Purple Rain-Union

"Purple Rain-Union" is the 6th episode of the fourth season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers and the overall 51st episode, and is written by Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith and directed by Tyree Dillihay. It aired on Fox in the United States on December 1, 2013.^[1]

Plot

Haunted by a poor talent-show performance from her high-school days, Linda gets back together with her former bandmates to rock their class reunion. Meanwhile, at the same soiree, Bob's large and bothersome pimple becomes the reunions' most popular guest.

Reception

Critical reception

Pilot Viruet of The A.V. Club gave the episode A–, saying "Purple Rain-union” was undoubtedly Linda’s show but the rest of the Belchers were in fine form tonight, too. The children were stuck with terrible babysitter Jen and this especially annoyed Tina who had gotten used to her role as babysitter. That montage of the children punching each other so they’d all get black-eyes (what perfect/destructive childhood logic!) interspersed with Bad Hair Day’s rock n’ roll performance was an episode highlight. Meanwhile, Bob’s pimple has him regress back to hating high school but in the adult world—or really, the dermatologist world—the pimple makes him oddly popular and he ends up enjoying the reunion he dreaded going to (the alcohol helps too, I’m sure). That shot of him cheering for Linda was very sweet; I love when Bob’s Burgers shows how endlessly devoted Linda is to him and I love it even more when it’s Bob’s turn for a similar gesture. And Linda definitely deserved it."^[2]

Robert Ham of Paste gave the episode a 9.3 out of 10, saying "Something that came to mind while watching this episode is that while I’m still grateful that Fox has given Bob’s Burgers a chance to thrive on their vaunted Sunday night schedule, I almost wish they were on a network that let them play things out over a full half-hour with no commercial breaks. As undeniably great as the show is, it seems to whizz by between the ads, and is then over before you realize what hit you. Jokes sometimes don’t get enough time to sink in and you don’t get a lot of quiet moments. Sure, they’re filled with some amazing songs and gags and one-liners, but a little breathing room would be much appreciated."^[3]

Ratings

The episode received a 1.6 rating and was watched by a total of 3.39 million people. This made it the fourth most watched show on Animation Domination that night, losing to American Dad!, and repeats of Family Guy and The Simpsons with 3.54 million.^[4]

References