Next up, we've got "Once Bitten", an episode that, as I've said, felt like it was a part of season 5 to me. Or at least my memory gets it all mixed up. And just like with its sister episode, it doesn't matter what season it's a part of, because I enjoy it all the same!
I love that the very first thing we see in this episode are a couple gorgeous background shots. That's always a good thing to start with. The beginning of this episode reminds me a lot of "Ugh", with Squidward (his modern self, of course) slipping on Gary's slime. And honestly, Gary, my king, is a comedy genius in this episode. I love how he trolls Squidward in this beginning segment, watching the squid clean up his slime, and then proceeding to crawl over more of Squidward's things because he can. Squidward starting to beef with the snail is legitimately hilarious. He even puts up some ugly poles just to keep Gary out. Which fail miserably as Gary shows off his climbing skills and slimes Squidward anyway. I love how Squidward begins his rant to SpongeBob calmly before starting to shout, it's a good bit of whiplash. And then the episode kicks into gear fully with Gary biting Squidward, which as he should, honestly. But I will defend anything Gary does at any point. Mostly. There's one or two episodes that I can't even defend my man on, but luckily those are far, far away. I love how Patrick shows up randomly just to start causing chaos with his mention of Mad Snail Disease. Patrick's so serious about it too, it's just funny more than anything. And all of Bill Fagerbakke's deliveries here just make the whole thing.
This episode honestly does a great job at showing how baseless hysteria and mass panic start. I mean think about it. Patrick comes in, no source other than "I made it up" (or perhaps myth), Squidward believes him after already being primed to think that he may have caught something from Gary (and he convinces himself that he has symptoms. he didn't notice he had a sore throat until Patrick mentioned it, that's a pretty key sign that he's just tricking himself), and then he follows all the symptoms Patrick lists to a T as the episode goes on. So once he's convinced and runs off freaking out, word starts spreading, until everyone is freaking out. This episode is kinda accurate about this haha, I love it.
I also just really love the pure chaos of this episode, starting once everyone realizes Gary is missing and Patrick runs off screaming. I love the increasing wide shots as SpongeBob shouts Gary's name, I think those were nicely painted/rendered. And then, like I said earlier, we see the hysteria start spreading as Patrick starts telling the whole town about the mad snail on the loose, and then Gary bites someone else. I think I just find a lot of amusement in how dramatic everyone is. There aren't any outstanding jokes in this part, but the drama of it all is fun to watch, and so I don't mind. The news coverage of Mad Snail Disease is legitimately amazing, with the graphics and voice acting. And I love the interview with Squidward that starts calm and ends with chaos, especially as people legit just start making up stuff like the disease spreading through the air.
As the episode goes on and the "zombified" Bikini Bottom citizens start appearing, the backgrounds of the city start looking really cool with the burning buildings. It's great atmosphere. The zombie thing is made funnier once the truth is revealed, because turns out people were just acting like zombies because of mass hysteria. But anyway, I like how a whole survivor hideout had already been made out of the Krusty Krab once SpongeBob gets there. I also love Mr. Krabs' line about how it'll be coming out of Incidental 42's paycheck, and then the guy's response that he doesn't even work there. I thought that was funny. And then I love how SpongeBob just squeezes through the door and then still begs to be let in, that was pretty funny too, especially with Mr. Krabs' reaction. And then Patrick returns just to again attempt to cause more hysteria.
And then even when Gary appears and bites SpongeBob, I love how SpongeBob protects Gary from everyone. That's loyalty. And then we get the appearance of an excellently-named character, Dr. Gill Gilliam, who sets the facts straight, and gets that nasty splinter out of Gary. Honestly, Gary should go bite Squidward again, bite him for me. lol. Anyway, I love the ending bits of this episode, with Squidward walking in like a zombie (because who isn't when they have to work service). And then unexpectedly, after a cliche line, Mr. Krabs gets bit by Gary. I'm choosing to see it as revenge for Mr. Krabs trying to get rid of Gary earlier, plus his cliche ending line haha. I love how innocent Gary looks too, like no malice, just biting.
"Once Bitten" is a fun episode. It's not super funny, but it is very, very amusing. It also feels much shorter to me than it actually is, which isn't really a good or bad thing here, it just is. I really like the plot of this episode. And before anyone asks, no it doesn't feel similar to COVID to me, because there was an actual reason to be panicked when COVID came around (there still is good reason, let's be honest right now). But anyway, let me just dismount my high horse and say that this episode fits nicely in my "Amazing" tier, because I really have no problems with it all, nothing to justify it being a tier lower.
Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9/10
