TV Recap / Review: Teddy Runs Afoul of a Cursed Mask In "Bob's Burgers" 2025 Halloween Episode - "The Twinnening"

Much like The Simpsons before it, over the years the FOX animated series Bob’s Burgers (produced by the Disney-owned 20th Television Animation) has become known for its memorable Halloween episodes. This year’s installment– entitled “The Twinnening"-- aired tonight, and below you will find my recap and review.

After an opening title sequence that introduces the new neighboring store Freaky Antiquies (and an exterminator van called The Buggie Man) “The Twinnining" begins with Linda Belcher (voiced, as always, by John Roberts) once again singing a made-up song as she hangs Halloween decorations in the Bob’s Burgers restaurant, while her husband Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) works the counter. Soon their children Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schaal) arrive home from school, and Louise asks why their Halloween costumes aren’t ready yet. Linda responds that Halloween is still a week and a half away, and Bob learns that Louise plans to go as Rocky Balboa Constrictor, Gene wants to be Gene Triple-Horn, and Tina will dress up as the bridge from Bridgerton.

Then it’s Teddy’s (Larry Murphy) turn to enter, and he tells the family about his new job helping to install the “occult boutique" Freaky Antiquies. Apparently the store does most of its business in the week before Halloween, so Teddy was hired for a rush job. He’s supposed to build a bulletproof glass case with a digital lock for special items, but Teddy isn’t sure he knows how to do so.

While he’s in the restaurant, Teddy asks Bob and Linda whether they got tickets to a special Halloween performance of Cake, the patty-cake performance art show that Bob loved way back in season 2. They weren’t able to acquire tickets, but Teddy suggests going down to the theater and joining the wait list in case there are no-shows among the audience. So they do so, and as they’re leaving Teddy arrives for his night shift installing the display case at Freaky Antiquies. The kids yell down to him from their living-room window and throw him a walkie-talkie so they can communicate with him while he’s inside.

Then the store owner Gabriel (guest star Jamie Demetriou from Fleabag) arrives and lets Teddy in, telling him he’s still waiting for a haunted jukebox to arrive. He also warns Teddy not to let anyone into the store for the rest of the night– including Gabriel himself– because he has a twin brother named Gideon who is trying to steal a cursed mask that he keeps in a special box. They agree to the secret password “puppy" and Gabriel leaves, so the kids demand that Teddy send them a picture of the mask. Meanwhile, Bob and Linda are unable to get into the Cake show, so they settle for bacon-wrapped hot dogs from a street vendor.

Back at Freaky Antiquies, Teddy does his best to keep anyone who looks like Gabriel from entering the store, though there are several attempts. Louise uses Teddy’s photo to track down the origin of the mask, and via walkie-talkie she convinces Teddy to hide it before the evil twin returns. At the theater, Bob recognizes one of the Cake cast members (David Herman) hanging out in an alley, so he and Linda approach him and learn he is thinking of quitting the show because he’s been reduced to a background performer. Thankfully they manage to convince him not to leave and go complete his doctorate degree because there might be someone in the audience who he inspires like he did for Bob the last time they saw the show.

Soon a delivery driver arrives at Freaky Antiquies with the haunted jukebox, and Teddy won’t let him in so he has to move the item by himself… and of course this turns out to be the way that Gideon sneaks into the store, having removed the innards of the machine and hidden inside the casing. This leads to a climax where the two twin brothers confront each other, though Teddy– after locking himself in the glass display case– eventually convinces them to work together to sell the mask, among the other occult pieces in the shop. But when they reveal that the person they want to sell the mask to is actually evil, Teddy runs screaming with it down the wharf and tosses it into the ocean. The next day Gus (also Benjamin) finds the mask washed up on the shore and declares it his Halloween costume. The episode ends with a great B-52’s style parody, and overall I thought this was a really fun and spooky Halloween episode for Bob’s Burgers. I especially liked getting to know Gabriel and Gideon, and they almost made me wish that Freaky Antiquies would stick around as the neighboring store for a while, though I suspect that won’t happen if the usual pattern holds. Regardless, there were some terrific voice performances in this installment, and I always get a kick out of Teddy-centered stories.

New episodes of Bob’s Burgers air Sunday evenings on FOX.