Well well well, today we’ve got one of the most famous episodes of the show in “The Two Faces of Squidward”. Perhaps the episode itself is not as famous as one of its plot elements, handsome Squidward, but I’m lumping it together all the same. What’s funny is that I’ve always found handsome Squidward to be a meh meme, and that connects nicely with my feelings about this episode as well. At least the title card uses
Tentically Speaking, which is a track I like a lot.
The episode begins…decently, with SpongeBob and Patrick singing slightly annoyingly. At least Squidward’s quip about the evolutionary clock ticking backwards (which was also a fun 4th wall break as he was addressing the audience) was good. However when Squidward gives another good quip to SpongeBob, we get an extremely pointless and dull interaction where Patrick quite literally explains Squidward’s joke in the most boring manner possible, making this scene feel stilted and awkward. So, basically, not a great start here. At least Squidward is carrying this scene on his back, because he’s pretty good in this first minute. Thankfully we move on to Squidward’s face being broken and him being taken to the hospital. The hospital scene (before Squidward gets his bandages off) is good, I like SpongeBob’s dramatics. The actual scene of Squidward’s bandages being removed is not that good though, and I find myself on the road to being as annoyed as the doctor. At least the doctor is kind of funny in their reactions, but SpongeBob’s interruptions are irritating. And they go well beyond the rule of 3. It just feels like wasted time.
And then we get the reveal that the surgery ended up making Squidward conventionally attractive. I do like that SpongeBob and Squidward proceed to get along pretty well for the rest of the episode, I like when they have a mutually cooperative relationship like this. Kind of goes to show that a lot of their bad relationship is caused by Squidward’s own misery lol. The scene of them walking around town is fine enough, but seeing everyone swoon over Squidward just isn’t that entertaining on its own. The guy who thought he could fly though…we’ll return to him (in one of the best brick jokes of this show, I’d say).
This episode does a pretty good job in escalating the conflict, as people believe they are increasingly entitled to Squidward’s space and body. And what’s good here is that Squidward incrementally realizes how problematic his situation is, so the episode doesn’t get stale. Like if we were watching 6 minutes of people chasing an upset Squidward around, it would get boring. But Squidward here enjoys the fame for a while, even as his fans get more rabid, until he finally gets sick of it, so it makes it better to watch, and I just want to acknowledge that. That’s not to say the rest of the episode is particularly enjoyable, though. Honestly the way people harass Squidward gets increasingly uncomfortable to watch for me. I mean first off, this really is how it is for some celebrities in real life, which is disgusting. This episode is really not exaggerating as much as it should be. And of course Mr. Krabs simply wants to make a profit off of it, so he’s no help. I’m not really annoyed with him, though, because this is completely in character.
SpongeBob and Squidward’s plot to change him back is pretty funny on its own, and the execution is hilarious. Of course, this leads to the real handsome Squidward, who looks more unsettling to me than handsome lol, but whatever. I like how his shirt changes into a whole get-up haha. And then here we see the return of the shoe from earlier, a very impressive brick joke in my opinion. I love how gloriously dramatic this scene is, with Squidward sailing through the air prettily. I also think the shoe just bonking on SpongeBob’s head after all that slo-mo drama is perfect comedy. From here, the episode ends…alright, with Mr. Krabs losing all of his potential customers and him trying to make Squidward conventionally handsome again by smashing his face in with the door. It’s not exactly funny, and I just kinda feel bad for Squidward more than anything, but like not too bad. I think it would’ve been funnier if somehow Mr. Krabs got the handsome treatment or something, just as a bit of comeuppance for him trying to sell out Squidward. At least the Krusty Krab shot is nice.
“The Two Faces of Squidward” is simply okay. There are some funny moments here and there, but nothing that really makes me laugh out loud unfortunately. And there are other moments that are just stilted and awkward and a little weird to sit through. And then there are even more moments where I am physically uncomfortable by the actions of the townspeople. As a whole, I’d say the episode is not exactly boring, but very dull. The premise of this episode is decently interesting, but I feel like not enough was done with it. It’s more all the missed opportunities for actual comedy than the plot that makes me feel like this, though.
Episode Tier: Okay
Episode Score: 6.5/10
