Hey, a Mrs. Puff episode! Not even a Boating School episode (although that does of course play a big role in the set-up of this episode), but one specifically about her. I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve seen her, though I suppose she’s made plenty of appearances this season. Either way, I’m happy to see her play a major role in "Summer Job", as it has been a bit since she’s at least been a major character. I just wish that this episode could've been better.
The beginning of this episode reminds me a lot of “Boating Buddies” and “Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV”, with Mrs. Puff running away from SpongeBob. So that’s 4 characters now that SpongeBob has terrorized in this way LMAO. Also, I think Mrs. Puff being a jailbird is actually hilarious. Good on Bikini Bottom for hiring people who have served their time.
The one thing I don’t like about this episode is that it kind of erases everything established in “Krusty Love” and later episodes, with Mr. Krabs being a jerkwad to Mrs. Puff. I mean, on one hand he does give her a way to get this off her record and all that, but on the other he’s clearly extorting her for free labor so…not cool, Mr. Krabs. Well, I suppose the episode doesn’t completely erase it, with Mrs. Puff assumption that Mr. Krabs wants to take her out on a date, and Mr. Krabs being like “interesting”. But I do think that all of this was ignored in favor of having Mr. Krabs and Mrs. Puff interact like this in this episode. And that’s another thing, this episode kind of dropped the ball of having Mrs. Puff interact with anyone but SpongeBob, because her interactions with Mr. Krabs are barely there after this set-up portion. So that’s disappointing.
I also think that this episode could’ve done more with the role reversal between SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff. Because it feels more like “Nautical Novice” when it could’ve been…much better than that, let’s put it that way. And SpongeBob is kind of very annoying for much of this episode. Like the entire scene with the register just annoys me, and it isn’t funny. And honestly I just spend most of this episode feeling bad for Mrs. Puff, because she doesn’t even get a single break through all of this. Like Mr. Krabs comes out and gets rude with her when SpongeBob is being super freaking annoying, and it’s just an irritating mess.
The fact that the episode ends with Mrs. Puff being happy about being arrested should tell you all you need to know. And it’s not done in a charming way like “Doing Time” either, although having
M’Wanna on in the background does mollify me a bit. But considering that Mrs. Puff did all this to avoid jail, and now ends up in jail for like 7 years (yeah idk where they got 4 years from) makes everything feel pointless. Especially because SpongeBob ends up volunteering at the jail for the entire summer. It’s just…annoying.
Episode Tier: Mediocre
Episode Score: 5.7/10