My oh my, I have such a nice episode today, don’t I? You know, an episode with such pleasing noises such as…SpongeBob’s crying! Oh yeah, I’m covering “A Day Without Tears” today, so this is going to be very fun. I feel like this episode was trying to be meta by addressing how SpongeBob cries so much, but didn’t think about how they would be showing SpongeBob crying too much to do so. Well, they did think about it, and so the episode is not nearly as irritating as it could’ve been, but I’ll talk about that a little later.
It takes about 10 seconds for our first cry session to start. The only thing I can say is that at least it’s not “Choir Boys”, but the bar is nearly in hell when it comes to being better than that episode at not having annoying noises. Honestly, the annoyingness in SpongeBob crying isn’t necessarily in his crying noise (I mean it partially is), but also in the way that the good music has to stop every single time and change to one of the sad tracks of the show (hey at least South Pacific Island II was used later! Love that track). Like in this beginning scene, I was jamming out to
Coconut Cream Pie, and then they have to stop everything so SpongeBob can cry. It makes this part of the episode feel super disjointed and I don’t like it.
I can tell that this episode is supposed to be making fun of something, whether it be fans’ reactions to SpongeBob crying (doubtful because who cares what the fans think, I think that theory for episodes like this is way too self-centered lowkey), or just the fact that SpongeBob does cry a lot, because this episode is clearly exaggerating SpongeBob’s crying tendencies. And it’s true that it’s annoying. Not super annoying, but a little bit. I did like how some of the crying moments (definitely not all of them), were the kind of dramatic reactions I love, such as when SpongeBob drops the Krabby Patty on the floor.
I love how Squidward is completely over it. The scene with him explaining to SpongeBob that he’s cried way too many times is funnier than I expected it to be, especially when SpongeBob questions why Squidward wrote the number on a chalkboard (every time awkward humor is used well I literally start jumping up and down and cheering…like do y’all know how much I suffered in season 6). The call between SpongeBob and Patrick is fun too, especially because they do that thing I love and imply different adventures or events happening outside of what we see in the episode. It makes the world feel more complete that way, like there’s so much going on outside of the screen.
The bet between Squidward and SpongeBob is fun as well, and for some reason I’m getting “Employee of the Month” vibes. I love Squidward’s visceral reaction towards the prospect of having a sleepover with SpongeBob. Makes me think that this episode happens after “Squid’s Visit” lol. Also, there were a couple moments in this scene that SpongeBob had that ugly design from last season and I almost had the same visceral reaction as Squidward…get that thing away from me! I like that as the episode goes on, Squidward tries to get SpongeBob to cry from things other than sadness. It keeps the episode from feeling too repetitive. And we also get an absolutely gorgeous background out of this (multiple of them, actually), so that’s an automatic win. Another thing I like about this bet is that it prevents us from having to listen to SpongeBob cry, which is absolutely the correct move here. I think that the writers understood how annoying SpongeBob’s crying was, which is why the episode was made like this, but I do think that the annoying crying from earlier in the episode (not the montage, that was funny) still was just too much. It’s a hard line to balance, I understand, but it still failed just a tiny bit here.
This episode gives me some Gary crumbs as well, so of course that’s another win for me. And he’s adorable here, so that’s like +10 points basically (disclaimer: I do not use a point system when reviewing, other than my ratings). Squidward’s attempts to get SpongeBob to cry are pretty entertaining, not even going to lie. I love how they keep failing lol. And I love a good usage of
Nude Sting so, there’s that. The TV programs were fun as well, especially the news segments. And I love how SpongeBob ends up just throwing his TV out the window. Patrick plays a really good double supporting role in this episode. Or more like cameo roles. Idk what to call it don’t look at me.
The ending of the episode is also the exact kind of chaos I love, as SpongeBob literally bursts into the tears he’d been holding in all day. I love how it cuts to all the characters we’d seen in the episode (except Gary, sadly). And then the very end, with Squidward crying in despair over being at the sleepover, that was a great little stinger and bookend to this episode.
This episode is so interesting as someone who very rarely cries. Like at this point I’d say I have a problem because of how rarely I cry, but it is what it is. Anyway, I actually enjoyed “A Day Without Tears” a whole lot more than I expected to. The beginning was a little rough because of the irritating crying, but that was like…2 minutes maybe? And then the episode proceeds to be really funny. So this is a “Great” tier episode for sure, and it’s absolutely a hidden gem and completely underrated.
Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8.4/10
Dancing (Good)
