Let me just start off this review by saying Nick.com is horrible. I tried to watch the latest episodes, but for some reason Nick doesn't carry Xfinity/Comcast as a service provider on their site anymore, for some reason. Regardless, I did manage to find this episode, and I must say, it definitely surprised me.
I knew this episode had an interesting premise, but I honestly thought this episode wasn't going to go as well as many fans hoped it would. And quite honestly, I was pleasantly surprised at how good this episode was. Okay, it wasn't amazing by any chance, but certainly provides some solid entertainment.
The premise of the episode is new and refreshing, which definitely fits in with the better episodes of Season 11 (Since a lot of Season 10 seemed to be built on rehashed concepts, while Season 11 feels a little more unique in terms of it's content, whether it's good like Krabby Patty Creature Feature or bad like No Pictures Please). I honestly really enjoy this episode's general conflict being played out, it's quite entertaining through it's abundant amount of jokes, which I'll get to in a second, first I want to discuss the characters in this episode.
The episode doesn't really have that much of a predictable route. In fact, it centers around how the characters simply react to this situation in which Gary now has a translation collar. The dynamic between Gary and Squidward, though at first seems kind of odd how egotistical Gary seems when treating Squidward like an inferior low-life, starts to really make sense as you think about it. Gary and Squidward have never quite hit it off well, SpongeBob even indirectly hints this in Dumped with the wooden carving of Squidward. Though I do feel as though Gary's treatment towards Squidward is a tad out of character, it's understandable why this dynamic between the two was played out. Squidward treats SpongeBob practically the same way, so Squidward is given a taste of his own medicine in this regard.
Now, the slight rivalry between Gary and Squidward is fairly balanced out in this episode. Gary puts down Squidward, and Squidward gets his rightful revenge (Through a series of funny jokes involving an exhausted SpongeBob). Squidward takes it too far to the point where it's unnecessary, and Gary gets Squidward back for unjustly going overboard. I really liked how this episode turned out, it didn't go down a predictable route with SpongeBob getting fed up with "Gary's" nonsense, instead he seems pretty loyal to Gary throughout the entire episode. Which is really noble of SpongeBob, I think the handling of SpongeBob's character in this episode was perfect, Luke did a really nice job keeping SpongeBob's attitude true to his character. Gary, yes was a tad bit overboard for my tastes, but they seemed to really reign him in towards the end of the episode, as mentioned before, with Squidward and Gary each giving each other plenty of crap to put up with.
Squidward, surprisingly, avoids any actual freak-outs in this episode. His overall attitude perfectly aligns with his character, and as I mentioned before, his wanting for revenge is entirely justified. I think Squidward was a really nice adversary to Gary, the two both managed to be really entertaining opposing forces.
Now, let's talk about the episode's comedy. Surprisingly, the episode is a little laid back in terms of humor, there isn't much slapstick influenced jokes (I mean, the episode does center around dialogue in a sense, with Gary's translation collar), and the overall faster pacing commonly found in Post-Prequel episodes isn't present throughout the entire episode. Instead, it pops up right where it needs to be, during the climax (When SpongeBob's house was on the go). There were a lot of good jokes in this episode. The time-warp gag was clever, Patrick's screaming "I'm RIPE!" really got me (Bill's delivery of that joke was hilarious), and I especially enjoyed the visuals during the "Exhausted SpongeBob" scenes. This episode doesn't constantly crank out jokes, but it definitely does a good job supplying a satisfying, ample amount. The jokes in this episode really keeps it chugging along, and I found myself delighted at this episode's humor.
Overall, Chatterbox Gary isn't anything special. However, it definitely is a pretty Good Episode.
I give it a 7.8/10
Again, definitely liking the direction Season 11 is going.
*Small little detail I loved: Handsome Squidward Painting
*Small nitpick I have: SpongeBob's house not being lightened up to it's orange color when going under the lights in Downtown Bikini Bottom.