The holidays are a time of love and warmth, when people come together for festive camaraderie and quality time...well, sometimes. Other times, this season is one to be endured, with things like difficult family members making these months ones that people have to fight through with the help of their favorite comfort shows. And while countless programs offer audiences a reprieve from holiday hardships, one does better than any other: Loren Bouchard's Bob's Burgers. The animation has astounded viewers for years with its nonstop hilarity and the loving family at its center, with the series' wild Christmas episodes being particularly beloved by fans.
Each one embodies the joy (and immense stress) of this holiday as the Belcher family navigates this complex day, each one making a great seasonal watch — but one stands above the rest. One that portrays both the stress and subtle joys of this holiday, that shows through its simplicity how beautiful Christmas can be before crescendoing into one of this franchise's most beautiful scenes. There are a lot of great Bob's Burgers holiday episodes, but when it comes to capturing what Christmas is really about, nothing beats "The Plight Before Christmas."
Christmas Can Be Festively Infuriating
Image via Fox
While it becomes one of the show's best episodes ever, "The Plight Before Christmas" begins how most Bob's Burgers episodes do: With a complete mess. It sees the Belcher parents Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) splitting parental duties, with Gene's (Eugene Mirman) xylophone recital and Tina's (Dan Mintz) Christmas play landing on the same day. It forces the couple to split up so that each can attend one, the perfect plan to make sure every kid feels supported — until they realize Louise (Kristen Schaal) also has an event that night, a poetry contest she says she doesn't want them to attend. The parents cautiously agree once Louise assures them she's going to read something dumb, but Tina isn't so sure; she's suspicious that the edgy baby of the family might have actually written something genuine for the contest.
A whole episode of hilarious mishaps commences, with things like Gene's substitute teacher (a fun cameo from Tina Fey) being unable to conduct her students or Bob running across town to try and see Louise's performance creating the typical wacky comedy this program is known for. Throughout it all is Louise, nervously debating whether she should actually share her vulnerable thoughts once she gets to the microphone...and then she sees her sister in the audience, Tina having ditched her play to support her sibling. And then, as Gene gathers his fellow musicians to play a beautiful xylophone piece in the background, Louise recites a poem about how much her family means to her at Christmas, bringing many people watching (both onscreen and at home) to tears.
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Of Bob's Burgers' many Christmas episodes, this one's premise is the simplest by far. It trades out the raves and competitive gingerbread-making of previous iterations for parents struggling to attend every child's event, a surprisingly relatable concept from a series known for its unbelievable hijinks — which is why it's so perfect. Louise's poem "What's Around the Tree" speaks about the simplicity of the family's Christmas mornings, of how little things like her sister having crumbs on her glasses or their funny ornaments make every holiday the best one; it's a vivid portrayal of domestic happiness that acts as this episode's thesis.
For all of its chaos, the installment shows how much joy the Belchers not only feel from one another but try to give each other, with every member making conscious acts of kindness to make sure all feel loved during this season. These simple acts of love are made physical with that breathtaking ending as the series recognizes that this holiday is so much more than gift-giving or decorations. How this day, like every day, is one built by the bonds we hold, just like the massive amounts of love this family so clearly has for one another. It's the most genuine approach to Christmas that this program has taken, and with those heartwarming final scenes, it shows exactly what this holiday is all about.
Bob's Burgers Knows What Christmas Really Means
While "The Plight Before Christmas" is exceptional, that doesn't discount the important messages of Bob's Burgers' other Christmas episodes. Each one offers similar messages about the holiday as this burger-flipping family learns just what it means to love and support one another. Yet while all of them offer a sense of this, none captures the "Christmas spirit" as perfectly as this one. Viewers can easily see themselves in its mundane plot, making the realistically heartwarming turns it takes so much more resonant for everyone watching at home. Even more, it provides genuine comfort to those in its audience, collecting all the familial love this series is built on and summarizing it throughout with each hilariously heartwarming scene.
Christmas isn't always the easiest day for everyone, with many people longing for the kind of easy joy other TV shows like to sell the holiday as. Bob's Burgers doesn't only show what it means to build and foster those bonds better than any other program, but it goes even further by making it clear to the audience: we are a family who genuinely loves one another. And, by watching, we hope you know that you're a part of us too.
Bob's Burgers is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
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Bob Belcher runs a struggling burger shop with his wife and three children.
Release Date January 9, 2011
Seasons 15
Network FOX
English (US) ·