The Belchies

"The Belchies" is the fourteenth episode and the premiere of the second season of the animated television series Bob's Burgers. The episode first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 11, 2012.^[1] The episode is a parody of the 1985 film The Goonies and features a song by Cyndi Lauper.^[2]

Plot

The episode begins with Teddy telling the Belcher kids that the abandoned taffy factory, which is scheduled for demolition the following day, contains hidden treasure. This turns out to be a joke, the punchline of which is that the map he draws looks like a butt, but Louise takes it seriously and convinces Gene and Tina to go with her that night to find the treasure. To Louise's frustration, Tina has invited Jimmy Pesto, Jr. to come along and wherever Jimmy Junior goes, his best friend Zeke must go as well. Further complicating matters are Andy and Ollie Pesto, who show up randomly out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Bob and Linda have their scheduled sex night, though they have difficulty getting in the mood, and their plans are interrupted by the discovery that the children have sneaked out. They go looking for them, becoming equally lost in the factory. Louise gets trapped in a pit with a man made of taffy, whom she names Taff and becomes close friends with in her isolation.

Eventually Bob and Linda reunite the kids and they escape just in time to avoid being killed in the demolition. Louise wants to take Taffy home with her, but Linda convinces her to throw him away. The episode ends with the revelation that the coastline around the factory perfectly matches the map drawn by Teddy, and that unbeknownst to the kids, Taff was full of gold bars. The episode ends with Cyndi Lauper singing a version of "The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough" called "Taffy Butt", which describes the episode's ending.

Production

This episode carried TV-14 rating for suggestive dialogue (D), offensive language (L), sexual situations (S) and graphic violence (V).

Burger Of The Day

• "I Am Mad About Saffron" (made with no saffron), reference to a lyric from the song "Mellow Yellow" by Donovan

Reception

The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, saying that "the episode is somewhat lacking in big laughs...there’s no shortage of chuckles, though. It’s a good-humored episode in both senses of the word."^[3] TV Equals praised the episode, citing the improved quality of the animation and stating that "If you’ve never watched an episode of Bob’s Burgers, this might be a great time to start."^[4] The episode was named the Worst TV Show of the Week for excessive sexual humor by the Parent's Television Council, and is the second time the show has been criticized by the group.^[5]

References

External links

• The Belchies at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Belchies at the Internet Movie Database