Less_SpongeBob

So there's a few things I actually have to mention about this episode. It is indeed a special episode, but no, there's no patchy segments. I'm not sure why, but the other special this season doesn't have patchy segments either. Maybe it's just so they could tell a longer story, maybe the patchy stuff was just wearing thin, I don't know, but it's not here, and honestly, in this episode, it kind of shows. It could really use something more light-hearted to break up this kind of depressing episode. Another unusual thing about it is that it's like the first time that Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy have been referenced without actually appearing, and not being a Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode explicitly. It's actually kind of nice to see, hey, they exist out of these select few episodes. So my favorite joke of the episode is the fact that Patrick actually won in Paddleball in the Dirty Bowl Challenge, but then he lost the trophy. I like it because the joke is set up like Patrick took the challenge and lost and it ruined his life, but no, the joke is that he won, he just lost the trophy. And sadly, it's telling that that's my favorite part about this 22-minute special, one subtle joke that really doesn't even relate to the main plot at all. Here's the thing about this special, it's not funny. There's a few jokes, but more of this episode is actually just depressing. Seeing how sad SpongeBob is because he blew it with Gary is just really sad. And this is punctuated by a really sad song that goes on for way too long in the middle of this episode and kind of feels like padding. I mean, really, there isn't even much to this story. Gary runs away, finds an old lady to live with, and SpongeBob is sad and just puts up flyers to try and get him back. It's almost like a realistic portrayal of a pet running away. Plus, didn't we kind of have this story and dumped already? I appreciate that the SpongeBob writers are trying to get me to feel emotions other than just laughing, but come on, SpongeBob is a comedy that doesn't follow any sort of continuity. If you actually believe that he was going to lose Gary, then you probably don't know too much about the structure of these episodes. So there's really nothing at stake here, and so there's not really any reason for me to care. However, I will give the episode points because there's really nothing about it that makes it unwatchable, and the few jokes that they do tell work. The song, although kind of depressing and perhaps going on a bit too long, is actually kind of catchy, so I'm going to go ahead and give this episode a MEH. Yeah, it's definitely not what you want to look for in an episode of SpongeBob, but you could do a lot worse. The episode is definitely passable, even though it is very flawed.