As usual, I picked up the Season 5 DVD collection (part one, of course) a few weeks ago.
Most of the episodes I hadn't already seen were quite good--more on them in a moment.
There was one episode, however, that is hands-down the worst episode I've ever seen, from any season: "To Love a Patty." This episode was so bad, I don't even know where to begin. This clearly intermixes all the already-discussed weaknesses of post-season 3 SB and adds new elements. When I see the part where SB is karate-chopping the clams, the episodes "The Smoking Peanut" and "Rock-a-bye Bivalve" come immediately to mind. What a contrast! There's no excuse for this. Beside a few isolated funny lines (such as Squid's comment regarding his therapist), this episode is truly horrible, through and through.
This episode was written by Casey Alexander and Zeus Cervas. Of concern is the last episode they wrote--"Bucket Sweet Bucket"--wasn't that great either.
The others, however, were generally quite good:
SpongeBob v. The Patty Gadget: Cute and clever, and did well with the rhyming.
Money Talks: This was a great concept for an episode; I'm surprised this plotline wasn't done in an earlier season. The only disappointment was that they could have done so much more with it. This should have been a regular 11-minute episode.
*favorite line, from the nickel: "Please, don't start singing again!!!"
Slimy Dancing: The best 5th season episode so far, in my opinion. While the Alexander/Cervas offering are quickly souring, the Nate Cash/Tuck Tucker episodes are getting better with each new one. The "epilogue" was kind of dumb and seemed forced, but the rest was great.
*favorite line, from Squidward: "MYUSIC, PLEAZE!!!" Squid's performance was great, with the off-key music and all. LOL
The Krusty Sponge: The first half was excellent--especially when the food critic visits the Krusty Krab and the newscast as well. The second half was just OK, nothing spectacular.
*favorite line, from Bob the newscaster: "You're welcome Gene!" *awkward pause and silence*
(I also like the bib that says "I soiled myself at the Krusty Sponge")
Sing a Song of Patrick: I actually didn't like this one the first time, but subsequent views changed my opinion on that. Not the best thing we've seen from Brookshier et. al., but still pretty good.
*favorite lines, from Squidward and Patrick: "Is Patrick thinking again?" "I'm thinking art!!!"
I really hope episodes like "To Love a Patty" remain few and far between. It does provide a compelling example of what NOT to do in an SB episode (on the very off-chance that the writers actually come here and read these.)
Beyond this, season 5 hasn't turned out half bad at all. We'll see what the second half brings.
