Hello everyone!! Here we are in the lovely month of February, ready to do some more reviews! That's right, today we're starting off the season 4 reviews! I'm excited to get to these, because we're gonna finally be tackling the real hard-hitters, the real controversial epsiodes. And as a
SpongeBob SquarePants defender, it's always fun to see where my opinions are going to lie. But that's all in the future, because today we're here with "Fear of a Krabby Patty", which is a pretty good start to the season, in my opinion.
Right off the bat, the first thing that always gets me is the art style in this episode. It's pretty unique compared to other episodes of the show, and I really like it. It's hard to say how it's different, but I know that most people recognize it too. It feels more...round than the normal art style? And the eyes are bigger too. I feel like I remember reading somewhere the reason why this episode is so different, but I can't remember it now. Whatever it is, I'll just sit here enjoying this art style. It kind of feels like a test run of the type of stuff we'd see once season 9 rolls around, as the animation gets very exaggerated and fluid at points, much like the later seasons of
SpongeBob SquarePants.
In terms of the episode itself, I quite like it. The plot immediately kicks into gear at the outset of the episode, with Mr. Krabs making a new business hours sign for the Krusty Krab. I like the whole gag with him dressing up like a stereotypical artist to do so, using an easel and everything too. It's in episodes like these that you remember that Squidward and SpongeBob are literally the only Krusty Krab employees lol. As Squidward cries out in outrage, I like the gag with him zipping up the kitchen window. I really like that the crux for the plot is Mr. Krabs' competitiveness with Plankton, which causes him to make the Krusty Krab open 24 hours. I feel like this episode has a much different take on the concept than "Graveyard Shift", which is keeps this episode from feeling redundant when remembering the existence of that one. SpongeBob bursting through the wall in happiness (a great example of continuity between gags) is also really cute and funny, not to mention a reaction meme I have saved on my phone lol.
Plankton's plan in this episode is actually lowkey very smart and thought-out. When situated in the broader context of the show, it's kind of cool how Plankton's first appearance right after the movie is of him having a really smart plan just like he did in the movie. This is also Plankton's (and Karen's!) first appearance after being upgraded to a main character, so it's cool that he appears right away like this. I love Karen's remark that she's "heard this joke before", that moment always gets me laughing.
The bit of Mr. Krabs with the bell is great, and I love Squidward's "even my bags have bags" line, complete with a very-detailed close-up, as is the
SpongeBob SquarePants way. SpongeBob's endless enthusiasm is cute too, but even I have to agree with Squidward that there ain't something right about that boy lmao. And then the part where Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob about the huge order, SpongeBob is literally so adorable in this scene I can't.
I really enjoy the montage of the endless days. Seeing everyone get more and more tired and probably insane, and then the gag with Old Man Jenkins (or I guess that isn't him, just an old man fish), it's all pretty funny and a great way of showing time passing in this episode beyond just a simple cut. This episode is really on the mark with all the visual gags, like SpongeBob's crazy look when he starts pushing out random stuff instead of Krabby Patties. I love how all of this ends up with him being scared of Krabby Patties too, and the whole part with all the giant Krabby Patties is great. And then of course, I love the dramatics of the "I WANT TO LIVE!!" part, and I just love the dramatic cue with Squidward's tired face. Hilarious.
From here, we move into a kind of "part 2" for this episode, as this is one of those episodes with two kind of distinct halves. And this section is not as strong as the first, but it's still pretty good. It just takes a second to get really funny though. But once SpongeBob brings out that piano, the episode returns to what some may call a barrel of laughs. And i love that the piano gag is brought back later. It reminds me of that one asdfmovie
joke. Do you guys remember those? Anyway, Plankton's attempts to get SpongeBob to tell him the formula vary in entertainment value, kind of leaning towards the meh side unless there's a particularly good joke in there. I do really enjoy the dream sequence with SpongeBob and the Krabby Patty though. The Krabby Patty's voice is inherently funny to me for some reason, and I love the arteries bit.
The episode ends pretty well too, you know I love endings where everyone's laughing, because they're wholesome and they usually include one last stinger, like in this episode where Mr. Krabs "generously" cuts the hours down to 23 from 24. Good luck SpongeBob...good luck.
"Fear of a Krabby Patty" is a pretty good episode, in my opinion. I think it's pretty funny, and doesn't really drag at any point. Like on some watches the stuff with Plankton ends up feeling nearly dull for me, but on others they don't so it really just depends on my mood. So I think this episode still deserves to be in my "Amazing" tier.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.2/10