Season 11 has certainly been a very interesting ride. A good majority of these episodes center around odd and quirky plots that would feel out of the ordinary in past Seasons. This has generally kept the show fresh in my eyes, rather than falling into another rut that it had been back in Seasons 6-8. Other episodes, I noticed, centered around fanservice (From the highly anticipated Spot Returns to finally giving Bubble Bass his own episode in Moving Bubble Bass, etc.)
Early on, Season 11 seemed fairly promising, giving us a lot of really good episodes such as The Check Up, Spot Returns, Larry the Floor Manager, etc.
It felt as though Season 11 was going to be a step in the right direction, in comparison to the mixed bag tenth Season. But Season 11 recently seemed to fall apart with absolutely terrible episodes such as The Clam Whisperer, Cuddle E. Hugs, and Pat the Horse making their way into the spotlight, mostly emphasizing on crazy/over-the-top jokes centering different characters just for laughs. A lot of very underwhelming episodes such as Fun Sized Friends, Don't Feed the Clowns, and Old Man Patrick. However, the Season seems to have taken a drastic turn for the better towards the end with phenomenal episodes such as Grandmum's the Word, and Moving Bubble Bass. Yes, there were still some flops, but just about every Season always has it's share of bad episodes. Catching up on all the episodes I've missed throughout early 2018, I've finally reached the most recent of episodes.
And now my friends, it is time to review the first within the most recent pair of episodes to fully air on television, High Sea Diving.
I want to note how creative this episode is. The setup to the plot was super creative, I think the concept of Sea Diving is genius, and I was really captivated by how well laid out the setup was. Kaz structured the beginning of this episode perfectly, by jumping right into the middle of something exciting. I guess I'm always a sucker for action-based openings, I just find them really excited if executed properly, and I gotta say, this episode's opening was perfectly executed. I think it was a brilliant connection to the trash blocking the surface, which I gotta say was a great way to intertwine the environment of the ocean into this episode. It really makes this episode stand out significantly, there are a lot of SpongeBob episodes out there you can do in completely different cartoons, and it'd still work out the same. This case is different, as the surface plays a key role in the episode, a very nice change of our usual scenery. Anyway, I can't really express any more how much I adore the "Sea Diving" concept and how it's brilliantly used to connect SpongeBob to the initial focus of the episode, his interactions with Old Man Jenkins on the garbage. Another fantastic touch to this episode was SpongeBob's overarching plot. Yeah, this episode surprisingly features character growth, how cool is that!? SpongeBob is initially depressed upon failing his dive at the beginning of the episode, especially given how disappointed his audience was at the failure. During the climax, he's regarded as a hero, and feels proud of himself, knowing everyone thinks he's a hero. It's a perfect way to wrap up his character plot, and I think it really gives this episode more of a purpose than to just have silly gags involving the ignorant Bikini Bottomites. Sure, the actual "conflict" regarding the Bikini Bottomites being fooled by Old Man Jenkins' is a little ridiculous, but it's really only there to play up some comedy. Because honestly, this episode is surprisingly lacking of comedy. Yeah, there are plenty of funny visual gags sprinkled throughout the episode, but the episode feels a lot more story driven, and given the magnitude of SpongeBob's endeavors (Heading up to the surface), I think it works perfectly fine in this episode's case. In fact, I think it's really funny how the Bikini Bottomites think the trash is a gift from Neptune. Their initial reaction isn't panic, in fact it's a very reasonable reaction, given how Neptune is essentially a god in their universe.
Lots of funny gags emerge from the trash throwing, and I think it was a great to carry on what would've been a very unstable plot. I greatly admire how SpongeBob and Jenkins decided to use the trash to build a ladder from the surface to Bikini Bottom, I think that was very creative. Not to mention, I really find the interactions between the Bikini Bottomites and the two to be an essential turning point in the episode. SpongeBob's character arc is given a proper conclusion, and I think that's what truly makes this a solid story.
And I gotta respect Kaz for staying clear of environmental propaganda. Yes, I do respect environmental propaganda, heck The Endless Summer was a fantastic short. But it gets old and tiresome recycling the same kind of environmental messages, and I was quite concerned this episode would take a predictable route and play up the issue of the trash to blocking the surface. Ironically enough, the trash is treated as a plus for Bikini Bottom, given how many practical uses the fish take out of the trash's presence. Hah-hah, whoops.
Finally, when it comes to the characters, I think they were all written perfectly. The Bikini Bottomites' whiny nature shortly before the ladder reached the ground was quite concerning (I was afraid the episode would go a predictable route, and feature a subplot with the Bikini Bottomites doing ridiculous things for more gifts, but thankfully this concept was shortened into a small joke), but it seemed to be fixed once they reached SpongeBob and Jenkins. As for Jenkins himself, I think he's a pretty likable character. He's not as funny as the classic-I mean, "real" Jenkins :omj:
I was also pretty delighted by Neptune's appearance, this is probably the best episode he's appeared in so far (Even if you count SpongeBob vs. The Patty Gadget).
I gotta hand it to Kaz, his work has been very rough for a while now, effectively losing all the charm in his earlier work, but this was a
Great Episode. I really enjoyed this episode, it's one of my new favorites of Season 11. I give it a 9.8/10
