Well, that’s a mouthful of a title. Whenever I see the title of this episode, I always think of “The Bad Guy Club For Villains”. It’s that length and redundancy, you know? Also, Man Ray is in both episodes, given that he is a real supervillain, so that’s neat too. I guess in some ways, this can be seen as a quasi-Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode. Kind of.
This episode begins kind of dully, if I’m being honest. SpongeBob’s going to work song is…thankfully not unpleasant to listen to, but it just feels like it’s filling u0p space rather than actually doing anything. I did appreciate all the cameos in this first segment though, there were references to “Opposite Day”, “Krabs vs. Plankton”, and a
number of other episodes through these cameos. And again this just adds fuel to the fire that is my argument about how the show has always engaged in self-reference. Anyway, back to the beginning of the episode. Yeah, it’s kinda dull. Even the doomsday device thing isn’t enough to get me interested beyond my general interest in anything this show puts out. But things do start to get moving somewhat (well, it takes a minute, because we have to sit through a not very funny laughing joke) once Plankton looks in the phone book and sees Man Ray’s ad.
The idea of Plankton and Man Ray working together is actually interesting, and something that has made all too much sense ever since the premiere of “Plankton’s Army”. Yes, I like this idea. The problem is this idea never goes anywhere. First off, the episode takes too long on their introduction, with another…I won’t say unfunny, but not funny…sequence of Man Ray being confused about who is talking to him. And then the episode just doesn’t have Man Ray and Plankton interact very much. Like it would’ve been fun to see them plan their ultimate assault on the Krusty Krab, but instead we just go straight to them working together as a team. It doesn’t feel earned, and it feels like we’re missing opportunities.
I also think that a lot of the part where SpongeBob tries to go get Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy is kinda dull and boring. Some of it is funny, as I’ll talk about later, but a lot of it is not very entertaining. Especially when the entire endeavor turns out to be pointless. Also pointless is Plankton and Man Ray teaming up, since the only thing that comes from that is Plankton getting his hands on a death laser, something he’s already been shown to have.
Also, don’t think I wasn’t going to say anything, but this episode sees the return of the butt-ugly designs I swear to god we left in season 6. And yes, I’ve noticed Springer boarding a lot of episodes, but he’s largely stayed away from these designs. So why are they back here? Delete those
stupid cheeks or I swear to god I’ll get properly annoyed. At least the end of the episode was a lovely everybody laughs type ending. Even Squidward got in on it! If only we’d see the trio actually work together throughout the episode.
I keep saying things I dislike about this episode, but there are, of course, things I like too. Mr. Krabs, like he almost always is, is absolutely hilarious. His dramatics when Man Ray show up are great. And I love him and Squidward’s dynamic in this episode. See, now that’s a dynamic that’s been explored and used well. The Man Ray and Plankton one needs lots of work. The joke with the floating cups was fun too. SpongeBob getting kicked out of Shady Shoals was pretty funny too. So basically, things not having to do with the main plot lol.
“Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team-Up Is Go!” is an episode where I felt like I kept waiting for something to happen. Like I was waiting for a good action sequence, or a hilarious joke, or for a good plot. But most of those things didn’t really happen. Everything just felt like a non-ending, in the end, and it’s kind of disappointing. The most disappointing thing is easily the way Man Ray and Plankton’s potential dynamic flopped, though. Like come on! It was
right there.
Episode Tier: Okay
Episode Score: 6.2/10
