The Runway Club
"The Runway Club" is the 16th episode of the fifth season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers and the overall 83rd episode, and is written by Steven Davis and Kelvin Yu and directed by Jennifer Coyle. It aired on Fox in the United States on March 22, 2015.
| "The Runway Club" | |
|---|---|
| Bob's Burgers episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 16 |
| Directed by | Jennifer Coyle |
| Written by | Steven Davis Kelvin Yu |
| Production code | 5ASA04 |
| Original air date | March 22, 2015 |
Plot
Tina, Gene, and Louise arrive at school for a Saturday detention session, along with Jimmy Jr., Zeke, Tammy, and Jocelyn. A flashback revealed the punishments were handed out after Tina and Tammy wore the same sparkly jelly bracelet to school and caused an argument, a fight, and the fire alarm to be pulled. While serving their sentence, Mr. Frond decided to hold a fashion contest (since fashion was responsible for the melee) à la Project Runway called Scared Fabulous, with the winner getting the opportunity to leave detention early. He sets it up into three teams, Tammy and Jocelyn, Zeke and Jimmy Jr, and finally the Belcher children. After losing the first round to Tammy and Jocelyn, the kids compete to win the second round against the boys. However, since Coach Blevins, the judge, knows nothing about fashion, he suggests that the models, Zeke and Gene, wrestle to break the tie, which happens to be something Zeke excels at. During this, Principal Spoors calls Mr. Frond, who left him messages about his Scared Fabulous project. Spoors, bluntly, informs that he not only hates the idea but orders Frond to not call him during the weekend ever again, forcing him to cancel the competition. However, the kids challenged Mr. Frond to compete against them himself, which he couldn't turn down. In the end, the students bested him and won their freedom. Once they leave, Principal Spoors arrives, forcing Mr. Frond to set off the fire alarm.
Meanwhile, Bob and Linda were asked to buy magazine subscriptions as part of a fundraiser, but became suspicious that they were being scammed. After making this accusation, the Belchers felt bad (and pressured) and bought 20.
Reception
Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A, saying, "Despite my—wholly justifiable, dammit!—ignorance of the finer points of what this episode is having fun with, I’m still comfortable saying “The Runaway Club” is a first-rate episode. Part of it is that its use of The Breakfast Club is mostly as a bookend for the episode, mimicking the opening of the film, complete with Zeke almost getting run over by Jimmy Pesto. What's impressive is how funny that moment is even for someone like me who hasn't seen the inspiration. Much of this has to do with how well-honed the show's—and, by extension, the audience's—understanding of the characters is. This isn't like some animated shows that will remain nameless (but yeah, I'm totally talking about Family Guy), where the characters are mostly just vehicles for whatever random gag the show wants to do."[1]
The episode received a 1.0 rating and was watched by a total of 2.21 million people. This made it the fifth most watched show on Fox that night, behind The Simpsons, Family Guy, and The Last Man on Earth.[2]
References
- Wilkins, Alasdair (2015-03-22). "Review: Bob's Burgers: "The Runaway Club"". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
- "Sunday Final Ratings: 'The Last Man on Earth' & 'Once Upon a Time' Adjusted Up; '60 Minutes' Adjusted Down". TVbytheNumbers. 2012-12-15. Retrieved 2015-03-25.