225a. Cuddle E. Hugs

Pretty weird episode to be honest. I think that this episode is right smack in the middle. I didn't hate it, but nothing really stuck out.

THE LIST: (Edit: I can't believe I gave Squid Noir and Man Ray Returns A+s. I was so generous.)
1. Scavenger Pants (A+)
2. Teacher's Pests (A+)
3. The Legend Of Boo-Kini Bottom (A+)
4. Squid Noir (A)
5. Man Ray Returns (A)
6. Spin The Bottle (A)
7. Larry The Floor Manager (A)
8. Stuck On The Roof (B)
9. There's A Sponge In My Soup (B)
10. Spot Returns (B)
11. Cave Dwelling Sponge (B)
12. The Clam Whisperer (C)
13. No Pictures, Please (C)
14. Cuddle E. Hugs (C)
15. Krabby Patty Creature Feature (C)
16. The Check-Up (D)
 
This episode is meh but honestly gets too much hate tbh. I don’t see why people put it at the level of Ink Lemonade. I think its sister episode was worse actually.
 
still loving that they aired an episode where spongebob deliberately gives his friends and acquaintances hallucinogenic rotten burgers in order to hallucinate a giant talking hamster while jean-jacques perry plays
 
I didn't really like this episode. I'm a sucker for exaggeration, so I really enjoyed the "YES, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, YES" closeup. It's not that this episode is very bad...it's that it's just not funny at all. It feels more like a horror then a comedy here. To sum it all up, it was.....a strange episode.

Therefore, I give this episode a 5.5/10. It could've been better.
 
Besides the weird concept, there wasn't much else that great. Some decent jokes, and decent climax, but the rest is ehhh.

Eh Episode (6.5/10)
 
Spongebob becoming delirious from basically voluntarily poisoning himself and then hallucinating a giant hamster is the absolute last thing I'd ever imagine reading as an episode premise, yet here we are.

I love this episode, honestly a lot more than I thought I ever would. I had finished watching the entirety of season 11 about a month ago, but this is the one episode I had held off on watching just because the plot sounded so... bizarre I just never felt very drawn to it.

Which is why I was so surprised when I found myself wanting to rewatch it as soon as it ended. This episode is weird. Probably the weirdest episode of the show, even taking into account Squidward In Clarinetland and InSPONGEiac. But the weirdness for whatever reason just works here.

There really isnt a lot of comedy here. In fact, I cant remember any particular moment where I laughed at any jokes, I was too dumbfounded by everything that was happening on screen. But that's not a bad thing. As a fan of the weird/horror-esque episodes of the show, this managed to keep me glued to the screen and entertain me in the same way that episodes such as Gone and Squidward In Clarinetland did. It's just strange, and creepy (in a good way), and interesting. I don't know, I just like it. 8/10.
 
Now “Cuddle E. Hugs” is just a bizarro episode. Like, easily one of the most bizarre and out there episodes this side of “Squidward in Clarinetland”. I don’t know what kind of…illicit substances the creative team was on when they wrote this one, but lend me some of it, will ya?

This one begins with the kind of optimism-pessimism dynamic we love to see between SpongeBob and Squidward. Oh, and Patrick’s there too. Okay that sounded like a dig, I swear it wasn’t. Just Patrick isn’t part of that dynamic because he’s not an optimist or a pessimist. He’s not even a realist. Nah, he’s a secret fourth thing (an idiot). Squidward and SpongeBob come across an absolutely disgusting looking Krabby Patty. Yeah, even without a gross-up this thing looks grosser to me than Patty every did in “To Love A Patty”. And I’m being serious. For some reason, SpongeBob decides that Squidward can’t throw the patty away, and he eats a bite of it, clearly getting sick, but keeping the rest for “later”. Yeah, upon rewatch the twist of this episode is rather obvious (or one of the twists, I should say), but I don’t think I caught it on first watch, so…kudos to this episode? The other twist anyway comes out of left field, so no matter what this episode keeps you on your toes.

It’s while SpongeBob is recovering from the tainted patty outside that he meets Cuddle E. Hugs, a giant hamster. Yeah, I really want those drugs now LMAO. I want to be in the writers room when this episode was getting pitched. Why a giant hamster??? I do love his design though. As his name implies, he’s very good at hugs. And as Cuddle E. Hugs proclaims himself to be SpongeBob’s new best friend, he asks that SpongeBob show him around town (well, ask is a nice word. He very suggestively tells SpongeBob to). And honestly, this montage is up there with “SpongeHenge” and “SpongeBob Meets The Strangler” when it comes to subtle writing (and foreshadowing, in the latter case), because watching it now, again knowing one of the big twists, completely changes the looks that bystanders give SpongeBob during these scenes. And it makes sense no matter how you interpret it! This montage ends with a gorgeous background alert, so that’s a double win between writing and artistry. When SpongeBob introduces Gary to Cuddle E. Hugs, we get the first obvious hint that the giant hamster isn’t quite real. I think it was smart for the writers to do this with Gary, the one character who can’t talk. Even though it’s supremely obvious what Gary’s expressions say, I still think that there’s enough maintenance of an air of mystery, or a pretense.

We get yet another clue (for anyone who hadn’t already figured it out) when SpongeBob wakes up, and Cuddle E. Hugs is gone. Because SpongeBob only sees him again when he eats a bit of that nasty Krabby Patty. Again, after this what’s going on should be obvious to almost everyone, except maybe the 7-year olds this show targets haha. But I’m really liking this show-don’t-tell so far. Being the kind of show that it is, SpongeBob SquarePants doesn’t typically do that kind of storytelling (because it usually isn’t very plot-driven, so there’s not much to show or tell). SpongeBob decides to show Cuddle E. Hugs to all the rest of his friends, and this goes about as well as you’d expect. I loved the walking animation on Squidward here, as a side note. And by the time Patrick’s segment ends, the fact that Cuddle E. Hugs isn’t real, and is a product of the tainted patty, has been spelled out in every way but one—verbally. And then Sandy’s segment only reiterates it, this time only leaving the patty part unsaid. At least, that’s until Cuddle E. Hugs persuades SpongeBob to feed everyone the “magic sandwich” so that they can all see him. Funny…the episode that feels like it was written by people on drugs is about drugs lol.

After SpongeBob feeds everyone the “magic sandwich”, that’s when things in this episode get quite weird. And yes, weirder then they already are. We’ve crossed straight into bizarre territory now. Because Cuddle E. Hugs ain’t so nice and cuddly anymore, nah, he’s tryna eat everybody! This twist is so unexpected, but also hilarious. This is just a metaphor for a bad acid trip. And through Squidward, we see that everyone’s doing this to themselves. The next morning, SpongeBob decides he’s gotta talk to Cuddle E. Hugs, so he eats more of the nasty patty. And he gives Cuddle E. Hugs some too. Does this mean that Cuddle E. Hugs actually is a real hamster, or he’s just tripping now too? Who knows. Weird episode needs a weird ending, I’m cool with it.

The reveal that Cuddle E. Hugs isn’t real, and that everyone is doing this to themselves reminds me of something. Who here has watched Teen Titans? If you have, you might know where I’m going with this. Remember that episode “Haunted”, where Robin spent the entire episode fighting (and losing, badly) to a Slade that actually wasn’t real, because he’d been drugged by Slade’s mask (which had been activated outside the tower ooh scary)? So all the damage he got was from himself, even though that doesn’t quite make sense with the type of damage he received, but we’re just suspending our disbelief? Yeah, this episode is exactly like that one, but played more comedically (though funny I should say that, I’ll get to that in a bit). At the very least, it’s not nearly as dark, though Cuddle E. Hugs starting to eat everyone is pretty funnily dark.

You might have noticed I haven’t said much about the humor in this episode. And that’s kind of on purpose? Well, I haven’t said much because there simply hasn’t been much. That’s the one real detractor from this one. The writing is great, but much of the humor is absent. So the episode is still enjoyable, but it does lack that certain wow factor for me that would push it into Amazing tier. Also, one last note since I couldn’t fit it anywhere else, but I liked the little song that played throughout this episode, Boborygmus. The song sounded familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it. At least until I went to my favorite place, the SpongeBob Wiki, and saw who composed it (Jean-Jacques Perry). The song was familiar because I recently came across another song of his, and loved it!

Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.9/10
 
This uhh... is a interesting episode... light good
  1. The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom (15/10)
  2. Squid Noir (13.5/10)
  3. Krabby Patty Creature Feature (10/10)
  4. Scavenger Pants (10/10)
  5. Teacher's pests (10/10)
  6. Larry the floor manager (10/10)
  7. Sanitation Insanity (10/10)
  8. No Pictures Please (9.5/10)
  9. Spot Returns (9/10)
  10. Stuck on the roof (8.5/10)
  11. There's A Sponge In My Soup (8/10)
  12. Cave Dwelling Sponge (7.5/10)
  13. The Checkup (7.5/10)
  14. Cuddle E. Hugs (7/10)
  15. The Clam Whisperer (7/10)
  16. Spin The bottle (6/10)
  17. Bunny Hunt (5/10)
  18. Man Ray Returns (4/10)
 
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