Nearing the end of season 4, we have "Squid Wood"! I did something a little different this time around for my review, rewatching the episode a day before and writing down some key points (to help not take as long to write my review
and make it more accurate), so let's see if this leads to any noticeable differences in my review of this episode lol. In general, I think is a pretty fun and funny episode.
The beginning of this episode demonstrates once again why this show is educational lmao, because what kid's cartoon is talking about circadian rhythms like that? Speaking of the beginning of this episode, it's just funny because why is SpongeBob in Squidward's house. And his whole "I waited for you to stop sleeping like you asked" line is pretty funny and raises some...interesting questions. Yeah, I'd say this episode is the real beginning of SpongeBob's creepiness factor getting amped up to 11 (as is the big complaint in episodes such as "Boating Buddies", and I'm fine with it. SpongeBob's always been a bit of a little weirdo, this really isn't that much of a stretch for him. Anyway, the whole "I'll see you later" running gag, or whatever you want to call it, is nice because it shows the repetitiveness of Squidward's interactions with SpongeBob. The way SpongeBob just keeps appearing in Squidward’s life is just hilarious, and you can feel the way Squidward is going insane over it. I would too, if my neighbor literally showed up at my bed, in the ground, in my flower, in my art…just horrible, yet hilarious. I think the best one has to be when Squidward’s in the bath and SpongeBob’s pressed up against the window in the creepiest way ever. Squidward’s scream and visual expression is absolutely hilarious, especially together with the dramatic cue. A nice callback to “Have You Seen This Snail”, honestly. SpongeBob is very childish in this episode, given his obsession with “playing”, but I think it works fine.
After a few minutes, we get introduced to the eponymous wooden puppet of Squidward (Squid Wood, as I will be calling him, because I think it's hilarious). I'm cool with the episode taking some time to get to this point, because there needed to be an explanation for why SpongeBob made a Squidward puppet (or maybe not, since like I said we are entering the era of SpongeBob being hilariously creepy..."Squid's Visit" just wait til I get to you), and these first couple minutes are super funny anyway. Squidward's reaction to the puppet is also hilarious. Rodger Bumpass has got some lungs on him! Sean Schemmel is shaking in his boots as we speak. I also just love the voice of Squid Wood. It's nice to see Squidward be overjoyed by the puppet taking his role too, to the point of literally pole vaulting into his house for no reason. And the look that SpongeBob and Squid Wood share after that (and even better, when Patrick cameos in this episode and thinks that Squidward "shaved his beard") are great. They're almost like fourth wall breaks.
Moving on, once we get to the Krusty Krab things continue to be very enjoyable for me. I love the absolute awkwardness of Squidward handing the two customers their Krabby Patties. Like it's more awkward in-universe than out-of-universe, and I get no secondhand embarrassment from it, so maybe that's why I like it so much. I'm of two minds when it comes to how I feel about the townspeople in this episode. On one hand, the fact that they like a puppet more than the actual Squidward is jerkwad behavior, especially as they continually insult Squidward to his face. On the other hand, a lot of what the townspeople say in this episode is pretty funny. I also like that the breaking point for Squidward is once his ego and pride start getting wounded, especially once Nancy pulls out them $300. Like I understand getting mad after that one, like gimme that money! Anyway, once Squidward tries to get back to work, his fake cheer is just funny to me, especially once his parade is immediately rained on as he gets assigned to busboy duty. And don’t think I didn’t notice the
song playing in the background of this part…title card to “Wet Painters”, anyone?
I love how random the plot becomes as Squid Wood just starts dancing. It's not particularly funny, but it is entertaining. Personally, I do not like watching people dance when I eat. Maybe I’m just traumatized by middle school though. Squidward trying to get into the dancing is pretty good though, especially with the audience reaction and their roasting. I also love all the water sound effects, they're very satisfying.
Finally, Squidward reaches his breaking point, and seeing him go ballistic is amazing. The wider shots of SpongeBob just staring blankly as Squidward attacks Squid Wood just make the whole scene so funny to me. And I love how the music agent just shows up out of nowhere (also did you know they were voiced by Tom Kenny? Usually I'm pretty good at recognizing Tom Kenny's voice, but man that threw me for a loop when I was looking at the credits for this episode). I love how delusional Squidward is when talking to the agent, it makes me think of "Culture Shock". And the music agent themself is just hilarious, they remind me of Monty P. Moneybags from "Artist Unknown".
I also really like the very ending of this episode, SpongeBob pulling out a new puppet SpongeBob. The laughing bit is just hilarious, because you know Squidward’s about to go insane, especially with those eye twitches (and especially because everything pretty much goes back to square one for Squidward). And even though SpongeBob’s laugh can be annoying, it very much is not in this last little bit. And when an episode ends with some Puka A, you know it’s probably a good ending (I have not sourced this statement, so don't quote me on that).
"Squid Wood" is a really great episode that I have no problems with at all. Whenever I rewatch season 4, it's definitely up in there. And as you could see by this review, this episode reminds me a lot of many other episodes. This is usually the case for any episode I watch, but I usually try to keep the other episode references to a minimum. This show has almost 300 episodes I think, so it makes sense that I'd be seeing similarities. Speaking of similarities, "Chef Bob" is quite similar to this episode, except in this episode Squid Wood is not a jerk and he doesn't turn on his creator. Anyway, because I have no real problems with this episode, and I enjoy it so much, this episode definitely deserves to be in the "Amazing" tier.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.3/10
