216a. Cave Dwelling Sponge

Honest Slug

Ink Lemonade hurts me.
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Plot-wise this is kinda a disaster. The concept is something I'm sooooo sick of and this episode doesn't do anything to make it feel unique and it feels like practically an afterthought as the episode's too busy focusing on Spongy Sponge's wacky shoe fetish. The lame plot barely gets a resolution (If you can even call it that) which just happens with no proper build up.

With that said the episode did actually make me laugh. It wasn't that consistent but some of the dialogue was actually humorous and everyone is characterized as they should even with Spongy Sponge being a character I'm not found of. The comedy of this episode really isn't something to dive too deep in without just explaining jokes but while everything Spongy Sponge related falls flat, the jokes are pretty decent otherwise.

With an awful plot and decent jokes, I was tempted to give this a 4, but I didn't feel like I wasted my time either. Which makes it more of a mixed rather than bad experience.

5/10
 
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Looks like we finally have another cave sponge, much like SB-129 and Ugh. I can't say I really enjoyed this episode, but I can't say I hated it either. It wasn't a bad watch, so I'll give it a B.

THE LIST:
1. Cave Dwelling Sponge (B)
 

SquiddlyPie

random gal
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I began watching the new episodes (well it premiered 1 year ago but it's still new to me since i saw it today for the first time). I liked that episode but I prefer the clam whisperer one (i watched these 2). I liked the idea of them bringing an episode with prehistoric references on it, the ending was stupid and uncreative to me and not at all funny, i'd have prefered an alternative ending with probably SpongeBob managing to make the prehistoric sponge nice or trying to teach him how to live in the present world...but anyways i really liked the scene with the car tool krabby patties and squidward trying to convince the customers about the prehistoric sponge, i also really liked the fact that spongebob didn't understand that there was a prehistoric sponge destroying the city until his show up to the prison, i liked the scene with mr krabs and spongebob at the prison too, but yea the ending wasnt my cup of tea, for that , it's an 8/10 from moi
 

Pugs4Thugs

#1 SpongeBob Reviewer
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Welcome one and welcome all to the beginning of my season 11 reviews for SpongeBob SquarePants! I know, that means I’ve been at this for 11 months now. That’s insane. And this season has 49 segments. So go ahead and pray for me. Not to mention, we’re gonna start hitting episodes that I have very little memory of. Unlike season 12 and 13, I’ve seen every single episode of season 11, but for many of these it’s been a while, and for many of them I’ve only seen them one time. Our first episode of the season, “Cave Dwelling Sponge”, is not one of these episodes, actually, so that’s a kind transition for me.

So, how many of you guys think that this episode was inspired by Primitive Sponge memes? I’m honestly not sure if I believe that or not. This episode premiered in September 2017, and the meme became popular in mid-2016. I feel like that’s a pretty close date, but it does mean that episode production could’ve been influenced for sure. I just wonder if the idea for the episode came from the meme or not…like “hey look, this version of SpongeBob is popular right now, let’s make an episode featuring him”. I feel like the show doesn’t usually follow trends like that, but to be fair Primitive Sponge was one of the first big “SpongeBob memes” out there in our current iteration of meme culture. So who knows.

Anyway, let’s get to the episode. We begin with SpongeBob and Patrick enjoying (well, SpongeBob enjoying) a nature walk, when they stumble upon a cave with tons of ice in it. And of course, Patrick gets his tongue stuck on some ice. This part of the episode is pretty funny, with Patrick panicking. I love how after that’s done, he’s like “I panicked, SpongeBob”. The delivery is just really good. SpongeBob uses hot chocolate to melt the ice enough to get Patrick’s tongue free, and this, unbeknownst to him, also frees the cave sponge trapped inside. And, captivated by the squeaking of SpongeBob’s shoes, the cave sponge follows SpongeBob home. I kinda love how SpongeBob’s normal walking sound is made a plot point for this episode. It makes me realize just how many sound effects I tune out when watching…well, tune out isn’t the right word, since I know that if the sound effects were taken away, I’d notice. But perhaps, not pay any mind to, is the right phrase.

SpongeBob is, of course, very oblivious to the cave sponge walking around his house. I love the little gizmo SpongeBob uses to get changed. The cave sponge also tries said gizmo, but it’s not calibrated to someone of his size. Which means that the cave sponge is deprived of the squeaky. And so the cave sponge follows SpongeBob to work. SpongeBob’s obliviousness here never teeters over to the edge of annoying, which I have to commend, because that line can be crossed so quickly at times. Nah, the people who are actually annoyingly oblivious are everyone else, considering that the cave sponge doesn’t even look all that much like SpongeBob. I have a comment I could make there, but I will refrain because y’all aren’t the target audience.

SpongeBob gets arrested for the actions of the cave sponge, and I love that Mr. Krabs immediately goes after him (and the scene between the two is pretty funny). Squidward is forced to stay at the Krusty Krab and cook, but he quickly comes across the cave sponge and somehow thinks he’s SpongeBob…despite SpongeBob just having been hauled off to jail. Yeah, the critical thinking is not there for a lot of characters in this episode. But it doesn’t annoy me nearly as much as it might seem. I just always jump on moments like these, even if they aren’t even annoying lol. Anyway, the cave sponge just goes off, and it’s pretty fun to watch, with some funny jokes here and there (like the guy locking his boat door). I love how when Squidward barges into the kitchen to tell him that the patties are bad, he just loses it and starts attacking everyone with a club. Hilarious.

Finally, people start realizing that the cave sponge isn’t SpongeBob. Too bad that doesn’t fix the problem of him rampaging. Luckily, we’ve got SpongeBob the diplomat, who tries to connect with the cave sponge, Spongy Spongy, Sponge to Sponge. And then we get a little dance number between the two. Now that’s the kind of random comedy I love to see! And when Spongy Spongy ends up destroying City Hall, turns out he did the right thing, because it needed to be torn down anyway. And he finally gets his squeaky. All's well that ends well.

Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score:
8.5/10
 
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