- “Don’t patronize me.”
"Loft in Bedslation" is the seventh episode in Season 12, being the two-hundred-and-twenty-third episode overall.
Plot[]
Linda and the girls attempt to build a loft bed for Louise in just one day. Meanwhile, Bob and Gene host a group of gamers and their tabletop role-playing game.
Full story[]
In the Belcher kitchen, Linda is going through the receipts from the restaurant while Bob is reviewing a notebook, and noting that they sold so few Burgers of the Day the previous month, lamenting how he spends so much time picking out new and fun pun ingredients. In the shoebox used to store receipts, Linda finds some of her old photos that were meant for a photo album. She finds one of an unfinished fort her father was going to build in her childhood backyard but never did; Linda asked her mother for help to finish it and Gloria told her they were not the type of people to build stuff (which Bob admits is something awful her mother would say).
Tina is writing a 'Hurt Locker"-based erotic friend fiction story when Louise tells her that it is Louise’s turn to use the desk in Tina’s room they share. It is Dinosaur Week at school and Louise wants extra desk time to write an essay as well as letter and make a poster about her favorite dinosaur, and if a student does not fully participate, they do not get “Dinosaur Donuts” at the end of the week (which Tina says were jut regular sized donuts). As Louise’s room is too small for a desk, she and Tina try to push each other out of the chair before Tina goes to find another flat surface.
In the restaurant, Bob has come up with a new burger of the day, the "I Bean of Greenie" made with black bean parsley purée. Despite his belief that people will be unable to resist, Linda is skeptical. Bob asks where Louise is, and Tina explains that she’s upstairs at Tina’s desk doing homework (as it is a Saturday, Bob is a little worried at the change in Louise’s character), and Tina complains how they live in a one-desk house. This gives Linda an idea: they build a loft bed to put a desk under it like her cousin in New York did. Bob reluctantly agrees, seeing as it could be built by Teddy for cheap. Linda and Tina head upstairs to tell Louise when a young woman come sin and asks if they allow gaming; she and her friends play the role-playing game Mages and Monsters, and the garage they use is unavailable. She asks to play there since the restaurant is not busy most of the time, but promises to order lots of food and drinks in the long time it will take to play. The young woman, Shirley, also explains that she is nervous as it is her first time as Game Master and wants it to go well as she keeps pulling on the drawstrings of her sweatshirt. Bob agrees to let them play there, and she leaves to come back in a couple of hours.
In Louise’s room, Linda explains how the loft bed would put a desk so the sisters will not need to share a desk, and Louise loves it. Louise asks if they could do it that day, she the time then can be spent in the next week working on the dinosaur stuff and she’ll be eating donuts by the end of it. Linda calls Teddy, but he explains on his cell that he is in Canada, driving back past his mother who bought a scooter and is now driving it slowly back to the states. Louise and Tina are disappointed, but Linda says that she is not her mom or dad, and she will be the parent who builds things; and that Louise will get her loft bed that day, because the three of them will build it.
Linda tells Bob about the plan, and that he needs to stay in the restaurant and can have Gene with him. After Bob says they could instead wait for teddy to build it the next weekend and all of them work in the restaurant that weekend to pay rent, Linda and the girls refuse, saying that they are tired of sharing the desk, and Louise promising to work twice as hard the next day so that she can get the dinosaur stuff done. Bob finally reluctantly agrees.
Later, after watching internet videos on how to build a loft bed, a Linda drives the girls to Kim and Son Hardware. Louise is excited, drawing up plans for a loft bed with retinal scanners, weapons, fireworks, and so on, but disappointed that the store does not have any of it.
At the restaurant, Shirley and her friends are setting up for the game, and despite Bob telling them about the burger of the day, they all want regular burgers except for Shirley who wants to try, but Bob is disappointed by how fast they ordered after hearing him.
In Louise's room, the wood planks are tools are all about when Linda comes in with the old power drill (which she calls "Phyllis Driller") and a saw. The girls measure and saw wood as Bob serves food while Gene interferes with the game.
At the restaurant later, Shirley is telling the others in-game that their party has found a chest with goblin hieroglyphs and walks away for them to decide. She tells Bob as she pulls on her sweatshirt drawstrings that she is trying something she thinks is exciting and different but worried the others won’t like it, and almost bails on her goblin idea and play it safe, but Bob tells her to go for the idea. The friends decide they will open the chest. Shirley, as game master, tells them that they are now cursed b the "Curse of the Goblin King", and gives them new characters sheets for their now-goblin characters. Gene is the only one excited by the twist, as the gamers are not.
In Louise’s room, something resembling a loft bed is coming along with wood beams put together. Linda notes however that they have "most of it" to go, and refuses to take a break. However, she then trips on a screwdriver on the floor and falls, breaking her right elbow on the wood for the bed. Despite her determination to keep on, she cannot hold any tools without pain. Despite this, Linda refuses to go to a hospital and just puts an ice pack on it while giving the girls instructions off the online video, even though Tina points out that she probably broke her elbow and they should tell their dad. Louise goes along in order to build the loft.
In the restaurant, it is almost time to close but the game is still going on. Bob is hesitant about asking them to leave, reluctantly agreeing with Gene that it is because he feels guilty about telling Shirley to do the new thing and now her friends are mad at her. Bob tells Gene to start "casually" sweeping to give them a sign, but the gamers are more irritated that they are not playing as characters they spent years building. Shirley steps away and tells Bob nervously how much they hate the goblin twist, with Bob trying to say they might like to to ease her. Shirley tells him that she thought it would be more exciting to fight one’s way back to the character rather than the "same old, same old", but no one likes it and she thinks she is an idiot. Bob tells her they have to close, but she refuses, as closing at that point in the game would make the others never trust her to be Game Master again. Bob agrees to let them stay open longer to finish the game.
Tina and Louise try to hold the boards to drill but Tina is too afraid of the loud and burn-smelling drill, and is relieved when Linda tells them to stop while she answers the phone. Bob is calling from downstairs but notices Linda’s exclamation of pain, and explains they will be open longer so he cannot come up, but tells Linda that she doesn’t have to finish the bed that night when she says her arm is not broken, but she refuses.
Later in the game, Shirley tells the others that hey have a scroll that tells of an amulet that has the ability to undo dark magic. Bob tells gene to go to bed, who also refuses, but agrees to lay down in a booth and listen to them and rest.
Louise pushes a screw with the drill, but ends up stripping the screw (which is not even in another piece of wood). Linda is frustrated that there is more wood in the pile than in the bed frame, and admits they won’t be able to finish it for the night or maybe ever. Louise, also tired, tires to keep going, but the three end up sleeping in the master bed. Louise is disappointed, while Linda says she just wanted to give them the confidence that they could do stuff that her mother never gave her. But she feels she failed and she has only one working arm, before she cry-snores in her sleep.
Down in the restaurant, Bob is almost asleep and remains of being an exploring wizard gathering new burger ingredients while lamenting how no one else likes them because they are “dumb and boring” before jolting awake. Gene and Bob are now at the point where they know only life when the gamers weren’t there, with Bob so tired he is not sure if the outside world is still there. He tells Gene to go the bed, but both are too interested in finding out what happens to the "twentysomethings" playing. In the game, Shirley tells the others that the chamber they are in flooding, and need to work with what they have. The gamers figure out that their goblin characters can stand on each other’s shoulders, and roll a die score high enough that they get the amulet in a wall, and an excited Shirley tells them they have not transformed back into their original characters. Bob is relieved and gives them their check. One of the gamers asks if next time they can play the game the old way next time. As a dejected Shirley agrees, Bob steps up and says that after watching them play for so many hours, they really got into the game, and that yes, Shirley made a different choice that they were not used to, but he thinks they were casually into the new gameplay. Bob says he makes a burger of the day which (unfortunately) only Shirley ordered, but he makes a new one everyday to keep things interesting. The players agree that it did make them feel more excited and compliment Shirley. Bob suggests they could pay, but they are now all hungry after playing for hours, and all order the "I Bean of Greenie" to Bob’s excitement (even as he is fatigued and wants to sleep before opening the store in the morning).
Linda is awoken by the sound of hammering, and finds Louise and Tina building the loft bed on the ground, as they cannot lift heavy things higher like adults can. Louise couldn’t sleep and woke Tina up, but they managed to add legs and nails to the bed; Linda is proud of what they managed to build and begins to cry. However, she refuses to let Louise on the small-height bed and says they will check the measurements after some sleep. Louise wants to build the desk so she can work on her dinosaur report, but Linda says to take a break. After refusing sleep and breakfast, both Louise and Tina fall asleep on the floor of Louise's room as Linda goes to make breakfast.
Some time later, Louise helps Teddy build her new, more even loft bed with a desk and stairs, to her happiness.
Videos[]
References[]
External links[]
- "Loft in Bedslation" on IMDb
- "Loft in Bedslation" press release via The Futon Critic
- "Loft in Bedslation" script via Springfield! Springfield!