Bob decides to try a new meat supplier with the prospect of saving money, only to learn that the meat is actually horse. Hugo ends up dragging Bob into helping him catch the guy in the act.
They Serve Tropes, Don't They?:
- Affably Evil: Despite being a willing participant in meat fraud, Jack is a pretty nice man and is even a loving family man. Bob lampshades that he's pretty neat for a criminal.
- Ambiguously Bi: Hugo calls Jimmy Pesto gorgeous, something Bob takes notice of.
- Artistic License – Law:
- While the meat fraud plot is accurate, there's another aspect that completely gets overlooked — horse meat is illegal to sell in all fifty states period, even if it's advertised as such upfront. Bob and Hugo didn't need to go through all that trouble to record Jack lying about what kind of meat he sold, because the simple knowledge that he sold horse meat in the first place (which they had proof of, so evidence wasn't an issue) would've been enough grounds for an arrest.
- Actually, while the breeding, slaughter, and sale of horse meat is not explicitly outlawed in all 50 states or at the Federal Level (nor is consumption), it can't lawfully be done due to Federal regulations not providing for any inspection process for commercial facilities, as the Federal budget blocks funding to the USDA for such purposes since FY2014. Jack would be facing charges of fraud and sale of uninspected meat, as well as whatever state charges he may have violated. It's also accurate that they wouldn't need to record a confession, as the FDA can simply test the meat and build a case based on witness testimony (presumably the restaurants that purchase from him) and client invoices, as well as whatever records and physical evidence they would presumably seize from him with the search warrant obtained based on the witnesses and testing.
- Berserk Button: Tina absolutely freaks out when she learns that the new supplier is providing horse meat. Once the initial shock and horror wear off, she becomes determined to take Jack down.
- Brainless Beauty: Hugo describes Jimmy Pesto as "gorgeous", but also says that the man's an idiot, which is why he goes to Bob for help despite liking Jimmy more.
- Call-Back:
- Teddy remarks "Don't feed a guy a horse!" the same way he said "Don't feed a guy a sponge!" in "Synchronized Swimming".
- Tina's threat to punch Jack "over and over and over and over" is awfully reminiscent of her threat to punch Jocelyn "again and again and again and again".
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Once the horse meat incident is over, Teddy turns out to have developed an unhealthy obsession for it (despite not liking it much before) and tries to secretly (fail at) getting Bob to serve him more horse meat behind everyone's backs, which looks like a drug addict trying to get more drugs.
- Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: Jimmy Jr. tried to get a tan while on vacation, but messed it up and came home looking, as his father put it, "like a dog's ding-dong."
- Enemy Mine: Bob and Hugo must work together to catch Jack in the act of meat fraud.
- Family Man: Jack turns out to be a Happily Married father of one (soon to be father of two), briefly leaving Bob and Linda a little reluctant to carry out the sting. They still do it, anyway as the alternative is being punished by the FDA as well.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: This episode has the most official Burgers of the Day of any individual episode in the entire series (seven of them to be exact), but most of them are only briefly seen in the background during Bob and Hugo's failed attempts at catching Jack in the act of meat fraud.
- Hidden Wire: Since Hugo doesn't have an actual listening device, he has to resort to a girls' toy walkie talkie set and a toy tape recorder, and once Bob breaks half of the walkie talkie by having it fall off his chest and stepping on it when the tape gave away, he needs to use the tape recorder directly and lean awkwardly towards Jack to make sure he's caught on tape.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Teddy is mortified when he finds out he unknowingly ate a horse burger. He then continues eating it and is disappointed at the end of the episode when he learns Bob is no longer serving horse burgers.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Hugo claims he has no other option than to shut Bob down for meat fraud, then immediately gives Bob another option. Bob points this out, though given what the first option entails he's not exactly complaining.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Jimmy Pesto lists several flaws in Bob's business operation. He's overly harsh and a complete dick, but he's technically not wrong (although one thing he cites is Bob spending too much on ingredients, which is less Bob being sub-optimal at business and moreso Bob not cutting corners, unlike Jimmy).
- Hugo's attempt to shut Bob down this time has actual basis, although this does ignore the fact that Bob didn't know about the horse meat.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Hugo admits that they’re completely out of their league in trying to expose a fraudulent meat vendor, but he's too proud to take it up with the FDA.
- Karma Houdini:
- Lampshaded by Bob when he gets grilled by Hugo for the horse meat while Jimmy is getting off scot-free. Downplayed as Jimmy still ends up on the short end of the stick at the episode, as Bob exposing Jack forces him to go back to a more expensive seller, something he isn't too happy about.
- Subverted with Jack. He gets out of jail time, but there are a lot of fines he has to pay for selling horse meat and advertising it as beef.
- The Millstone: Everyone is well aware that Tina is way too angry about the horse meat to be a reliable part of the plan, and have to make sure she doesn't completely ruin the entire thing.
- Mixed Metaphor: Hugo didn't ask for Jimmy Pesto's help in the sting operation because Jimmy isn't "the sharpest bulb in the lightbulb store."
- Noodle Incident: Assuming Louise is accurate, Bob once kissed Teddy, though not on the lips. No further details are given.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Tina spends the entire episode with a Hair-Trigger Temper after learning about the horse meat.
- Shown Their Work: Meat fraud (selling one kind of meat but advertising it as another) is an actual crime. In 2013, a scandal in Europe
arose from vendors advertising horse meat as beef (the exact same thing that happens here). - Title Drop: In-universe; Jack writes a book about his career selling horse meat, calling it "Friday Night Meats". Said book lists its title in the third sentence.
- Too Good to Be True: Bob notes that saving $400 a month for the same quality meat just by switching vendors seems too good a deal. He turns out to be right.
- The Unreveal: We never learn if the hot dogs Jimmy Jr. wanted to eat were actually made of horse meat. Knowing Tina, she was probably just paranoid.
