57a. Krabby Land

Pugs4Thugs

Pugs4Thugs

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Next up, we've got "Krabby Land", an episode I always mistake for being in season 4 for some reason. I still don't know why, it just has those vibes to me I guess. But either way, this is a pretty good episode, so let's discuss!

I always like SpongeBob (the character), let me make that clear right now, but I really really like him in this episode. He is truly embodying some of my favorite parts of his character in "Krabby Land". He starts us off with his very wholesome excitement for it being the first day of summer, complete with a little flower costume and everything. The moment of him throwing the flower petals on a very unenthused Squidward is as cute as it is hilarious, and I love every second of it. I love that both he and Mr. Krabs share a love of summer, even if it is for very, very different reasons. We also get my Mr. Krabs being a father figure towards SpongeBob crumbs in this episode, which you already know I love seeing moments like that.

Mr. Krabs in this episode is at one of his more...jerkwad appearances. He only sees children for the profit they bring, to the point of creating a trashy playground just to draw them in. Not to mention his lack of care for SpongeBob later in the episode. But he gets his comeuppance, as we'll see, so I think it's okay. It's also played for laughs throughout the episode, so it never feels quite so egregious. Really, I think this entire episode was definitely a pointed message about something (I mean, did you hear Mr. Krabs' little monologue?)...

This episode I feel also has some really underrated humor. I love the whole bit with SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs scoping out the playground, and SpongeBob is like "the way you drove the boat while driving on the ground was kind of cool" was such a funny callback to the way they entered the scene. Also the way Mr. Krabs just leaves SpongeBob in the dust, very funny. I also love that SpongeBob lampshades certain writing processes (AKA time-skips in episodes) when he's like "Gee, I wonder what Mr. Krabs has been up to since I saw him last and then went home to do nothing of particular interest 'til this very moment." You guys know I love the witty and wordy humor, and this episode, or at least this part of it, is full of that. But I don't know, I think there's other moments like this, such as the "coloring book/liability waivers" bit.

I will say though, watching this episode I always feel bad for SpongeBob. The poor guy is forced by Mr. Krabs to take the brunt of the kids' impatience for seeing Krabby the Clown, and man does SpongeBob go through it with these kids. Where are the parents??? Honestly. lol, but anyway, even though I hate seeing SpongeBob get treated like this, I do like how he never gets mad at the kids or anything, he's just too pure for that. And I have to admit some of this "torture" is a bit funny, like some of the faces SpongeBob makes, or the whole lima bean thing. And of course, Tom Kenny's voice acting just makes everything better. I also love that the kids end up using SpongeBob's limbs as boomerangs, too funny.

This episode also does a great job of doing one of my favorite types of gags, the anticipation and unexpected reveal. This time, instead of the reveal being unexpected to just us, it's unexpected to the characters in the episode as well, to very comedic effect. The reveal that "Krabby The Clown" was just Mr. Krabs in a cheap costume for 5 seconds is made absolutely hilarious by the dumbstruck look on the kids' and SpongeBob's faces. And then as I was saying earlier, SpongeBob is really good in this episode, which includes when he's had enough of Mr. Krabs' bs. I love that he goes right up to Mr. Krabs and shames him for what he did to those kids.

The ending of this episode is great, with Mr. Krabs getting exactly what he deserves, and the children's viciousness going towards a much more deserving target. I love how SpongeBob almost goes through a whole character arc in this episode, being young and in love with the idea of summer, to becoming disillusioned, to finding meaning and believing in the magic of summer again. Yes, this is all to make the episode more dramatic, but I love it regardless haha. And then of course, we get the ending bit with such a wonderful callback to the earlier lima bean joke. Just a very solid ending to a very solid episode.

I'm torn as to whether I'm shocked that "Krabby Land" is an ill-received episode or not. On one hand, I really like this episode and have no real problems with it. Mr. Krabs is especially horrible here, yes, but he gets what he deserves and it never gets too egregious for me, probably because he really doesn't have that much screen time. On the other hand, this episode does parallel some of the later episodes of the show that are commonly described as being pretty bad. I could easily see someone arguing that Mr. Krabs is "flanderized" here, which is a term I've come to loathe because of how it has rotted the brains of cartoon reviewers. But anyway, no matter what other people think about it, I really like "Krabby Land". It's very enjoyable to me, and belongs in my "Great" tier.

Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8.7/10
 
Season 4-11

Season 4-11

7 Years of Hospitality
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It's the first day of Summer today (for me, at least.. I'm sure the time has passed for most people by now lol) so I decided to check out this one.

Honestly, I think this is a really great episode. I can see why people wouldn't like it for the stuff with Krabs, but I personally find it really funny and entertaining. There's plenty of great gags, such as Krabs driving the boat on the floor, Cheapy the Cheapskate, and Krabs telling SpongeBob to return the tomato to the kitchen, and there's the part where Krabs says "it's time for the grand unveiling of... MONEY!" which is a personal favorite line of mine. I also like the metaphor for real fast food places - it's safe to say this is the most 'McDonald's' that SpongeBob ever got, which I find really funny. They even had a parody of the Hamburglar which I enjoyed. I also like how Krabs walks himself into his own comeuppance, quite literally. I was going to give this a 9, but the scene of SpongeBob torturing himself went on for a bit too long and it wasn't really funny, so I'll lower the score down a bit.

That leaves this episode with an 8.5/10.

Not bad, for one of the so-called 'worst' Season 3 episodes.
 
Hugs4Softie

Hugs4Softie

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It's Krabby Land! A hated episode I always kind of liked. People hate this episode for some pretty stupid reasons in my opinion, like the Scumbob Wiki (I can't stand them, even if they are kinda unintentionally funny sometimes). This episode has always been a good episode in my opinion, I believed it was underrated and honestly just not talked about much in general.

I'm glad the whole Willy Wonka Experience kinda brought Krabby Land into the spotlight for being very similar. I always thought the Krabby Land-Willy Wonka jokes were really funny, it reminded me of all those "The Simpsons predicted it again" things that people often talk about. I always thought those were interested, things like Kobe Bryant and some more I probably can't think of right now. But, to really think about it, SpongeBob could have predicted a lot?

For the episode itself though. I believe the plot was definitely good, and it was fitting for Mr. Krabs in a way. I mean, he is cheap. That's all in his character, starting from the way beginning. Would he do something like this? Of course he would. For people saying Mr. Krabs was out of character (which was a reason many people provided for dislike), all I can say is: was he though?

So I've seen a common dislike for jerky or straight up evil Mr. Krabs in some episodes. I understand the dislike, since Mr. Krabs is supposed to be the employer of SpongeBob, the protagonist. And sometimes the evil Krabs goes too far like in One Coarse Meal when he literally almost made his childhood friend commit suicide, that's what I mean with downright evil. Do I believe he was a jerk in this episode? Yes. Do I believe he was out-of-character? No. Sure, I like father-son Mr. Krabs with SpongeBob a whole lot more, but it doesn't bother me that Krabs is more of a jerky and cheap character. It's more understandable than jerky Patrick.

The title card was another creative title card, with the Krabby Land sign. Again, you all know how much I love super creative or nice looking title cards, like SB-129's card. Of course there are some that I care a whole lot less for like Stuck in the Wringer's and InSPONGEiac's cards. Creative doesn't mean it's good. But this one is good.

When Krabby Land was revealed to the kids was a good part. "Where am I?". I mean, if you knew Mr. Krabs well enough (which by now, you should), he said he was going to give Pearl old warn out batteries for her birthday in "Krab Borg". He'd never spend more than what he had to, he even stole the lightbulbs from the zoo in "The Smoking Peanut". So I mean, what else what we expect? Think about "Whale of a Birthday".

But, one thing I wanted to bring up about Krabby the Clown. Watching this as a kid, I always thought Krabby the Clown was kind of a parody Ronald McDonald. Especially once SpongeBob made up The Krabby Patty Burgalur (sorry if I didn't spell that right, I'm using a secret browser). But I always thought that was kind of a funny joke even if it was unintentional.

I think the Scumbob Wiki goes WAY too hard on this episode. Of course, everyone is obligated to think whatever they want and all, I respect that, but I feel like "out-of-character" Krabs is not a reason to hate this episode because he's not really out of character in my opinion. One Coarse Meal, sure, that's not the cheap Krabs we usually see or even just a resturaunt rivalry. From episodes like "Jellyfish Hunter", "Krabby Land", "The Krabby Kronicle" and probably more, we see that Mr. Krabs is really not all that great of a dude.

I always thought of Mr Krabs as a parody character (kinda) for big businesses. And maybe it's true, he acts like almost every big business owner, and he is a multi-millionaire (maybe even billionaire) after all. He's shown he only really cares for his money and his business in a lot of episodes. But that's not all. I do appreciate when they show him to care about other things. Like in "Best Day Ever', when he had no money or pay motivation whatsoever and still did the play with SpongeBob. Or in like "Bossy Boots", he clearly didn't want to fire Pearl himself. He's been shown many times to care about other things, and I love episodes like that.

Pugs4Thugs said:
Mr. Krabs in this episode is at one of his more...jerkwad appearances. He only sees children for the profit they bring, to the point of creating a trashy playground just to draw them in. Not to mention his lack of care for SpongeBob later in the episode. But he gets his comeuppance, as we'll see, so I think it's okay. It's also played for laughs throughout the episode, so it never feels quite so egregious. Really, I think this entire episode was definitely a pointed message about something (I mean, did you hear Mr. Krabs' little monologue?)...
Click to expand...
Like what Pugs4Thugs said, maybe this is kind of a message about something. I feel the same way some of the previously mentioned episodes like "Jellyfish Hunter". And I mean, this Mr. Krabs towards SpongeBob really contradicts Krabs in episodes like The Chaperone and Best Day Ever.

One of my favorite quotes though was "you promised those kids Krabby the Clown, but all I saw was...Cheapy the Cheapsake". This episode was really funny in my opinion, an episode where I actually liked seeing Mr. Krabs as an antagonist, because it was fitting! And he got completely what he deserved with the lima beans.

So for a final rating, I'll give this one an 8/10 for being an episode that made me laugh a few times.
 
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