Topsy (Bob's Burgers)

"Topsy" is the 16th episode of the third season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers and the overall 38th episode, and is written by Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith and directed by Tyree Dillihay.^[1] It aired on Fox in the United States on March 10, 2013.

Plot

Louise plans to take down her Thomas Edison-obsessed science teacher when she recreates one of the famous inventor's electrocution of an elephant, Topsy.

Reception

Critical reception

Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B, saying "A side plot involving Linda and Bob battling over the best science project for wearing spices proves amusing as well, though it's interesting primarily based on how much time it doesn't take up. It's just a handful of quick scenes, barely worth calling a B-plot. Since Bob's Burgers has occasionally struggled with integrating all-kid plots with all-parent plots, I think it's good that this story's simplicity was recognized and treated effectively. It fits with the episode as a whole, I think: “Topsy” fiddles with the structure of Bob's Burgers, which is exactly the sort of episode that may lead to great things eventually. It just doesn't quite have that greatness in it itself."^[2] Dyanamaria Leifsson of TV Equals said "The music in tonight’s episode of Bob’s Burgers was some of the best we’ve seen on the show thus far. “Electric Love” has been stuck in my head since the episode ended and I seriously can not wait to see what the Bob’s Buskers cover of it will be like (and I hope both versions will be available for download at some point because that tune is so catchy.) Although Tesla wasn’t really brought up during the episode, we did get a little glimpse of a disapproving Nikola Tesla as Topsy and Edison climbed the clouds during the ending credits. It was a great little call out to Tesla geeks everywhere and a clever way to wrap up an episode like “Topsy.”^[3] John Blabber of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 9 out of 10 and surmised, "(the writers) pull off a climax that helps the program soar up and over other animated shows."^[4]

Ratings

The episode received a 1.8 rating and was watched by a total of 3.85 million people. This made it the third most watched show on Animation Domination that night, beating The Cleveland Show and American Dad! but losing to Family Guy.^[5]

References