The Ending Of The Bob's Burgers Movie Explained
This article contains spoilers for "The Bob's Burgers Movie."
Marketing for "The Bob's Burgers Movie" has kept the actual plot of the movie well-hidden. We knew going into the film that, as is usual throughout the series, Bob was going to be under some sort of financial strain, Gene would be pursuing his musical ambitions, and Tina would be as concerned as ever about her romantic feelings for Jimmy Jr. The trailers also showed a big new movie-exclusive obstacle: a sinkhole opening up in front of Bob's Burgers. What they kept secret? That the sinkhole contains a dead body.
The dead body is identified as Cotton Candy Dan, a Wonder Wharf carny who went missing six years ago. What results is a murder mystery done "Bob's Burgers"-style. How does the mystery get solved, and what does it mean for the story arcs of each of the five members of the Belcher family?
The kids suspect Felix Fischoeder
In the murder of Cotton Candy Dan, Wonder Warf's owner Calvin Fischoeder is treated as the prime suspect. It would be extra bad news for the already struggling Belchers if their landlord were found guilty, so out of both a desire to help her family and to prove her own personal bravery, Louise leads her siblings on an investigation to find the real murderer.
Questioning Sergeant Bosco, the Belcher kids learn there was a cufflink with the image of a banana in a graduate cap found at the crime scene. The kids get even more information from the other carnies, who reveal that Calvin's brother Felix was also present on the night of the murder six years ago. Suddenly Felix is now the obvious suspect — and a matching cufflink in his possession would be all that's needed to prove his guilt. The kids follow Felix around, resulting in a chase that ultimately leads them to the Wonder Wharf Molehill ride.
Uncovering the real killer
Inside their ride, Gene gets a bit carried away pressing buttons, and one button with a big "Do not press" label ultimately leads him and his sisters down a slide to the Fischoeders' secret clubhouse. Calvin (who left jail on bail), Felix, and their cousin and lawyer Grover Fischoeder are all there, and surprised to find the Belcher kids in their hideout. They get a little tour of the "underwharf," where discarded ride parts are kept.
Trying to warn Calvin about what the kids believe to be the truth about his brother Felix is awkward. Interacting with Felix himself is even moreso. The actual solution to the mystery, however, is found in one of the photographs within the hidden clubhouse. Louise sees the banana graduate cufflinks in a family photo — and it's Grover who's wearing them. Louise also notices that there are bite marks on Grover's arm, and one of the marks just so happens to match exactly with the grooves of the tooth Louise stole from the crime scene. The true killer has been found!
Grover Fischoeder's motives
Grover presents his diabolical motivations via a musical number, which he sings to the entire Belcher family (Bob and Linda conveniently just happened to fall into the secret clubhouse in the midst of trying to hide from a mob of angry carnies). Essentially, it's all about wanting Calvin's inheritance money and disqualifying him from it by making him a felon. Grover's greed is heightened by his spite towards his family and general sense of feeling ignored; those cufflinks were a graduation present he got himself because everyone else forgot to give him a gift.
So why did Cotton Candy Dan's corpse somehow end up buried in the street in front of Bob's Burgers? That was an accident. Grover left the dead body in a pile of dirt expecting someone would notice it, but instead some construction worker just moved the dirt without even noticing the corpse. It would take six years, a collapsing sinkhole, and one nine-year-old girl desperate to prove her bravery before anyone would discover the body that was meant to be left in plain sight.
The Belchers' darkest hour
After revealing everything to the Belchers, Grover has no intent to let them live. The family tries to escape using one of the clam-shaped ride vehicles in the underwharf, which is decidedly not the fastest or most convenient method of escape. Grover pursues them in a similarly slow vehicle, but the chase ends up leading them all the way to the sinkhole, allowing the killer to pushes the Belchers in and bury them alive with dirt. With Louise's Kuchi Kopi nightlight the only source of light (and a flickering, inconsistent one at that), this is quite literally the Belchers' darkest hour.
Facing what seems to be their deaths, the family makes it through despair with some big emotional revelations. Linda, typically the family's constant source of optimism even when times are hardest, can't be that now. Bob talks about how she's given him hope for so many years, and because of that, now he can try to give her hope when she needs it the most. Louise also experiences big emotional revelations in the hole, which require further elaboration.
The truth about Louise's hat
Throughout "The Bob's Burgers Movie," Louise is dealing with heavy insecurity, and it's connected to her iconic pink bunny ears hat. As she's remembered it, she was terrified of going to preschool and was given the hat as a gift to make her feel brave. Years later, she's still afraid to be seen without it and is growing embarrassed over this childish coping mechanism. Expressing her fears to her family in the pit, however, it turns out the actual story of her hat is different from how she remembers.
Little Louise was scared of going to preschool, but she made it through the first day without the hat. It was given to her afterwards, not to provider her with courage, but as a reward for the courage she already demonstrated. Furthermore, Bob had additional motivation for giving Louise her hat: his late mother always wore a knit hat, and this was a way to connect his daughter with the grandmother she never got to know.
Escaping the pit and saving Felix and Calvin
Bob is able to get his family out of the hole by driving downward through the pipe, breaking it again and causing another burst of water that frees the car. Teddy, who's been mourning the destruction of his homemade "Bob Burgers" food cart, notices and comes to help his friends out of the clam car — though it's kind of hard for them to hear each other through the windows.
After busting them out, it's up to the Belchers and Teddy to make sure Calvin and Felix are safe. Grover is planning to drown his brothers inside a model submarine and blow up Wonder Wharf using a bomb made from stolen stuffed animals. Teddy calls the police, and as inarticulate as Teddy's call may be, it gets through. While the police come to rescue Calvin and Felix, the Belchers ride the Molehill and stop the fuse for the stuffed animal bomb. Sgt. Bosko arrests Grover, Calvin's name is cleared, and things can begin to return to some semblance of normal.
Financial issues solved ... for now
After the Belchers saved his life and clearing him of being a murder suspect, Calvin Fischoeder certainly owed the Belchers some sort of favor in return. As the wealthy landlord for the family's house and restaurant, he certainly has the ability and resources to help them out — and he does, though arguably not as much as he could or should.
Basically, Mr. Fischoeder agrees to cancel their rent for the month and help them with the current payment on their bank loan. Bob's financial stress over whether he'd be able to keep the restaurant is alleviated ... for now. Bob's Burgers will always be just barely getting by as a business, but the Belchers' resilience and willingness to help others in their community pays off and prevents everything from totally collapsing. Linda is totally right that Mr. Fischoeder owes them more for all they did to help him, though.
Tina's summer boyfriend decision
Tina's storyline in "The Bob's Burgers Movie" is similar to many a Tina-centric episode from the series, in that it's focused around her constantly shifting feelings about love and her on-again, off-again relationship with her crush Jimmy Jr. Throughout the movie, she frets about how to ask Jimmy Jr. out to be her "summer boyfriend." She decides on making a "barrecklace" (putting a barrette on a necklace) to give to him, but the object gets lost amidst on Wonder Wharf amidst all the chaos.
Fortunately for Tina, Jimmy Jr. finds the barrecklace himself and, on the last day of the school year, gives it to her because it reminded him of her. Tina confuses Jimmy Jr. with her monologuing about whether true love is possible and whether her original "summer boyfriend" plan was the right idea or not, but she ultimately finds the courage to give him a kiss.
Gene's big performance
Gene's story in "The Bob's Burgers Movie" is the least significant of any of the five family members to the film as a whole, but it does make for a cute send-off. Gene, who invents a new instrument made from spoons attached to a napkin holder with a rubber band at the start of the film, is excited but also anxious to perform at the Wonder Wharf this summer with his band, The Itty Bitty Ditty Committee.
The film's final montage, featuring various resolutions, is framed around his actual performance. Nobody actually shows up for the performance aside from his parents and Mr. Fischoeder, and Bob is still decidedly not a fan of this particular musical phase of Gene's, but the kid's happy and that's all that really matters. With "The Itty Bitty Ditty Committee/Burger Buns" performance leading right into a dance party ending credits sequence featuring just about every "Bob's Burgers" character who didn't fit into the movie itself, audiences will likely also be happy leaving the theater.