‘Bob’s Burgers’ Has Revived the Holiday Special

The length of individual television seasons in recent years has been dwindling. The rise of streaming has shaved down the average number of episodes in a season, dwindling from around 20 episodes in the standard September-to-May timeframe, to 13 or less. Those cuts have also rolled over to network television, too, and in many ways, that’s a good thing: Fewer episodes mean that storylines can be condensed, ultimately making more effective television that resonates with audiences—as opposed to feeling like writers are throwing every last idea they have at the wall to see what sticks.

There’s just one major loss that’s felt when television seasons have these shortened runs: holiday episodes.

Holiday episodes used to be my most anticipated television events of the year. I know I wasn’t the only person who segued into their Fridays with a night of the NBC Comedy Thursday block. Nothing feels quite so delightful as turning on the television to see that both you and Betty Suarez are both preparing for Christmas. Planning a watch (or rewatch) of your favorite show’s holiday fare is uniquely soothing to no end. Buffy and The Simpsons fans have its Halloween episodes, Gossip Girl fans have its Thanksgiving episodes, and almost every series has offered something to return to annually for the December holidays.

But no show manages to capture the unique joys of each individual holiday like Bob’s Burgers, which has been treating fans to brand new Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas episodes since its third season. Each year, we can look forward to seeing what kinds of slapstick shenanigans the Belcher family will get into, which always perfectly balance farcical comedy with huge doses of their singular familial fondness. Every Bob’s Burgers fan has their favorite selections they love to return to. But all of the reasons these holiday episodes are so beloved have culminated in the latest Christmas episode, which might just top them all.

In Season 3’s inaugural Christmas episode, “Bob Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins,” the show’s writers knocked it out of the park on their first try. The team set up not just the tone for future holiday episodes, but created a high bar for themselves with every passing year. That episode—which follows the Belchers in the lead-up to Christmas, when Bob inherits a storage unit and finds a squatter named Chet living inside—leaned heavily on situational humor. When Bob, Linda, and the kids find out that Chet used to craft window displays for a local mall, they allow him to stay in the basement in return for crafting some gorgeous holiday exhibitions in the restaurant’s picture window, to drum up business for some extra cash for the kids’ presents.

In classic Bob’s Burgers fashion, whatever can go wrong, does. When Chet’s displays start attracting the whole town to the window every day—like their own creepy advent calendar—business is better than ever. But when Bob finds out that Chet used to be in love with a mannequin he once styled, believing she was real, he crushes Chet’s dreams by telling him that’s impossible; mannequins aren’t real. The displays soon become macabre and grotesque, sending Tina, Louise, and Gene on a mission to find Chet’s long-lost, inanimate love.

By its finish, the Belchers’ misadventures bring the family closer together just in time for the holiday. Somehow, everyone ends up happy, and Bob and Linda get to revel in accidentally crafting the perfect Christmas for their kids. It’s a vision of the idyllic holiday that we all crave, with everyone sitting around the tree with the warm feeling that this is a holiday they’ll never forget. And if that’s something that viewers might not have had themselves as kids, Bob’s Burgers clearly takes pride in being able to craft these small-but-potent slices of holiday cheer with each passing year.

Episodes like Season 4’s “Christmas in the Car,” which sees the Belchers venturing out on Christmas Eve to get a new tree after an overeager Linda killed two trees before Christmas day, and Season 5’s “Father of the Bob,” where Bob reunites with his estranged father for his dad’s annual Christmas party, are heartwarming distillations of what Bob’s Burgers is so exceptional at. It may be an animated family sitcom, but the writers hold space for all of the shades of our humanity between the punchlines. These holiday episodes end up with Christmas not quite going the way anyone anticipated, but the Belchers are always better for it.

One might think that Bob’s Burgers’ eleventh-annual Christmas episode might see the skilled team behind the beloved series starting to grasp at candy canes, hoping they can eke out another win with faithful viewers. Instead, “The Plight Before Christmas” proves that there is no shortage of good ideas when it comes to the Belchers’ festive antics. And though this episode is just as funny as the 10 that preceded it in past seasons, this one is sure to leave you in a puddle of happy holiday tears.

Christmas has come once again to Seymour’s Bay, and Bob and Linda are facing another conundrum. Unlike past years, which traded in some of the show’s relatability for over-the-top bedlam (the two-part Christmas musical special, anyone?), Season 13 pares down that excitement to return to a familiar plight. Tina and Gene have different holiday performances on the same night, leaving Bob and Linda to have to split up to record both separately. Linda already feels like it’s a knife to her heart, which is twisted further when Louise reminds everyone that her holiday poetry reading is that night, too.

Louise downplays her event in signature fashion, telling Bob and Linda that they can drop her off and return after Tina and Gene’s recitals. But it’s not long before Tina realizes that Louise’s typical minimization of her feelings was a charade, and that she really did hope her parents could attend. This sets into motion a madcap dash around the city to try to be there for all of the kids at once, undoubtedly a quandary that parents of multiple kids have had to face before.

By the episode’s end, even the most icy-hearted of viewers will get choked up. Seeing how each Belcher selflessly helps one another through their dilemma is the perfect medicine for merry malaise. And it all peaks in one big, suspenseful climax with a huge emotional payoff, all in just 20 minutes. As Louise reads her poem—which turns out to be a sweet (well, for Louise) observation of what she loves about Christmas with her family—it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’re watching a new annual holiday classic.

Once again, Bob’s Burgers deftly captures the chaos we all unwittingly get into at one point or another during the holidays. I know my own parents—who had two kids four years apart and had to balance Christmas recitals with jobs, presents, and trying to create the picturesque holiday that every parent wants for their family—had to endure similar seasonal stress. And as we grow older, we can appreciate the viewpoints of both the Belcher kids and their parents individually. Louise, Gene, and Tina’s permanent youth allow us to all feel a touch of that childlike wonder year after year. These episodes are reminders that, no matter how old we get and where life takes us, there’s always a little bit of magic to be found when we all come together, hijinks and all.