- “Mom! Shauna Glassman had five caterers at her Bat Mitzvah, and everyone talked about how great that was, so we need six caterers. Find me another caterer, or I'm gonna FIND ANOTHER MOM!”— Tammy Larsen to Mrs. Larsen
"Mazel Tina" is the thirteenth episode in Season 4, being the fifty-eighth episode overall. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in 2014.
Plot[]
Tina ends up not being invited to Tammy's Bat Mitzvah, but is required to go when Bob's Burgers is hired to cater the event. When Tammy and Louise go in Tammy's head with the guacamole, Tina takes the center stage.
Synopsis[]
At the Belcher kitchen, Tina is refreshing her email on the family laptop to get an invitation to Tammy’s Bat Mitzvah, and seems to know about the ceremony despite, as Louise points out, once being gullible enough to think “Chanukah” was Han Solo and Chewbacca’s baby. Tina says it’s a party and about becoming a woman, as well as rumor being that it will be filled with “BFOS” (Boys From Other Schools). At Wagstaff, Tina encounters Tammy angrily yelling at her mother on the phone and who admits that while she is “up to her armpits” in bat mitzvah planning, namely the theme: “Tammy!”, herself. Tina wonders about the invite she did not get and Tammy says she didn’t invite Tina, to Tina’s surprise and sadness. Tina is further discouraged when Tammy dismisses her asking if there will be any spots open for the party.
At lunch, Tina is sighing into her lunch in the cafeteria, given it seems everyone is going to the Bat Mitzvah, and further discouraged when Gene accidentally reveals that their classmate Shauna Glassman had a Bat mitzvah and didn’t invite Tina before. Tammy, on her cell phone, storms over ignoring them, telling her mother to find another caterer to get up to six (to beat Shauna’s five), and Tina gets an idea. She tells Tammy that their father can help cater, to Louise’s annoyance and attempt to dissuade her. Tammy agrees to hire him when Tina says that he can make the sliders she wants. Tammy walks away to yell at her rabbi on the phone, and Louise is disappointed that they now must go to the “Brat Mitzvah”, but Tina is optimistic.
At the restaurant, Bob refuses, as previous times they catered, the rest of the family wandered off and left him to do all the work, as Tina plead with him that it is the only way to get into Tammy’s Bat Mitzvah. Bob says that it would be working, not “going”, but Tina wants to meet all the BFOS there, and collapses on a stool, leaving her face red from all the blood rushing into it. Bob finally agrees to it as long as they stay.
On a night later, the Bat Mitzvah is in full swing at the Sunsets Hotel. The Belchers have set up amongst the caterers, with Linda marveling at the fancy food being served. The “Tammy” theme is everywhere, with toothpicks and decorations all bearing Tammy’s face, and a giant Tammy papier-mâché head hanging up in the rafters creeps Bob out, while Jimmy Jr. notes a DJ was hired for the bathroom and Zeke becomes hyper on sugary “Tammy-tinis”. Tammy’s intro film is also of her dancing. But Tina is still disappointed she cannot go out into the party, when Tammy approaches their booth and has the anxious coordinator Janet give them toothpicks and a headset, before getting mad at Bob for saying that the lack of toothpicks being a “major disaster” was an exaggeration.
Tina goes to the bathroom in the hopes of encountering a little of the party, and Bob tells the others that they are not allowed to leave. After hearing Tammy yell at Janet over the headset for minor things, he takes off the headset, and Louise puts it on. She begins pretending to be a voice to Janet, calling Tammy “Bat Zilla”, and convincing Janet that “Bat Zilla” will kill her before the party ends and that the latter is better than this. Meanwhile, Linda, is frustrated at not being able to access “the greatest collection of food ever assembled under one roof”, but soon smells someone’s crepes.
Tammy yells at Janet on the floor again due to a bulb flickering in the Tammy head, and Louise (still acting as the voice in her head) talks her into admitting her dreams of moving to New York to sing and dance. Once Tammy yells at her again, Janet yells back and happily removes the headset as she quits and walks away. As a shocked Tammy watches Janet walk away, Tina approaches her and asks where the ladies’ room is. After storming off, Tammy comes back and hires Tina as her new coordinator, giving her Janet’s clipboard and headset, while giving a confused Tina the rundown; the clipboard holds the schedule, and they must stick to it ‘matter what.” There is also a “Tammy’s family cheat sheet” under the schedule so Tina can tell Tammy which relative of hers are which. Tammy finally points out Justin, who tammy finds the cutest boy in Hebrew school, and tells Tina that the ladies choice dance is at 9:30 that night, and that Tammy will have Justin as her dance partner, while Tina is smitten with Justin.
As Tammy walks away, Louise (over the headset) asks Tina if she got “bat-bullied” into becoming the new party planner, while tammy yells for tina to pick her dress wedgie as Janet would have done. Louise notices that the giant Tammy head has been pulled down to ground level for maintenance, and gets an idea seeing the hatch open, picking up a big bowl of guacamole.
Bob notices Louise is gone from their food station as well, but stops Gene from leaving to look for her. Linda says she needs some air, but as Bob points out, she is muttering “crepe” under her breath, even as she talks to him, despite her denials. Bob lets Linda leave, who runs for the crepe station, but again stops gene from following her, pointing out that they both know Linda will not stop with just one crepe, and they need to stick together.
Tina helps Tammy makes the rounds with her relatives, giving info and freeing Tammy from a hug from her aunt Frida. Tammy gets her mother’s “weird perfume” on her from a hug and goes to swab it off and tells tina to keep the party on schedule. But while walking back, Tammy notices the Tammy head’s hatch is open, and finds Louise inside with the bowl of guac, ready to pour it out the head’s nostril holes. Louise is startled, however, and drops her own headset into the guacamole, and tries to lie her way out. Tammy realizes Louise planned to pour guacamole to look like the giant head had boogers, but right as they begin to fight, the head starts moving. The crane operator nearby has lifted the head up once more, and the hatch is locked. The two try to yell for help, but due to being high up and over the loud band by the dance floor, no one can hear them.
Tina begins searching for Tina to lead off the limbo part of the schedule, and asks Bob and gene. They have not seen her, but when Bob asks Tina if she has seen her mother or sister, she notes Linda is on the other side of the room at the Italian food station, claiming to Bob that she will be right back. Tina goes off to find Tammy and keep on schedule, while bob leaves Gene at the food station while he finds napkins.
Tammy keeps yelling for help inside the giant replica of her head, while Louise tells her that with the headset clogged, they will be unable to communicate and instead will die in there. Louise convinces Tammy to pour the guacamole out of the nostrils, as a signal for help when it falls on someone, despite Tammy’s initial reluctance. However, the guacamole is blocked by the head’s giant lips, and a frustrated Tammy says someone will notice she’s missing, as the party theme is her. Louise asks what Tammy even will do with the head, to which Tammy says she will donate it to charity.
Bob starts eating gnocchi at one of the stations, while Gene stalls for the crowd at the slider station. Tammy asks Mr. and Mrs. Larsen if they’ve seen Tammy as the limbo is in two minutes. Mr. Larsen tells her that they let their daughter take “Tammy time” to herself when she gets like this and laugh with each other at the bar as Tina walks off.
When the limbo starts, Tina decides to get it going and does the first limbo (after having the bar raised high enough to walk under it). Tammy is horrified at what Tina is doing, and saddened she cannot do the limbo. On the floor, Tina sees the conga line is next on the schedule and decides to start it to stay on schedule no matter what.
Bob and Linda bump into each other at a catering table, and as they shovel catering food into their mouths, Bob tries to assure Linda that Gene is running the station well. However, they cannot find him, and soon realize that they cannot see Gene, as they are not in the Bat Mitzvah hall, instead having wandered into someone’s wedding reception.
Tina starts the conga line with some of the BFOS’s, again angering Tammy, who mocks Tina’s flailing conga style. Louise finally fixes the headset, but as she is about to tell Tammy, Tammy says that once they get out of there, Tina is fired from being he party coordinator. Seeing Tina happy down below, Louise whispers to herself that Tina owes her one, and lies that the headset cannot be fixed, leaving them stranded.
Down below, Tina leads the party in the Macarena (despite one of the band members needing a break to call his dog sitter) and filling in for Tammy in breaking the bread. Meanwhile, Bob and Linda gorge at the wedding and Gene keeps stalling the customers and hiding from them.
After two hours, Tammy is watching the party and saddened that no one even notices she is gone. She breaks down in sobs and admits, with Louise’s help, that she was being a “Bat Zilla” yelling at everyone. Louise tries to cheer her up by saying she fixed the headset, but refuses to call for help after Tammy snaps back and yells after to do so. Tammy finally relents after agreeing to invite Tina to her future parties.
On the dance floor, everyone is doing the chicken dance while Tina gains more of an attitude in her position as party planner, when Louise shows up in her headset. Louise and Tammy explain that they are stuck inside the giant replica head, but before Tina can get the maintenance guy to let them down, she sees that next up on the schedule is the ladies choice dance with Justin, and to “stay on schedule”, she will fill in for Tammy once again. As Tammy and Louise yell at her to get them out of there, Tina walks away and throws the headset away.
In the giant Tammy head, Tammy and Louise are angry at Tina for abandoning them, and decide to just jump on the head’s floor until someone notices them. Tina approaches Justin for the Ladies Choice Dance without Tammy around, and takes him to the dance floor despite his confusion. Gene has started making sliders with raw burger meat and tells the customers to warm them under hot sink water. Tina starts the dance with Justin as Bob and Linda return from the wedding and see her on the floor. A furious Tammy jumps hard enough that her legs break through the replica head’s floor, which become visible to everyone.
The head is lowered down, and Tammy and Louise are freed, while Tina gets her hands off Justin to avoid getting in more trouble. Tammy is furious, along with Louise for leaving them stuck and Tina admits she got swept up in the role due to the intoxicating power of the Bat Mitzvah, with Tammy agreeing about that. But when Tina says “thank you for coming to my Bat Mitzvah”, Tammy again snaps, and Tina is only saved by telling everyone it is time for the ‘’hora’’. As Tammy is put in the chair and surrounded by a crowd, Bob and Linda (who has the caught flowers) approach them, with Bob lamenting about how this happens when they cater, while Linda wants to go back to the wedding and sign the guest book before they get out of there. Gene meanwhile says he just stopped suing the grill, while Louise says she is getting a gift certificate for her non-existent Bat Mitzvah as the family leaves.
Cast[]
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Starring |
Also Starring
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Videos[]
External links[]
- "Mazel Tina" on IMDb
- "Mazel Tina" press release via The Futon Critic
- "Mazel Tina" script via Springfield! Springfield!
- "Mazel Tina" review at The A.V. Club