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Recap / Bob's Burgers S1E3 "Sacred Cow"

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"Dead cow on live cow. Gross."

Bob faces a strange documentarist called Randy who is making a documentary about how he is a cow murderer as a chef. Meanwhile, Louise manipulates Tina into believing the cow is communicating with her through its poop.


Sacred Tropes:

  • Ambiguously Bi: Bob has a dream of making out with Moolissa, who is earlier revealed to be a steer.
  • Bestiality Is Depraved:
    • Randy attempted to milk Moolissa. Keep in mind that Moolissa is male, and it becomes disgustingly clear what Randy actually did to the cow.
    • Bob himself has a vivid dream about making out with Moolissa after the cow's death. Unlike Randy, though, this doesn't actually end up happening in reality.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: While she doesn't technically qualify for the trope (given she's not at all good at it), Louise deserves mention for being a literal bunny-ears lawyer during Bob's nightmare.
  • Characterization Marches On: Bob and Linda's motivations are completely reversed from what they would normally be, with Bob being the one who impulsively brings Moolissa the cow into their house with no plan to get him back out and Linda playing the Only Sane Man who wants him gone. If this episode came out later in the series' run, it's likely Linda would have brought the cow in over Bob's objections instead.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The animal control officer who verifies that Moolissa can remain on the sidewalk is the driver who causes Moolissa's fatal heart attack.
  • Companion Cube: Bob winds up talking to a burger he's cooking.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • Randy is seen with a film crew. All later episodes have him working alone, performing all the roles his crew did on his own.
    • Teddy's appearance in the episode hints that he's never been in a movie before. Later in the series, it's revealed that he had a minor role in a semi-popular B-movie that was filmed in town.
  • Enemy Mine: Randy and Bob, who've spent the entire episode bickering, team up to save Moolissa from a couple who kidnapped it for their nightmarish petting zoo (though Randy is quick to drop the niceties once they save her and the timer runs out).
  • Epic Fail: While Randy's filming does get a few people on his side, for the most part all he does is give Bob a ton of business (the opposite of what he intended to accomplish).
  • Everyone Has Standards: Not even Randy can bring himself to say something positive about the petting zoo.
  • Evil Old Folks: The couple who steal Moolissa run a nightmarish petting zoo with nursery rhyme-themed exhibits. It's cheap, poorly constructed, and the poor animals are stuck in humiliating and cruel displays like two mice tied up inside a grandfather clock.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Moolissa (a play on Melissa) happens to be male.
  • Hypocrite:
    • Randy accuses Bob of being this when he saves Moolissa from freezing to death in the rain by bringing him into the apartment.
    • However much of a hypocrite Bob may or may not be, Randy's even worse. He accuses Bob of mistreating animals because he's okay with eating and selling meat, but he doesn't treat Moolissa nicely and left him stuck in the rain to begin with.
    • The old couple are appalled with humans using animals for food, but they run an atrocious petting zoo that mistreats animals and they kidnap Moolissa to be a part of it.
  • Killed Off for Real: Moolissa is one of the only established characters (if not the only established character period) to die over the course of the entire series (not counting characters who died before being introduced), and the only character to ever die onscreen.
  • Last Request: In Bob's dream of the recently-dead Moolissa, he asks Bob to make burgers out of him so his death wouldn't be in vain.
    Moolisa: You turn me into something amazing.
  • Let's Meet the Meat: Randy attempts to do this to guilt-trip Bob. Despite rousing some complicated feelings, it doesn't have the effect he wants.
  • Look Both Ways: Double-subverted. A car stops just short of hitting Moolissa while Bob and Randy are arguing, seemingly sparing him... and then Moolissa dies of a heart attack.
  • No Dead Body Poops: After Moolissa dies, it leaves one last poop in the shape of a heart.
  • No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In-Universe. The documentary about Bob being a cow murderer actually helps out the restaurant's popularity; Linda even cites this trope verbatim while claiming that it's the best free advertising the restaurant ever got.
  • Overly Long Gag: Gene's drumroll goes on a bit too long.
  • Parting-Words Regret: Tina has them after Moolissa gets kidnapped. It doesn't help that Moolissa dies soon after.
  • Running Gag: Louise randomly calling Bob a murderer.
  • Small Name, Big Ego:
    • Randy believes himself to be far more well-known than he actually is.
    • Similarly, Teddy briefly believes that the documentary will be about him and make him famous.
  • The Sociopath: Louise talks of her father as one, stating that killing cows give him a rush.
  • Straw Vegetarian: Randy condemns Bob for selling hamburgers and is completely full of himself.
  • Take a Third Option: Bob eventually settles on a common ground between both his and Randy's viewpoints—cows can be both beautiful creatures and food. Randy himself is not pleased to be filming Bob summarizing this point.
  • Toilet Humor: Moolissa poops and pisses everywhere throughout the episode. Tina even believes he's communicating with her through his poop.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: In-universe, Randy didn't know Moolissa is a male steer, not a cow.

 
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Video Example(s):

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Best Free Advertising

Randy's documentary on Bob being an evil cow killer attracts a lot of people to the Belcher's restaurant. Linda even says to Bob that it is the best free advertising they ever got

How well does it match the trope?

5 (7 votes)

Example of:

Main / NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity

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