After the double whammy (with "Skill Crane" in between) of "Have You Seen This Snail?" and "Good Neighbors", I'm excited to relax with this episode, "Selling Out". This is also just simply a really good episode, so I'm excited for that too. It's very funny to me that this episode is in season 4, especially early season 4, as it is one of the many complaints of Middle-Age SpongeBob (told you I'd call it that) haters that the show became very...corporate at this time. That's an allegation that severely annoys me because first off, the show was always "corporate", if "corporate" means greenlit with the purpose of making money. That's how TV networks work. And secondly, I feel like calling something "corporate" really discounts all the hard work and passion put into it by the crew who works on the show, and don't act like this crew isn't passionate about the show, because they are. Now that social media is a thing, we can see their passion before our very eyes, so miss me with that thank you very much.
Okay, with that tangent out of the way, let's get into this episode! I like how this episode starts with a song, it makes it stand out a bit from other episodes. And it's a pretty cute little song too, I have no problems with it. It's got some really fun visuals too, and I love the little scrapbook with Mr. Krabs and Pearl, that was so cute! Squidward's commentary at the end is pretty funny as well. This episode gets right into it with Mr. Krabs being given a crap ton of money to sell out the Krusty Krab. It's actually a bit poignant what this episode is really about, I like that a lot. Told you these relatively newer episodes started really getting into the business practices of the Krusty Krab!
This episode is really fast-paced, which I can appreciate. The character design of Carl is great, because you can just tell that there's something off about this man. It's in his eyes. And voice. The fact that the restaurant is called Krabby O'Mondays is simply perfect, they nailed the feeling of a restaurant that's sold out, especially once we see the inside and it looks like every generic American family restaurant ever.
Mr. Krabs' retirement adventures are great. The "wait a minute...I hate golf" joke is simply classic, and I think about that joke a lot. Someone the other day made a Tweet about that, except it said "I hate Twitter", and man did I feel that. I just love how clearly retirement is not something Mr. Krabs needs at this point in his life. Pearl being completely done is hilarious too, and her reaction is definitely worthy of a reaction meme of its own (it definitely has one).
This episode has a nice undercurrent of tension, most clearly seen in the segments with Squidward. Squidward's hatred of the birthday song is very relatable, and I love the chat with Carl and how he's basically violently coerced into being cheery. It makes me think of those RDCWorld1 Chic-Fil-A
videos, do y'all ever watch those guys? Man, they're hilarious. But anyway, yeah I really love how threatening the vibe of this whole restaurant is, especially with Carl always watching and Squidward literally trying to warn Mr. Krabs, it's amazing.
The more we learn about this restaurant, the worse it gets, because not only are they mysterious and possibly violent, but they're also pulling a McDonald's and cooking with synthetic meat. This episode really just makes the entire enterprise look nasty asf, which it is. The Krabby Patties are no longer being cooked with love, which is sad. I love how perfectly dramatic SpongeBob is in this scene as well, telling Mr. Krabs what horrible deeds these new owners have done. Once Mr. Krabs sees the automated cash registers, that's the final straw for him, and he goes ham, ruining the restaurant in a great scene of chaos. I love how "free thinker" is a code red for this entire operation.
The ending of this episode is great, with that great kind of clever and wordy humor (well, not exactly, more like being blatantly honest in a fun way) that I like to see, as Mr. Krabs basically says they're screwed, but at least they have each other. And of course, when Squidward actually starts to buy into the wholesomeness, we get the ending stinger of Mr. Krabs shutting it down (man, how many episodes end on Mr. Krabs saying something along the lines of "get back to work!" to SpongeBob and/or Squidward?)
I really like "Selling Out", I think it's a hilarious and clever episode with an air of maturity to it, as it's one of those episodes that gets funnier as you get older. I really have no problems with it at all, it has great pacing and atmosphere, and it says consistently funny throughout. A great addition to my "Amazing" tier.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.3/10
