We’ve got another double feature for you from the Bob’s Burgers archive!  This week, the episodes, “Go Tina on the Mountain” and “Are you there Bob?”

“Go Tina on the Mountain”

“Go Tina on the Mountain”, which is a reference to the gospel song, “Go Tell it on the Mountain”, is a return to the two story formula.  Both stories are distinct and do not overlap until the very end when the children return home..

Tina dreams of becoming one with nature at their outdoor education retreat.  She even has a fantasy where she earns a new nickname, “Teagle” to replace the unfortunate one she’s earned in school.  Tammy overheard her singing a toilet paper jingle in the bathroom

, and being the horrible pack leader that she is, prompts the entire school to call Tina Fluffy Butt.  So, Tina hopes to use the outdoor ed excursion as an excuse to get some much needed respect.

Meanwhile, while all the children are out of the house, Teddy convinces Bob and Linda that they have to do something wild and crazy to reconnect with one another in a way that only uninhibited adults can.

But the Belchers find that they’re having trouble recapturing their youth, and fall asleep on the couch instead of going out.      They try again and again, but just keep falling asleep, until Teddy really freaks out on them.  So they go the extra mile and try out a new Miami Vice-ish kind of look.

They end up going out and partying, getting so drunk that they invite everyone back to their place for a totally house-wrecking party.  They have to race the clock to get it all cleaned up before the kids get home, or they worry they’ll be setting a bad example.

While that’s all going on, the kids find out that the camp is going to be completely rained out the entire time they’re there, leaving no chance for outdoor activities.

They’re also vaguely warned about the “Windygap Hermit”, whom isn’t believed to be truly dangerous, but has been known to steal things.  The only person the rain seems to bother is Tina, who would then be stuck in a cabin with the people who’re upsetting her.  So, she decides to strike out on her own and find herself some outdoor activity. Gene and Louise accompany her so that she doesn’t have to go alone.     While out, they discover the supposedly mysterious Windygap Hermit,

who turns out to be a fairly chill woman named Martha.  Tina immediately puts her on a pedestal as an outdoorsy role-model and picks up some of her habits, like a little “cleansing ritual” for when people stress her out.  But Gene and Louise discover that she’s not so much of a hermit as she is a “glamper”, which means she has all the modern conveniences in the outdoor setting.

She even lied about  climbing mount Windygap.  And while all that is well and good, it also drives Tina to try and climb  the mountain herself in the rain.  Which is, as you can imagine, stupidly dangerous.  Gene, Louise, the park ranger and a couple of the usual kids from school go out to try and save her, but it ends up being Tina who saves all of them with something from the outdoor video she must’ve watched a million times.   Needless to say, they all got home safely in time to discover the few remnants of Bob and Linda’s party.

“Are you There Bob?”

“Are you There Bob” really doesn’t have much of a separate story, just a slight splitting of events.  Fortunately, they weave it together well.  However, there’s a third story that tries to sprout, involving Gene’s hair,

but it’s really not touched upon properly.   It’s in that awkward phase of not enough to be important, but too much to be ignored.  It’s kind of in the way.

Besides that, the other two story lines are really excellent.   Linda has forgotten Bob’s birthday

until the day after it happened, and feels guilty enough that she wants to set up a surprise birthday party for him at the last minute.  Fortunately, a routine health inspection gives her an excuse to get Bob out of the restaurant so that she and the kids can try to set up and invite people.

Hugo the Health inspector, who was formerly Linda’s fiance, agrees to take Bob out on an arrand if she calls his parents and asks if he’s still single.   Gross, I know. I can’t lie folks, it made me a little shivery just thinking about how many people open up restaurants and don’t know these things.  You should to get your food handlers permit, but geez!

That tangent aside, Bob eats the wrap, vomits profusely, but gains a new found respect for what Hugo does. Hugo also explains that birthday parties aren’t so much for you as they are for the people who care for you.  I personally don’t know about that, but it rings true for Bob.  So despite his dislike of parties, he goes home expecting one.  Thankfully,  Linda also comes to the realization that a surprise party isn’t what Bob would want (especially after calling everyone and getting no guests)  so they just put in an old western and grill him a steak.  The perfect Bob-style party. , but I think the second would have been a lot stronger if they had snipped the part about Gene’s hair.

Both episodes were actually very good at character exploration and didn’t have too much fluff, despite the amount of fluffy butts.  But I think the second would have been just a little stronger if it hadn’t been for the Gene hair thing.  It just felt so tacked on.  But you’ll have to let us know what you think.