9. Season 5, Episode 1: “Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl”
Perhaps no other cartoon is quite as obsessed with music as Bob’s Burgers, each episode providing original songs to varying degrees. “Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl” ramps up the musical energy and focuses on Gene and his romantic rival, Courtney, producing competing school musicals, his an adaptation of Die Hard and hers an adaptation of Working Girl.
Narratively, the episode avoids falling into any traps by using an almost Rashomon effect to tell the story. The episode begins in media res with the parents and kids all gathered in Mr. Frond’s office and works its way backward, telling what has happened up to this point from both Gene’s and Courtney’s perspectives.
Another highlight is the return of John Michael Higgins guest-starring as Courtney’s over-zealous stage dad. His overly eager efforts to get his moderately talented daughter sucked into show business are relatable, cringeworthy, and funny all at once.
It’s hilarious enough to watch middle schoolers turn R-rated ’80s movies into school musicals (a plot that would truly only happen on Bob’s Burgers), but the music is great, too, and the oft-mentioned Carly Simon even makes a special cameo appearance toward the episode’s end.