Let's go, my favorite season 1 episode is here!
Yep, "Culture Shock" is my favorite season 1 episode. Not "Pizza Delivery", not "F.U.N."..."Culture Shock". I am aware this is an unpopular opinion, so let's talk about it!
I love the opening to this episode. I know I said before that I don't think the show should've kept the surf rock vibe of season 1, and I stand by that, but man oh man does it work well here. I love the whole segment of SpongeBob cleaning off an essentially spotless table, it's just so
SpongeBob, the little workaholic dork. And Mr. Krabs being crabby (pun intended) about the salad bar not bringing in customers makes me laugh for basically no reason, he's just so dramatic about it, I can't help it. Very rarely do I hate a "Mr. Krabs trying to get customers" plotline. Maybe that's another unpopular opinion of mine, given the hatred of episodes set in the Krusty Krab in seasons 6-8.
Anyway, Mr. Krabs is great in this episode. His sheer excitement when a customer comes in, combined with SpongeBob's enthusiasm towards the poor guy who just wanted change, makes that whole scene. The ending of the scene, where Mr. Krabs launches himself at the penny, kills me everytime, it's just so absurd (the SpongeBob wiki describes the ending of the scene like this: "However, Mr. Krabs notices the penny and literally gets the drop on it first." When the literal
synopsis of a scene makes me laugh, that's probably a good sign). Also, his desire to see his little girl (Pearl) become a star is so wholesome and sweet, I love when we get moments like this with the cheap crustacean.
You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I think everyone in this episode shows enthusiasm in a way that makes each character both compelling and hilarious at some point or another. I mean, we've got Mr. Krabs, like I just said, who's very enthusiastic about his money (read: above paragraph) and making Pearl a star. We've got SpongeBob, who's enthusiastic about being able to perform, and throughout the rest of the episode we see him try to think up an act, with varying results. His little tap dance show with the bubble was absolutely adorable. Really, SpongeBob is just so cute in this episode, it makes my heart want to explode. Lastly, we've got Squidward, who is also excited about being able to host the talent show and perform himself. (There's also Pearl, whose cheerful (sorry, I love puns) presence leads to another hilarious sequence of the episode with her cheering).
Another thing I'm now just thinking about, I think this episode is the closest we've come so far (chronologically, obviously it's happened by now in 2022) to having all of the main cast in one episode. At the time of this episode airing, the main cast was SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Gary, Pearl, and Mrs. Puff. Plankton and Karen were promoted to the main cast in 2004 (in the first movie). This episode has everyone except Mrs. Puff in the original lineup (but it
does have Plankton). So look at that, we've got a real ensemble in this episode! (not to mention the inclusion of SpongeBob's parents)
Okay, back to the actual review. I already talked about Pearl's portion of the episode, so I'll just briefly mention I love the Patrick joke (this joke walked so "leedle leedle lee" could run). And then of course, we've got my main man Gary coming through with the beautiful poetry, and a Sandy cameo that really makes the joke. I love that "Sleepy Time" kind of expands on the joke here, with Gary clearly being a very smart and cultured mollusk. Then we've got Plankton, enacting a very short-lived scheme, which was just the perfect length for me.
And then finally, we've got this episode's "grand finale", Squidward dancing horribly and the audience throwing tomatoes at him. This entire scene gets me rolling every time, because the jokes just come from every direction. From the reaction of the audience, to Squidward's anger, to Mr. Krabs trying to make a quick buck. When SpongeBob enters the scene, it becomes a lovely mix of wholesome and hilarious as Squidward deludes himself into thinking the audience wants an encore, when all they (and we) want to see is the little square dude. SpongeBob being universally loved just for cleaning in this episode is just so cute! And it's great to see him win after Squidward kept shutting him down all episode.
Side note, but did anyone ever play the game Truth or Square? One of the minigames is based on this episode, which I adore.
This episode is filled with many iconic moments. We've got Squidward's dance, which is definitely in the top 10 of most recognizable moments in the show, don't @ me on that. And then we've also got "Oh brother, this guy stinks!" which is a classic and also a reaction video I find myself using often. Also using the same shot of the audience, we've got the complete silence with the footage of a cricket. "Culture Shock" also uses a lot of running gags, something that hadn't happened too much before this. Like other episodes had running gags, but "Culture Shock" had like 3.
If you couldn't already tell, "Culture Shock" is well into my "Amazing" tier, because it's hilarious, wholesome, satisfying, and never lets up! At least for me, I know others might find this episode to be meh, boring, or slow, but not me. Not me at all. And because I've always loved this episode, it has a huge nostalgic quality for me. If I actually did rankings past my top 3, I would probably put this episode in my top 10. It could even be a top 5 contender (theoretically, idk anything outside my top 3 lol). That's how much I love "Culture Shock". Okay, time to go back to writing normal-length reviews.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.7/10
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