Bob’s Burgers recap: The Fresh Princ-ipal is Louise’s shining moment

Bob’s Burgers is back and headed to school with Louise getting a chance to do things her way while Bob deals with some grilling struggles.

After another week’s delay, Bob’s Burgers is back. Two weeks ago, we watched as Tina dealt with another Jimmy Jr rejection and Linda got a little too involved with Gretchen’s personal life. This week, it seems like the episode is switching gears as evidenced by the title. It’s been a few episodes since the Belchers kids have been in school so that’s something to look forward to.

If you haven’t watched this week’s episode of Bob’s Burgers, there will be spoilers for “The Fresh Princ-ipal,” from this point on.

“The Fresh Princ-ipal” starts with the family eating breakfast together with Louise being overly-excited for school. She explains that she’s excited because she won the chance to be principal for a day and wants to get everything out of the cabinet of confiscation. Once at school, Louise finds out that she doesn’t get to do anything she wants so she breaks into his office to take on her role.

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Louise and Ms. Schnur make a deal that Ms. Schnur will look the other way so she can use Principal Spoors’ private bathroom. Louise comes up with a bunch of new ideas including double lunch, double recess and no study hall. Mr. Frond comes in to try and stop her but Louise gets past him and creates an entirely new series of rules for the school.

Tammy and Jocelyn interview everyone at school and they talk about how wonderful Louise is as principal. Once back in the office, Spoors’ brother-in-law comes in and explains that he’s taking over as the guidance counselor and Frond is getting fired. Ms. Schnur says that Frond has to show Don the ropes and that she must fire him after he finishes. Meanwhile, the kids try to break into the cabinet of confiscation and Mr. Frond goes to stop them until Ms. Schnur intercepts him to break the news.

Louise thinks she’ll be happy if Mr. Frond gets fired but she ends up feeling guilty and decides to give Mr. Frond his job back. She calls an assembly to allow Mr. Frond to say goodbye and Don to introduce himself. He keeps evading questions, resulting in him quitting and Mr. Frond getting his old job back. The episode ends with Louise and Mr. Frond making peace at least for now.

At the restaurant, Bob is flipping burgers while Teddy questions him. Bob starts getting nervous and completely forgets how to flip burgers. Teddy tells Bob that he has the yips similar to a professional athlete, causing him to feel worse. Bob tries to use two spatulas but it ends up being an even worse strategy. Teddy suggests that Bob puts on Jimmy Pesto’s underwear like in Bull Durham and it ends up fixing him.

The two plotlines in “The Fresh Princ-ipal” are extremely different but somehow work. Louise’s plotline is the main one and easily the strongest. Watching Louise become principal was amazing as she lived every kid’s dream. What made the episode so great was how mature she acted by the end of it. Even though she thought she’d be happy to see Mr. Frond go, she feels bad and changes her mind.

It’s a nice change of pace for Louise. Usually, she’s known for being tough and hating Frond but she realizes how important he is to the school. There is just something about Louise secretly being a softie that makes for a good episode. “The Fresh Princ-ipal” is no expectation and demonstrates why Louise is one of the most complex characters on the show.

As for the secondary plotline, it felt more like comic relief. While Louise’s plotline was somewhat serious, it helped break up the episode. Having Teddy suggests that Bob wear Jimmy Pesto’s underwear and then him doing it was hilarious. As long as it worked, then that is all that really matters, huh?

Overall “The Fresh Princ-ipal” was another strong episode. Some of the best Bob’s Burgers episodes are when they focus on one particular character. This week was Louise’s turn and it couldn’t have been more perfectly suited to her. I’d consider this one of the best Louise-centric episodes the show has produced yet. Once again, season 9 continues to impress after a somewhat slow start.

I give “The Fresh Princ-ipal” a B.

Bob’s Burgers airs Sundays on Fox at 8:30/7:30c. 

What did you think of “The Fresh Princ-ipal?” Would you consider this one of Louise’s best episodes? Be sure to let me know in the comments!