294a. Single-Celled Defense

pretty bad season premiere, and a real mediocre episode overall. noticably awful pacing and most of the jokes were pretty unfunny. 5/10, it was not a bad episode but it was not good at all
 
The pacing was horrendous. It's also *kind of* similar to Squid Defense in a way. The story was ok, there were *some* decent jokes. Overall maybe a decent(ish) episode. I'd say it's better than mediocre.
 
It was pretty good. The concept of someone else learning kah-rah-tay has been done multiple times but it was different enough so that wasn't an issue. We don't see Plankton and Sandy paired much so that helped make it stand out. I thought it was odd that SpongeBob needed to go to the hospital when he can normally just grow his arms and legs back but it had a good payoff with the ending gag. 8/10
 
While I don't think this episode is amazing, I thought it was pretty good. It was pretty entertaining and interesting to see an episode focusing on Plankton and Sandy again. But the episode does have quite a few noticeable similarities to the episode from over a decade ago called Squid Defense. However, I think Single Cell Defense is different enough to be its own thing. But both episodes still have a lot of similarities.

First off, the titles between the episodes are quite similar. So unfortunately you can't help but make comparisons from the very start of the episode! But I feel like the rest of the episode isn't as similar as it might seem. One big difference is this episode focuses on Plankton learning self-defense to deal with people accidentally stepping on him, which is something he's been dealing with for the entire series! Squid Defense focuses on Squidward learning self-defense to protect himself against attackers or thieves. Both episodes do have Sandy teach them about Karate though. She even says to only use Karate for self-defense in both episodes. Then the characters (Squid and Plankton) go against this. But in this episode, Sandy never catches Plankton breaking her rule, unlike her catching Squidward in Squid Defense. So at least that's a difference between the episodes.

I thought the ending of this episode was somewhat weak though. Plankton isn't able to use his new Karate move on Mr. Krabs because he doesn't have feet. On one hand, I feel that is somewhat clever. But at the at the same time, I feel like Plankton could have still used the move on Krab's stubs. I don't see exactly why him not having feet would stop him. Maybe it would be a little more difficult, but I feel Plankton could have still used the move on him by grabbing his stubs. All in all, while this episode has quite a few similarities to Squid Defense, I feel it is different enough to mostly be its own thing and is a fun episode.
 
Roland D. Plankton said:
The pacing was horrendous. It's also *kind of* similar to Squid Defense in a way. The story was ok, there were *some* decent jokes. Overall maybe a decent(ish) episode. I'd say it's better than mediocre.
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On second thought, the pacing, while not good, is not horrendous. The episode is a high decent or a low good
 
Didn't we do this plot like 2 times before? I'm starting to get real sick of this plot
 
Well now, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, this is Pugs, actually writing an episode review on SpongeBuddy Mania again! It has been over 15 months since I finished reviewing season 13, therefore completing my project of reviewing every episode of every completed season of the show. And back then, I was hopeful I’d be able to keep up with season 14 as it aired, maybe even start reviewing the spin-offs. As you can see, that did not happen. Until today, I had not watched a single new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants past season 13. I’m kinda weird, I’m really bad at keeping up with the stuff I really really love, almost like I’m saving it for a rainy day or something. I’m the same way with Dragon Ball. But anyway, the long and short of it is that I’m back! No promises of consistency, I’m doing this (reviewing all of season 14) at my own pace. And I’m of course continuing with my YouTube reviews in the meantime, which is another reason why these reviews will likely be slow-going.

Okay well that’s enough yapping about me, let’s talk about this episode! Kicking off season 14 is “Single Celled Defense”, which is a title that immediately brings episodes like “Squid Defense” and “Karate Star” to mind. And those aren’t…the best episodes to be thinking of immediately. However what is really great to think about are some Sandy and Plankton interactions, because I’ve been absolutely begging for this ever since “Perfect Chemistry”, so I’m positively vibrating at the possibility of seeing more of those here! And just looking at the episode description, as well as the title, I’m feeling pretty confident that that’s exactly what I’ll be seeing. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get this show on the road!

The first thing I’ll say is that I like the title card for this episode. It’s just really fun. And that’s one thing about the title cards in these latest seasons…they’re all very…creative. But that’s a double-edged sword, since they often just don’t even fit the show’s aesthetic. I think this title card still does fit the aesthetic, so it’s a good example of a title card being creative while still feeling like SpongeBob SquarePants. This may be something I take note of as I review this season, or maybe not. We’re going in blind here, who knows what trends I’ll end up taking notice of!

So getting into the episode properly now, I gotta say I love Plankton’s little hat here as he heads out to go shopping. He just looks cute. In general, everyone looks really good in this episode, I love the art style as well as the animation quality, it’s great. “Single Celled Defense” wastes no time in delivering us the plot we came here for, as immediately upon stepping out, Plankton is stepped on by an oblivious walker. We cut to him in Bikini Bottom for his “shopping”, which turns out to be a very shady exchange where he buys a laser gun from this guy. I love it. This also ends up being the second instance of Plankton getting stepped on, and from here the plot of the episode is rather obvious—Plankton keeps getting stepped on and he gets tired of it. This hunch is proven right when Plankton shows up at the Krusty Krab, worse for wear, and he gets stepped on by Bubble Bass. I’ve been noticing recently that people don’t like that Bubble Bass keeps being utilized. I don’t share that opinion, but I think I’ll wait for an episode that features him more prominently to get into that.

When Plankton is forced back to the Chum Bucket in defeat, I love how pouty he is when he tells Karen about how bad his day was. And then I love them going to the disco are you kidding me?? These newer episodes actually showing the good sides to Plankton and Karen’s relationship makes me so happy. It’s also such a funny coincidence that I’m watching this episode today when I literally just wrote the script to my video review of “Single Celled Anniversary” a couple hours ago. Oh look at how far we’ve come. Predictably, Plankton also gets stepped on at the disco, and this is the final straw for him, so he decides to try to come up with a device to prevent him from getting stepped on. A couple of humorous tries later, and he’s got a prototype.

And the prototype works in an amusing exchange with Fred. However it doesn’t work on Sandy, who clocks Plankton and ends up beating him black and blue. Her observation skills remind me of Rainbow Dash in that My Little Pony episode “Testing Testing 1, 2, 3”. Yeah that’s such a random connection for me to make but I’ve made it, now what lol. Anyway, we’re now finally getting into the stuff I was hoping for—Sandy and Plankton interactions! So far, there’s nothing too special here, but when Sandy offers to teach Plankton some self-defense skills, I get excited, because yes this is a great opportunity to see these two characters have some really fun interactions!

This set up…somewhat pays off. Yes, Sandy and Plankton do interact in a meaningful capacity, and there’s plenty of good here. I like the moment of Sandy forcing Plankton to bow, the initial sparring session is great, the general montage of Plankton learning self-defense is good…but it all feels rather devoid of something. I think that something might be comedy. It just feels like there could’ve been more interesting things happening to help flesh out these Plankton and Sandy interactions, because as it is it feels like a waste. “Perfect Chemistry” was like the title implies, giving Plankton and Sandy plenty of chances for their characters to bounce off of each other. With the exception of a few moments like the bowing joke, “Single Celled Defense” doesn’t quite do that. And that’s a shame. Like what we get is enjoyable, don’t get me wrong, it just feels like some missed opportunities.

Anyway, SpongeBob shows up and we get another good sparring session, this time between SpongeBob and Plankton. I love SpongeBob’s little foam shoes haha. I liked the little bit of back and forth between Plankton and Sandy here when she starts spouting that stereotypical wise BS, that was good, I’d love to get more of that kind of banter. And Sandy teaches Plankton how to use an opponent’s momentum against them, which Plankton learns easily. And when Sandy reminds Plankton that he can only use this in self-defense…well…we already know where this is going (cough “Squid Defense” cough). This is the last Sandy and Plankton interaction we get for the episode, which as you might expect I find to be a waste. I was actually halfway expecting Sandy to be the one to have to take Plankton down when he inevitably starts using his karate skills for evil, but that is not what happens.

What instead happens is, of course, Plankton using his karate skills for evil (after a funny, brick-joke-laying aside of SpongeBob asking Sandy to take him to the hospital) and going to the Krusty Krab. I love how in this episode, for once, the patrons actually recognize Plankton and want nothing to do with his latest attempt to steal the formula. I just thought that was cool. And then I love how for the first time in literally ever, the Krusty Krab has security on the premises with these security ninjas, and this was another great fight to watch. I love all the shoe-based weaponry too, so creative! But Plankton defeats the security ninjas, and he’s ready to take his prize…until both he and Mr. Krabs come to the conclusion that Mr. Krabs doesn’t have feet. Even though I would’ve enjoyed a Plankton and Sandy fight (just like “Someone’s in the Kitchen With Sandy”, now that I’m thinking about it), Plankton being defeated so anti-climactically is pretty funny. I also love that this moment, to me at least, calls back to “Your Shoe’s Untied”.

We then close out the episode with a nice hospital ending (which I didn’t know was a trope until today when I was on TV Tropes for an unrelated reason. Though the trope is different than what actually happens here), where Plankton and SpongeBob parallel each other’s dialogue, and Plankton gets run over by SpongeBob’s wheelchair, giving us the payoff to the brick joke being laid earlier. Pretty good ending, I’d say. Nothing too special.

And that’s “Single Celled Defense”! Gosh, I feel rusty. Let me get my bearings here. So I thought this was a generally enjoyable episode. It wasn’t entirely funny, like there were some good jokes throughout but I wouldn’t call this a funny episode exactly. However I did indeed have a lot of fun watching it, which I think is what really pushes this episode over the edge of being a high-scoring “Good” tier episode to being a low-scoring “Great” tier episode. And as I’ve already said, I think this episode missed the opportunity to really give Plankton and Sandy some great interactions here, they just felt lacking and unexplored to me, which is a shame because these two characters have barely interacted.

Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8.3/10
 
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