Yet another season 11 review topic.

[Coffee_lover]

Man,liking Patnocchio isn’t unpopular at all,most of people say that episode at worst is just okay,as well as a lot of people say that it’s one of the best of the season(even besides Wiki)Only because I and Honest Slug didn’t enjoined it that much it’s doesn’t made episode "controversial" lmao.

 

 

 

I agree with you about Creature Feature though.

[WinterArcanine]

41 minutes ago, Coffee_lover said:

Man,liking Patnocchio isn’t unpopular at all,most of people say that episode at worst is just okay,as well as a lot of people say that it’s one of the best of the season(even besides Wiki)Only because I and Honest Slug didn’t enjoined it that much it’s doesn’t made episode "controversial" lmao.

 

 

 

I agree with you about Creature Feature though.

Yeah, but it's also one of the most liked episodes of the season from what i've noticed. I think that's what Klu was referring to, since it's only in the 30s.

[Klu]

Number 33.

Writer(s):
Mr. Lawrence
Storyboard Artist(s):
Fred Osmond

Patrick episode? GOOD Patrick episode? In season 11? With actually funny joke and interesting premise? Wow, that was unexpected. When Patnocchio was announced back in early 2018 I had little to no expectations for this episode, because I thought that it would suck. Patrick had a really bad track record with his episodes besides "No Picture Please", which was more of an exception, than the rule. So when I watched this episode the first time, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I liked it because I had so little expectations going in or it's genuinely good, while not great, episode? Let's find out.  

Episode starts with live-action book which is pretty much shout-out to Disney's Snow White, making this introduction a good way to set the viewer into the right mood of fairy tale parody. Narrator of this episode is Karen, which is, admittedly, strange choice at first, but makes sense. French Narrator doesn't fit for such out-there premises and Plankton being of the main characters of this episode, Karen's inclusion makes even more sense. To be completely honest, I think that she is the best part of episode. I will talk about Karen and other noteworthy season 11 elements after I will be done reviewing all episodes, but to put lightly, this season made me appreciate her more than ever before. She's just so fun to watch! She's so charismatic and funny, making her easily one of the best elements that were actually somewhat changed after pre-movie which barely utilized her. Soon after episode finally introduces Patrick into this episode, which wants to eat bunch of Krabby Patties in the open. Plankton wants of course to steal them, since Patrick isn't the brightest mind in Bikini Bottom, it should be easy enough, but his plan quickly fails, since Patrick sits on him. Patrick becomes scared of Plankton's screams of agony and wonders about "crazy voice who keeps telling me what to do". SpongeBob explains to him that it's might be his coincense and he should listen to it to be a good person. Plankton quickly realizes potential of this and takes advantage of Patrick. But since Patrick is dumb as... As Patrick, Plankton needs a lot of to stupidity to endure before he has a chance at having krabby patty.

 Let's talk about Patrick for a bit, at first. Since he is one of the two main focuses of this episode. Most of episodes that were centered around him suffered of two things:

1) writers made his character so one-dimensional, that his episode are just "gimmicks". Hey, let's turn Patrick into horse! Hey, let's turn Patrick into Old Man! Hey, let's Patrick will be a tour guide! Without much thought put into them. Also sad thing is that writers barely has any idea what to do with him at this point. Even if I like No Picture Please, Patrick certainly isn't the reason why I liked it.

2) Since he is total dumbass in s11, he is really tedious to watch. He simply can't carry entire episode by himself. This problem was avoided in pre-movie, since even in episodes that focused on Patrick also had more level-headed characters like SpongeBob for him to bounce off. That problem isn't as prevalent in s11, since most of his appearances are gimmicky, it's more applies to episodes like "Patrick's Coupon" from season 10. Though season 11 isn't without episode like that as well - No Pictures Please. I like it, but most of the episode is Patrick with Rube, which isn't that smart of a character. So he isn't that interesting to watch in that episode either.

But this episode actually has a lot of things going for about those two cons. First of all, while this episode is gimmicky, Patrick isn't only one who is "gimmick". Karen and Plankton, most of episode's events and some minor characters and set-pieces are "part" of this gimmick. It isn't like Pat the Horse either, where characters just go with stupidity of a plot and episode's events, they lampshading how dumb it is and make fun of it. This episode is a clear parody, which is understandable to many, since Disney's Pinocchio and original fairy tale are really iconic by this point. And Patrick, while dumb, has resemblance of intelligence in this episode, what I can't say for his most season 11 roles and he has a character to bounce off - Plankton. So this episode essentially fixes my biggest gripes with episodes that center around Patrick, so it has already something good in it. But what about comedy, since we tackled why plot and characterization work? Comedy is mostly good, but again, not great. It has many memorable and good jokes, funniest bits are definitely are Karen's snarky comments and that out of the blue commercial. Worst part of this episode's comedy are some of lame Patrick related gags, but that's pretty much it. 

What I dislike about this episode, though? Since I definitely dislike something about it. Besides comedy not being the best in the season (yet alone world), episode feels just... off. It doesn't feel like SpongeBob at all, it feels more like Ren and Stimpy or Rocko's modern life episode. Which isn't too bad admittedly, but lacking SpongeBob's signature charm is already pretty lacking thing in my opinion, but there's more. I don't like how this episode doesn't do much with parody aspect. You'd think that more of this episode will be making fun of original story, but bulk of this episode has nothing to do with Pinocchio besides superficial comparisons. At least they got whale (Pearl) for climax, that's something. Also Patrick, while generally better written than most of his s11 appearances, he is still... kind of bad? Not awful and there's Plankton, but he was a bit too dumb for my liking here as well. And I didn't cared much for first scene (barring Karen's introduction) with Patrick when he tries to ear krabby patties. It's just so mediocre and not fun to watch. And it has one particularly bad shot that I won't show here since it's quite not really appealing to look at, but I think everyone who watched the episode knows what I'm talking about.

Overall, this is nice episode overall, while isn't the best overall, definitely the strongest Patrick's outing in a while, but I hope that season 12 does something better with him or does nothing with him at all, which would've been a lot better. 

And yeah, I didn't mentioned Goofy Goober appearance. Why? Well, I want actually to say that it's episode plus that it treats Goofy Goober cafe like a normal thing and not like a fan-service for older fans. Like this is a location where Patrick goes regularly to. They could've make the big deal out of it, but they didn't, so I didn't either. It's a nice, well handled surprise. I hope it will show up occasionally in season 12 too. 

7/10

Next episode is another Halloween episode. Get ready for some exotic sea creatures and trippy music with atmosphere to boot. See ya then.

[Klu]

Number 32.

Writer(s):
Luke Brookshier
Storyboard Artist(s):
Kelly Armstrong

Season 11 has tons of Halloween and horror themed episodes, I don't know why it is like that, but I like how this season has unique themes that spread across different episodes, giving it distinctive feel. All those episodes are unique and pretty good, The Night Patty not being an exception. This episode has some problems, but I really enjoy it for many reasons that I will dive into later on.

Episode starts with SpongeBob and Patrick being kicked out of Glove World (officially continuing to ignore Glove World R.I.P for happiness of almost everyone ) after long and fun day they had at this amusement park. But soon enough SpongeBob and Patrick realize that they not only tired of this fun they had, but also really hungry. SpongeBob wishes that Krusty Krab was still open and Patrick slaps him in the face, declaring that Krusty Krabs has the night shift. Apparently remembering two not so good attempts at having night shifts at Krusty Krabs before, SpongeBob is shocked. But soon enough he discovers that during the night shift Krusty Krabs is almost entirely different restaurant from what he knows...

Let's get to cons of this episode from the start. First of all, episode has no plot. It's not the first episode that virtually has almost no conflict or three act structure and not the last one, but this is still flaw nonetheless. SpongeBob doesn't need to have a plot to being an entertaining show, but this episode feels less like an episode with excuse plot to tell jokes and more like different episodes and conflicts smashed together into blender. Luke Brookshier probably wanted to show "standard" night of this night shift, showing off different problems and situations that can happen there and I respect this intention, but still, episode's structure is still a bit shaky. But the least of episode's problems, really. My main issue is with the comedy. Let's face it, episode isn't really funny. It has some decent comedy bits, but it's just... Don't try to tell any jokes? It's not like this episode has BAD COMEDY (besides that awful fart joke, of course), it's just he generally doesn't have it at all. And it's not that bad here as it could've been and I will talk about why it is later, but affects overall quality of this episode. Even if SpongeBob can be entertaining without major comedic bits, it's still a comedy show and more jokes would've been appreciated, you know? It's not like this episode is story-oriented like "Friend or Foe" (which has good comedy too, by the way) or tearjerkingly sad like "Have you seen the snail", it's just regular (albeit very surreal) episode, that's why I don't see any justification why this episode is so devoid of comedy all of the sudden. And it's not like Luke's episodes are usually like this, most of his work in season 11 (and Farmerbob from season 12 for that matter) are good at comedy. So this episode is kind of an odd-ball exception.

But despite all of my nitpicking, episode truly shines not because of great storytelling or hilarious comedy, no. This episode excels at awesome atmosphere, entertaining characters and just being very interesting to watch. Episode has excellent music choices that really make this already surreal episode even more surreal and out-of-the-worldly. It's really fun to discover how night shift of Krusty Krab is so different compared to usual Krusty Krabs we all know and love, new menu, new customers, new traditions... And of course new crew. Those are bunch of excellently and cleverly designed and entertaining characters all around. The Fisherman (that ghost from horror movie from "Don't Look Now"), Squidabeth (she at first looks like Squidward expy, but doing some research I learned that she was actually based on real-life VAMPIRE squid, check this thing out, if you dare, but this is really clever touch, which fits the mood and theme of the episode), NOSFERATU (which is another amazing point to overall episode, in my opinion at least. His return is clear fanservice to older fans, but at the same time it doesn't feel forced at all! He feels right at home in this episode, being also the funniest part of episode, with all those unnatural movements, behavior and overall... unexpectedness.) and Barry Blobfish. I wish those characters will return at some point in future episodes, because they THAT fun to watch. 

  

Animation is also excellent as per usual for season 11. But wait, there's more! I think that you already watched this episode if you reading this review, but if you just curious about my opinions and want to check this episode out for ourselves, I will put something into spoiler, not to ruin the episode for you.

In the end episode reveals itself to be another "The Tidal Zone" episode! Which is an amazing twist that works well with recent show's love for continuity and references and just fitting with episode as a whole. It comes out of nowhere, but I can't say that this is a cop-out or something, since this episode don't rely on this twist. This is just a nice touch that overall makes sense, since this episode is surreal even by season 11 standards. This twist confirms that writers can expand on the ideas that were introduced in post-sequel and gives hope that some concepts/characters can be re-visited in the future. Like another Squid Noir episode, return of Sharks from Sharks vs. Pods, making more fairy-tale parodies like "Patnocchio" and so on. This just shows how experimental season 11 is and mostly in a good way too!

Overall, while this episode is lacking with comedy and has shaky story-structure, it has amazing atmosphere, entertaining and memorable new characters and fun quirky situations for SpongeBob to overcome, this is fairly fun season 11 episode. It could've been better, but I'm happy with what we got anyway.

7/10

Next episode is fairly underrated one, which was kind of forgotten for a while, until Coffee_Lover showed me what a underrated gem this episode is actually is. I hope you won't stuck on the roof and will check this review out. See ya then! 

[BeachBob95]

Good reviews but your hints for the next episodes are too obvious and ruin the surprise and it makes me mad.

[WinterArcanine]

58 minutes ago, BeachBob95 said:

Good reviews but your hints for the next episodes are too obvious and ruin the surprise and it makes me mad.

The episode after the next one has Spongebob in it

[BeachBob95]

1 hour ago, Winterypuff said:

The episode after the next one has Spongebob in it

You monster

[Klu]

There's won't be a review today, unfortunately, since I feel a bit... Tired. Tomorrow there's gonna be two reviews at once, though!

[Klu]

A-a-a-and I'm back with some more reviews! 

Number 31.

Writer(s):
Andrew Goodman
Storyboard Artist(s):
Kelly Armstrong

Usually on re-watches I get much better experiences with most of season 11 episodes (that I consider good). I notice joke I didn't before, some animation details and so on. But if I don't like episode on the first watch, well... Usually I don't like it on second watch either. So it came to me as a surprise when I actually liked this episode a lot more when I re-watched it for the first time since it's aired in late 2018. Why I didn't like it before and why I like it now, even considering it an underrated gem? Let's find out.

Plot of this episode is actually pretty simple - After some usual Krusty Krab shenanigans, SpongeBob ends up on KK's roof, but he soon realizes that he can't get down, since he is really afraid of heights. After some tries to get down without much luck, SpongeBob tries to adapt to his new "roof" life.

My main issue with this episode when I first watched it that SpongeBob didn't learned any lesson. He didn't get over his fear and he didn't get any arc in this episode, which is still a flaw. But I focused on this issue that I missed the fact that this episode is actually really visually appealing and pretty funny. SpongeBob's fear is really relatable and portrayed really relatably too. Attempts of his friends to get him down are actually pretty funny, highlight being Patrick, who is pretty funny in this episode. Krabs also really well-written here with some godly lines: "We can work this out without violence!.. Or refunds!". Shadow puppet scene is really creative and despite Squidward getting hurt, it's portrayed so over-the-top that I can't help but laugh. Episode also has one of the best visuals in the entire show, with interesting camera angles, choice of colors and expressions. I will post here some examples, but really, they won't do this episode justice, you need to see for yourself.

So overall, this episode is pretty nice both visually and comedically, it's a pleasure to watch. But it has some flaws, like no resolution to SpongeBob's conflict (overcoming his fear) and opening scene in Krusty Krab was pretty mediocre. But those issues aren't fatal and this episode is really enjoyable exprerience, which, dare I say, strikes back to more laid-back season 1 style of episodes, with simple plot and jokes, but really enjoyable to watch. 

7/10.

And since I promised two reviews at once, here we go...

Number 30.

Writer(s):
Kaz
Storyboard Artist(s):
Brian Morante

This episode is very interesting to talk about, that's for sure. Usually at this point in the review I talk about reception of this episode, but this time I will talk not about that, but about other, really important, thing. SpongeBob. Not the show, character. SpongeBob as a character was always and still is appealing to me. When he written well, he is really great character and role-model, with positive outlook on life, being hard-worker and really good friend. And while I like certain characters more, SpongeBob is still great main character.

Or at least, he was. Seasons after first movie really downplayed his more "adult" qualities. He became even softer than he was, he started to laugh and cry much louder, more annoying and often. From man-child he became... child-child. And that's pretty disappointing, since, not be any means he was deep character, he still was a pretty nuanced one, but during seasons 4 and 5 he gradually became more and more one-dimensional. And episodes that attempted to make him more interesting as a character again were usually not the best ("Breath of the fresh Squidward"). 

So what about SpongeBob's characterization in post-sequel? Well, certain changes have been made. First of all, his laughter and crying started to appear less and generally handled much better than in post-movie seasons, he became more level-headed (most of the time) and started to be more every-man like he was in pre-movie, dealing with some much more relatable issues ( Appointment TB ,ChefBob, Stuck on the Roof, for instance). But he still felt too... "Nice"? Like, yeah, SpongeBob IS nice character, he is really kind, but he could snap before, he could felt anger before. He was much more emotional before. In post-movie he mostly was either happy or sad, nothing third is given. 

But this episode has the best SpongeBob characterization in a VEEEERY long time. And while episode has one MAJOR flaw, this aspect alone makes it really notable for me. But let's dive into actual episode, let's stop dance around the bushes.

Episode starts at "Bikini Bottom Cars" sale, where SpongeBob plays with some random cars, imagining himself as a stunt-driver. After looking at string of creatively designed boats, SpongeBob laments at how he can't get his driver's license and in result, can't own the boat. But boat salesman, being shark that he is (bu-dum-thss), offers SpongeBob self-driving car. He gladly accepts this offer and gets "Coupe" intelligent car that can do everything by itself. But SpongeBob yet has to learn, that Coupe is a big jerk...

This plot is somewhat similar to "All that Glitters", only this episode is actually good. It has many great comedy bits, Squidward's cameos being the highlights ("I need to delete this from my mind!" "It's not an act."). But episode shines with it's plot. I really like the message and Coupe as an antagonist. He is an unlikable jerk, but he is charismatic and memorable unlikable jerk. SpongeBob's characterization is awesome, on other hand. It's shown once again that he has his limits and that he can stand for himself. Climax when he literally fights with Coupe for control is really awesome and one of the best post-sequel scenes period. Animation, tension, characterization, music choices - everything is near perfection. This climax is so satisfying, I can't even explain how much I enjoy watching it times and times again. So, this episode has great character study, great animation, good plot and decent comedy, what can go wrong?

No... No!... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Not again! NOT AGAIN!!! 

You know, I could've given this episode 9/10 rating. Yeah, I think it was really great. Besides one thing. Patrick. There's one 40 or so seconds Patrick scene. And. It's. F<dolphin noise>n. Atrocious. Every second of it. Remember how I praised characterization in this episode? Kaz screwed up Patrick so BAD, that one scene, one, relatively short scene, dragged episode down for me hard. It has almost no purpose, reason to exist. It's almost like Kaz has split personality or something, where one personality writes clever, funny and creative scripts and other personality writes hyperactive mindless garbage. 

So yeah, this, almost great episode, became merely good because of this one scene. Yup. Maybe that's not that objective, but look. This scene isn't in the beginning of the episode and it isn't the usual SpongeBob's "dumb ending" either. This scene is exactly in the middle of this episode and it literally breakes the flow of episode's pacing and story. So besides being annoying, pointless and damaging to Patrick's character, it also hurts the structure of this episode. Perfect. F<dolphin noise>n perfect. 

So, yeah, this episode got it all, but Patrick kind of ruined it for me. Not entirely, I still give this episode

8/10 rating.

But this episode could've been so much better... That's why it hurts me so much that Kaz ruined perfectly good script with thing that could've been easily avoided.

Ugh, next episode I'm gonna talk about is fairly divisive. Some like it, some hate it (like season as a whole, to be honest), but that's episode especially. Trend of unique character parings continues and next time we will talk about episode right about this kind of unique paring. See ya then.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Christmas Klu?
fixed one bad joke

[WinterArcanine]

I agree with both these reviews

 

Prediction for next episode is Sanitation Insanity

[WhoBibbles]

- ngl, I didn't care for Stuck on the Roof, despite relating to fear of height, it just, idk, could have been executed better and I didn't get a kick out of hurt squidward scenes at all. Plus, like you said, SpongeBob didn't get to learn at the end.

- I heavily agree with you on The Night Patty not having a clear plot and having not enough humor but I still love the episode for how entertaining it was. Atmosphere was amazing, night shift crew were loveable, I loved the twist end and everything revolving around SpongeBob creating weird af patties were so much fun.

- Drive Happy, I couldn't agree more. Really entertaining episode with one of the best SpongeBob characterizations in a long time. If only Patrick weren't there but that's all.

[Coffee_lover]

Thank You for Roof though.

 

 

 

Drive Happy review is agreeable as well,except I would give it 7/10.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Coffee_lover

[hippythehippo]

 

[BeachBob95]

Next one Girls Night Out?

[Klu]

On 12/23/2018 at 2:20 AM, BeachBob95 said:

Next one Girls Night Out?

yup

Number 29.

Writer(s):
Mr. Lawrence
Storyboard Artist(s):
Brian Morante

Okay, this is one of my more controversial opinions, some hated this episode, some liked it. I liked it personally, as you can see, and I will explain why, but first, let's summarize plot a bit.

After Sandy's newest experiment have been proven a success, she wants to meet up with Karen and Mrs.Puff and celebrate such event, but both - Karen and Puff feeling really bad after they're recent experiences with Plankton and SpongeBob respectively. And Sandy finds a solution to make them feel better - to prank both of them, everything goes well, until prank that they wanted pull on SpongeBob ends up being an disaster.

Okay, let's start with negatives, that also is the main reason why many people dislike this episode - there's way too much SpongBob here. Like, really? Post-sequel already did few episodes where SpongeBob had barely any significant role and focus was on other characters and those episodes worked really well in result. It's not that I don't like SpongeBob, on contrary, it's just he feels kind of shoehorned in. It somewhat justified by plot, but I wanted more character interaction between main trio - Sandy, Karen and Puff. And there we go with another flaw, chemistry between main trio. Okay, Sandy and Karen work together almost flawlessly and they had interactions before, in "Salsa Imbecililcus", even I dislike that episode, I can say for sure that Sandy and Karen team-up was definitely the highlight. But Mrs.Puff's inclusion is much more questionable. I always thought of her as much more "older" character and her interacting with Sandy and Karen seems kind of unnatural. Really, only thing that connects ALL three of them, that they are prominent female characters in SpongeBob's cast and nothing else. I'd been perfectly fine if episode focused only on Sandy and Karen, since interactions with Puff felt kind of awkward. I don't think they are bad, but they didn't sold me on the idea that they are old friends. Mr.Lawrence could've explained they're past interactions, like Sandy could've learned in her Boating School or something, but nope, no explanation. This feels kind of lazy, to be honest.

But otherwise, in my opinion, this is great episode. Even if some character interactions were kind of awkward, I sill liked Sandy-Karen-Puff trio, they're team-up for the most part was enjoyable enough and kind of cute. If they attempt to do another episode with this trio in season 12, I won't mind, since, I think, character interactions will feel a lot more natural that time. I liked many comedic moments in this episode, like facial expressions of Mrs.Puff which were especially hilarious.

"GAL PALS" running gag, entire Plankton-Krabs prank scene, "This is for real" bit in SpongeBob's prank... There's actually many good comedy here and episode doesn't feel overly wacky like most of Lawrence's work in this season, which is appreciated. I also really like the atmosphere, it's one of the few episodes that take place entirely during night and it makes episode stand-out even more. Also I liked that despite everything, Sandy found the solution to how "step-out" properly in the end. 

Overall, this episode is pretty nice to watch, with lots of pretty good comedy, hilarious facial expressions and great atmosphere. Episode brought down a bit by SpongeBob's being way too much in the episode, even if it was somewhat justified and some character interaction being awkward, but for being so unique and nice to watch I give this episode

8/10 rating. Even if it is flawed, I like how writers experiment with episode ideas and being creative even after show is being on air for so many years. 

Next episode that I will review is special! ALMOST Christmas special, in fact. Next time I will review "Goons on the Moon", see ya then. 

[WhoBibbles]

I didn't find GNO to be bad or dull. It was an okay ep with cute interactions and some funny bits but having SpongeBob there kind of ruined the whole experience and I wish Sandy, Karen and Mrs. Puff did more in this episode than just pranking the boys, even though fake Krabs part was hilarious. This episode could have executed better but I hope this is not the last of episodes with female dynamics. I'd love to see kore of Sandy/Karen and Mrs. Puff could be great with them if they add more to their relationship.

[Klu]

Merry Christmas everyone who's reading this on Christmas! I've got episode to review, that ALMOST Christmas special, but not quite.

Number 28.

Writer(s):
Kaz
Storyboard Artist(s):
Brian Morante
 

"Divisive" and "season 11" are almost synonyms with each other by this point. This is another episode that half of people likes and half of people, not really despises, but certainly dislikes. Why this episode provoked such reaction? Let's find out.

Episodes starts in Sandy's treedome, where Sandy and her space scouts (SpongeBob, new character - Squidina and Pearl) are going to scientific trip to the Moon. Accidentally, Squidward tags along with them on this space journey and hilarity ensues.

Ye-a-ah, you can see the first gripe people may have with this episode, this 22-minute special doesn't have much of a plot. Most s11 episode have more substance this episode's premise does. Not to mention that this is the third "moon" episode show has done already. 

But, this episode somehow works for me. I will try to explain. While this episode is a special without thrilling plot, it isn't boring to watch. It's actually fairly and adventurous ride. First of all, many specials with mediocre/not that interesting plots in the past weren't good because they don't have anything in them. Almost nothing happens in them and comedy is almost nonexistent. This episode on other hand is fairly funny! It has different feel of comedy than most season 11 episodes, with much more mellow pacing and almost entirely absence of wacky visuals. This episode has many more subtle visual gags and many dialogue humor. Not that season 11 lacks it like some folks believe, but this episode have more focus on it than usual season 11 episode. Admittedly the funniest part of this episode is Squidward. His entire sub-plot is hilarious, he has best lines and gags focused on him. "OH, GOOD NEPTUNE! I'M GOING THROUGH PUBERTY AGAIN!!!" is one of the best season 11 lines for sure. Another positivity, it's the only episode about Moon that actually about... Moon. Sandy's Rocket isn't about it, Mooncation literally spends three or so minutes on Moon and nothing else. This episode features Moon much more and explores it as much more surreal and interesting place.

Since Nickelodeon advertised this part of the episode as much as it could, here we go... This episode does feature Santa Claus. And that's the most Christmas thing about this special. But Nick advertised it as full-on Christmas special which was just a really poor decision on so many levels. Recent Nick's ads were in general pretty bad, but those are almost levels of "Truth or Square" and "Clash of Triton" level of horrid ads. That is also the reason why some people don't care for this episode, but that's not episode's fault that it wasn't advertised properly, for crying out loud. It's not like "ToS" or "CoT", where episodes were bad regardless. This episode has much more going for than this terrible commercial campaign.

Alright, back on track, Santa in this episode is freaking hilarious. He has many awesome roasty one-liners and in general I really liked this characterization of Santa the most out of his three appearances. I hope show won't go that long to feature him in another episode, but if they do, at least re-use Santa from this episode, he was really fun to watch.

Another gripes with episode I have is "burp" scene which was... Not good. But this isn't the worst instance of toilet humor in this show and it kind of serves the plot, so I let it slide. What I can't let this episode slide is Pearl/Squidina sub-plot. It was really lame. It has some decent gags here and there, but the best thing about it is Squidina itself which is cute new character which was already confirmed to appear again, so at least this sub-plot wasn't entirely pointless. Pearl needs to have REAL friends her age, after all. She had only asshole friends before, so her friendship with Squidina is fun idea. But sub-plot is still lame.

Another thing I don't care much in this episode is SpongeBob. He himself wasn't annoying, but I dislike how Kaz flandirezed everyone's reactions to him. Santa treats him as menace, yet SpongeBob saved him in last Christmas special and good person in general. Yes, he messes stuff up in this episode, but it wasn't because of malicious intent. It came across to me as kind of mean-spirited. Yeah, this criticism is basically a joke by this point and kind of nitpick, but that's just how I feel about it personally. 

But overall this one of the few (probably only) special which doesn't feature grand story, but is saved by fun adventure atmosphere and good, sometimes even great comedy. But some issues drag this episode down a bit and I'd still liked this episode to have more conflict than it actually does. But still, for what it is, it's rather impressive, especially compared to Squirrel Jelly, which had less run-time but didn't had enough comedy like this episode does.

8/10

Next episode I review features Pearl too, I hope they do something interesting with her. See ya then!

[WhoBibbles]

Goons is an acceptable, entertaining and humorous special. It has issues but most of comedy in it, as well as unironically good randomness and fun sequences, the episode embraces how specials can be just you know "fun". Most of post-movie specials, even some of good ones try so hard to be a "special" that they forget how to make it fun. This is no way one of the best specials the show provided but it's a special that made me laugh and filled me with joy. That's a good accomplismsnt enough for me.

[Klu]

Okay I was kind of slacking off recently, so since i'm on my winter break, I will try to do two reviews at once every day! (we almost during final stretch anyway)

Well, let's get started.

Number 27.

Writer(s):
Andrew Goodman
Storyboard Artist(s):
John Trabbic

Post-sequel has few signature elements that help it stand-out compare to previous eras of SpongeBob. It has wackier animation style, tons of call-backs and continuity nods to previous episodes and sometimes movies and interesting character combinations. There's tons of characters in this show that never or barely interacted before, for many reasons. But being show that airs almost 20 years by this point, writers need to come up with more fresh ideas and why not use some character pairings that never were considered before? Some of them makes some sense, like using trio of main female leads in one episode. But some character combinations seem outlandish at first. Pearl and Squidward as main characters in one episode? Seems kind of ridiculous at first, but in reality, it's one of the better character-driven episodes in post-sequel as a whole. Let's dissect it more.

Pearl wants to go to the party with her new love interest - Dylan, but since Mr.Krabs is going to play cards (with boys), he can't allow this to happen, furthermore, hiring Squidward as her babysitter to watch her over in exchange of having one shift without SpongeBob in Krusty Krab (who is cooking Krabby Patties on this shift is another question, but alright). Pearl, of course, isn't fan of this turn of events and tries to sneak up to this cool teen party.

I like this episode for many reasons, but at first I want to talk about how unique it is. It has SpongeBob only in two cameos in this entire episode and that's it. He's more of a plot-device than an actual character, but it works here, since episode is focused on Pearl's and Squidward's relationship. I like how writers try to experiment like that and I hope that we will get another episode or two like that in season 12. 

Episode also is surprisingly clever with it's premise. It could've been easy just make this plot happen, but it has some backstory. Since we all know that Squidward works in Krusty Krabs for many years, it's not surprising that he babysit Pearl before. This makes episode's plot feel much more thought-out and character's interaction feel more natural. I like many comedic moments in this episode, Squidward is especially hilarious here, though I liked some Pearl-centric gags too, her, being so mean to Squidward is really funny to watch. Also it's probably controversial, but I liked "deadly tears" gag. Also, this episode is kind of heartwarming too. I know that Squidward was caring about Pearl at first only because of SpongeBob-less shift, but he didn't have to help to get back at Dylan, he did because he genuinely started to care about Pearl. And I liked this SO SO MUCH, please do more of that. And I'm not begging for another episode with dynamic between Squid and Pearl, but please, at least reference it again sometime. 

But this episode got some flaws, like, animation here seems kind of rough. Maybe it's only me who noticing it, but it's just feels really wonky at times and I'm not a fan how during "Surface party" bit of the episode, when fish teens jumping out of the water, they're "real-life" versions don't match their cartoony designs at all. Seems kind of lazy. Probably all of episode's budget have been used on stop-motion sequence, which was pretty well done. 

And besides rougher animation, there's just jokes that I don't like. And again, they are mostly coming from teen party bit of the episode. They weren't bad, but pretty mediocre overall. Not to mention that while I liked overall episode's comedy, it isn't really that consistently great. Episode focuses on it's unique character pairing and plot, which is okay, but other episodes of season 11 are kind of better in some regards compared to this episode.

Overall, this episode is pretty good, while it held back by some flaws, it can be considered one of the reasons why season 11 is so unique and worth a watch.

8/10

Number 26.

Writer(s):
Luke Brookshier
Storyboard Artist(s):
Brian Morante

Alright, with this episode, Luke Brookshier returned to SpongeBob. Honestly, I wasn't anticipating this episode's premiere at all. I'm usually defender/apologizer of post-sequel as a whole, but this episode sounded like a train-wreck to me. Iffy premise and one of post-movie writers return? I definitely wasn't looking forward to this one. But honestly, I was pleasantly surprised upon it's airing and since then Luke remained as my favorite post-sequel writer to date, with so far most consistent track record of good and even great episodes with only one slip-up so far. So, what are we waiting for? Let's dive into this episode and find out how good it actually is.

Episode starts with Squidward dancing around in his house while suddenly SpongeBob and Patrick interrupted him and started to annoy him. Finding out that they are bored, Squidward tries to get them away from myself as far as possible, giving them seemingly impossible items to find in their scavenger hunt game.

This episode's plot and comedy are fairly simple and formularic. Squidward gives SpongeBob and Patrick some kind of an item to find, they do that, bring this item to Squidward, this somehow backfires and Squidward sends them away again. At first, seems like this episode is fairly boring and lazily-written, but despite simple and formularic structure, this episode works pretty well, because of this season's creativeness. Locations that SpongeBob and Patrick visit are usually pretty distinctive visually and their's adventures are pretty fun to watch overall. Punchline of Squidward's getting some sort of punishment because of brought item is maybe the same, but varied enough to work. This episode as a whole shows some Luke's shticks that will pop up in his future episodes, like many, MANY puns and some memorable one-liners. But that's only first half of the episode, second half is when episode REALLY picks up. Basically when Squidward sends SpongeBob and Patrick to find his "long-lost" brother this episode bumps in quality pretty hard. It becomes much funnier and exciting to watch, almost every joke being a hit. And this twist-ending, while might be predictable to some, is pretty hilarious either way.

But this episode has some flaws and main flaw is some scenes at Squidward's house. Like in the beginning and some of the scenes in the middle. SpongeBob and Patrick are kind of too annoying during them for their own good and sometimes feel like their season 6 selves. But thankfully, they aren't like that during all 11 minutes, but I could've easily lived without characterization like that. And while I said that I liked episode's structure, I didn't liked some punchlines, like Loch Ness monster eating Squidward (it was fairly predictable and since it was predictable, it isn't funny).

It's pretty strong and enjoyable start for returning writer that will be doing more more greatness in this season's future.

8/10

[WhoBibbles]

now, these are episodes I actually really like. 

Whale Watching is such a cool episode to focus on a different dynamic we've never seen before and it just works out well. Pearl and Squidward dynamic is really compelling and they play off each other so amusingly. It's not exactly one of my favorites of the season but still, we need more episodes that switch up the usual dynamics the show provides us.

Scavenger Pants is a welcome of Luke's return and for his first episode of the new era, it's fairly hilarious and fun to sit through. He used the usual Squidward annoying gimmick into something truly creative. I'm not too crazy for this but it's an episode that I enjoyed during first watch.