet kept pointing out that Bob and Linda were loud whisperers.  They also needed to back up a bit if they were going to talk to someone because both times Chet mentioned this, they weren't that far from him.  I also thought it was sort of funny when Bob was yelling at the kids to stay when Linda tried to make them go so she could scold Bob for hurting Chet's feelings.  Linda won in the end, but the kids were at odds at which parent they should listen to for a while.  Plus, I just like H. Jon Benjamin yelling sometimes.

I would say I liked this episode, but I think I was mostly annoyed that Bob was treated as heartless because he wouldn't believe a ridiculous story.  Still, I liked the displays Chet made and the fact that the kids showed that they could be selfless to help someone.  If anything else, at least this episode was different.  You don't see many Christmas stories about mannequins, I guess.

There'll Be No Baby Tomorrow

The Cleveland Show, S04E05

Donna wanted to have another baby with Cleveland once Rallo had grown up, but Cleveland's vasectomy made it impossible.  Donna and Cleveland battled each other to expose the other concerning the fake pregnancy that they both were aware of.   Rallo became the star of the play Annie, but his diva-like actions got it shut down before it was even performed.

Wow, I think it has been a while since there was a story where Cleveland and Donna were trying to best the other with a lie or a scheme.  Or maybe not, but I feel like it has because I hate this setup.  Mainly because you know that both of them already know the other is full of crap, but they keep playing out the charade anyway.  I mean, it was a little funny that they were both so stubborn that they would actually go to the hospital and get the doctor to birth a cushion, but it was mostly frustrating as hell.

The best line from that story came from Dr. Fist, who finally spoke up after going along with their fight for some reason:

If I may interject…you’re both terrible people who should not have any children.  In fact, I am not even comfortable sending that cushion home with you.

His comment was almost worth them acting like idiots for the majority of the episode.

The side story where Rallo got to be Annie was kinda cute.  I liked how he adapted Junior's shirt into something that looked like Annie's dress.  It was also cute when he was crying at his window after regretting the show getting cancelled due to his ureasonable and costly demands.  A little later when Roberta was offering a way to have Rallo be a star after all, there was a pretty funny moment:

[Roberta, bring Junior and Rallo close] We’ll do our own knockoff version!
[Rallo] Ack, ugh!  Girl don’t know how to whisper.
[Roberta] I am whispering!

There's something very funny to be about people who don't understand how to whisper.  I guess because it makes them look a little crazy and stupid at the same time.

This was an okay episode.  I really wish the side story about Rallo could have been longer.  I would have liked to see him be more of a diva than was shown.  Didn't care too much for the lie fest between Donna and Cleveland--it stopped being funny a few seconds after they started.  It's a little weird to say, but I feel like for the sake of this show's comedy, Cleveland and Donna shouldn't do much together.  It usually ends up being a pretty boring (or annoying) story.