Just like last episode, “The Bad Guy Club For Villains” is a fun little Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode. Except this one is a supposed complete Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy adventure! And honestly, this review is going to be really short. Because there’s a reason that comic book entertainment doesn’t particularly…enthrall me (I love action movies, don’t get me wrong, but superhero movies have kinda been on the backburner. I love action cartoons too, but most kinds of “orthodox” superhero media bore me tbh).
I did like how this episode really leaned into being a parody of superhero cartoons/TV shows. I mean we got a whole little theme song, the vintage filter over everything (which tbh got tiring after a while. If I wanted Pale-Bob I’d watch season 2…or “Suds”), and just the entire plot of the episode in general. The fight was also really fun to watch, and I loved every character’s powers and gimmicks (I mean we knew most of the IJLSA, but still).
I loved the Dirty Bubble’s little hat in this episode, I just thought it was cute and hilarious on him. And also I just really liked the designs of a lot of the characters here. I love how for Miss Appear they really were like “let’s just draw Wonder Woman”, while they at least tried with everyone else. Well…the Pyrite Ponderer does look like Dr. Manhattan with the tanned complexion of the Silver Surfer lol.
The interspersing moments of SpongeBob and Patrick having trouble with the tape were…unnecessary to be completely honest. It takes us out of the immersion and I don’t understand why? Having this episode be an episode within an episode is good enough, we don’t need to be repeatedly taken out of our immersion, you know? And these moments aren’t funny, so it leans closer to irritating.
And then we get the final reveal that all the bad guys wanted to do was have a book club. My first question was why didn’t they say anything earlier, but then I thought about how MM and BB pulled up already throwing hands, so of course they had to retaliate in kind. I loved the whole “No one can imprison you for reading” line, though it does make me think about current events…sigh.
“The Bad Guy Club For Villains” was a fun little episode that supplemented its sister very well. Because that’s what this episode feels like—a supplement. It is, of course, good on its own, but it feels even better being paired with another Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode. And it's not particularly funny, but these kinds of episodes rarely are for me, if I’m being real. But that means that it’s in my “Good” tier, as opposed to “Great”. Still, not too shabby at all.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.7/10
Dancing (Good)