Well, well, well, if it isn’t the 200th episode of this show, “Goodbye, Krabby Patty?”. Yes, we’ve already had a plot where the Krabby Patty is in danger of disappearing, but let us pretend that we haven’t so that we can understand why they chose this plot point to celebrate this momentous occasion. No but let’s back up a little bit…200 episodes?! That’s quite the achievement. That means this is my 381st episode review (thanks SpongeBob Wiki for having that number on deck)…wow.
“Goodbye, Krabby Patty?” wastes no time in letting us know that this is gonna be a special episode, as we get started with SpongeBob and Patrick jellyfishing. Yes, this isn’t a special activity, but in an episode that’s supposedly about the Krusty Krab, I think the inclusion of one of the other biggest parts of the show is completely on purpose. Y’all just gotta walk with me. Anyway, this jellyfishing scene is…fine. I don’t really like the faces of SpongeBob and Patrick when they get stung, very unappealing. The beginning of this episode really makes it feel like this is gonna be a plot about SpongeBob and Patrick’s friendship, given the montage of the two spending time together as best (idiot) friends (which, I suppose this will become relevant later). This leads into the real plot of the episode, with Mr. Krabs coming to the Barg-n-Mart to buy frozen meals, and then SpongeBob comes up with the idea of a frozen Krabby Patty.
Every time the Krusty Krab does a commercial, it’s hilarious, and this episode’s commercial is no exception. The stiff acting, the low budget, the SpongeBob popping up in the background…perfection. And then the scene with Don Grouper and his cronies is great too. And then I love how this episode really brings back SpongeBob’s love of the spotlight that we saw in “As Seen on TV” or “Model Sponge”. Unfortunately, he’s not exactly the “regular guy” type. But Patrick is!
Let me tell you right now, a frozen hamburger would be disgusting. So I can’t believe how much of a hit they end up being in the episode. Well, I absolutely can believe it, but I’m just saying stuff, which is what the majority of my reviews are anyway, so this should not be shocking to anybody that I’m saying whatever comes to mind.
This episode is all about shaking up pretty much every big part of the show. Well, not every big part, but a few heavy hitters, like the Krusty Krab, the Krabby Patty formula, and SpongeBob and Patrick’s friendship. And I think it juggles each of these things quite well. The Krusty Krab gets turned into a museum, replacing all the workers with creepy robots, since Mr. Krabs makes literal trillions of dollars with the frozen meals. Squidward’s speech being cut short was pretty funny, and this episode makes it clear that Mr. Krabs is just a greedy b because he knows that these patties are nasty, he just doesn’t care. Even Patrick ends up being mega-rich, causing a strain on his and SpongeBob’s friendship as he has no time for his old friend. This episode does not really emotionally touch me like “Patrick SmartPants” did, and it doesn’t need to. I do wonder if I would’ve liked this episode more if it had, though. But I’ll get back to that later.
As Patrick records the 400th commercial for the frozen sandwiches, things start to go wrong. Not for the episode, but for the sandwiches. The side effects shown earlier finally start making themselves known…by, ah, biggening the backs of the Bikini Bottom citizens (yeah, I don’t really want to go into how the basis of this joke is fatphobia, I really don’t. because I’m not in the mood to be argued with, or considered “too sensitive”, or whatever tf. so don’t do it). Even Plankton can’t steal the formula like he used to, because it’s been commercialized too. By this point of the episode, SpongeBob’s completely lost his spirit, poor little dude. Capitalism’ll do that to ya! Ha, y’all thought I could go one review without saying that? Please.
Once SpongeBob gets the wake-up call he needed in the form of finding out that the Krabby Patties were made out of sand (not played nearly as dramatically as “Selling Out”, probably because we already knew this), he takes out the real formula (I like how he was entrusted to be the real keeper of the formula, it’s wholesome when you think about it), and starts making some real patties again, the way they’re supposed to be made. And I like how he’s making the first one for Patrick. While this episode arguably has pacing issues when it comes to how it’s handled this part of the plot, I do like that there was some prioritization of SpongeBob and Patrick’s friendship here on the part of SpongeBob. It makes that part of the plot more relevant. I also like that Patrick is not caught up in his fame and fortune, and that he wants to go back to the way things were too. Makes this a much better watch than something like “Porous Pockets” (which, of course that was on SpongeBob, but it’s the same difference).
Yeah, I don’t really love this episode. I like it, oh I certainly do, but love? Nah, not really. There’s a few reasons why this is. Firstly, this episode has funny moments, but as I find myself saying often, I didn’t find it to be very funny. Secondly, this episode feels like it’s lacking things. This could be because of the juggling of a number of things, or the fact that even though this is the 200th episode of the show, there wasn’t enough spectacle for me (not that there was any spectacle at all for the 100th episode, so I suppose I shouldn’t expect much), or maybe just the fact that there was no musical number (a shame). I also don’t like the absence of many key characters, and the fact that Mr. Krabs disappears for a lot of the episode. Whatever it is that makes the episode lack for me, I walk away feeling not quite satisfied. But I do like this episode well enough.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.5/10
