#I JUST DONT KNOW HOW TO INCLUDE THE SPGAHETTI THEME SORRY

[br1ghtestlight]

rewriting western spaghetti and meatballs?? if i ever turn this into an actual script or fanfic it will be more out together these are just ideas

okay first i will say that this episode suffers from two big problems being that it takes place too early into the show's run for it to have the emotional impact it otherwise would've (because we aren't yet invested in louise's relationship with gene or bob) and that it was so early into the writing process that the writers didn't have a full understanding of the characters or their personalities yet. i dont think this episode is bad (its a product of the time it was written in the show's history) but i do believe i could fix it and it could have been a really interesting episode focusing on the relationship between gene and louise

bob and louise watching their tv together and gene walks in and joins them. bob and gene get really into watching westerns together just like in the episode and they bond over it but louise gets jealous and bob is talking to gene abt the movie and explaining stuff bcuz he figures louise already knows what's going on and she doesn't really need him but louise feels like bob is favoring gene and that he'd rather be spending time with him so she gets upset, says she's going to bed and leaves

i don't know what linda and tina's subplot would be but i probably wouldn't make it be an assembly about conflict resolution?? maybe linda just isn't a big part of this episode or she's helping tina with something and they're bonding so that adds to louise feeling left out and neglected. maybe they're putting on a cowboy play at school and tina is rehearsing her lines and it brings the cowboy theme back around

gene is excited about being a cowboy and spending time with his dad BUT HE ISNT TRYING TO START A FIGHT OR STAND UP TO SOME RANDOM KID AT SCHOOL that feels slightly out of character for gene (who is importantly portrayed as a pacifist in the show and almost never gets into conflict or fights with anybody, he typically avoids confrontation and thats why him standing up to some random classmate for?? stealing his jokes??? feels slightly ooc even if he WOULD get annoyed) and i think he works better in this episode if he is genuinely completely oblivious to the fact that louise is upset or jealous. he doesn't get into a fight with louise but he's busy doing something related to the play maybe he's playing a character or doing the music (and so is tina) so louise has to eat lunch alone and she's sad and feels like she's being left behind and that her family isn't including her. she's losing her siblings and her best friends

later that day louise asks gene to hang out with her and play a game together in her bedroom but he's too busy rewatching old western movies with their dad bcuz he wants to be prepared for his role in the upcoming play. bob invites her to join them but louise gets pissy and leaves to ask tina and her mom to hang out but they're ALSO busy rehearsing for the play and even tho they invite louise to help out she gets bored and she misses spending time with her brother so she gets the idea to sabotage the play somehow so that he'll HAVE TO hang out with her again

louise convinces some friends (maybe rudy and millie) to help her sabotage the play tomorrow night and they're like hesitant (aka rudy is hesitant and millie is totally on board) but eventually agree to helping her and she basically just fucks with every aspect of production like the actors and props and costumes. she feels guilty but convinces herself this is for the greater good bcuz otherwise she'll lose her brother forever and he's her best friend

gene's big role in the play comes up and she sabotaged it so that the actor he was performing alongside got sick or locked in a closet or something and she actually feels really bad so she throws on their costume and joins the play. she doesnt know any of the lines so she just improvises (kinda like how bob did in hawk and chick) and gene realizes she fucked everything up and gets kinda upset but she tells him that he's her best friend and they do everything together. they've always had each others backs and she's scared of losing him or that he'll be too busy to hang out with her anymore she doesn't know what she'll do without him

maybe there would be like a clipshow of them growing up together but ALSO bobs burgers doesn't typically do moments like that so it might feel slightly off or won't work thematically?? idk

gene tells louise that he loves spending time with her and they do everything together and just bcuz he does things without her sometimes that doesn't mean he doesn't want to spend time with her etc and he ALWAYS wanted to watch the western movies with her but she seemed kinda pissy about it so he left her alone but they'll always be siblings and hang out together and maybe next time gene is in a school performance louise can act alongside him :)

linda and tina have a b-plot thats related to the play and maybe linda is either living out her own failed middle school performance through tina or otherwise being slightly overbearing and annoying but its not the main focus

if this were an actual piece of writing it would be MUCH MORE focused on the relationship between louise and gene and how they communicate/feel about each other bcuz usually their relationship is just "they hang out together and cause problems and gene goes along with whatever louise does" but there's a lot more stuff going on between them clearly as we see in the large brother where fart thou episode AND in spaghetti western and meatballs