Whirly Brains: 7.5/10
Mermaid Pants: 9/10
Unreal Estate: 8.9/10
Code Yellow: 9.2/10
Mimic Madness: 9.4/10
House Worming: 5.4/10
Snooze You Lose: 7/10
Krusty Katering: 9.4/10
SpongeBob's Place: 9/10
Plankton Gets the Boot: 8.8/10
Life Insurance: 8.8/10
Burst Your Bubble: 8.6/10
Plankton Retires: 9.3/10
Trident Trouble: 6.8/10
The Incredible Shrinking Sponge: 5.9/10
Sportz?: 6.8/10
The Getaway: 9.4/10
Lost and Found: 7.2/10
Patrick's Coupon: 7.2/10
Out of the Picture: 9.5/10
Feral Friends: 9.4/10
Don't Wake Patrick: 7.2/10
Top 5:
5.
Mimic Madness
4.
Feral Friends
3.
The Getaway
2.
Krusty Katering
1.
Out of the Picture
Bottom 5:
5.
Snooze You Lose
4.
Sportz?
3.
Trident Trouble
2.
The Incredible Shrinking Sponge
1.
House Worming
Scoring:
Amazing: 9
Great: 4
Good: 5
Okay: 2
Mediocre: 2
Tolerable: 0
Bad: 0
Abysmal: 0
Additional Comments:
Season 10, what do I even say about you? Season 10 is just so very hard to compare with other seasons because of its short, short episode length compared to them. It’s half the length of almost every other season in this show, which means there isn’t a lot of material to judge here. A bad episode in another season might not be a big deal, but a bad episode in season 10 could really color the perception of the entire season, and you can see this in the math. The average episode rating of this season was a 8.1/10, which is the same as season 7, as a matter of fact. And just under season 9.
Getting back to a little bit of comparison, I’d say I regard season 10 very similarly to season 5 (which means I also regard it similarly to season 7). And I don’t just mean in entertainment value, although that is true as well that I enjoy both seasons about the same amount. Season 10, like season 5, is a transition season to me. It moves from the experimental changes and trends of season 9 towards what will become the show’s new staple in season 11—exaggerated faces (though I made very little mention of this in my reviews, it still is something that I noted. Not that I’ve ever been bothered by these faces. I’ll probably talk more about this in later seasons) and animation, increased engagement in self-reference, and good character writing. However, this season does miss some of the other things that will later become staples, such as the focus on characters outside of the core ones, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Another thing I quickly wanted to mention was the art style for this season, as something about it felt very…transition-y to me. I think it’s because as the season went on, the art style shifted, from something I really liked, to something I…didn’t like quite so much. And while the latter art style did fit the show, I do hope that season 11 decides to go in a different direction haha.
Season 10 also has its own special qualities that make it stand out from being just a transition season. Now, these qualities aren’t necessarily all “good”, but they are things that make it stand out, so I’m including them regardless. I mean, firstly, the season is
short, so it stands out for that reason alone. And secondly, there’s the main detractor of season 10 for me: it’s not as funny to me as it could’ve or maybe should’ve been. And, there were an alarming amount of episodes that I was kind of bored by. Considering this season’s short length, this is especially alarming. We better not be going back to those season 6 times or so help me god. No but seriously, I don’t think the situation is that dire. And besides, while this season wasn’t the funniest, I did notice, as I specifically mentioned in my reviews of “Code Yellow” and “Unreal Estate”, that this season put a lot of emphasis on being all-around enjoyable rather than specifically funny. There’s a lot more interesting plots here than simple plots filled with jokes. This isn’t a better or worse approach necessarily, just a different one. The problem is that some of the interesting plots fell flat. If that didn’t happen, then there wouldn’t be nearly as many Okay- and Mediocre-tier episodes. And I think that this is something that stands out for season 10, even though it is something I somewhat noticed in season 9. I get the feeling, just from what I’ve seen, that season 11 and beyond go a different direction than this slower approach. So I guess we’ll have to see if that’s the case.
Thinking of how much I like season 10 personally, like I said before, I like it about equally to season 5. I like season 9 (especially 9B) more than season 10, but it’s hard to judge this because of season 10’s length. I regard season 9 as about equal to season 4, and so I regard season 10 as about equal to season 5. A slight step down for me, but nothing crazy. I truly do believe that the short season order hindered this season immensely. Less episodes means less chances to impress, less time to develop trends, less time to hit different characters (hence why this season did not go the route of season 9 and have episodes focused on some different characters for once).
However, despite its short length, season 10 did something very important for this show, in my opinion. And this cannot be overlooked. Season 10 really helped to usher in the post-sequel renaissance. I detailed this quite a bit in my “
Mimic Madness” review, so I won’t go into it yet again in this one, but I do think that season 10 is what got modern SpongeBob back on the map for a lot of fans. And no matter how you might feel about season 10, there’s no denying its impact. And it is for all of these reasons that I’ve named season 10 the
Regeneration Season. Allow me to explain. Season 10 is short and less ambitious than the seasons it is sandwiched between (I’m making an assumption about season 11 here, allow me to do so), and so I can consider it a bit of a rest for the creative team in a way. A bit healing. Hence, regeneration. But I use regeneration also in the
Doctor Who context, where after regeneration the main character walks away with a different face and personality. Well, with this season being a transition season, I’d say the show exits season 10 a bit different than when it entered. Not only in style or humor or plots or whatever, but also in popularity and regard. As I’ve said, season 10 ushered in that post-sequel renaissance. It regenerated the show, it regenerated parts of the fanbase. Quite a lot of work for a such a short season. I’m impressed.