Recap / Bob's Burgers S1E1 "Human Flesh"

*fart noises*

"You're my children, and I love you, but you're all terrible at what you do in here."

—Bob, about his family.

Bob faces trouble when Louise spreads a rumor that human flesh is used to make the hamburgers and health inspector and Linda's ex-fiancé Hugo comes in to shut the joint down.

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Tropes:

• Artistic License – Medicine: The final flashback in Bob's "missed dates" montage shows that Bob missed the birth of one of his kids (likely Tina), but the scene takes place at the restaurant and also takes place the same day that Linda gave birth ("Your due date was today?"). In reality, Linda would be kept in the hospital for at least another day (though likely two days, during which Bob would have ample time to be told to visit his wife). While Linda could have left the hospital early, doing so is ill-advised because doctors want to make sure the baby is healthy (not to mention Linda herself would still be recovering from the effects of whatever anesthetic drugs they gave her for childbirth). Of course, this is unless she gave birth at home, which raises its own issues (like there being no way Bob could have been completely unaware).
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Louise genuinely apologizes for nearly getting the restaurant shut down, and Linda reassures Bob that she's with him and not Hugo for a reason.
• Brutal Honesty: How Bob describes his kids:
  Listen, you’re my children and I love you, but you’re all terrible at what you do here and I feel like I should tell you. I’d fire all of you if I could.
• Character Catchphrase: Bob says his trademark "Oh my God" for the first time within a minute of the episode.
• Characterization Marches On: Some major parts of Bob's character don't last very far into the series.
  • Bob is shown to be a lot closer to the Bumbling Dad archetype (though he's still not quite there) in contrast to his depiction as a hard-working Good Parent for the rest of the series. In particular, it's shown that he missed the birth of one of his kids—which, given his portrayal in future episodes, is not only quite jarring but rather difficult to even imagine him doing.
  • Bob is also shown to be disappointed with how his kids have turned out. Later episodes show that he is nothing less than proud of how his kids have turned out (even if they cause way more trouble than they should).
  • Tina doesn't mind playing along with her siblings jokes at Bob's expense. Later episodes, she's not as open to cause mischief as they are (though she still gets tricked easily into doing them) but tries to steer them to do right (and locking Bob out of the restaurant is repeated much later, but she chooses to unlock the door a few seconds later, to Louise's annoyance).
• Chekhov's Gag: Early on, a woman mentions she would eat a burger made of human flesh. At the end of the episode, she leads a group of adventurous foodies to the restaurant, giving them a lot of business.
• Comically Missing the Point: Hugo points out that Bob's restaurant accumulated enough violations to fill his notebook in just five minutes, a new record. The kids promptly cheer, oblivious to the fact that their family's livelihood might get shut down because of it.
• Contrived Coincidence: Mr. Caffrey, a candy maker, orders a custom-designed coffin made to look like a giant gift-wrapped package for himself. Gene just so happens to accidentally send the coffin—with Mr. Caffrey's body inside—over to the restaurant at the precise moment that Linda is trying to talk Hugo into taking the "May Contain Human Flesh" sign down from the window. When the "package" arrives, Linda thinks it's an anniversary surprise from Bob and opens the lid, seemingly confirming the rumor that the restaurant's burgers are made from corpses.
• Crazy-Prepared: Bob takes away the chalk because he just knows Louise is going to try and edit the chalkboard despite his warnings. Louise has already prepared an extra piece of chalk, just in case.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Upon finding Mr. Caffrey's corpse in the restaurant, Hugo tells Linda "You're on a sinking ship, and you better get off this ship before it sinks".
• Don't Explain the Joke: Louise explains to Hugo and Ron why the "Child Molester Burger" comes with candy. Ron actually seems to appreciate the explanation.
• Dude, Not Funny!: Gene making fart noises to a family in mourning.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • There's a greater amount of Black Comedy and tongue-in-cheek vulgarity (the child molester burger, Bob telling Gene that fat kids can't be molested) than the more character-based humor from the later episodes. It's also one of the few episodes to have the Staggered Zoom gag that'd quickly be phased out.
  • The show attempts to show Hugo in a somewhat sympathetic light, in a Jerk with a Heart of Gold vein. Yes, he does petty things out of jealousy, but he is suffering and ultimately comes around, makes the test and allows Bob to keep the restaurant. Later episodes completely ignore this, even his crush on Linda is played as rather minor in comparison, with all left being his pettiness and attempt to get revenge on Bob by making his professional life as difficult as possible.
  • Gene sounds much more relaxed and less energetic, compared to the loud, hammy showman he'd be later on.
  • This episode makes it clear that Bob has never even heard of Hugo, let alone the fact that he's Linda's ex, but later episodes suggest that Bob has heard of Hugo (Bob is implied to have been present when Linda dumped Hugo, because he can remember how Linda did so).
  • As seen in Jerkass Has a Point below, Hugo's initial inspection of Bob, while very harsh, is actually fair. Later episodes show that Bob's restaurant is much more sanitary, with Hugo only able to find extremely minor issues through excessive nitpicking.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After all the crap Bob is put through, he manages to get a ton of customers^note and, considering the number of customers and the price he puts on the "human" burgers, he makes at least 1,250 dollars in a single day, and his restaurant stays open when the cannibalism rumor is disproven.
• Establishing Character Moment: Being the series premiere, the episode provides one for each of the Belchers:
  • The opening scene focuses on Bob trying to give his family a pep talk before eventually giving up and telling his kids how terrible a job they're doing. This sets him up as the Straight Man who genuinely loves his family, but isn't afraid to point out their faults.
    Bob: Listen, you're my children and I love you, but you’re all terrible at what you do here and I feel like I should tell you. I'd fire all of you if I could.
  • Tina's first line in the series is stating that her crotch is itchy.
  • Louise spreading rumors that their restaurant uses human flesh.
  • Gene isn't aware that there's a line between entertaining and annoying and makes fart noises.
  • Hugo tries to shut Bob's Burgers down for petty reasons and revenge.
• Everyone Has Standards: Ron, who has previously been Hugo's lackey, refuses to let him ruin Bob's life over a petty grudge and forces him to perform the test exonerating Bob of cannibalism.
• Evil Is Petty: Hugo takes every opportunity to make life harder for Bob because he's still not over Linda leaving him.
• Ferris Wheel Date Moment: At the end of the episode, Bob and Linda take the opportunity to make out while atop the Ferris wheel at Wonder Wharf. The kids, who are in the car right behind them, are mostly unamused.
  Gene: You're a couple of sluts!
  Tina: I think it's nice.
  Louise: (to the operator) Can you get this thing moving?! I'm getting scarred for life up here!
• Foreshadowing: When the poster warning about human flesh in the burgers is posted, an elderly lady admits that she'd be willing to try it. Later, she and several members of her "adventurous eating" club show up willing to eat at Bob's Burgers, saving the restaurant from the scandal.
• Forgotten Anniversary: What kicks off the plot of the episode. As we later find out, Bob is such a workaholic that he's also regularly forgotten Linda's birthday, his own birthday and the birth of his first child!
• Forgotten Birthday: Bob has not only forgotten Linda's birthday at least once, but his own birthday.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: A TV screen lists Hugo's full name as "Hugo Habercore", which is never mentioned anywhere else in the entire series.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Hugo, who is bent on destroying the restaurant just because Linda left him for Bob.
• I'm a Humanitarian: A group of foodies agree to eat the burgers believing that they are made of human flesh.
• Jerkass Has a Point: For all of Hugo's jerkassery, he makes a valid point about Bob's restaurant being unsanitary. In the five minutes Hugo was there, he found enough health violations to fill up his notebook (and before he realized Linda married Bob, meaning he wasn't nitpicking out of spite). The kids' disgusting behaviour (which includes Tina's crotch rash, Gene giving out samples he dropped on the ground and Louise getting people to smell a carton of spoiled milk) further validates him. Considering how much he has to nitpick to find a single issue in later episodes, it's almost certainly a case of Early-Installment Weirdness.
• Kick the Dog: Hugo knows the human flesh rumor is false, and could perform a lab test to prove it in seconds. He refuses to do so out of spite, and Ron has to force him to do it at the end.
• Necktie Leash: Non-romantic case; when Hugo refuses to perform the lab test, Bob grabs Hugo's tie and tries to strangle him with it.
• No Social Skills: Tina. Bob even states she is not good with people.
• Overly Long Gag: Hugo repeatedly being interrupted by Gene spraying a fire extinguisher on the grill.
• Papa Wolf: In a Black Comedy sense. Bob refuses to let Louise serve someone he suspects is a child molester... so he sends Gene because he thinks Gene's too fat to get molested.
• Running Gag: Tina scratching her crotch at inappropriate times.
• The Secret of Long Pork Pies: The plot deals with a rumor that Bob is serving burgers made of people to unwitting customers. Louise completely made up the rumor and Hugo knows from the beginning it's fake, but Louise's fearmongering causes a frenzied crowd to completely buy it and Hugo lets it persist out of spite.
• Seen It All: Bob is already so used to Louise's antics that he deduces she started the human flesh rumor the instant he hears about it.
• Stealth Pun: The last flashback in the montage showing how forgetful Bob is due to his workaholism has him forgetting about Linda's due date when Tina was born. He forgot Tina's birthday as well!
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Linda and Hugo both think Bob and Linda's anniversary (9/3) is easy to remember because 9 is divisible by 3. Bob points out both times that a lot of numbers are divisible by 3.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Even once the rumor is debunked, the adventurous eaters still think the burgers are made of human flesh, but Bob decides not to tell them because they're willing to pay 50 dollars per burger.
• Too Much Information: Tina tells an unappreciative Bob that her crotch is itchy.
  Bob: Are you telling me as my daughter or as my grill cook? Because my grill cook would never tell me that. Also, my daughter should probably not say anything like that to me.

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