140a. The Monster Who Came to Bikini Bottom

Pugs4Thugs

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Oh man, we’re at the “Legends of Bikini Bottom” anthology series! Ah, I remember when these premiered…good times! Good times. I thought this was an interesting little promotion gimmick, and I’d love if they did something like this again. Because the only other one I can remember is the vacation one from season 8. I guess maybe The Tidal Zone counts too? But just barely. Anyway, none of this has to do with my actual review yet, but I did wanna say I love this concept of an anthology series within the show. Imagine if they used this time to make short episodes again like season 5, then we’d really be talking!

“The Monster Who Came To Bikini Bottom” is entirely focused on Patrick, which is…worrying. I’ve said before I don’t feel that Patrick can carry episodes on his own UNLESS he has some kind of supporting cast (which is why The Patrick Star Show works). This episode gives him support in Rrarrg, the Godzilla allusion. And this works! Well, at least to me. Seems like the consensus is that this is a mediocre episode, huh? Well, I'm about to show y'all some positivity.

I love the track Another Best Day Ever, have I said that before? I think I did in my “One Coarse Meal” review. Well, I’ma say it again, because this episode begins with that track which piques my interest immediately. It’s amazing how the music of an episode can affect how I view it, as I kind of touched on in my review of “A Day Without Tears”. Anyway, it’s kind of fun to see what Patrick does when he’s all alone, just running around Bikini Bottom. And apparently what he does is accidentally create monsters with radioactive waste and play with snowglobes lol. I appreciate this episode’s quickness at getting to the point, with Rrarrg showing up very quickly.

I’m actually shocked that for once, I think this episode made a good decision by having Patrick lead the charge here. His interactions with Rrarrg are both fun and cute, and only Patrick could befriend a monster like this. This episode reminds me a lot of that one episode of The Powerpuff Girls where Blossom and Buttercup keep failing to get rid of a monster until Bubbles goes up and politely just tells it to leave and it does LMAO. Anywho, Patrick and Rrarrg are both mindless so it makes sense that they could befriend each other like this. And although I do love their interactions, this part of the episode, where they do the snowglobe, armpit, and other games stuff, is kinda slow. But it’s still enjoyable. The hide and seek part was pretty funny though.

From here, SpongeBob enters the episode, and I only win again because it’s a SpongeBob and Gary moment that we walk in on. These season 7 writers keep doing this for me, I’m telling you. And then I love the predictable misunderstanding we get where SpongeBob thinks Patrick’s being eaten by Rrarrg, because this moment is pretty funny, and Tom Kenny’s delivery is impeccable as always. And I loved the flashback to “Yesterday”, that was hilarious (Squidward and Mr. Krabs especially) and I love how SpongeBob is like “this is even worse than yesterday” like the events of the previous day were anywhere near as bad as that. I also like that the end of the episode will call back to this flashback…it’s called tight writing!

I like that the whole SpongeBob panicking thing is dropped pretty unceremoniously, as it subverts expectations for how this episode might go. And we yet again get a good use of awkward humor when Patrick realizes he doesn’t know Rrarrg’s name. Ah, a year is added to my life every time awkward humor is used correctly. The part with Patrick’s house legitimately got me laughing because of how silly it was. And that’s something I feel has been missing lately, silliness! Just the show completely not being serious. I’m glad to see it here.

The episode then takes a turn as Rrarrg starts taking a liking to smashing stuff (oh boy, "Big Sister Sam" is coming up, isn't it?). I liked the look of Patrick’s house being shattered. Random 3D in SpongeBob is always fun to see. And I love that when Rrarrg goes to smash SpongeBob’s house, SpongeBob sobers up real quick to save Gary. I’m serious, season 7 is the first season where I’ve gotten the feeling that Gary is a main character, this is excellent! After this, it doesn’t take long for the police to arrive…man the police are responsive in Bikini Bottom! The bit with Squidward is hilarious. And I’d like to see Squidward’s tantrum, actually. Turns out the police are actually very incompetent, I knew it was too good to be true.

And then the episode starts drawing to a close when Patrick stands up for Rrarrg. And when Patrick says that whole little monologue thing, that was great! I’ve said before I love these moments of Patrick showing real…lucidity. Yeah, we’ll call it that. And I love that we get the same “screw that!” attitude we’ve always gotten from the townspeople in this show, it’s almost always funny. Poor Rrarrg though. And when Rrarrg is run out of town, we get this beautiful background with it, and ugh I love backgrounds! And this is when SpongeBob gets his idea that calls back to the flashback from earlier in such a great way. And the way this episode ends is actually hilarious to me, with SpongeBob saying Rrarrg’s name and Nat looking on so blankly. I can’t help but to laugh.

I really liked “The Monster Who Came To Bikini Bottom” because it did something I feared wasn’t possible—had a Patrick-focused episode that didn’t bore me! I also think this episode is actually hilarious, and I love all the character interactions we get. A great start to this little anthology series. Now the question is, will it be the best one?

Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score:
9.2/10
 

SlipperytheTotodile

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I like this. Its the start of the infamous Legends of Bikini Bottom thingie. Its super funny and i like Rrarrg.

Rating: Good Episode

Rankings:
Squidward in ClarinetLand (Amazing)
Back to the Past (Superior)
The Curse of Bikini Bottom (Superior)
The Inside Job (Great)
The Monster Who Came to Bikini Bottom (Good)
I ❤️ Dancing (Good)
A Day Without Tears (Good)
Kracked Krabs (Good)
The Bad Guy Club for Villains (Good)
Greasy Buffoons (Good)
The Cent of Money (Okay)
Growth Spout (Okay)
Tentacle-Vision (Okay)
Gary in Love (Okay)
Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful (Alright)
Gramma's Secret Recipe (Alright)
The Play's the Thing (Meh)
Model Sponge (Meh)
SpongeBob's Last Stand (Meh)
One Coarse Meal (Meh)
Summer Job (Mediocre)
Stuck in the Wringer (Mediocre)
Rodeo Daze (Awful)
Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy (Despicable)
Yours, Mine and Mine (Despicable)
A Pal for Gary (Despicable)
 
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