Sorry I'm so late to the party in talking about this episode. I wish I could make a more in-depth review, as this episode just has so much to talk about than what I'll bring up here.
Da Good:
-This was one of the best examples of SpongeBob and Patrick's friendship I've seen in a long time. While the episode is familiar in that they begin to separate as one of them becomes famous, and at their worst moments reconcile, it's well-timed into the story through a combination of showing their best experiences in the beginning, how later events harken back to those good times they now miss (such as Patrick now having a freezer full of a Hagen-Däas Ice Cream parody), the mix of both full-length scenes
and montages showing how they've separated, and the very satifsying climactic drop where Patrick reveals the big twist of the episode. When so much of SpongeBob and Patrick's relationship has been one-sided in past seasons, it's great that we get to see both of their perspectives and emotions.
-You know what's also great? The deeper, topical themes that the episode regularly parodied. Frozen Foods are just about everywhere nowadays, and this episode checked off all the boxes of the problems with that system. The regular use of toxic ingredients for filler, the large factories to make it, the 400 commercials that are aired so that people will buy it, the side effects of major weight gain and lethargy, the fact that people are allowing corporations to make billions simply because Frozen Patties are more "Convinient". It even got so bad that SpongeBob barely acknowledged Plankton stealing the formula, which shows the situation got really bad.
-As always, the animation is top-notch, but here it went even further than ever. The episode has new designs everywhere for visual humor, from the TV sets, to factories, to Patrick's new mansion, to the animatronic robots the Krusty Krab now uses as a museum--there are so many new locations than ever, and the emotions the characters show from their expressions is appropriately comical.
-Jon Hamm was just about a perfect fit for Don Grouper to fit the role of a charming advertising executive. His character's confident, knows how to deceive to make money, and was overall a joy to watch.
-Squidward making a giant resignation speech to follow his dreams, only to realize he can't qualify when he's worked 17(!) years as a cashier was the funniest joke in the entire episode, no questions asked.
-The pacing is surprisingly good for a SpongeBob special, it follows the standard rise and fall of conflict while still being unpredictable. The combined use of visual humor, montages, and character-driven scenes really help to show how much time has passed and how much has changed in a mere 22 minutes. It's really impressive when so many specials have been filled with
sand filler prior to this. With Seasons 8 and 9 having consistently well-paced specials, I think this was a weak spot that the show staff just improved so significantly on.
Da Bad:
-The "Yellow Box" gag was mediocre. No idea why they made it into a running joke.
-It's already been harped upon that this is a rehash of "Selling Out", and while I can't disagree, I do find this went into a different enough direction to stand out--mostly because this is SpongeBob and Patrick's story more than Mr. Krab's looking back at his business. Given it's interwoven into other subplots, with commentary far more potent than "Selling Out" was, it's excusable.
-Despite some chuckles, the humor's really light. Not many jokes stood out in a way to take them out of context, and most of the better gags were used later as foreshadowing for the story (Patrick's commercials, the patties being made of filler, the "Fancy" Ice cream). Not bad, but it could be more memorable.
-The baby being stereotyped as the "lol social networking is stupid" slogan is stupid and didn't need to be here.
Everything Else:
Not related to the show, but
seriously, how bad was the scheduling for Season 9? The fact that this episode, even with genuinely good advertising, couldn't manage to get
half the total viewership as the last special, "SpongeBob You're Fired", is either a sign that people are losing interest in the show at the wrong time, or that Nickelodeon really needs to step its game up to make us know these episodes exist. It's sad that such good episodes aren't getting the attention they deserve
Overall, it's one of the show's better specials. It does a great job at mixing both a classic, heartwarming look into the strength of SpongeBob and Patrick's relationship, alongside an excellently paced rise and fall of corporate power with the plot of the Frozen Krabby Patties, due to both having the similar themes of making changes that may seem successful and happy with devastating side effects. The themes of food corporations tricking the public by putting filler in food, advertising it like crazy, and causing an obesity epidemic while making obscene amounts of money is, much like "Bulletin Board",
extremely topical to society. And... while the episode wasn't
that funny, it did a great job at playing with new backgrounds and animation styles, and still has some great gags emphasizing the situation. The flaws are also very minor and excusable, and overall I think that this was a great episode that gets better upon rewatch.
Grade: "A-" (Top 20 for the Season as a whole, and there are definitely better specials than this)
: When SpongeBob tells Patrick about sand-made Frozen Krabby Patties, everybody barfs the sand out. Not bad. Unlike Family Guy and American Dad, the barfing looks realistically gross. Looks like everybody's ::dolphin noise:: don't look big as Buhdeuce's (from Breadwinners) anymore due to the sand. Because of that, production of The Krusty Factory was shut down. Looks like Mr. Krabs learned his lesson from being greedy and cheap. The Original Krabby Patties are back and SB and Pat's friendship became normal again. 
