Oh god… I think I’m going to be sick. Okay, this episode is unbelievable. I cannot believe that THIS episode had been ignored on BOTH of MoBros' countdowns! And it also got a GREENLIT rating on TV.COM?! (Just so you know, I do respect everyone's opinions. I'm just a little surprised at the high ratings it's got.)
This episode, as I said before, is my second least favorite episode of them all (the worst being A Pal For Gary). It’s sadistic, it’s confusing, it’s mean-spirited, and it completely obliterated my once favorite character, Mr. Krabs!
Krabs and Plankton once had a special, soul-bonding friendship ever since they were babies! And they split all because of money. All this time, after Friend or Foe, I thought that maybe Krabs and Plankton, although they disliked each other, at the very least had a friendly rivalry and still cared about each other to an extent (like you said, in Best Frenemies).
I don’t think Spongebob was the one who hurt Plankton. I think Spongebob was only trying to send him on his way. Although it wouldn’t have justify the episode in any way (it didn’t save this episode for me), I think he was only putting up the projector to send Plankton away. I think tormenting him more would be leaving the projectors on. I don’t think he went back to being depressed because after he was told that Krabs was the one who disguised himself as Pearl, Plankton didn’t want to kill himself anymore. Plus, he may have hid in his house for a few, but maybe after looking outside (reluctantly), he probably thought the whales were gone, which probably relieved him. Again, this doesn’t justify the episode in any way, as it didn’t do it for me.
And actually, I think Krabs was the one who hurt Plankton more. Seeing Krabs drive Plankton to a suicidal depression and laughing about it? That was soul-crushing. More soul crushing than any other episode (except A Pal For Gary) could ever be. This episode just showed that Krabs could care less if Plankton died or suffered in any way. The reason why this is my second least favorite episode, is because it shows just how selfish Mr. Krab has become. In
Best Frenemies, at least you could tell that even though they are business rivals, they still care about each other to some degree. This episode just proves to me that Mr. Krabs could not care less for Plankton, REGARDLESS of their history. Ironically, I would have thought that the one person Mr. Krabs would have hurt the least (psychologically-speaking) would be Plankton. This is no longer about business; Mr. Krabs went WAY too far. Really... it's actually pretty sad when you think about it. Krabs was just soulless and horrible to Plankton, that it's sickening! Not only is it sad, it's also SICK! Krabs and Plankton had been best friends ever since they were babies, as shown in Friend or Foe. And even today, when you see Krabs insult Plankton or kick him out of the Krusty Krab, he at least cared a bit about him to some extent, even though he doesn't want to admit it.
But One Coarse Meal just HAD to air on television, and let me tell you. It was SOUL-CRUSHING! Watching Krabs laugh at the fact that Plankton is suffering and is about to kill himself? That hurt! It actually made Friend or Foe hard to watch. Krabs not giving a darn about Plankton's psychological pain killed whatever respect I once had for him.
http://seethingplz.deviantart.com/
It just made me lose ALL remaining respect I had for Krabs and it made him my LEAST favorite character on the show. Again, I do not know how it got ignored on MoBros’ countdowns, especially the fan edition. And I don’t think it deserves all the good ratings it gets. It is one of the worst Spongebob episodes of all time and it wouldn’t get any better for me, even if the writers tried to make it better. Because after that, my once favorite and respectable character had turned into a soulless beast who is worse than any character could ever be (except for a certain creepy old man from Family Guy...).
