When this episode originally aired, I remember really enjoying it. However, going back tonight and re-watching it, well, I didn't think it was bad, but it was mainly an alright episode. Here are the main things I had wrong with it:
- Worst ending in Spongebob history
Not joking about that. I've seen about 98% of the episodes, and this is honestly the absolute worst ending I've EVER seen. Yes, even more so than Stuck In The Wringer and It Came From Goo Lagoon. It's very distracting, and sadly takes away a lot of my enjoyment from the episode as a whole.
- Pointless Sandy subplot that goes absolutely nowhere
Yeah... remind me again what the point of this was? All it does is show us that Sandy can build things out of the natural resources around her, which we've already established a really long time ago. That's literally all she contributes to the story. Oh yeah, and what was up with that fish being in that tower she built when she was about to leave the island when no one else had previously been there? Was it for humor? If so, then that was a really bad mistake on the writers' behalf. Please, please, PLEASE don't throw away logic in an episode just to make a joke, especially for one that wasn't even that good.
Even if you love this episode, you have to admit, this episode's pacing is terrible. In order to fix this, they should've just cut out the two other subplots. They were pretty pointless anyways.
- JKL actually never teaches them how to surf
Ok, so other than the ending, this is another thing that really angered me on my second viewing. Surfing is a talent you need to attempt at and practice. It takes a lot of time and effort, and according to the others' description of the wave, it should have probably taken years for them to master. It's not something you can learn in a few days, and it's definitely not something you can learn from doing nothing but staring into fires all night and watching someone play the bongos. I don't think this would have bothered me as much if JKL wasn't legitimately trying to help the others' get home, and if Spongebob hadn't surfed so perfectly in the end, despite having learned nothing.
Other than all that though, this episode was actually pretty decent. But god, that ending. Ugh. However, there was more good than bad, so I'll give this episode a final ranking of 5.5/10.