InSPONGEiac (SpongeBob SquarePants)

InSPONGEiac
"Oh, yuck!" -SpongeBob
Series: SpongeBob SquarePants Part of Season: 8 Episode Number: 171b Air Date: April 9, 2012 Writer: Casey Alexander Zeus Cervas Doug Lawrence Director: Vincent Waller Previous episode: Karen 2.0 Next episode: Face Freeze!

"InSPONGEiac" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from the eighth season.

Plot

Mr. Krabs gets mad at SpongeBob for putting too much mustard on the Krabby Patty due to the latter not getting enough sleep and sends him away from the Krusty Krab, hoping that the sponge will fall asleep well for the next day.

Why It Can't Get Enough Sleep

1. The premise is very generic, unfair, contrived and idiotic: SpongeBob cannot complete his work shift because he is too tired, and so he goes home to rest, only it doesn't go the right way.
   • Since when on Earth was it established that SpongeBob is too tired to work his shift?
2. Very misleading title: The episode would imply that the plot would be about SpongeBob having "Insomnia", but if you kind of look at it in the plot respective, SpongeBob doesn't really have "Insomnia" (as Insomnia is something that makes people not sleep for days to months), but rather he's just having trouble sleeping for ONE night.
3. Mr. Krabs is not only obnoxious in this episode but also a complete idiot, whose reasons are foolish: he wants to send SpongeBob home because he thinks he's tired, just from putting in a little too much mustard (an extra 1% ) on the Krabby Patty! It becomes even more glaring when he mentions that he will go bankrupt like this!
4. Much like some previous episodes, it's infamous for being a very cruel SpongeBob torture episode.
   1. This episode inflicts unnecessary phnishment for the poor lad, such as his guilt-tripping courtesy of good ol' Mr. Krabs. He also suffers through to the end, not too different from other torture episodes usually featuring his grouchy neighbor.
5. Various filler scenes like the scene where SpongeBob tries to sleep while drinking milk or Patrick's annoying song "Get Up, Be Active".
6. Similar to another infamous episode, SpongeBob tries to ask Patrick for help to be able to fight insomnia, only instead of helping him, Patrick makes his situation worse.
   • Speaking of Patrick, he is completely useless and insufferably annoying as he does the opposite of what SpongeBob wants him to do, for the sake of a poorly-written attempt at hypocritical humor, for example:
     • Patrick reads a bedtime story to SpongeBob, which at first seems to work, only for him to say exciting things, this is because the book that Patrick is reading is called "The Land of Perpetual Excitement", the plot of which has to do with waking up.
     • After this, Patrick then sings a lullaby to SpongeBob, which turns out to be a loop of the phrases "get up", "be active" and "don't lie down".
     • Finally, Patrick advises SpongeBob on a particular medicine that perhaps will help him sleep, only the medicine turns out to be coffee, which leads SpongeBob to go crazy and run outside.
       • While it's nice that Patrick is not being an unlikable jerk like he was the first time SpongeBob needed help from him, what is not nice is that he is just too stupid and useless to even bother helping SpongeBob out with his insomnia problem.
7. The SpongeBob nightmare sequence is highly disturbing and edgy, especially for the scene where a large Mr. Krabs chase after SpongeBob with eyes as sauce dispensers.
8. After SpongeBob's nightmare is over, we discover that he has been sleeping in Gary's litter box all this time, which is very gross.
   • On that subject, this scene in particular leads to a plot hole: Was the first half of the episode just a dream all along?
9. Horrible ending: SpongeBob (still tired) enters the Krusty Krab with the remains of Gary's litter still on, goes to the kitchen, and enters the mustard barrel. Then after Mr. Krabs pulls him out of the mustard barrel and asks what happened, SpongeBob confesses to Mr. Krabs that insomnia got the better of him, so he starts to cry, only his tears pour the right amount of mustard on the Krabby Patties. The episode ends with SpongeBob crying as Mr. Krabs encourages him to cry more and Squidward laughing, which is just plain cruel, not to mention disgusting.
10. Wasted potential of an interesting episode: The idea of an episode that centers around insomnia was a good idea on paper, also because the middle of the episode focus on SpongeBob and Patrick, it would have come up with some creative gags and even some helpful tips on how to get rid of Insomnia, but instead, the episode does a terrible job of teaching children how to combat insomnia.
    • Fun fact: This episode was going to have Mr. Krabs deal with insomnia, which would have been a much better idea of an episode, but the plot was changed to have SpongeBob deal with it for no apparent reason and was rewritten. This is what happens when Nickelodeon forces Executive meddling to do the job.
11. Even if a fair amount of mustard has been poured on the patties, it would still be contaminated because it came from inside SpongeBob's battered, dirtied and tired body alone, due to them coming out of his eyes. The only saving grace to this is the show's cartoonic nature and the fact that the Krusty Krab still is extremely popular.
    • Speaking of which, SpongeBob crying mustard is gross.
12. Neither Mr. Krabs nor Patrick of that matter get punished for their actions against poor SpongeBob.
13. The title card is extremely creepy and disturbing to look at since it shows a close-up of SpongeBob's eyes being tired.
    • Speaking of which, there is another closeup of SpongeBob's tired eyes later in the episode that is much more disturbing for everyone no thanks to the extra detail. It was also reused from the episode "Night Light" just zoomed in.
14. Squidward had no purpose to the story in this episode. He was there in the end just to be happy to see SpongeBob cry out mustard.
15. Bad Moral: The moral states that it is ok to guilt-trip someone to make them do what you want, this is shown by Mr, Krabs guilt tripping poor Spongebob that sleep is important, and near the end when he makes Spongebob cry out mustard.

Redeeming Qualities

1. While the ending is cruel, seeing Squidward laugh at SpongeBob in the ending can be satisfying when you consider all the times he's been tortured by him.
2. Although flanderized in this episode, Patrick looks a lot more pleasant than normal, and can be downright hilarious at times.
   • Patrick singing "Get up, be active" is also funny, depending on your point of view.
3. The episode had a good premise on fighting insomnia. Unfortunately, as mentioned before in #12 of the "WIS" segment, it was poorly executed.
4. The title pun between "Sponge" and "Insomniac" is pretty decent.
5. Some jokes worked like when Patrick bit SpongeBob because he thought he was a sponge cake, SpongeBob said "Oh yuck!".
6. SpongeBob is a likable character.

Reception

Although it has a positive 7.0 / 10 rating on IMDb (due to its sister episode, Karen 2.0, which was well-received), this episode was heavily panned by Spongebob fans, critics, and internet reviewers due to how this episode insults people who also have Insomnia, the huge amount of unfair torturer SpongeBob goes though, Mr, Krabs being at his worst with his greed, Patrick being very pointless and not helping out SpongeBob and the cruel unfair ending.

PIEGUYRULZ, however thinks this episode is good, and this episode is QMBWVCMOUNTAIN's favorite episode of the entire series.

Trivia

• When Patrick bit SpongeBob because he thought he was a sponge cake, Spongebob said "Oh, yuck!", but several viewers thought it sounded like he said "Oh, f**k!". This has become a popular meme in 2021.
• The episode was originally meant to be about Mr. Krabs having Insomnia, as well as having a nightmare about being a large Sauce Dispenser monster, the idea was scrapped as it was deemed too scary for kids, the scene where a large Mr. Krabs with sauce dispensers for eyes chase after SpongeBob could be a call back to the original plot of the episode.

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