Gene, Louise and Tina land themselves in a world of trouble when a mall Santa threatens to put them all on the naughty list after they disrupt his time in a massage chair. Louise, the resident Belcher cynic and long-time attempted Santa trapper, finds herself spiraling into anxiety when she worries that the mall Santa’s report will land them nothing but coal come Christmas morning.
As a snowstorm descends on the town, Bob has to travel all the way to the other side of it to rescue an injured Gayle, who’s sprained her ankle and recuperating from a breakup. Forced to carry her cat (to whom he’s allergic) and snowed in thanks to an errant plow, Bob gets no help from an oblivious Gayle, who’s wrapped up in her own needs and wants.
Halloween’s rolled around, and the Belchers are about to make their annual pilgrimage to a haunted house. Everyone’s excited, but Louise – who’s cool-tempered and unflappable - and makes the mistake of telling the family she’s never been scared before and really wants to be.
The city’s annual Land Ship celebration parade stirs excitement in Bob – who presumes he’s going to get a business boost from the festival thanks to a rerouted gas line - until he leans two porta a potties will be parked right in front of the restaurant during the festival and then he must wage a one-man battle against the city to get them moved.
The season opens with another charming trilogy of tales. After Bob’s “lip-balding” causes Linda to reminisced about how his mustache made her fall in love with him. After hearing their folks’ version of events the kids are prompted to wonder what would’ve happened had the Belcher paterfamilias met when Bob was mustacheless.
Two episodes – separated by an hour and a half of airtime – close out this season with all the laughter and mayhem you’d expect from the Belchers. First, Bob and Louise meet Shinji “Koji” Kojima, their favorite action movie star, at a farmer’s market.
Invited up the coast to support Teddy while he moves furniture to an expensive but isolated summer home in Craggy Neck, the Belchers do a little semi-innocent snooping while enjoying the luxury of the empty beach house illicitly. While Linda tries to figure out what the tenants are like by studying their pictures, creating a melodramatic story about the owner and his two brides, Bob becomes obsessed with trying to run the game room’s pool table.
Linda’s forty-second birthday dawns with great reluctance from Linda, great celebration from the kids, who bring her breakfast in bed, and great planning from Bob, who tries to create a home spa day for her.
Gene creates his own band, the Itty Bitty Ditty Committee – comprised of himself (on keyboard, natch), Tina, Louise (both on soda cup and straw), Regular Sized Rudy (on cymbals), Peter Pescadaro (on electrified recorder) and Darryl (on vocals).
All three Belcher kids are stuck together doing a Saturday morning detention. Alongside Zeke, Jimmy Junior, Tammy, and Jocelyn, they’re punished for a brawl that occurs when Tina makes the mistake of wearing the same bracelet as Tammy, Zeke gets involved, Jocelyn panics and pulls the fire alarm and Jimmy Junior squirts them all with a fire extinguisher.