Bob’s Burgers Season 16 Episode 8 Review: Les Lizárdables

Bob’s Burgers Season 16 Episode 8, “Les Lizárdables,” places Gene in a tumultuous custody battle.

“Les Lizárdables” immediately stands out as a Gene-centered episode. Gene isn’t always given the same amount of focus as his sisters, so it’s nice to see an episode all about him.

Gene takes the spotlight as a lizard co-parent alongside his ex-girlfriend Courtney.

 

Right off the bat, Gene and Courtney’s dynamic is genuinely hilarious. They act like a divorced couple trying to be civil for the sake of their lizard son, Linus.

Obviously, the stakes are low, but the contrast between reality and their serious attitudes is entertaining.

Meanwhile, Gayle and her cats are temporarily living with the Belchers. The main joke of this plotline is that Gayle is running her massage business inside their apartment.

She and her clients are suspiciously loud and can constantly be heard in the background. The chaos leaves you feeling worried for Linus, who’s staying with Gene for the weekend.

Gayle’s cats end up scaring Linus into dropping his tail, and this is Gene’s turning point.

He has a nice little arc throughout the episode, going from an absent co-parent to genuinely passionate about taking care of his lizard son. Gene’s transformation into a better caretaker was a fantastic moment for the character.

The show usually portrays Gene as an impulsive goofball, which is great, but it’s nice to see a different side of him.

Despite his best efforts, Courtney is not able to let his mistake go and wants full custody of Linus. This catches Mr. Frond’s attention, who wants them to do peer mediation.

It feels like this scene is meant to be a mock custody trial, which is fun in theory, but Mr. Frond’s role unfortunately brings it down.

Throughout the meeting, he keeps butting in and telling them what to say. While it is funny initially, it becomes irritating very quickly.

Mr. Frond, desperately hovering over what is supposed to be a peer mediation meeting, could be funny is the the program is the focus of the episode. However, it is only mentioned at the very beginning.

So when it comes into play, it’s strange how much attention Frond draws to himself and away from the episode’s conflict.

In the end, Courtney wins custody and decides that Linus would be better off with her cousin. However, in another sweet moment, Gene goes to visit Linus before he goes with Courtney’s cousin, and there he’s able to show off how much research he’s really done.

They notice Linus’ face has turned reddish-orange, and Gene knows that was an indication he was mature.

This is actually a true fact about five-lined skinks, and the episode pays incredible attention to detail with Linus’ appearance.​

Courtney decides she wants to hand Linus off to Gene, but they end up releasing him back into the wild instead. Narratively, this is fine, although there is no prior indication that they weren’t going to keep him.

Logistically, however, this makes sense considering they found him outside, and he’s literally a wild animal. Admittedly, it would have been fun to see Gene have a pet.

Despite some confusing decisions partway through, “Les Lizárdables” is a genuinely cute episode and a great showing of Gene.

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Bob’s Burgers airs Sundays at 9:30/8:30c on Fox.

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