Kicking off season 5, we've got "Friend or Foe", a fun backstory episode that finally explores the reason why Mr. Krabs and Plankton hate each other so! I feel like no matter what kind of “canon” you subscribe to (AKA events that preceded the start of the show, and order of events in the show), most people have Mr. Krabs and Plankton being former friends as part of their timelines. I know I do. A review is no place to explain what my version of the “canon” of SpongeBob is, so I’ll refrain from doing that. But you best believe that Krabs and Plankton being ex-best friends is in there somewhere.
Right from the beginning of this episode, I'm intrigued, because my first question immediately becomes why is Patchy flipping patties?
Capitalism smh, a man can't be jobless in peace. lol. Anyway, that was a cool little restaurant he was working at tho. Patchy segments in general are usually pretty funny, and this one is no exception. The guy hitting himself on the head with a spatula is funny. And like usual Patchy and Potty’s banter is great. And then Patchy running off crying is actually so hilarious I had to pause the whole episode when I was rewatching because I forgot that happened lol. Honestly, Patchy is so me-core because I too would be crying and having the worst day ever and still make it about SpongeBob somehow. I’ll just go ahead and cover the whole Patchy segment here. I love how Potty ends up becoming assistant manager, and then we get some fun humor for older watchers with that GED joke. And I love the montage of Patchy trying to make burgers, it has that wonderful low production value we expect. Also that little clip of SpongeBob making his first patty was so cute! Patchy getting fired was great, and that golden parachute joke was brilliant. And then of course, the Patchy segment (and the episode) ending with the gorilla attacking Patchy is hilarious.
Now let's get to talking about the episode proper.
Clownfish Capers for the title card…good choice. Anyway, the extremely suspicious cake rolling into the Krusty Krab is a good enough way to start the episode, though I find myself questioning why Mr. Krabs, the same man we saw in “New Leaf”, did not find it to be suspicious. Squidward lampshading it makes it good though. I know we’d already kind of started this with “Imitation Krabs” and “The Algae’s Always Greener” and “Enemy-in-Law”, but I feel like this episode really starts the process of emphasizing the wacky, machine-based nature of Plankton’s plans to steal the formula. Because like what even was this cake machine lmao, very creative. And I liked the teamwork of SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs in getting the formula back. And then once Mr. Krabs starts to tell his tale, I love how everyone in the restaurant gets into it too lol.
I love the atmosphere of the flashbacks in this episode. That little bit we get of Mr. Krabs and Plankton as toddlers is so cute, and I love how Plankton basically has the same voice lmao, it makes it funnier that way. Also Mr. Krabs talking the same but with a slightly higher voice is similarly hilarious. And the kids in their elementary school…see if that was me and these kids were trying to talk about me like that, we’d have to fight, plain and simple. Especially when they started being classist, because absolutely not. Anyway, I feel like this episode kind of implies that Krabs is a country bumpkin (based on background music and locations) which I think is hilarious. I appreciate this episode’s dedication to explaining the characters of Mr. Krabs and Plankton, including their obsessions. Mr. Krabs is obsessed with money because he grew up without it. Plankton is obsessed with being better than Mr. Krabs and other people because of the way he was treated as less than. Makes enough sense to me.
Mr. Krabs buying a balloon for Plankton with his first ever piece of money is so wholesome, which then turns to absolutely hysterical when Plankton ends up flying away because of the balloon. And then when we cut away from the flashback and SpongeBob gives Mr. Krabs the formula, I thought SpongeBob’s line there was pretty funny. And then everyone’s legitimate curiosity sets up Squidward’s sarcasm nicely, and I love how Mr. Krabs just gets up in his face. Moving on, the kids are very classist again, but even worse is that so is the adult in this situation. Yeah, Stinky? It’s on sight. I did like Stinky’s cartoonish, Scooby-Doo-like double takes though. I have so many questions about why a rich guy was pretending to be a poor burger maker but okay, it’s just another example of this show’s random comedy.
I like how we start seeing the divergence between Mr. Krabs and Plankton early on in their initial formulations of the plan to make burgers. Plankton wants to rule the school, Mr. Krabs wants lots of bucks. And the montage of them figuring out how to make the perfect patty is entertaining enough. Not particularly funny or amusing, though. But then Mr. Krabs and Plankton open their restaurant (which was also very wholesome), and as Mr. Krabs says, their “venture into capitalism began”. Hey this time they actually used the ‘C’ word! And I love the continuity we get with Mr. Krabs framing his first dollar in the same frame we see in “Wet Painters”. You can tell there was a real attempt here to make this episode fit within the established SpongeBob “continuity”. And then Mr. Krabs and Plankton’s divergences reach a head as Mr. Krabs is about satisfying the customer and Plankton doesn’t care. And I love how quickly Plankton turns on Mr. Krabs, because at first it’s like “that’s sudden”, but then it makes sense when you realize that Mr. Krabs is telling the story, so of course he’d be biased against Plankton and not admitting any fault of his own (as we will see in a minute). The bit where Mr. Krabs literally reads the booby trapped pressure plates is pretty funny.
And then the tale ends there, right? Wrong! Plankton’s here to set the record straight! I love how SpongeBob’s immediate reaction is to swallow the formula again and Mr. Krabs has to stop him, that was pretty funny. We see Plankton’s rendition of the same fight, except this time completely biased against Mr. Krabs, so now it’s him who turns suddenly, and it’s him who doesn’t care about satisfying the customers (which we already know that has to be at least somewhat of a lie lmao). And I thought it was cool that the rip in the formula left Plankton with just the chum aspect, which explains why he's so focused on chum.
So, now the tale is over, we’ve heard from both parties…right? Wrong! We get an admittedly excellent dramatic entrance from Karen of all people, who’s going to set the record straight for real. I love the little bit of info we learn about Plankton and Karen’s relationship in this part too. But anyway, it’s nice to see how the story really happened with Karen’s footage. I love how the real story addresses the fact that they’re in the dump, like who’s about to eat in there. Also, we see Old Man Jenkins’ color change from green to light tan, so that was interesting. And then the fact that the patty literally kills him is both horrible and hilarious lmao. I feel bad for the guy, but it was also a great joke. And it makes the ensuing fight make a lot more sense, both to why it happened, and why Krabs and Plankton wanted to cover it up. It’s also fun to see the origins of the Krusty Krab and Chum Bucket. And then I love how after watching the footage, Krabs and Plankton immediately get in an argument. Just too much bad blood between them now. Karen setting them straight is great, and I love the moment the two share. But of course, just like “New Leaf” it was a mere ploy, which was expected, but I liked it all the same.
In general, I quite liked "Friend or Foe". The Patchy segments are undoubtedly funnier than the animation portions of the episode, but the animated plot is actually very interesting, being a pretty well-written backstory to a few very key elements of this show: the Krusty Krab, the Chum Bucket, and Mr. Krabs' and Plankton's rivalry. So I can't really say that the animated portion not being too comedic is to this episode's detriment. I'd say this episode fits right into my "Amazing" tier.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.2/10
