Can I just say that it makes complete sense that Bubble Bass would have a tab? Considering the shenanigans he pulled in “Pickles”, and the general fact that he’s a loser, it makes sense that he’d try and put off paying for his food. Anyway, today’s episode is, obviously, “Bubble Bass’s Tab”. This is another one of those episodes that I don’t remember very much of. So that must mean I’ve only seen it once. Exciting! Oh and one more thing before I properly begin, but is it just me or does the
title card make it look like Bubble Bass’s name is just one word (like BubbleBass)?? Have we been wrong this whole time? (Nah, because the title card for “Moving Bubble Bass” has it as clearly two words. So this title card is just weird).
We begin with Bubble Bass being an annoying customer, as per usual, and trying to put his order on his “account”. But Mr. Krabs immediately puts a stop to that. I’m surprised he ever allowed it in the first place. The Mr. Krabs I know would break out in hives at the mere idea of not taking someone’s money immediately. Anyway, Mr. Krabs demands that Bubble Bass pays his tab, and Bubble Bass tries to negotiate his way out of it, before fleeing the restaurant. So Mr. Krabs sends Squidward and SpongeBob after Bubble Bass, to make him pay his tab. You know, I was kind of hoping this would be a Mr. Krabs & Bubble Bass episode, as we haven’t really seen them together before. We’ve seen SpongeBob with him, but not Squidward, so this should still be interesting (while I was pulling up the wiki page for this episode, I saw that there’s an episode coming up with Squidward and Bubble Bass paired up…now that should be fun).
After a moment between SpongeBob and Squidward (as a reminder, I am a SquidBob hater), the two head inside Bubble Bass’s house. That’s their first mistake—never enter the home turf of the enemy (lol). And so Bubble Bass literally pulls them into the basement. I bet it smells crazy down there. Turns out Bubble Bass has a hideout under the basement, because why not. And he demands that SpongeBob and Squidward play the “three deadly challenges” in order to get him to pay. See at this point, just call the cops on his butt. Or just literally beat his but. That’s what I’d do. Anyway, SpongeBob is really looking forward to playing this game, it’s pretty cute. And the way he gets Squidward to use that uwu speak is pretty funny. Their banter is really fun in the episode (and yes I know this entire thing is a
ship tease, you think I’m new to those? New to this? Please.)
Looks like this is gonna be one of those episodes where Squidward’s gonna have to embrace his inner child. Haven’t had one of those in a while, so I’m interested. And with Bubble Bass involved, it keeps things from getting too similar to any of the previous times we’ve done a plot like this. Not that I have any belief that this show would veer into rip-off territory. I have so far only used that term once in all 502 of these reviews (yes, I did finally get around to calculating that number just so I could say that sentence). Okay, now the episode is really laying this ship tease on far too thick for my liking (and that’s for multiple reasons. The first one is that there’s no way this show would ever actually make SpongeBob and Squidward a couple, so stop it. The second is, again, I’m a SquidBob hater).
SpongeBob and Squidward end up getting their butts whooped by Bubble Bass’ mom because they broke her furniture. And then Squidward ends up having quite the dance with her. Poor Squidward is really put through it in this one haha. Squidward and Bubble Bass then end up jousting, with Squidward able to actually buy into the imagination aspect. A little abrupt for me, personally, but I’ll take it. The fight is fun, but part of it ends up being quite…gratuitous. Y’all know how I feel about slo-mo.
So now Bubble Bass is forced to pay his tab…but we’re not even 9 minutes in so clearly something else is gonna have to happen. And that something is that Bubble Bass is broke, so Mr. Krabs puts him to work. But the customers are complaining about it, because he’s a trash worker. They’re so tired of him that they all pay his tab for him. Which means that Bubble Bass learns nothing! Leaving this venture feeling more pointless than funny like I know this ending was supposed to be. And then the episode ends with Squidward and SpongeBob sharing that same dance from earlier (and then Bubble Bass’s mom stealing Squidward away). No comment.
I’m surprised that I’m saying this, but I think I would’ve liked “Bubble Bass’s Tab” more if it leaned more into the medieval game part. I feel like it took a little too long to get there, and then it ended too early. And Squidward’s change of heart was quite abrupt, so I didn’t quite like that so much either. I think this episode just had a pacing problem in general, because Squidward’s dance with Bubble Bass’s mom was also far too long. So if the pacing was changed up, I think this episode would’ve been a lot better. I also think that the episode should’ve simply ended with Bubble Bass working at the Krusty Krab, not him turning out to be a terrible worker and all that. There also wasn’t too much for me to laugh at in this episode, but it was quite enjoyable otherwise, so I don’t have much to complain about.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.8/10
