The Play's the Thing (SpongeBob SquarePants)

"The Play's the Thing"
Haven't we done this before?
Series: SpongeBob SquarePants Part of Season: 7 Episode Number: 138a (223-723) Air Date: March 26, 2010 Writer: Luke Brookshier Nate Cash Steven Banks Director: Vincent Waller Previous episode: Gary in Love One Coarse Meal (Airing order) (223-722) Next episode: Rodeo Daze The Bad Guy Club for Villains (223-724) SpongeBob's Last Stand (Airing order)

The Play's the Thing is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season seven and it first aired on March 26, 2010.

Plot

Squidward executes his play in the Krusty Krab.

Why This Play Should Be Shut Down

1. " The Play's the Thing" blatantly takes elements from "Culture Shock", with both episodes involving:
   • Squidward hosting an event at the Krusty Krab.
   • Squidward's act is hated.
   • The patrons throwing food at him.
   • Mr. Krabs expecting another show due to the success, even though he and SpongeBob already screwed things up.
2. The plot is uninteresting, not only for recycling elements from "Culture Shock", but also for watering down the charm of the aforementioned episode, as well as this repetitive gag of Squidward trying to recite his lines for his play, singing to the audience how much he whines and moans about his life, only to get interrupted by a customer who orders a meal, let alone the entire episode taking place at the Krusty Krab.
3. Mr. Krabs is still unlikable, as he lacks any regard for his own two employees, as usual.
4. Patrick is pointlessly and forcefully shoehorned in out-of-nowhere just to convinces the customers to continue throwing Krabby Patties at SpongeBob and Squidward after throwing one at SpongeBob, despite SpongeBob's plea not to do it.
5. Terrible ending: The customers are not happy when they find out the patties are burnt, and Squidward tells them they wouldn't know quality "if it hit them in the face," to which a customer throws his patty at him. The rest of the customers are eager to join in, but SpongeBob encourages them to respect the Krabby Patty. But just as it looks like SpongeBob manage to win them over and it looks like this episode's gonna end well, Patrick(who is pointlessly shoehorned as mentioned in WIS#5) shows up out-of-nowhere at this very moment stating that he "likes throwing food", and the food fight breaks out after Patrick throws a Krabby Patty at SpongeBob. Mr. Krabs sells customers things to throw at his employees. When the food fight is over, Squidward and SpongeBob are badly injured and Mr. Krabs tells them he has two more shows due to the success, meaning that both SpongeBob and Squidward are going to be tortured again by the customers. Because of this, Squidward and SpongeBob laugh maniacally and Squidward gets hit by another Krabby Patty while SpongeBob is still laughing maniacally and the episode ends there.
6. Overall, this episode is the result you get if you combine a Squidward and SpongeBob torture episode into one nasty combination.

Redeeming Qualities

1. SpongeBob and Squidward are the only likable characters in this episode.
2. Funny moments by this episode's standards and 2010's standards here and there, including:
   • In the beginning, SpongeBob saying "Pee!" after Squidward said "Whoo!" could be funny to some fans.
   • While it was very unnecessary for SpongeBob to have a Krabby Patty be thrown at him by Patrick, and later on have many more food be thrown at him by the customers, this can be seen as some good Karma on SpongeBob after his infamous out-of-nowhere moment of betraying Plankton from an infamous episode, and can be seen as really hilarious.
   • Plankton's cameo when the Krusty Krab customers throw Krabby Patties at SpongeBob and Squidward can be considered funny by some fans.
3. The animation in this episode is still decent per usual and the voice acting's still well-done in this episode.
4. The first few minutes were pretty good as SpongeBob trying to blow some balloons shapes them into "Balloon Squidward".
5. The title card is great and well-animated, especially with the purple background of the title card of this episode, even though it looks similar to other episodes.
6. It's sister episodes, "Rodeo Daze", despite being average at best, "The Bad Guy Club for Villains" (in number code) and "SpongeBob's Last Stand" (in airing order) is way better than this episode, especially for "The Bad Guy Club for Villains".

Trivia

• This is the first episode to introduce the tracks "Peg Leg Waltz," "Lopey Sailor's Jig," "Tip Toe Jig 2," "It's Showtime," "Accordeon Ta-Da 1-4," Broken Hearted Frycook," "Melodramatic Moments," "Jolly Little Roger," and "Another Tragic Tale Of Woe."

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