Housetrap

"Housetrap" is the 19th episode of the fifth season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers and the overall 86th episode, and is written by Dan Fybel and directed by Jennifer Coyle and Bernard Derriman. It aired on Fox in the United States on May 10, 2015.

Plot

Teddy reveals that for extra income he sometimes aids in the maintenance of a beach house in Craggy Neck owned by a widow named Helen. To help him out Bob offers to drive over to move the patio furniture inside so it will not be ruined in the upcoming storm. Linda and the kids join him.

Once there the family is impressed by the view and leave Bob to drag in the furniture alone causing him to injure himself. Meanwhile Louise and Linda enter the unlocked house and soon the entire family is exploring. Through pictures Linda realizes that Helen was a second wife and believes that she murdered her husband.

Teddy arrives to check up on the Belchers and is shocked to see them inside the home. When Linda accuses Helen of being a murderer Teddy defends her saying that her husband fell off the widow's walk on the roof and that, though the railing was loose, it was impossible that Helen loosened it as she has no tools and thus has hired Teddy.

A storm begins and Helen arrives. Helen has a strange way of joking saying cruel or acerbic things and then laughing it off. Bob finds her charming, especially after she gives him pain relievers to aid his bad back. Furthermore he realizes that Teddy has a crush on Helen and asks Linda to stop interfering between them. Later, drugged on pain relievers, Bob tells Helen she is nice and reveals to her that Linda thinks she is a murderer.

Helen takes Linda up to the widow's walk and tells her that she never killed her husband. When Linda backs away from her she slips and falls over the railing, but is pulled up by Helen. The rest of the family arrive and Louise attacks Helen trying to save her mother. However Linda reveals that she no longer believes Helen is a murderer after she pulled her to safety. Teddy meanwhile, does fall off the roof but is saved when he lands on mud instead of the rocks which had formerly been there. As the rest of the family gathers around Teddy and picks him up, a drugged out Bob reaches into the mud and discovers a box filled with a hammer and pulled out nails, indicating that Helen really did murder her husband. In his state Bob takes the box to mean that Helen, despite knowing how to do basic maintenance, hides this fact in order to continue to keep Teddy around. He promises to keep Helen's secret.

Reception

Caroline Framke of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A-, saying, "Housetrap” is a solid episode that manages to balance some more surreal material with grounded punchlines. This is especially noteworthy if only because it’s a destination episode that takes place entirely outside the restaurant, which has either made for some of the strongest episodes or the most uncontrollably zany ones."^[1] The episode received a 1.2 rating and was watched by a total of 2.47 million people. This made it the fourth most watched show on Fox that night, behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Family Guy and The Simpsons.^[2]

References