Fresh off the heels of a very memorable and famous episode, we have “House Worming” which is very much not that. Well, I remember it just fine. But I never see this episode get talked about, so it’s easy to say that it’s far less famous than “Mimic Madness”, and probably less-liked too.
The first thing I gotta say about “House Worming” is that it instantly reminds me of “Home Sweet Pineapple” and “Jellyfish Jam” combined. That’s a fun coincidence that it’s similar to two season 1 episodes lol. But anyway, while I see these similarities instantly, let’s not forget that I do not subscribe to the term rip-off unless absolutely necessary. And it’s not needed here.
This is one of those episodes where the plot is…”spurned on” instead of “developed from”. Here’s what I mean by that: remember how last episode I said that I really liked how the plot got started, because it felt very in-character? Well I meant that the plot was character-driven, the plot is like a consequence of certain characters being put together. So that’s a “developed from” type plot. Hopefully I’m making sense. As for a “spurned on” type plot, this is more events happening to the characters that they then have to react to. And these are the plots that most typically can be seen as forced (unless a “developed from” plot is done poorly in terms of character writing). I’m pointing all this out because I kinda think that the plot here is forced. Like why did this random worm go straight to SpongeBob’s house to live in his body?? We can make assumptions, but it’s also very easy to assume that the worm could’ve found a home in a much easier place. So there’s just this glaring feeling of there’s no reason for this plot to be happening. I’m hopefully making sense here. I only write all this because it’s for once diminishing my enjoyment of the episode.
Moving on, SpongeBob tries, to no avail, to get the worm out of his body. Gary in this scene is me. Maybe it’s because I’m tired or something, but I’m not feeling what I’m watching. I haven’t been captivated, and so far I haven’t found anything funny. Not a good combination. After some persuasion through a sob story, SpongeBob lets the worm stay, “just for one night”. I’m sure we all know where this is going. Hey, this could mean we get something similar to “Can You Spare A Dime?” or “Ghost Host”! Now
that, I’d like to see.
The worm then invites all of its friends to live in SpongeBob’s body. I wish the episode would’ve done more to make the worm likable or funny, because I’m simply annoyed with it the whole time. Maybe if it actually talked, that would’ve been helpful. But I mean, even Junior (”Rock-A-Bye Bivalve”) was a more likable character, and he mostly cried. So, talking isn’t necessary. Just do something to make me feel more for this worm than annoyance, because I don’t like being annoyed. Anyway, the worms decide to have a party in SpongeBob’s body, a la
caramelldansen memes. At least SpongeBob is having fun. The visuals are nice, and I like the
backing track. But I just don’t…care? Yeah, I just don’t really care about what’s going on. So I lack any kind of connection to this episode. I feel detached from what I’m watching.
Gary at least has enough of the worms, so when SpongeBob fails to get them out, he just kicks SpongeBob out. And when SpongeBob goes to work, he utterly fails to conceal the worms. And yes, I’m still kinda bored by this point. Maybe because I’m waitng for SpongeBob to actually do something about the worms other than nicely tell them to leave? Because I swear if this episode ends with the same solution as “Treats!”, just saying a firm “no”, I’m not going to be happy because you can only pull that off with characters that the character in question actually
knows. And yes, SpongeBob is a nice person, but I don’t particularly enjoy seeing him be a doormat to random people, even though I suppose that is an established character trait of his (and I did like “The Abrasive Side”…). Ugh, I don’t know, I’m really trying to figure out what’s not clicking for me and this episode, and I feel like I’m grasping at straws. I think I simply just don’t like anywhere this plot is going.
Finally something catches my interest when Plankton enters the episode, promising to help SpongeBob if SpongeBob helps him in return. Of course, Plankton utterly fails at getting the worms out. And finally, I’m amused because Plankton’s failure is funny. Took the episode long enough. SpongeBob tries to get Patrick to help him, and that fails. Wasn’t funny that time though. And then he tries to get Squidward to help him, which actually succeeds for a second, although Squidward was only trying to help himself. And of course, the worms just end up coming back. SpongeBob basically just becomes an apartment building for these worms, and finally I’m amused again as SpongeBob starts getting hysterical. Honestly, a foolproof way to get me interested in an episode is to have SpongeBob start going insane. Works every time. And of course, it is his insanity, specifically his laughter, that ends up driving the worms away in the end. Kinda anticlimactic, but I’m okay with it.
I can’t be the only one who had never heard of this “Clam Up” short right? I guess I’ll review it since it’s technically part of the episode? Don’t worry this review is going to be short. By the time this part of the episode came on, I was already apathetic to everything it could’ve shown me. But I was actually amused. In fact these last 2 minutes were probably more amusing than the rest of the episode. And the reveal at the end that this was actually everything that happened
before the episode was pretty cool. So I guess in the end they did do what I said about making the worm a likable character. Well, actually the worm still wasn’t likable (especially as after this the worm’s actions don’t even make sense…I thought it was looking for a home, not a place to party), but this short gave me more material to work with. And, more importantly, I liked this experimental approach to filling the 11 minutes. I would not mind if more episodes did something like this. Oh man, now I’m thinking of the possibility of a SpongeBob episode where it’s split up into segments following a different character on the same day. I recently read a comic issue from the
SpongeBob Comics with this set-up. And “Swamp Mates” and “One Trick Sponge” used a very, very basic version of this set-up.
Okay, so! “House Worming”…did not like that very much. I was just bored throughout the whole thing, and I truly did not care. And the worms were just annoying. “Clam Up” was fun, but it came too late and it wasn’t even part of the main episode, so it hardly affects how I view this whole endeavor. This is the first real dud of an episode in a while though, so I’m happy.
Episode Tier: Mediocre
Episode Score: 5.4/10
