Who else is getting “Plankton’s Regular” flashbacks? Just me? Eh, that’s okay. That’s just the episode that immediately comes to mind upon seeing the name of this one. This episode that I have basically no memory of. These memory holes are getting weird because I remember this episode’s sister just fine??? Ugh who knows any more.
This episode gets right to the point very quickly—Karen’s off to visit her mother(board), and since Plankton is unable to get anything done without here, she put up an ad for an intern for him. How thoughtful haha. I wonder who said intern could be. I saw the description of this episode, and my mind immediately went to Pearl. But it couldn’t be her, right? That’s just my hopeful mind talking, because we all know I love when characters we never see interact actually interact, and I love when characters we just don’t see very much of, like Pearl, get a spotlight? This truly cannot be what this episode will do, right?
Well, before I get the answer to that question, we first see Plankton have to contend with a bunch of people applying for the internship position, so he has to sell the position as hard as he can. I love the joke about unpaid interns, all those prospective applicants are me whenever I see an unpaid internship listing. Not in this economy, and not ever! After all the prospective applicants leave, and there’s just one left…and it’s not Pearl. It’s another P name. It’s Patrick. Yeah, the episode description was quite misleading on that one. But hey, on the bright side, this is an opportunity for the show to redeem Patrick and Plankton episodes after “Patnocchio”! Plankton tries to have Patrick test out his cloning machine, but of course Patrick is an idiot and ends up cloning himself a bunch of times, so Plankton kicks him and his clones out.
And then, the episode reveals that it was playing a trick on me, as it turns out that Plankton has one more applicant left…Pearl!!! Oh I am sorry for doubting you episode, you’ve already earned my forgiveness for even going with this idea. Plankton is of course terrified of Pearl at first, but Pearl assures him (well, assure is a nice way of putting it haha) that she doesn’t eat Plankton, and is only here for the job. Clearly, Plankton doesn’t remember that Pearl is Mr. Krabs’ daughter, based on his reaction here, so I suppose we should look forward to that. Plankton and Pearl immediately make a great dynamic, because they’re both very snarky people. I’m invested.
After a day of being mistreated as interns usually are, Pearl drags herself back home. Have I already said that I love that this episode is about Pearl? Because I do. It’s clear as she talks to Mr. Krabs about her day that one of the big drivers of this episode is that Mr. Krabs and Plankton don’t know about Pearl’s relationship to the other. All I know is that this episode better end with Pearl coming out on top.
The next morning, after a gorgeous background
alert, Pearl is back for a new day at work. And Plankton learns that Pearl is Krabs’ daughter after she says that she can get him the recipe. I wonder if Pearl knows about Plankton and Krabs’ rivalry…I feel like she does since it seems like in the previous scene she was about to tell Mr. Krabs that Plankton was her boss, and she has no reason to specify unless she knows that Mr. Krabs has that kind of relationship with him. So this begs the question as to why Pearl would volunteer this information so willingly. Either she does not care about the rivalry, is doing this to get back at her dad, or she’s just a big troll. I wonder where the episode will stand.
I mean, it seems Pearl is totally chill with committing corporate espionage against her own dad. I’m hoping the episode is going with Pearl being an airhead, because that would be boring and reductive. Anyway, that night, Pearl and Plankton break into the Krusty Krab. Pearl wearing that ski mask is hilarious. I also like that Pearl has a spare key, this episode is clearly one of the ones that emphasizes that Mr. Krabs really cares for his daughter. I don’t think there are many episodes that go against that, despite popular belief. Anyway, SpongeBob shows up at the Krusty Krab, having sleepwalked there. And then Plankton tempts fate a bit and ends up being “cooked” by SpongeBob.
SpongeBob ends up waking up just as Pearl and Plankton are entering Mr. Krabs’ office. Oh boy. So, he calls Mr. Krabs. Can’t wait to see what kind of pandemonium we’re about to see. Just as Pearl is handing the formula over to Plankton, Mr. Krabs shows up. I love the expressiveness here. It’s been fantastic the entire episode, but I feel like pointing it out now. Pearl then reveals that she’s Plankton’s flunky, and of course she’s able to turn this right back on Mr. Krabs, who did indeed tell her that the boss is always right. I’m still choosing to believe she did this on purpose because Mr. Krabs wouldn’t listen to her. It’s more fun that way. Well, the episode at least gets on the right page, as Pearl decides to use her position to her advantage, and manages to get a tripled allowance out of Mr. Krabs. Now that’s girlbossing! At least in the end, Plankton was able to get some use out of those Patrick clones after all.
I really liked “Plankton’s Intern”. Plankton and Pearl are just a great combination. I will say, though, Plankton’s fear of whales makes less sense when you think about how many times he’s been eaten by other people in the show LMAO. But anyway, I thought this episode was funny, visually appealing, and just all around a good time. Amazing-tier for sure.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.4/10
