287b. Mandatory Music

This is just simply an entertaining episode topped off by a good ending. I was a bit afraid that this would go down the same route most Squidward episodes do, but it didn't. Pretty good episode.
 
I don't know why but I just wasn't feeling this one. It's just ok, I didn't like it, didn't hate it. Squidward for once getting a happy ending was good though.

5/10
 
I really liked this one! It was absolutely hysterical. So I basically loved the jokes. Overall a very fun episode to watch.

9/10 Amazing
 
Remember that episode Boating Buddies? That just about sums this up. I sorta liked the song SpongeBob & the kids played but other than that I didn't enjoy anything. The story was very typical, it wasn't funny, and the ending was just kinda dumb (although Squidward does win in the end). If they had made Squidward more cocky towards the beginning, maybe it would make the things that happen to him less annoying, but while he isn't totally innocent here I don't think all the stuff that happens to him is justified necessarily. It's not the worst episode but it's still something I would call 'bad'.

2.5/10
 
I know nothing about “Mandatory Music”. Nothing at all. Should be pretty interesting, I’d say. I frankly thought this episode would be shorter, because I expected “Friendiversary” to be longer. So now I’m more curious about what this episode is going to be. I’m assuming a Squidward episode with the music focus. I guess it has been a little bit since we’ve had him play his clarinet, right? Ooh can this episode be like “Suction Cup Symphony”? Whatever the case is, I really like the title card music for this one.

It seems like I might be on the money with Squidward and his clarinet here, as we begin with Squidward playing his clarinet in the park. Oh boy. I wonder what exaggerated reactions to his music we’ll see now. And I guess this is before the people of BIkini Bottom realize that Squidward truly cannot play and is a danger with a clarinet, as they all, at first, are actually excited to hear him play. As expected, his awful playing leads to a variety of amusing visual gags. And then the people in the park throw him and his clarinet out. Squidward walks through town playing his clarinet, which frankly would annoy me because let’s be considerate of other people now. Street performers are one thing, someone walking through town is another.

Finally, someone stops Squidward—the music police. Their little outfits are so fun. And I love the gag with the “symphony code”. Wait…does this mean Squidward’s going to be forced to go to mandatory music school? Oh I’m getting “Professor Squidward” and “Boating Buddies” vibes already! No I didn’t particularly like either of those episodes, but it’s the idea of them that seems interesting. I just kind of hope SpongeBob isn’t in this one, as this could be the opportunity to explore a different dynamic for Squidward. We’ll see, though. Anyway, I’m right about Squidward being forced to go to mandatory music school, and it’s funny because the school is apparently for children.

So now Squidward is forced to be in school with seemingly little toddlers. Oh this should be entertaining. Ms. Sturgeon’s complete lack of ****s to give is hilarious to me. And yeah, I knew it was a little too good to be true, because guess who shows up as another new student! That’s right, SpongeBob’s here. His face when he opens the door is hilarious. Well at this point, this is just musical “Boating Buddies” lol. But I’m not complaining (about that, at least). I’m curious as to why SpongeBob is taking this class though…he’s never been shown to have a problem with an instrument, and even in this episode, he plays his nose flute just fine. And he is beloved by the class. I love how Squidward’s clarinet is all locked up like this, it’s a pretty funny joke.

It seems that Squidward is perhaps just bad at instruments, as he’s still bad with a harmonica and kazoo. I love how all the kids + SpongeBob provide the montage music or him. At this point, I kinda feel bad for Squidward. Squidward’s not one to wallow though, so he simply grabs his clarinet and uses it’s…uh…tornado powers to throw out everyone in classroom, and so Ms. Sturgeon pulls the music alarm. It’s at this point the episode gets into pure campiness and I love it, as basically the police show up and the scene almost plays out like a hostage negotiation or something. Squidward’s too powerful for the police though (is this a shonen now), so they have to send in the Maestro. Oh boy. The Maestro being a robot is kind of a let-down, tbh. Maybe I’m thinking too much about AI art. But anway, the Maestro, who is clearly just a robotic Mozart, comes in and manages to muffle Squidward’s clarinet. Well…that’s wasn’t as fun as I wanted. I wanted a whole battle! I was prepared to say that this was going to remind me of the synthesizer battle from Regular Show! Guys!!!

At this point, Squidward’s finally upset and ready to wallow. SpongeBob tries to cheer him up, which is wholesome. And then we finally find Squidward’s real calling…a nose horn. Now that’s music! I’m glad that he got a win. Imagine if the show just made this Squidward’s instrument from now on lol.

“Mandatory Music” was pretty decent, but I feel like it had some missed opportunities. Particularly when it came to having an actual music battle, like that would’ve been a lot more fun than this hyped up robot coming in and just simply shooting a cork into Squidward’s clarinet. Guess that show’s that robots aren’t superior to humans (since the people in this show are our human analogues) after all lol. Nah but seriously, I feel like the end to that was too abrupt. And I feel like not a lot happens in this episode, despite it filling up the whole time. So something could’ve been done there.

Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.2/10
 
Pugs4Thugs said:
I know nothing about “Mandatory Music”. Nothing at all. Should be pretty interesting, I’d say. I frankly thought this episode would be shorter, because I expected “Friendiversary” to be longer. So now I’m more curious about what this episode is going to be. I’m assuming a Squidward episode with the music focus. I guess it has been a little bit since we’ve had him play his clarinet, right? Ooh can this episode be like “Suction Cup Symphony”? Whatever the case is, I really like the title card music for this one.

It seems like I might be on the money with Squidward and his clarinet here, as we begin with Squidward playing his clarinet in the park. Oh boy. I wonder what exaggerated reactions to his music we’ll see now. And I guess this is before the people of BIkini Bottom realize that Squidward truly cannot play and is a danger with a clarinet, as they all, at first, are actually excited to hear him play. As expected, his awful playing leads to a variety of amusing visual gags. And then the people in the park throw him and his clarinet out. Squidward walks through town playing his clarinet, which frankly would annoy me because let’s be considerate of other people now. Street performers are one thing, someone walking through town is another.

Finally, someone stops Squidward—the music police. Their little outfits are so fun. And I love the gag with the “symphony code”. Wait…does this mean Squidward’s going to be forced to go to mandatory music school? Oh I’m getting “Professor Squidward” and “Boating Buddies” vibes already! No I didn’t particularly like either of those episodes, but it’s the idea of them that seems interesting. I just kind of hope SpongeBob isn’t in this one, as this could be the opportunity to explore a different dynamic for Squidward. We’ll see, though. Anyway, I’m right about Squidward being forced to go to mandatory music school, and it’s funny because the school is apparently for children.

So now Squidward is forced to be in school with seemingly little toddlers. Oh this should be entertaining. Ms. Sturgeon’s complete lack of ****s to give is hilarious to me. And yeah, I knew it was a little too good to be true, because guess who shows up as another new student! That’s right, SpongeBob’s here. His face when he opens the door is hilarious. Well at this point, this is just musical “Boating Buddies” lol. But I’m not complaining (about that, at least). I’m curious as to why SpongeBob is taking this class though…he’s never been shown to have a problem with an instrument, and even in this episode, he plays his nose flute just fine. And he is beloved by the class. I love how Squidward’s clarinet is all locked up like this, it’s a pretty funny joke.

It seems that Squidward is perhaps just bad at instruments, as he’s still bad with a harmonica and kazoo. I love how all the kids + SpongeBob provide the montage music or him. At this point, I kinda feel bad for Squidward. Squidward’s not one to wallow though, so he simply grabs his clarinet and uses it’s…uh…tornado powers to throw out everyone in classroom, and so Ms. Sturgeon pulls the music alarm. It’s at this point the episode gets into pure campiness and I love it, as basically the police show up and the scene almost plays out like a hostage negotiation or something. Squidward’s too powerful for the police though (is this a shonen now), so they have to send in the Maestro. Oh boy. The Maestro being a robot is kind of a let-down, tbh. Maybe I’m thinking too much about AI art. But anway, the Maestro, who is clearly just a robotic Mozart, comes in and manages to muffle Squidward’s clarinet. Well…that’s wasn’t as fun as I wanted. I wanted a whole battle! I was prepared to say that this was going to remind me of the synthesizer battle from Regular Show! Guys!!!

At this point, Squidward’s finally upset and ready to wallow. SpongeBob tries to cheer him up, which is wholesome. And then we finally find Squidward’s real calling…a nose horn. Now that’s music! I’m glad that he got a win. Imagine if the show just made this Squidward’s instrument from now on lol.

“Mandatory Music” was pretty decent, but I feel like it had some missed opportunities. Particularly when it came to having an actual music battle, like that would’ve been a lot more fun than this hyped up robot coming in and just simply shooting a cork into Squidward’s clarinet. Guess that show’s that robots aren’t superior to humans (since the people in this show are our human analogues) after all lol. Nah but seriously, I feel like the end to that was too abrupt. And I feel like not a lot happens in this episode, despite it filling up the whole time. So something could’ve been done there.

Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.2/10
Click to expand...
I am glad to find out that you like this one

Can't wait to find out what you think of the episode with the word "dick"
 
It was pretty good tbh
  1. Friendiversary (11/10)
  2. Salty Sponge (10/10)
  3. Delivery To Monster Island (10/10)
  4. Welcome To Binary Bottom (10/10)
  5. The Flower Pot (10/10)
  6. C.H.U.M.S (9.5/10)
  7. Ma And Pa's Big Hurrah (9.5/10)
  8. SpongeBob on parade (9.5/10)
  9. Yellow Pavement (9.5/10)
  10. Patrick The Mailman (9.5/10)
  11. Karen For Spot (9.5/10)
  12. Say Aww! (9.5/10)
  13. Mandatory Music (9/10)
  14. Goofy Scoopers (9/10)
  15. Food PBFFT! Truck (8.5/10)
  16. Abandon Twits (8.5/10)
  17. A Place For Pets (8/10)
  18. Hot Crossed Nuts (8/10)
  19. Sir Urchin And Snail Fail (8/10)
  20. Squidferatu (8/10)
  21. Big Bad Bubble Bass (8/10)
  22. Under The Small Top (8/10)
  23. Squidward's Sick Daze (7.5/10)
  24. Sea Man Sponge Haters Club (7.5/10)
  25. Ain't That The Tooth (7.5/10)
  26. Spongebob's Road To Christmas (7.5/10)
  27. Walhalla (7.5/10)
  28. You're Going To Pay Phone (7.5/10)
  29. Arbor Day Dissarray (7/10)
  30. Potato Puff (7/10)
  31. Pat The Dog (6.5/10)
  32. Ride Patrick Ride (6.5/10)
  33. Skin Wrinkle in time (6.5/10)
  34. Captain Pipsqueak (5.5/10)
  35. Lockdown For Love (5.5/10)
  36. Slappy Daze (5.5/10)
  37. Plane To Sea (3.5/10)
  38. There Will Be Grease (3/10)
  39. Upturn Girls (3/10)
  40. Something Narwhal This Way Comes (0/10)
 
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