"The Smoking Peanut" is an excellent episode with the perfect amount of dramatics. It was also, fun fact, the originator of one of my old PFPs. It's a very well-crafted episode, never dull from beginning to end. The title of this episode is also brilliant. Let's talk about it!
This episode is great because it almost has a whole mystery component to it, one that you can piece together from the beginning scenes of the episode. We're told that it's Free Day at the Zoo ("Life of Crime", anyone?), and we see Mr. Krabs going around and taking advantage a bit too much. Great foreshadowing, this is. But moving on from that, we see SpongeBob and Patrick chilling at the zoo, and the plot kicks right into gear once SpongeBob throws the peanut and Clamu wakes up and starts crying.
SpongeBob is great in this episode, trying hard to tamper down his guilt and what he perceives as his secret. I also like Patrick and his detective-mode too, even if his efforts are hurt by his own stupidity. I like that even though we're led to believe that SpongeBob caused the incident, there's still just enough doubt there to think that maybe it wasn't SpongeBob's fault at all. I mean come on, a peanut? Making a giant clam cry inconsolably? Please.
I like the involvement of both Squidward and Sandy in this episode, once again this makes the world of SpongeBob SquarePants feel more cohesive and complete (just as the addition of the Bikini Bottom Zoo makes the environment bigger and more fleshed-out too). Sandy's segment especially is pretty funny, seeing SpongeBob struggle with his truth and guilt, and Sandy's questioning. Especially with that little "or does he?" joke at the end, a little bonus for some, I imagine.
I really enjoy Patrick's investigating and the tension in the scene between him and SpongeBob, complete with the visual of him licking the sponge cake, relieving the tension immediately. And then when the police actually show up, it makes me wonder why they thought Patrick was the criminal in the first place. What investigation actually went down? The visuals of the interrogation are great as well, with SpongeBob sinking lower and lower into the floor, complete with some great voice-acting by Tom Kenny.
The last act of the episode is just as great as the rest, with SpongeBob's whole speech and Patrick's humming? singing? I don't know, whatever in the background, and the townspeople basically being like "screw that". And then when the real culprit is revealed, it makes perfect sense and resolves what we saw earlier in the episode, so that was great writing.
"The Smoking Peanut" is funny, but not incredibly so. It has its slow-ish moments, but it is never close to boring or dull. All of this together is why it fits right into my "Great" tier. It's not quite up to par with the rest of my "Amazing"-tier episodes, but I do think that it is incredibly underrated.
Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8.5/10
