God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins
Series 3, episode 9, first shown 16 Dec 2012, 22 min
Our take
A strange, warm first Christmas outing about taking in a lonely stranger, and it stays on the right side of sweet by being properly odd. The guest turn as a man who believes he used to be a mannequin is a gift, and Linda, giddy with festive goodwill, gets the biggest laughs. The gory window display and the sex-shop rescue keep it firmly for older viewers.
What happens
The show's first Christmas episode. Bob's Uncle Ernie has died and left him a storage unit, and the Belchers arrive hoping for treasure. Instead they find Chet, a gentle, dishevelled man who has been living inside it. Linda, full of the holiday spirit, talks Bob into letting him stay. Chet says he was once a mannequin, and he turns out to have a gift for elaborate shop-window displays: his windows at the restaurant draw crowds and get the place noticed. When Bob questions his sanity, Chet answers with a gruesome display of meat, ketchup blood and beheaded reindeer. Chet is pining for Nadine, the mannequin he loved, who was sent to another store, so Bob and the kids set out to find her, finally taking her from a sex shop in time to give Chet a happy Christmas.
Can the kids watch it?
Not for young children: it carries a US TV-14 rating for sexual jokes, crude language and a gory window display, so it suits teenagers.
Cast and crew
Starring
- H. Jon Benjamin as Bob Belcher
- John Roberts as Linda Belcher
- Dan Mintz as Tina Belcher
- Eugene Mirman as Gene Belcher
- Kristen Schaal as Louise Belcher
Guest stars
- Larry Murphy as Teddy
- Zach Galifianakis as Chet
- Andy Kindler as Mort
- Tim Meadows as Mike
- Pamela Adlon as Olsen Benner
Writer
- Kit Boss
Director
- Anthony Chun