Ooh I’ve been looking forward to this underrated one! This is another one of the episodes that’s a part of my annual Halloween marathon, and it’s an episode I’ve always liked. That’s why I consider it to be underrated, because since it’s part of the season 9A banner, it’s kinda lumped in to all the “bad”. And I don’t think people like it anyway, right? As you can see, I am once again not looking at any discussion page for this episode beforehand.
This entire episode reminds me of “Scaredy Pants”, probably because there’s…kinda…plot similarities. At least with SpongeBob being a scaredy-cat. And yeah, I know that’s about the only similarity. One other thing to note about this episode is that it’s about the Conch Street trio, and it’s been…a while…since we’ve had these 3 in an episode all to themselves, I believe. Well, there was “Squid Baby”, but I’m electing to ignore that episode’s existence. And, this episode features Squidward in an antagonistic role that is far more entertaining than anything “Little Yellow Book” had to offer, so that’s yet another win. Oh, and I just realized the episode that this episode really makes me think of…”Night Light”! I can’t believe I forgot about that one haha.
I really think that this episode is hilarious. SpongeBob and Patrick’s complete failure to watch The Fisherman is really funny to me. I don’t know why, but it gets me laughing for real. Maybe it’s because the movie itself is hilariously bad (but in a good way). And it’s pretty funny to watch the two get spooked at literally everything too.
I enjoy episodes where Squidward “stoops” to the level of SpongeBob and Patrick, I think those can be really entertaining plots (”Little Yellow Book”, again, is bad, but “Fools in April” and “That Sinking Feeling” are good, so there). Squidward’s plan to scare SpongeBob and Patrick is really enjoyable to watch. We’ve got some great visual gags in there (like Patrick’s missing face) as well as great jokes (like the underwear bit). There’s also some really good visual reactions in there too. And then it gets kinda wholesome when SpongeBob and Patrick decide to “save” Squidward. Squidward definitely gets his just desserts through SpongeBob and Patrick “saving” him, and it reminds me a lot of that bit from “The Good Krabby Name” with the patty mascot. I also really like how this episode ends too, with Gary managing to get everyone with a good scare. It’s what he deserves, since SpongeBob technically was going to sacrifice him LMAO.
I really liked "Don't Look Now". It's simply a really funny and enjoyable episode to me, and I think it's because it's full of my favorite kind of shenanigans from this trio. So I can see why it may not work for others. And I'm sure the fact that I watch it relatively frequently compared to other episodes helps it out a lot too. Also...I just like spooky Halloween vibes. That always gives an episode a leg-up.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.4/10
