- “You just saved the boy who's gonna save the rain forest. What's the 'rain forest?'”— Teddy
"Heartbreak Hotel-oween" is the fourth episode in Season 11 of Bob's Burgers, being the one hundred-and-ninety eighth episode overall.
Plot
Louise's plan to get revenge on Halloween for a candy transgression hits a snag when the Belcher kids meet a mysterious elderly woman at a hotel. Meanwhile, Linda and a very squeamish Bob donate blood at a vampire-themed blood mobile.
Synopsis
At the restaurant on Halloween night, the kids are preparing to debut their costume for an impatient Linda. Linda asks teddy where he is going after, and he says he will donate blood, as the local bloodmobile will be down the street, dressed up in a vampire motif for the night. Bob is unnerved (probably given last experience with blood loss but Linda wants to donate as well. Teddy also reveals his blood type is AB, while Linda’s is A-positive. When she blurts out that Bob’s blood type is O-negative (which she thought was “stupid blood”), Teddy tells him he is a universal donor and should donate. Bob refuses, and almost faints when Teddy talks about his Hero blood sloshing” inside him. The kids walk out of the bathroom in their group snail costume, which Linda loves but wonders if they can breathe. Louise shows off the “candy hatch”, which is also wide enough to take a bowl from a candy-stiffing homeowner. Bob realizes that it’s because of a house from a “few years ago”, which Louise denies while flashing back:
"There were attack leopards?!"
Two previous Halloweens earlier, the Belcher kids went to a house where a couple ran out of candy right as it was Louise’s turn, and they promised to give twice as much candy when they came back next year. The next Halloween, however, they only gave Louise one of a box of candy, rather than the promised “twice”. The couple claimed to not remember telling Louise that, and refused to give her double candy, and took her candy back when she tried for the bowl. However, the three kids are then chased away by attack leopards.
Linda is amazed that there were attack leopards, and Tina says she doesn’t remember, but Louise quiets her. The kids have a quick side conversation while Bob answers the phone and fills out a to-go order, where Tina admits she wanted to bond with her siblings and hoped that once in the costume, Louise would change her mind and now steal an entire bowl of candy, while gene doesn’t want “bad candy karma”. Louise insists it is not stealing but rather “candy justice” and lays out the plan: The costume will keep their faces hidden, Tina will do the talking and keep them distracted, and when they are, Louise pops out of the hatch and takes the candy bowl. Bob has a to-go order which he agreed to as it is the hotel down at the end of the block, and Tina volunteers the kids to drop it off, in order to put off the candy thievery, to Louise’s frustration. Louise refuses until Tina suggest they may get a tip for delivering it.
"Oh good, the bait's here."
At the hotel, the kids walk in carrying the costume pieces and the burger, and decide to go up and deliver it when they see no one is staffing the lobby. Louise is impatient and wants to get the candy bowl. As they arrive on the third floor, they are creeped out by the flickering hallway lights, and at room 313 to deliver, hear someone chanting. When they open the door, an old lady is kneeling at a table with candles lit doing the chant, and is glad the “bait” is there, and the kids run off scared they are the bait.
They manage to run out of the hotel and across the street from the “elderly hippie demon lady”, with Louise wanting to get to the house to steal the candy bowl, until she notices that Gene dropped the shell part of the snail costume in the hotel room when they ran. Since they need to cover their faces and the candy bowl, Louise decides they must go back up to retrieve it, despite Tina and Gene’s hesitation. As they reenter the hotel, they are suspired by the hotel manager who was behind the front desk. At first, he thinks they are trick or treating, and offers things like shower caps, but the kids explain they were delivering the burger to the lady in room 313 and dropped the costume. He explains that’s Dolores, who has been checking into the room on Halloween attempting to conjure up the spirit of her dead lover. Gus, who is one of the onlookers who shows up every year, comes out of the hotel bar, explains more: Dolores’ lover died in room 313 fifty years ago, so she goes there every year to conjure, while a bunch of people show up to hang out, hoping the ghost shows up.
Dolores tells of that night 50 years earlier.
The kids go up to the room and enter, grabbing the snail shell while nervous, but as they walk out, Louise asks if it’s ever actually worked, out of curiosity. Dolores says it has not, but hopes that by adding his favorite food, a cheeseburger, as bait, his spirit finally shows up, and she will banish his spirit to hell for all eternity. This surprises the kids, who turn around from the door. Louise wants to leave, but Tina suggests they stay a bit and hear more.
Outside, Bob, Teddy and Linda walk down the street to the bloodmobile, with Bob only going to look. The phlebotomy technicians are dressed as vampires, and Bob tries to leave, but Teddy tells the donation people that Bob has O-Negative blood. Bob refuses to donate at first, but they manage to guilt him into donating.
Dolores and Roger dancing.
In room 313, Louise asks what Roger, Dolores’ decades-deceased lover, did to deserve eternal damnation. Dolores tells them: Fifty years earlier, they were young and dating, even going to a new Thai food place but had to leave due to Roger catching a cold. But their last date was at a Halloween party in the hotel, with Roger dressed as Spartacus and catching nuts in his mouth, which still impresses Dolores. He had gone to the bar to get them drinks, but never came back. When Dolores asked around the party, someone told her they had seen him going onto the hotel elevator with a woman dressed as Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie, which devastated Dolores. The next day, when she read the paper, she saw an article saying Roger had died in room 313 that very night. There was no sign of foul play, instead he died from cardiac arrest, but Dolores is still convinced he fooled around with Jeannie before he died. So, every year, she rents the room, trying to conjure his spirit to send him to hell.
Tina asks if Roger dying wasn’t punishment enough for his cheating, which Louise says to let Dolores have, and bring sup her own revenge quest for the night, so she “gets it”. Tina asks them to move on, and notes how on all of Roger’s love letters (which Dolores had on the table as part of the ritual), he sounded like he was really in love with her, but Dolores refuses to listen. Tina asks if there were another explanation, which Dolores is incredulous over, and Tina admits she doesn’t want to go do Louise’s vendetta, and that Dolores should not either. Dolores shoots down Tina’s asking if Roger was innocent, and Louise still wants to leave. Tina however gives an offer: as it is still early, Tina can take some time to figure out what happened. If she cannot figure it out, they will go do Louise’s plan; if Tina does, then they all go trick-or-treating as normal. Louise agrees to the bet.
In the hotel lobby, there are several people there waiting for the ghost. The kids are down as well, having been kicked out by Dolores so she can keep conjuring, but she at least has let them keep some of the photos and letters to examine. Tina is pacing around, trying to find any clue from them, while Louise wants to go get the bowl of candy, but Tina wants to prove Rogers was not a cheater so they can trick or treat without stealing. They look at a group photo from the party, and find I Dream of Jeannie, who they note is wearing a big boxy belt buckle. A “conjuring enthusiast” returns form the restroom and notes the kids are a bit young, to which Tina says they are trying to prove Roger’s innocence. The hotel manager overhears and is surprised that Roger may not have cheated, and the other guests are as well.
In the bloodmobile, Teddy and Linda are giving blood easily. Bob on the other hand is frightened and trying to hold it in. The technician tries distracting him to put the needle in his left arm, but it does not, and Bob feels pain from it. Another distraction fails, as Bob’s veins roll away from the needle, and he nearly faints hearing how easy it was for Linda’s arm to get the needle. An attempt to put the needle in Bob’s right arm also fails.
Tina studying the evidence.
In the hotel lobby, Tina is hoping to be close to a breakthrough. Gene is frustratingly eating a bowl of hotel bar nuts without being able to get candy, and then when thirsty wants a ginger ale. Tina suddenly gets an idea: Roger had been eating nuts and then went to get drinks. Louise sarcastically praises the discovery that slaty nuts can make people thirsty and wants to leave the investigation to get the candy bowl. However, as Tina tries to get one more look at the group photo, they and the hotel guests all discover the letters and photos are missing, which even Louise says is odd.
Later, Dolores is in the lobby, surprised at finding out that her photo and letters were taken. Even Louise wants to find out what happened, and Tina speculates that someone did not want them to find out the truth, which would stop Dolores showing up every year. Louise accuses a wannabe conjurer who wanted to get a photo of the ghost of stealing them, while Tina accuses Gus, as he and Dolores are of a similar age, and he has a crush on her. Gene accuses a guy in a beekeeper costume, but he says he was just on his way to a party and used the restroom. Along with pointing out that only customers can use the hotel lobby restrooms, the hotel manager says he is glad there were no real bees, as he is allergic and could go into anaphylactic shock. Louise accuses the manager of stealing them, as Dolores brings onlookers and business every year, but he denies it. Tina is frustrated and tells everyone (except the guy in the beekeeper costume) that no one will leave until they figure it out.
Bob's blood donation goes from bad to worse.
At the bloodmobile, Teddy and Linda are done, recovering outside, and laughing with the staff. Bob tries singing to distract himself as he squeezes his fist to donate, but the cover on the needle in his vein falls off and he nearly faints when he sees it. He tries yelling to get the technician’s attention outside, but everyone is too engaged in laughing and talking. Bob panics at the thought of the bag overfilling with his blood, but finds he cannot take the needle out himself as it is too painful. He gets out of the chair and picks up the blood bag, but the tube gets stuck on a part of the donation chair. And he finds that pulling at it causes the tube to break, and the needle to come out, spurting blood everywhere. Bob faints once more.
In the hotel lobby, Tina runs through what happened decades earlier: Roger caught peanuts in his mouth, then leaves to gets drinks, next thing they know, he’s at the elevator with the Jeannie woman, and next morning found dead of cardiac arrest. Gene says he still thinks the beekeeper guy did it, which sets off something in Tina’s head. She deduces it was anaphylactic shock, pointing to the manager’s allergy to bees, and that Roger must have been allergic to peanuts. She brings up that he came down with a “cold” right at the date at the Thai restaurant, as Thai food is full of peanuts, and he was eating nuts the night he died. Louise points out it was a heart attack, but the manager says allergic reactions can cause that too. Dolores asks that why, if he was allergic, he was catching peanuts in his mouth to impress her, but the manager also brings up that Roger probably did not realize he had it, as allergies can come on later in life. Louise however brings up that it doesn’t explain I Dream of Jeannie, and Tina says she wants to look at the group photo, and accuses Dolores of stealing it, to everyone’s shock. Dolores asks how she figured it out, which Tina admits was a hunch, and then she saw the poorly-tucked photo sticking out of the back of Dolores’ pants. She gives Tina the photo, and says it was her own business why she took the photos and letters.
Louise notes an Adam's Apple on I Dream of Jeannie.
Tina and the others look over the photo, looking at the woman in the I Dream of Jeannie costume, when Louise points out that the partygoer was likely male, as they sport an Adam’s apple and knuckle hair that they missed the first time after Dolores took the photo. Gus also points out that the “belt buckle” is really a pager from the time period (as he also admits he had when he was nicknamed “Payday” and in his words “owned the town” before claiming he was a bike messenger). Tina figures out that I Dream of Jeannie was a male doctor back then and helped Roger. Louise admits that the story makes sense: Roger ate the peanuts, and started showing symptoms at the bar. Tina further adds that the doctor in the genie costume must have seen him sweating and feeling woozy, and helped him to his room to get some rest, and adds they probably didn’t know that much about peanut allergies back then. Dolores is taken aback that Roger in fact did not cheat on her.
Outside the bloodmobile, one of the technicians goes to check on Bob, but finds him on the floor. The technicians clean up Bob of blood, and offer extra cookies if he doesn’t tell anyone about what happened, which a weakened Bob accepts. Teddy leads a cheer for Bob donating blood, and in a haze, he starts telling passersby that he saved their lives before having to sit down.
In room 313, the kids have their snail costume and meet Dolores, who is packing up her conjuring items and old letters. Tina asks why she took the photo and the letters, and Dolores admits that she overheard them while having a cocktail at the hotel bar, and was worried wondering if Tina was right, and that the whole thing was a waste of time. Louise says Tina did turn out to be right, and Dolores feels like a fool, but Tina tries to cheer her up by bringing up how romantic (in a twisted sense) it was, that she loved Roger enough to keep doing this for fifty years. She also suggests Gus, who is still in the lobby, when a breeze Dolores thinks is Roger’s sprit blows out the candles. Louise admits that she lost the bet, and they have to go trick or treating Tina’s way. Louise still suggests going to the house, getting candy as normal, btu opening the candy hatch so Gene can let out a fart on the couple, which Tina shoots down. Gene suggests that he could fart inside the snail and they all die like Roger, which Dolores says is “too soon” to make a joke about, before deciding it isn’t.
Videos
Notes
- ↑ Due to a late schedule change by FOX, this episode aired by accident on CityTV in Canada on October 18, 2020.
References
External Links
- "Heartbreak Hotel-oween" on IMDb
- "Heartbreak Hotel-oween" press release via The Futon Critic
- "Heartbreak Hotel-oween" at the US Copyright Database
- "Heartbreak Hotel-oween" script via Springfield! Springfield!