The Complete Guide to “Bob’s Burgers” Halloween Specials
Part 1: Seasons 3-9
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Full Bars (2012, Season 3/Episode 2)
The inaugural Halloween episode—a little less laser-focused than they would become, but still unbelievably charming.
The kids convince Bob and Linda to let them trick or treat alone, and they head over to King’s Head Island, where the treats are better and the tricks are pissier. It’s an early showing, so the humor is a little less specific (though Gene going as Queen Latifah in her U.N.I.T.Y era is the kind of specificity that would eventually make the show the profoundly realized character piece it becomes), and everyone is a little broader.
Still, it’s an absolutely delightful and cozy Halloween confection, that ends with the sort of Belcher sweetness many of us would come to love-the kids, home with their full bars (except for poor Gene, who lost all of his), listening with rapt attention as Linda tells them the story of how Bob, in a fat suit, accidentally killed Teddy’s hamster (that’s right, there’s an entire Halloween party subplot with a locked room hamster murder mystery).
Costume Count
Linda: Mermaid
Louise: Edward Scissorhands
Tina: A Mommy-Mummy
Gene: Queen Latifah in her U.N.I.T.Y. phase
Teddy: A Tiger
Bob: Sumo wrestler
*bonus point for costume Bob didn’t choose: Summer Frankenstein
Notable Guest Voices:
Paul Rust, Tim Meadows, Joe Lo Truglio
Fort Night (2013, Season 4/Episode 2)
“Fort Night” introduces us to one of my favorite unhinged tertiary characters, Millie. She begins as a stone-cold foil for Louise and eventually becomes more of a frienemy. The difference between Millie and, say, Tammy is that while Tammy and Tina have a consistent push-pull between adversarial and friendly, Millie only ever loves Louise.
In a super crazy and even dangerous way.
As the show progresses, it begins to give subtle nods to classic horror. Not in the way The Simpsons would eventually do with the Treehouse of Horror episodes, where they just did character-populated parodies. Bob’s has been more clever. It does really wonderful versions of the genres it’s aping. With that in mind, “Fort Night” might most closely match Single White Female.
Louise, Gene, Tina, Andy, Ollie, and Darryl stop by the Belcher kiddos’ fort to pick up the eyeballs for their Chinese dragon costume and get trapped inside when a truck blocks them in with no plans to leave for the rest of the night. Millie is the only one who can help them, but Louise cannot hold her contempt for her stalker in check long enough to convince her to get them out. The stakes become genuinely dangerous when, in an attempt to escape, the kids nearly crush the fort. (Something Bob’s does well is put real danger into the mix and make it feel genuine, despite the fact that we know the kids will never face any true peril.)
Meanwhile, Bob and Linda, annoyed that the kids never showed up for their dragon costume, decide to trick or treat themselves. This one also ends sweetly, with the kids once again meeting their parents on the couch and trying to claim some of their candy.
Costume Count
Tine, Gene, Louise, Andy, Ollie: Chinese dragon
Millie: the bunny half of dust bunny
Darryl: Devo member
Notable Guest Voices:
Aziz Ansari, Molly Shannon, The Silverman Sisters
End Credits Song:
Let’s give it a 7 out of 10. It’s fine and not that notable.
Tina and the Real Ghost (2014, Season 5/Episode 2)
I have a special soft spot in my heart for this one; it feels like, at this point, they’ve really locked in and figured out who these characters are and what makes them so special.
Bob has an infestation problem, and Tina has a ghost in a box. Unsurprisingly, Tina, who loves love so much, falls for her teenage boy ghost (a ghost Louise invented, because of course she did). This one plays to Tina’s strengths. She’s a hopeless romantic, but when it all falls apart and Jeff the Ghost “dumps” her for Tammy (Tammy is THE WORST), she turns the tables and gives a surprisingly empowering speech.
This is the Tina I know and love. Someone who lets herself be sad but then pulls herself the fuck up.
This episode also further establishes Louise’s sometimes conflicted but always deep love and admiration for her older sister. Yes, she fucks with her through Jeff, but when she sees her sister truly hurting, Louise’s instinct is not just to apologize for hurting her, but to get revenge against those who hurt Tina. And when T pulls off a bad-ass prank, Louise is in awe. The Belcher family’s love is the anchor of the show, but the siblings’ affection is particularly moving.
In the same vein, Gene is Gene. He’s along for the ride, which is kind of his role in the triad of Belchers. He wants candy, he’ll settle for ramen, and when Louise says no, he never even considers going off alone. He’s there for his sisters, and while that may make him seem passive, I think it seriously underestimates Gene’s love of food. He chooses his sisters every time.
Bob and Linda have a cute but relatively unsubstantial subplot about paranormal investigators who believe the restaurant is haunted. It’s slight, but who cares? It’s fun.
Costume Count
Louise: Ryan Gosling from the trailer for the major motion picture Drive
Gene: Turner and Hootch
Notable Guest Voices:
Jordan Peele, Brian Huskey
End Credits Song:
6 out of 10. Super cute, very French-sounding
The Hauntening (2015, Season Six/Episode 3)
Bob’s Burgers is a show that knows how to introduce new pieces of canon that are so ingrained in character that viewers are surprised they didn’t already know it. It knows its characters tip to taint, and every reveal feels less like something the writers made up and more like something that’s just never come up narratively before but has always been true.
In “The Hauntening”, we learn that Louise can’t be scared by gimmicky Halloween haunted houses, and, well, yeah. Of course, she can’t. That makes so much sense. Bob and Linda decide they’re going to change her whole outlook and create the perfect haunted house, and things go tits up. To say much more would ruin the fun of the episode—and it is so much fun.
I previously alluded to Bob’s making references to horror movies/genres; this feels a lot like their play on a The Conjuring haunted house kind of movie with hints of Rosemary’s Baby AND the greatest Halloween song you’ve ever heard, courtesy of “Boyz 4 Now”. It also pulls in a lot of the bonus players we all love, including Mort and Teddy, and honestly, how can you go wrong?
There’s so much to love in this one.
Costume Count
Bob: Dr. Bobenstein
Linda: Lady Bobenstein
Bob and Linda: 2-headed Monster
Notable Guest Voice:
Max Greenfield
End Credits Song:
“I Love You So Much, It’s Scary” by Boyz 4 Now
11 out of 10. It’s perfect.
Teen-a-Witch (2016, Season 7/Episode 3)
I assume the writers of this episode watched The Craft and thought, “When it comes to teen angst, those girls don’t have anything on Tina!”
Many Tina-centric episodes focus on how incredible she is, but this one smartly remembers that she is a teenage girl—one who has always been a little power and praise hungry, and one who, like most teens, is kind of messy.
Tina wants to win the costume contest badly, which is so Tina. The show consistently shows her as someone desperate to make a mark, someone enthusiastic to a fault, who desperately needs affirmation. So when Tammy steals her “hot mess” costume idea, T is pretty devastated, until she comes up with the ultimate rebound costume: a sand witch. Luckily for us, T’s commitment to punny costumes leads her to everyone’s favorite terrible librarian, who introduces her to the concept of actual witchcraft, which she takes to like a duck to water.
Tina goes power-hungry, and things get a little messy with a crossing guard— it’s all very amusing. Gene and Louise are very much background players in this one, but damn, those two work well as a sort of Greek chorus to shenanigans. And again, Bob’s writers know their characters so well that even the most tossed-away line from Gene or Louise is still rooted in who they are as people, and doesn’t exist just for the punchline.
In terms of the b-plot, this is one of my favorites. It’s very dumb but very fun. Someone keeps stealing Bob’s jack-o-lanterns, and it’s making him crazy. That it turns out to be my favorite minor character is just the cherry on top.
Costume Count
Louise (briefly): Mr. Frond
Tina: Sand-witch
Tammy: Hot mess
Jocelyn: Sexy Judge Judy
Regular-Sized Rudy: Marcel Marceu (because of course)
Peter Pescadaro: the Mona Lisa
Notable Guest Voices:
Kevin goddamn Kline, Billy Eichner, Betsy Sodaro, Jenny Slate
End Credits Song:
Some sort of super fun metal song. It’s very fun and very silly. Yes. 8 out of 10.
The Wolf of Wharf Street (2017, Season 8/Episode 3)
There are episodes on this list that are absolute comfort catnip to me, and this is one. This has EVERYTHING I want from a Bob’s Burgers Halloween episode. It’s funny, weirdly suspenseful, clever, and-again-plays on classic movie tropes—this time, werewolves, and on two fronts, at that.
Bog Harbor has a wolf on the loose… or does it? No one’s really sure, but Linda is going trick-or-treating with the kids, just in case. No one’s giving out good candy, and the kids are despondent. Linda, desperate to save Halloween and prove she’s a cool, fun mom, suggests going on a wolf hunt, where the stakes gradually get higher and higher. Meanwhile, Bob, having injured himself trying to fit into his old chef’s pants, is spending the evening with Teddy, who Bob increasingly believes is a werewolf.
It is GLORIOUSLY silly. The stuff dreams are made of. I don’t just watch this episode at Halloween, I watch it whenever I’m sick or sad. It’s just a warm hug of an episode, and goddamn, the animation is beautiful.
It really captures the feel of an autumn night, from the cloud cover to the falling leaves. It FEELS like Halloween.
Costume Count
Louise: Anton Chigurh
Gene: Handsome Grapes
Tina: A Mombie
Linda: a Cher-iff
Teddy: A sexy nurse
Notable Guest Voices:
Kevin Kline, Zach Galifianakis, Paul F. Tompkins
End Credits Song:
“Who’s a Fun Mom on Halloween?”
Look, if you’re lucky enough to hear John Roberts sing anything, relish it. It’s a cute song. 7 out of 10.
Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street (2018, Season 9/Episode 4)
Full disclosure, this is my least favorite episode on this list, from one of my least favorite (post-season 2) seasons of the series. That said, there’s still so much to like here.
Ocean Avenue is pedestrian-only for Halloween, and the kids couldn’t be more excited. This is very much a kids’ hangout episode, and that is its greatest strength. “Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street” pulls together an all-star team. We’ve got the Belchers with Andy, Ollie, Darryl, and, honestly, everyone’s hero, Regular-Sized Rudy. We also get VERY fun appearances from Zeke and Jimmy Jr., so it’s a true all-star cast.
Someone starts stealing the kids’ candy, and Louise, of course, makes it her mission to get it back. There’s some great stuff in here, it just all feels a little… slight. Back at the restaurant, Teddy has volunteered to decorate the restaurant so it can compete with his rival handyman (who smells shockingly good, a fantastic running joke).
It all gets out of hand in a very fun way, but none of it ever rises to the superb heights the best Bob’s Halloween episodes manage.
Costume Count
Louise: The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo
Gene: Andre 3000 the Giant
Tina: Nun of Your Business
Regular-Sized Rudy: Paul Rudd in “I Love You Man”
Darryl: Pee Wee Herman
Andy and Ollie: Peanut Butter and Jelly
Teddy: a Clown
Bob: Bruce Springsteen
Dr. Yap: A goalie named Jason, a gorilla
Notable Guest Voices:
The Silverman Sisters, Aziz Ansari, James Adomian, Ken Jeong, Brian Huskey
End Credits Song:
Never have I felt more like a girl born in 1986 than when I delighted in hearing this take on Salt-N-Pepa’s defiant early ’90s anthem “None of Your Business”. It’s perfect. 10 out of 10.
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