Woah, vintage Pugs post here! Let's revamp it, shall we? Yep, we're starting season 3 of Pugs' Spectacular SpongeBob Reviews (title is a work in progress, do not take this seriously at all lmao) with "The Algae's Always Greener". First off, I love the title of this episode lmao, I love how it's just a SpongeBob-ified version of a metaphor we already know (in English, at least, I guess the title doesn't work as well for other countries if it's translated 1:1 does it). It's weird to think that most of this episode takes place in an alternate universe.
I really like the plot of this episode, not to mention it showcases not only Plankton's brilliance in technology, but also his shortsightedness and fatal flaw (envy). Like, imagine if he just abandoned his quest to steal the formula and just sold his inventions or something, he'd be rich! But no, he's fixated on getting Mr. Krabs' success. Anyway, I like how this episode flips the script, and makes Plankton the protagonist for once. It makes me wonder if in the universe Plankton travels to, the roles of Mr. Krabs and Plankton are reversed as far back as the events depicted in "Friend or Foe". Who knows?
One thing that makes me crack up for no reason this entire episode is how Plankton is called "Mr. Plankton". I don't know why but it always makes me laugh whenever a character says that name, so that increases my enjoyment of this episode immensely.
Okay, time to actually review the episode properly lmao. So this episode begins a bit slow, and doesn't really get moving until Plankton uses his transmogrifier. The scene of him traveling to the alternate universe is hilarious, with some great voice acting from Mr. Lawrence and the great addition of that cut to drinking which really sells the scene. I like how uncanny the feel of the alternate universe is, because it just feels wrong, to both the audience and Plankton, and not in a bad way. Like maybe it's just me, but even the Krusty Krab itself just feels different this entire episode. Things slow a bit until SpongeBob thankfully shows up for a second time asking for weekly performance review. Then the jokes kick in to high gear, complete with some great visuals (such as SpongeBob's face of despair, or the victory screech, or even the great painting of Mr. Krabs). Squidward's disdain with SpongeBob is a constant in any universe, it seems.
Pearl's segment, to contrast my opinion of 5 years ago, is pretty funny and enjoyable, especially once Nat comes in with his patty that makes the Nasty Patty look appetizing. Especially now that "oh my goodness" has become a meme, it just makes that moment so much better for me. And then, of course, we get everyone's favorite bit, the reveal of Mr. Krabs taking the place of Plankton. I think it's hilarious that it's only a problem that Krabs is naked, and not Plankton, and that to fight him they use a clothes canon. SpongeBob is truly about that action in this episode, manning that Plankton with the quickness, and striking Krabs with the bra. And then once Krabs is defeated, we get that awesome victory screech. I think my absolute favorite part of this episode is Mr. Krabs' declaration that he may not have won today, but he'll try again, the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and—
Really goes to show what kind of crap Mr. Krabs has to put up with from Plankton on the regular, which Plankton realizes very quickly as he has a mental break. And then of course we get one of the standout lines of the episode: "Goodbye everyone, I'll remember you all in therapy" (this is in the running to be the line I put on my graduation cap, we'll see though). I like that this episode ends with Plankton actually learning something, and being more content with his life and his holographic meatloaf. It's a good bookend for this episode.
I have no problems with "The Algae's Always Greener" other than a couple of spots where it gets slow, but they're not too noticeable. They're not significant enough to remove this episode from my "Amazing" tier, let's put it that way.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9/10
