ImAGoofyGooberRock
Goofy Goober
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2014
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Its okay.
''quick how do you spell krabs''Next up, we've got "Whale of a Birthday"! Man, if I thought some of these last few episodes were divisive then whew, we got another thing coming for this one. This episode is nowhere near as infamous as "Good Neighbors", but it ain't generally liked, that's for sure. At least, there's a significant portion of the fanbase/people who watch SpongeBob (because some people ain't fans) who dislike this episode a lot. And then there's a lot of people who do like this episode. You can even just look at the comments above mine to see proof of both of these. As for me, I generally like this episode, but that's not to say it's without its issues, so let's discuss!
I'm gonna start things off a little differently today and begin with the bad first, because I think if I start with the bad then it will make more sense how the good redeems the bad at least somewhat.
Okay so let's not beat around the bush. The main bad of this episode is...it's not super funny. Wait what? I know what y'all are thinking, "hello, Mr. Krabs??" and to that I say we'll get to that in a moment. Meanwhile, I'll talk about how this episode isn't super funny which docks some points off of its score. This episode never gets boring at any point, but like there's a lot of middling moments. Like when SpongeBob is following Pearl around at the mall (though there are some fun gags in there, like with the seahorse), or the scene between Pearl and Mr. Krabs at the beginning, or when Squidward and Mr. Krabs are setting up at the Krusty Krab. None of these scenes are full to the brim with great comedy, and they aren't particularly engaging, so that's a little meh. But there's also plenty of great jokes in this episode too. Like Squidward's entire performance, or at the beginning of the epsiode when Pearl jumps through the floor and Mr. Krabs is like "you sure you don't want a room on the ground floor", or like the flashback of the previous parties Pearl has had. So the humor is an issue, but it's not an episode-ruiner.
Now, let me just get this elephant in the room out of the way. Prepare for a lot of ranting. Let's talk about Mr. Krabs.
I think people really, really overreact about Mr. Krabs in this episode. Because I agree that he starts off very unpleasant, which sours the first part of this episode, but he's fine by the end of the episode and I feel like people gloss over that. Like frankly this episode is about his and Pearl's relationship, and while I wouldn't say an arc happens over the course of these 11 minutes, I think there's some kind of change in that relationship between the beginning and end of the episode. At the beginning of this episode, Mr. Krabs is crass and dismissive of Pearl and her birthday. Yeah, he's not winning any father of the year awards by quite literally forgetting his daughter's birthday and age, and then later trying to cheap out. But like...he's not on the level of some of the worst fathers in animation. Like even if he is trying to be cheap (other than him sending SpongeBob to get Pearl's gift, which I'll get to in a moment), he is at least trying to give her a birthday party he thinks she'll enjoy. The problem is that he doesn't know his daughter and puts being cheap above going all out. Really, I think he thinks that Pearl wants to be as cheap as him. And so that makes his actions (in this episode at least), much more forgivable. And when Pearl runs off after seeing Mr. Krabs' cheap display, he goes after her immediately and at least tries to comfort her.
Mr. Krabs is a selfish person, but he's not an absolute monster of a father that some people try to say he is. There's a gray area between father of the year and worst father ever, and he fits right in that. And also, like I said earlier, he sends SpongeBob to go get Pearl's gift, saying that nothing is too good for his daughter. And even when SpongeBob comes back with a lot of expensive gifts, he doesn't really react as negatively as you'd think based on how some people talk about this episode. Like he's mad, but that anger almost entirely disappears when Pearl shows her happiness at the gifts, which I think is cute. And when SpongeBob calls Mr. Krabs a good dad, all he says is don't push your luck. So I really don't have many problems with Mr. Krabs in this episode, and I don't think he was any worse than he was in "Squeaky Boots".
And now, the good! Well firstly, I like that this is a Pearl-focused episode, because that had been long-overdue. Last one was "Bossy Boots", if I remember correctly. No matter how you feel about this character, the fact is she's a main character, so her having such little episodes devoted to her is criminal. I'm telling y'all, it really don't look good for this show when it comes to their girl and women characters, but that's a conversation for another time. So anyway, I like that this episode is about Pearl, and I like Pearl in this episode too. I like that she stands her ground with Mr. Krabs and is like "you're not going to ruin my birthday this year".
This episode also ends satisfyingly, with Pearl getting everything she wanted for her birthday. Yeah, it was SpongeBob that made it possible, but it was still wholesome to me seeing Pearl express her joy at all the gifts towards Mr. Krabs anyway. I mean, technically SpongeBob did all of this on Mr. Krabs' orders (and dime) so...
In general, "Whale of a Birthday" is just an enjoyable episode to watch. It's not hugely funny, but it is engaging, especially because it gets me invested in Mr. Krabs' and Pearl's relationship, and Pearl's birthday celebration, very quickly, so I want everything to turn out okay, which it does in the end! That's why I like this episode, and why it's in my "Good" tier. If it was funnier, it would've been in "Great" for sure, but I've gotta have some kinda standards around here.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.8/10
omg I forgot about that one! yeah that was a good one''quick how do you spell krabs''
''i think it has a ''b'' in it''
this joke was funny lol