I gotta review this episode...
So The Clam Whisperer is an episode I've actually been looking forward to. Honestly, there only 3 episodes I'm actually excited for (Feral Friends, Squid Noir, The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom, or however it's spelled...). But when I saw the title, "The Clam Whisperer", I thought this was actually going to be a pretty cool episode.
Boy, was I wrong.
Let me just get this off my chest, I can't stand Patrick in this episode. Episodes from the later half of Season 9 really established Patrick as much more gentle, and kinder character, who definitely wasn't the brightest out there, but could still be a pretty likable character. There's no better way to describe him in this episode. He is absolutely annoying, with hardly any redeeming qualities at all. It's not the way he's usually annoying, where his stupidity is at a maximum, or when he's acting like a complete jerk. Oh no, in this episode, he's constantly flailing his arms around, and screaming (As if he's a Bunsen is a Beast! character). The only thing Ben seems to do with Patrick's character in this episode is have him constantly over-react to everything, a trait we've been seeing with Squidward lately, though never really as aggravating as Patrick in this episode. Squidward is generally a lazy character, so seeing him have his crazy moments can actually be funny at times. But Patrick is intended as a much more silly character, but having him constantly, and I mean
CONSTANTLY go nuts over every little thing, it gets to the point where it's not funny, it's just unnecessary.
Thank goodness he's not in this episode that much, otherwise this would become worthy of one of the worst episodes of the series.
The plot's unoriginal, being pretty much a rip-off of both Jellyfish Jam and SpongeHenge. SpongeBob offering his care and kindness towards the animals, in which he fed them parts of a Krabby Patty, is very similar to the setup of the conflict in Jellyfish Jam, in which SpongeBob offers his care and kindness towards a Jellyfish by adopting him as a pet. Not only do both species end up causing havoc after SpongeBob takes care of them, but the "stalking SpongeBob" element was the main conflict of SpongeHenge! In fact, the scene where SpongeBob goes to work feels like a watered-down, less exciting variation of SpongeHenge. Say what you want about SpongeHenge (One of my least favorite episodes of Season 5), but at least that episode managed to refrain from being an absolute bore. When this episode isn't annoying you with reactions pumped up to the max, you get plenty of boring scenes where the Clams are attacking people. I guess this is a metaphor for feeding Seagulls, and how they won't stop following you once you've given them food, but the execution of this metaphor is done in such a way that comes across as unfunny. It also is done in a similar manner to the two episodes I listed above.
If the entire episode focused on SpongeBob leading the Clams through nature, this probably could've become one of the better episodes of recent time. But no, the nature sequences only occur within the last minute of the episode. A majority of it is just these clams being a nuisance in Bikini Bottom, so much so that people team up to force SpongeBob to drive them out. Sounds familiar?
It's just so baffling to me how many elements of this episode are ripped from past episodes. Hardly anything in this episode feels original at all. Aside from the issues in the plot, the episode fails in...guess what? Comedy!
The only jokes I actually found funny were the ones centered on Squidward's house being covered in Clam poop (A situation I am all too familiar with :sbx: ). The Nature scenes weren't really that funny, they were entertaining, but I didn't laugh at the gags that much, though I did find SpongeBob's clam design kind of funny. For the most part, a lot of the humor in this episode centers around the Clams attacking different people in town, and it's just not funny. Not even exciting really, it's similar to that of any chaos we've seen in this show, there's no creative edge that makes it stand out, like the opening scene in Pineapple Invasion. That was funny, because it had tons of clever and creative spins that made it a much more exciting, and funny sequence. This, is just boring. It's not memorable, nor is it funny. The only other common form of humor in this episode are the crazy reactions, which I have already expressed my personal hatred of.
Essentially, this is one of the worst episodes I've seen in years. Yeah, I somehow manage to hate this a little bit more than Sportz?, that's how much I loathe this episode. Who knows, maybe some parts will grow on me in the future, but what I do know is that right now, I consider this to be a 2.6/10. It's an
Awful Episode.
