225b. Pat the Horse

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Who knows? Maybe people will remember this episode despite airing with "The Incredibly Delayed Sponge" on December 2nd.

Discuss it here.
 

Squidy

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This was an interesting episode. Also it did air with TISS which I don’t understand. Does Patrick have a nose? Last time I heard Patrick does not have a nose. Not much to say, it felt like a normal episode. 8.5/10. GOOD EPISODE.
 

McSponge

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Wow, this was...something. Pat the Horse is just a flat out bad episode. But you what? Despite being a poor excuse for an episode, I still really find a lot of enjoyment out of this one. It's a so bad it's good episode, watching this ironically really seems to make this episode a lot better. As if Cuddle E. Hugs didn't have an insanely absurd plot, this one somehow manages to be just as weird as Cuddle E. Hugs, only not as boring, and more interesting.

The plot of this episode is ridiculous. I don't understand how a staff writer could come up with such an episode premise, look at it and say..."Yeah, that'll work."

Seriously, this episode was a pretty risk if you think about it. It's such a dumb premise, one of the most idiotic ones in the series. Yet, I find myself really enjoying this episode. It's a huge gamble, such a risk that can really put our main characters out of character, particularly Patrick. Yet, this episode turns out to be quite a treat.

You know why this episode ends up being a treat? It's funny. There might not be that many really funny jokes out there, but there are tons of small little chuckle worthy jokes, that really makes this one of the funnier episode of the Season. A lot of them are definitely subtle little forms of humor, from the "You Can Be Anything" book cover, to SpongeBob's hands hopping out of Patrick's mouth. I honestly thought the direction of this episode was going to be anything but good judging from the opening scene, but I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up enjoying the episode in it's entirety. It didn't end up like a My Pretty Seahorse ripoff. Quite the opposite, in fact. The plot, like I said, is an extremely dumb scenario, especially Patrick's random motivations to become a horse. Yet, I think Patrick's a pretty enjoyable character in this episode. He's annoying in the first scene, yelling like a child (Obviously with the analogy of SpongeBob as his parent being portrayed in the opening scene), but after that, he ends up being quite an enjoyable character, you even kind of pity him when he's tormented by Krabs. The plot is really simple, allowing it to fall back on the goofy shenanigans of the characters. And it really works out in this episode's favor, it's the type of plot that would only really work in this type of show. Just about any other show, I could see this plot failing, yet somehow Kaz managed to pull it off.

Like I said, a lot of the humor in this episode is really subtle. It won't really stick with you, but when you end up watching it, it's definitely funny for the time being.

I think the episode really improved in the second half. The first half was fairly predictable, and it seemed more annoying than funny. Squidward especially is quite annoying in this episode. His constantly gloating and bragging, thought typical of him, doesn't make the episode any more pleasant to watch. Still, he does get his comeuppance, which definitely pays off for his obnoxious arrogance that seems rather unnecessary. Krabs is his usual, typical self, stooping down as low as possible to earn a quick buck. SpongeBob, a caring individual makes for the standard enjoyable protagonist (That's something I gotta mention. While I notice there have been times throughout the Post-Prequel Era in which a character is written out of character, particularly Squidward and Patrick, I feel as though the crew really mastered SpongeBob, I've hardly seen any flaws in his character out of all of these episodes from Seasons 9B, 10, and 11. Great job guys and gals working on this series :thumb1: ).

Luckily, the second half of the episode goes in an insanely unpredictable route. SpongeBob's scene with Patrick in the desert was great (I really like how they brought back the desert, seeing it's so gorgeous in this show), it made for a lovely reconnection between SpongeBob and Patrick (Not to mention it even gave them a little bit of character development. Something I'd never expect from an episode in which Patrick tries to be a horse). Even better, the climatic race between SpongeBob and Krabs was pretty surprising, and was definitely the highlight of the episode. Goodness, I'd even call it the funniest part of the episode, so many gags were crammed into this scene, it was definitely very entertaining.

Though the ending felt kind of rushed, coming out nowhere, so did the start of this episode.

Overall, it's a Good Episode. Yeah, I'm still kind of surprised how good this episode turned out to be. Looking at it from a critical standpoint, the plot is embarrassingly bad, but seeing how this is a show that can get away with goofy plots such as this one, I feel as though this was a fairly entertaining episode. Not a masterpiece, but if you want to just see something silly, with some cleverness sprinkled in throughout, I recommend this episode. Or if you just want to make fun of how stupid this episode is, I still recommend it. Either way, you'd get lots of laughs out of both scenarios. I give this episode a 7.5/10
 
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This episode was awful, in my honest opinion. Aside from the race scene and a few funny jokes, there was literally nothing redeeming to me about this episode, and the pacing was all over too. Honestly, it just made me want to watch the far better My Pretty Seahorse instead. 3/10

I really have this feeling that Season 11 is going to take a big nosedive in quality later on. Some of the upcoming episodes just sound really generic and uninteresting from their titles. I mean, that's exactly how this one turned out. I really hope that I'm wrong (which I probably am), but it seems like this show is beginning to slip again after the really good run it had for a while.
 

McSponge

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Fry-Bashee139 said:
This episode was awful, in my honest opinion. Aside from the race scene and a few funny jokes, there was literally nothing redeeming to me about this episode, and the pacing was all over too. Honestly, it just made me want to watch the far better My Pretty Seahorse instead. 3/10

I really have this feeling that Season 11 is going to take a big nosedive in quality later on. Some of the upcoming episodes just sound really generic and uninteresting from their titles. I mean, that's exactly how this one turned out. I really hope that I'm wrong (which I probably am), but it seems like this show is beginning to slip again after the really good run it had for a while.
Honestly, the show's been on a slippery slope for a while. Season 10 was a big downfall from the almost flawless 9B, and seemed like a big middle-of-the-road Season, scattered with lame, or boring episodes (While containing one truly awful, and one truly amazing episode, at least from the viewpoint of most fans). Season 11 has been much more solid than Season 10 so far, yeah there are a few duds, but every Season has had that, even Seasons 1-3. There are a lot more episodes in Season 11 that I'd call great than Season 10. The future of the show could go either way. I don't expect a huge nosedive in quality, but I don't expect a skyrocket in quality. I feel as though the rest of the series will be a mixed bag, with the direction it's currently in. Either way, it'll still be better than the nightmare that was Seasons 6-8.
 

CartoonJazzLover

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Ehh, I don't know what to say about this episode. There's mostly pros but I also have some cons. Squidward did came off as a know-it-all here throughout the episode, but at least he didn't went crazy like in most of his post-sequel appearances. And I really hate repeating this, but like with most later episodes in this era, the tone of this episode was too much on a sugar-rush. Maybe Kaz had given up on writing episodes that focus on character depths and went straight for hyperactivity which this episode suffered from. Not too much yelling, but like with a few episodes from this year, the writers try to cram in so many things that it become a cluttered mess. Regardless, Patrick was written fine here, even if he is immature (SpongeBob reading him a book sounds very preschool-esque) and I liked seeing him and Squidward as horses. The race was good, but Krabs got too competitive, making him act like a greedy person for the sake of the plot and it didn't surprised me that he won. The music choice were rather fitting (kudos to Carr). All in all, it's rather good, but I'm also conflicted on its tone and pacing at times.
 

WayslideCool

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This was a... weird episode. I mean, I enjoyed it. It was funny, but also... Pretty much take McSponge's review, and that's pretty much how I feel.

Might just be the recording I watched, but was the animation a little "off" in this episode or is it just me? It looked a little more stilted than usual, and is particularly notable after some of the fantastically animated Season 11 episodes like "Stuck on the Roof" and "Krabby Patty Creature Feature."
 
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This one was okay at best. I didn't exactly love the idea of Patrick being a horse and it felt like crew is run out of ideas on the show but for 11 minutes It did entertain me at times. I didn't like how they made Squidward a horse and some parts like the beginning of the episode were humorless but the animation was good the episode did get more fun after Patrick escaped. SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs racing for literally no reason was the lighlight, pretty decent gags were included. I kind of liked how it ended with Patrick becoming a crab and SpongeBob giving Squidward a ride as a horse. That being said, I probably won't be thinking of this episode, it wasn't anything special or very funny. At least this was better than some of other Kaz's episodes in season 10-11.

Grade: B-
 

WayslideCool

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Also, slight side-note, and it doesn't deduct from my score at all, but this is the FOURTH time they've tried an anglerfish design and messed up. Why can't SpongeBob do a good anglerfish? Like, this show bathes in marine biology if "Feral Friends" is any indication, but three of four anglers are dudes, and the fourth is missing that giant maw that gives so many anglers their charm.
 

Depressed Luigi

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Also, slight side-note, and it doesn't deduct from my score at all, but this is the FOURTH time they've tried an anglerfish design and messed up. Why can't SpongeBob do a good anglerfish? Like, this show bathes in marine biology if "Feral Friends" is any indication, but three of four anglers are dudes, and the fourth is missing that giant maw that gives so many anglers their charm.
Which episodes were they? The only other one I can think of is Don't Look Now
 

WayslideCool

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Wintermelon43 said:
Which episodes were they? The only other one I can think of is Don't Look Now
"Rock Bottom," "Trenchbillies," and "Don't Look Now." Also this one, but that goes without saying.
 

RomNick

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The episode was funny. However a problem I had was that there were no jokes. It's a SCUMBOB episode 8/10. I like it more than Man Ray Returns which I gave a 10/10. This is proof Ben Gruber is a bad writer with wacky humor. Maybe this season will improve when Luke Brookshier comes back.
This here makes no sense, especially since Gruber didn't write this.
 

JerryTheSnail

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This episode was complete waste of my time, I'm surprised I managed to sit through the whole thing. Why does this episode exist??? I don't get it. Patrick wants to be a horse...so he acts like a horse....and that's the whole episode. There's no twist or joke, and there's not even really any story being told here. Which would be fine if it was funny but.......I didn't find any of it funny at all. The only time I laughed was the scene where Mr. Krabs impersonates a cop.....okay that scene actually made me laugh really hard. But it was also the only funny thing in the episode. The rest is just forgettable and stupid.
 

LadyElvis8

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Okay.. this one was pretty goofy and adventurous to watch. I rate it a 7 out of 10! I'll watch it a second time and that will be it. Still, I think the bond of SpongeBob and Mystery is unbreakable.
 

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It's a bad sign that even the really well-designed "You Can Be Anything" book that was teased earlier failed as a joke with flat delivery.

As for the episode itself... I never found the opening bit from "The Clam Whisperer" to be a big deal given Patrick's only there for about a minute and it had no effect on the rest of the story, but "Pat the Horse" keeps that nonsense going for its entirety. It's stupid that the main draw is to look at Patrick flapping around, deluding himself, and making oh-so-wacky expressions[acronym='Next thing I know someone's going to use this to equate being trans with becoming a dolphin.'].[/acronym] The story doesn't even seem to know how ridiculous it is given the other characters decide to think it's mundane, given the next acts of Mr. Krab's money-making-scheme #225 and the slapstick-loaded chase scene are unrelated to one another. It's almost as if the show's trying to become Psychedelic as if there's some kind of strange dream we need to analyze to figure out where the inspiration for it came from.

This episode was a complete waste of time. I'm giving it a light F. I really hoped that this Season would be stronger given it's released some amazing episodes thus far, but with episodes like this, I'm worried the show's taking a complete nosedive in quality.
 

Depressed Luigi

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I actually liked this one. I mean, the premise is extremely stupid and the plot is everywhere, but I felt like this was very funny and I liked the race and the western desert scene. It's a good episode, probably like 8.0 or 7.5 or something, not really sure what number rankings to give to each episode anymore.
 

Uncle Sherm

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This episode went way past the "strange but hilarious" plots we've been getting lately and was just....really dumb. Don't get me wrong, I love the cartoony direction the show has been moving towards, but....this is not the way to do it.
Patrick becoming a horse just genuinely feels stupid and juvenile in a way that this show hasn't quite been before. The poop-cleaning gag that kept popping up was just awful. The plot goes all over the place in such a way that it starts to feel like there isn't a plot.
I liked Squidward's wordplay and Mr. Krabs "I can work him like a horse" line, and there were some good gags in the race sequence, but other than that....this is one of my least favorites of the post-sequel era. I don't know, maybe I'm just looking too far into what should be a cartoony joy ride but whatever. Hopefully the next set of episodes will be much better.
 
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