I'm super conflicted. The first episode, Just One Bite, is one of the best episodes of the series, so it's tragic to see it paired up with by far the worst episode in seasons 1-3, The Bully.
I could go on forever about what makes Just One Bite so great. On my rewatch of the show, I've noticed that season 3 really steps up the creativity of the visual gags, but this episode is the perfect demonstration of that. For example, in the montage of Spongebob trying to get Squidward to eat a Krabby Patty, not only are the locations of each montage scene fresh, but Spongebob's appearance also changes with the location. It's a subtle detail but it really goes to show the genius of the visual comedy.
The plot is also hilarious because we get to see a side of Squidward we've never seen before. His usual uncaring, pessimistic self is contrasted with someone who will do anything to eat a Krabby Patty. The premise alone is funny enough, but the way Squidward's desperation is shown, especially through all the exaggerated facial expressions, really elevates the comedy.
I completely forgot how many iconic moments are stuffed into this single episode, it's almost unbelievable. Listing all them off would be impossible. Sadly this episode is about a minute shorter than average because of a deleted scene. I wish it could've been longer, but overall this is such a great episode.
Then we get to the Bully... there are so many reasons why this episode sucks, but I'll get into the basics first, the plot. The whole episode consists of Spongebob being scared by the bully in various ways, which gets pretty old after a while. Normally a repetitive spongebob episode would make up for this with lots of creativity, but this episode is surprisingly lacking in jokes. As a result, it's kind of a slog to get through. The only hilarious moment is the iconic "how many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?"
Next I'll get into the treatment of the characters. Spongebob himself is fine, and he seems to be the only rational character in the entire city. The bully character is laughably shallow, who has no reason to want to beat up Spongebob. He's not interesting at all and super unrealistic. Ms. Puff is just stupid, because she dismisses Spongebob's complaints and believes the abuser instead. There's no way she would be so naive to believe the bully just wanted to be his friend. Another questionable scene is when Spongebob calls Patrick for help and for some reason the bully is at his house. This just seemed like a lazy way to remove Patrick from the plot.
Another reason why I hate this episode is the terrible messages it sends to kids. It feels borderline irresponsible to give kids the impression that bullies will stop at nothing to beat them up, and there's no one who can help them. If I were a kid who was getting bullied as a kid, this episode would have petrified me and made me remain silent about how I'm being treated. Cause who knows, maybe my parents would have invited the bully over for dinner! Another dangerous message is the ending. So it turns out that this whole time, Spongebob's fears were irrational because the bully can't hurt him! I'm sorry what??? This episode is sending the message to kids that their fears over bullies are imagined, and in reality there's nothing to be afraid of. This is probably the worst way they could have handled the ending. I'm shocked at how bad an old spongebob episode is. Before this episode, the show had been consistently great. Sorry Just one Bite, but I can't rate this episode highly because of how awful the second half is.
I could go on forever about what makes Just One Bite so great. On my rewatch of the show, I've noticed that season 3 really steps up the creativity of the visual gags, but this episode is the perfect demonstration of that. For example, in the montage of Spongebob trying to get Squidward to eat a Krabby Patty, not only are the locations of each montage scene fresh, but Spongebob's appearance also changes with the location. It's a subtle detail but it really goes to show the genius of the visual comedy.
The plot is also hilarious because we get to see a side of Squidward we've never seen before. His usual uncaring, pessimistic self is contrasted with someone who will do anything to eat a Krabby Patty. The premise alone is funny enough, but the way Squidward's desperation is shown, especially through all the exaggerated facial expressions, really elevates the comedy.
I completely forgot how many iconic moments are stuffed into this single episode, it's almost unbelievable. Listing all them off would be impossible. Sadly this episode is about a minute shorter than average because of a deleted scene. I wish it could've been longer, but overall this is such a great episode.
Then we get to the Bully... there are so many reasons why this episode sucks, but I'll get into the basics first, the plot. The whole episode consists of Spongebob being scared by the bully in various ways, which gets pretty old after a while. Normally a repetitive spongebob episode would make up for this with lots of creativity, but this episode is surprisingly lacking in jokes. As a result, it's kind of a slog to get through. The only hilarious moment is the iconic "how many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?"
Next I'll get into the treatment of the characters. Spongebob himself is fine, and he seems to be the only rational character in the entire city. The bully character is laughably shallow, who has no reason to want to beat up Spongebob. He's not interesting at all and super unrealistic. Ms. Puff is just stupid, because she dismisses Spongebob's complaints and believes the abuser instead. There's no way she would be so naive to believe the bully just wanted to be his friend. Another questionable scene is when Spongebob calls Patrick for help and for some reason the bully is at his house. This just seemed like a lazy way to remove Patrick from the plot.
Another reason why I hate this episode is the terrible messages it sends to kids. It feels borderline irresponsible to give kids the impression that bullies will stop at nothing to beat them up, and there's no one who can help them. If I were a kid who was getting bullied as a kid, this episode would have petrified me and made me remain silent about how I'm being treated. Cause who knows, maybe my parents would have invited the bully over for dinner! Another dangerous message is the ending. So it turns out that this whole time, Spongebob's fears were irrational because the bully can't hurt him! I'm sorry what??? This episode is sending the message to kids that their fears over bullies are imagined, and in reality there's nothing to be afraid of. This is probably the worst way they could have handled the ending. I'm shocked at how bad an old spongebob episode is. Before this episode, the show had been consistently great. Sorry Just one Bite, but I can't rate this episode highly because of how awful the second half is.