This is one of the most forgettable episodes of all time, right up there with Ditchin'. This episode is boring, skips the main conflict of the episode that is literally set up for the first few minutes, and then devolves into idiocy. The humor in this episode is bland, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are treated like crap, and most of all this episode is just a rip off of Hall Monitor and every MM&BB episode before this. 3/10
Why was I so mad LMAO. God these vintage Pugs reviews are so...interesting. I also just cringed hard at the fact that I said "rip off" because y'all know I don't like that term. Let me just tell you that this review is going to be very, very different than the one I've just quoted.
Here we are with “Shuffleboarding”, yet another forgettable episode from season 6. It took a little bit of thinking, but prior to rewatching the episode I did remember a good bit of the plot. But I didn’t remember any jokes. That doesn’t automatically mean the episode will be bad or not funny, but it was a bit of an omen. An omen that turned out to be wrong, actually.
I’m honestly surprised about how quickly we’re getting another Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode. I mean “Ditchin’” only barely counts as one, but basically whenever the two actually appear I count it lol. I liked this little bit in the beginning with them actually interacting with the narrator. I’m also glad that this is one of those episodes where MM and BB actually know who SpongeBob and Patrick are, because I think it’s more entertaining that way. The bit with the boomerang was also pretty funny. All the slapstick with Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy was a bit unexpected though, because I don’t really think of slapstick happening with clearly elderly characters. Maybe that’s why they actually ended up going to the hospital after all the shenanigans lol. And then the bit between SpongeBob and Patrick with the flowers was really cute haha.
And then the plot of the episode gets moving, with SpongeBob and Patrick taking the place of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy at the shuffleboarding competition. I love how they’re certified MM and BB impersonators lol. And of course, we know that SpongeBob and Patrick will do something stupid once Barnacle Boy thinks they won’t cause too much damage. Honestly, Barnacle Boy is a very funny character to me. I often say that MM and BB are kinda meh characters for me, but I’m mostly talking about them as a duo, or Mermaid Man. Barnacle Boy is just very dry and snarky and I like that kind of humor. Anyway, the little outfits SpongeBob and Patrick wear are cute.
The episode then pulls a little bit of a bait-and-switch, because SpongeBob and Patrick win the tournament off-screen without any prompting, meaning that this episode is not actually about shuffleboarding at all. I can’t tell if it would’ve been more entertaining to show them actually shuffleboarding or not. Probably not, to be honest, because it probably would’ve turned out similar to “Krusty Krushers”. So the bait-and-switch here is accepted. I guess now this episode is more like “Ditchin’” at this point. And then the episode becomes a
critique of mass incarceration, I mean…uh…actually I don’t know what. I’m mostly joking. Mostly. Honestly it feels like a parody of the already exaggerated jokes about Batman. And it ends up being pretty funny, so that’s good. The bit with Man Ray was nice too, it’s always fun to see Man Ray, and it’s fun to see him not be explicitly evil (which reminds me, we haven’t seen Plankton in a while…). And the action scene in the laundromat was pretty fun, delightfully cheesy. And I like how the ending of the scene almost feels like a reference to “To SquarePants or Not To SquarePants”, being fresh off of viewing that episode. The ending of the episode is pretty funny, and also predictable of course, poor MM and BB. And hey, it gives us an absolutely gorgeous background too, so that’s yet another win.
“Shuffleboarding” starts out a bit slow, but in general this episode is pretty enjoyable, which surprised me given how much I had forgotten about it. I liked how the episode really leaned into the cheesy with the scene with Man Ray, and the plot of the episode was just fun too. And while the episode was funny, it wasn’t super funny or anything. But lately most of these episodes haven’t been making me full on belly-laugh, so I’ll take what I can get.
Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8/10
