Is this our first forgettable episode of season 8? I guess it depends on how much people remember the previous two episodes. But I never see this episode discussed basically ever, so that’s why I’m calling it forgettable. This has no bearing on how much I like this episode though, because I actually do like it.
This episode begins with the return of the French Narrator, who we haven’t seen narrating the beginning of an episode since “Rodeo Daze”, which was more recent than I thought because I literally don’t remember that LMAO. Anyway, this beginning portion of the episode is pretty enjoyable for me. We’ve got a Gary appearance, some satisfying cleaning animations, and a good start to our plot. Then things take a turn as Patrick convinces SpongeBob to not throw away his stuff because of sentimental value, which turns SpongeBob into a hoarder.
I do enjoy episodes where SpongeBob is being a little weirdo, so this episode definitely gets an advantage because of that. SpongeBob being a hoarder is both in and out of character for him, considering he does assign sentimental value to so many things, but also he’s lowkey a neat freak (at least at work). But anyway, it’s an interesting enough plot to base the episode around. It reminds me a lot of “The Gift of Gum”, especially considering Patrick’s role in this episode.
In terms of how this decently interesting plot plays out, the episode is alright. The pacing is good, for the most part. I think SpongeBob gets to critical levels of hoarding a bit too quickly, but I do like that there is build up here, especially in what SpongeBob chooses to hoard, as it gets weirder and weirder as these first few minutes of the episode go on. And then once SpongeBob starts leaving all of his stuff outside of his house, we then get Squidward being a little snitch, and this scene was pretty funny. This scene also allows for a bit of a shift in the plot that keeps things interesting, as SpongeBob starts hoarding photos rather than junk. I’m surprised Squidward even tries to comfort SpongeBob at all here, that’s that jerk with a nice streak I like to see!
There really isn’t too much for me to say about “Sentimental Sponge”. It’s a perfectly fine episode that exhibits SpongeBob being a little weirdo, which I love. It just felt kinda slow I guess, and it wasn’t particularly funny, aside from some good jokes here and there. Even though I dislike the basis of the night shirt joke, it was kinda funny, so I’ll give it that. And like I said, the sanitation police were hilarious. So there’s good here, but nothing particularly great.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.7/10
The rest of the episode is pretty average.
