#someonewannarewritethisepisode

[konekoryuugamine]

Riffing the Reef: “Greasy Buffoons”

This episode made me gag. No joke. Someone has a sick sense of humor at some studio. Spongebob is owned by Stephen Hillenburg and I am only going over the episodes I feel miss the point of the show. Please read and enjoy.    As I stated in the first "Riffing the Reef", Mr. Krabs has become a character I despise with every moral fiber of my being. He's the itemization of Greed within this show, possibly within all cartoons, more so than Mr. Burns.    Yeah, I went there.    Krabs did have a good dimension of character in pre-movie episodes of Spongebob and was even shown he cared deeply for his crew and family in several episodes. He cared for Pearl in "Culture Shock", he defended Spongebob in "Born Again Krabs", and in "Squid on Strike" he admitted he needed Spongebob and Squidward to help him. His cheap nature was often kept as a joke, like in "Imitation Krabs", but it was kept subtle for his better parts to show. And yes, in some episodes like "Krabby Land" and "The Patty Caper", he got what was coming to him.    THANKFULLY.

   However, many an episode exists where he is not placed at fault with his immoral actions, and he is not portrayed as the dimensional character he ONCE was.    I saw ONCE because the old Mr. Krabs is gone and dead.    He has become villainous, a criminal, and a downright jack-ss to his employers, murderous, cheap and disgusting as I'll get out, and has resorted to often letting his family and friends take the brunt of his actions. Krabs has become flanderized to the point where he is the character I want to see set in boiling oil and served with a side of butter.    And that DID happen in a modern Spongebob episode, albeit it was in about season 4 or 5, but I digress.    Evidence of his flanderization and bastardization go from "Drive-Thru", "Summer Job", "Krabby Kronicle", "Penny Foolish" and that one episode where he used Gary to acquire stolen money to "One Coarse Meal", "Cracked Krabs", "Spongebob, You're Fired" and "The Krusty Sponge".    I'll tackle those, especially a certain one, in the near future, but for now, I want to take a look at one that involves his greedy nature, Plankton and almost everything wrong with a modern Spongebob episode in one swoop.    "Greasy Buffoons".    This episode is disgusting, beyond annoying and shows Krabs as a jerk and Plankton as a somewhat good-guy here. I actually gagged when I watched it. And instantly realized why my mom suddenly banned my sisters and I from watching the show years ago. 

   Spongebob is actually in character for this episode as well, so that is also a problem in its own right, but the real problem stems from the plot itself.    Spongebob, after slipping on a grease slick on the kitchen floor, and ADMITTING TO KRABS HE FELT HE BROKE SOMETHING, Krabs sees the grease trap is overflowing and says that they have to empty it, adding "for no extra pay".    Note how Squidward actually vanishes at this point. I cannot blame him.    Already the problem is that Krabs was ignorant of his own employees, even saying THEY had to clean out the grease trap. He specifically states that it was a job for two employees to do for no extra pay. Funny or not, it's just a bad thing to mention. He was also ignorant of Spongebob's overall health prognosis, even when he stated he felt hurt.    You would think after so long, Spongebob would be an assent for Mr. Krabs, but oftentimes the Krab treats him as a slave, a dirt monkey, or worse. Several episodes like "Staycation" and "WhoBob WhatPants" show he cares little for paying him for his services and often will resort to belittling him in other episodes. However, he's not above trying to get his 'Golden Boy' back when he's not making money in the restaurant, also like in "WhoBob Whatpants".     That episode is already on my list . . .    Already I'm talking about this crab, but that's the least obstructive point in the episode.    The REAL meat of the story begins when Krabs and Spongebob, (more or less from Krabs' directions), dump the excess grease behind the Chum Bucket. Spongebob, as they drive off, asks Mr. Krabs if that was legal.    Krabs replies with " Le-gale?"    . . .    I've stated this before, and I'll state it again: I despise this character. He's been disciplined, he's been in the Navy, he's been a cook and a cleaner on several ships for the love of Neptune! He would be familiar with the concept of Johnny Law, even with basic commands like 'Attention' and 'Cleanliness'.    This line ALONE shows that Krabs has become a purely evil character, as he dumped a highly toxic and/or strange chemical behind his rival's restaurant and did not know it was a bad thing.    This is being blind to morality, or genuine idiocy enforced on the character due to the plot.    THIS IS A BAD THING.    Another thing is YES, it IS illegal to dump these kinds of chemicals on the ground like that. It can cause toxicity to the environment, the removal of any kind of soil, and can destroy whole ecosystems. He would also lose his vendor's license, but let's not GO THERE NOW!    Plankton finds the goop the next morning and immediately notices it tastes amazing. He takes it and uses it to make his chum taste better, which it actually might, and brings in customers who don't seem to hate his food.    Another problem or two I have with this episode is how Plankton is portrayed, and how the rivalry between Krabs and Plankton is seen as a fast-food competition with GREASE equaling FLAVOR.    First off, Plankton tells Krabs, (after Krabs uses a terribly written pun and/or 4th wall-breaking joke), that he was visited by the "Flavor Fairy", and that he was legitimately using it. The point does remain that Plankton was using Krabby Patty grease to mix with his chum, and Krabs DID dump it illegally on his property. The debate over whether or not Plankton 'stole' the flavor is varied, but in my honest opinion, since Krabs got rid of it, Plankton could use it as he pleased.    Krabs, being the jerk sod he is, doesn't want the trilobite to have a SINGLE customer, and given Plankton's past attempts at selling his chum, I cannot blame him here. The best example would be for "Spongicus" when he grotesquely described what was in his chum on a stick.    I felt nauseated when I heard he put anchor rust in there.    However, the greedy crustacean takes it too far as he uses the grease from his own patties to make them 'tastier', and gives them 'new and amazing' names to go with it. Krabs is being played as the good guy in this part, while Plankton is being placed as the villain still.     The problem is Plankton did not do anything morally or legally wrong. Plankton is not at fault, nor was he ever at fault. All he is guilty of is using grease that was disposed of on the ground, which may or may not end up making his customers sick with bacteria. 

   Come to think of it, that would have been a far better angle to take on this episode. Krabs disposes of the grease, Plankton begins to use it, and Krabs knows even mixing the Krabby Batty grease with the chum would cause some disaster for Bikini Bottomites, so he recruits Spongebob to help eliminate the grease and right his wrong.

   THEN AGAIN, this is Spongebob, so when has logic been applied before?    Another note I have to address is it's been proven by numerous studies that an intake of too much grease can lead to obesity, increased heart problems, breathing problems, etc. Just because it makes something taste better does not mean is it going to be good for your body. These two should have known about health codes and regulations in the first place to earn their vendor's licenses, and to even open their restaurants.    And they did, once upon a time.    This episode carelessly uses the grease as a plot device to start the conflict between the two, and create a stir of activity between their food. The two each try to outdo the other, even to the point where Krabs is serving 'Yummy Soup', which in reality is grease on a paper plate.    DISGUSTING DOES NOT EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE IT.    A minor argument can also be made that the same customers who rush back and forth between the two restaurants are also at fault, mostly because they buy into the hypes the two monsters generate over their 'tasty' foods. Grease is sprayed between fish, they grow obese and become covered in the grotesque stuff, and one even SPITS IT OUT AS HE TALKED TO SPONGEBOB.    There are lines to draw here. It is gross.    This episode legitimately made me ill to watch.    The customers here are also written to serve the plot and are portrayed as stupid and ignorant of their surroundings. A general consensus of Bikini Bottomites from previous episodes have often shown intelligence, even a collective conscience, but THIS is just stupidity for the sake of the plot.    The entire time this goes on, Krabs is egging on the competition as much as Plankton is. He is raking in the money and cares nothing for his employees, NOR for his customers. All he cares about is money, money, money, money, MONEY.    The old Krabs would actually abide by his customers, like in the episode "Bubble Buddy". He’d care about the customer and even go so far as to chew an elderly lady’s patty for her.    Here, he’s shown to be completely ignorant of the customers' conditions and of Spongebob's thoughts towards how feeding people grease of this amount is a BAD thing.    The krab has been cracked; no pun intended on any future riffing episode.    The only saving grace of the episode is that Spongebob, close as he is to his original personality, calls the health inspector, and admits that the two have been feeding people grease for, as he says, two weeks. For SPONGEBOB of all people to do this, after seeing Patrick suffering, is the best thing in this episode. He recognized the immorality of Krabs and Plankton's actions while also admitting what he was doing as the cook was wrong.    The inspector being here is also an unexpected part. If this were another episode, Krabs and Plankton would have been arrested and the restaurants would have been destroyed from grease fires.    However, there was a gas and fire joke in "Just One Bite", and that was edited for safety's sake after 9/11, so who am I to say now about this?    The episode's conclusion shows the restaurants being shut down until they become clean, which, if it had ended there, would have been a satisfying conclusion for a mediocre episode. Krabs would have been punished for his immoral actions, karma would have taken its course and we would end on a happy note for once.    BUT NO.    Spongebob soaks up the grease, tells Krabs that he will dispose of it properly, and Krabs is stuck in a dream-like state because he fell asleep outside and had one of those "it was all a dream" moments. Patrick then comes out of literal nowhere and starts licking Spongebob for the grease, and Krabs ends the episode with a questionable thinking expression.    THIS is a bad ending and a bad idea.    KRABS should have been the one to help clean up his own mess, NOT Spongebob. This is averting him from accepting what he did was wrong and for taking the blame for his actions. Spongebob cleaning up his mess is not a good way to end this kind of story, nor is it a good idea for Krabs to continuously have evil thoughts like this while Spongebob is being pursued by Patrick.    I can only speculate what he was thinking, but I feel it was along the lines of him using Spongebob for more grease and Krabby patties again.    This makes Krabs even more of a Karma Houdini. He was caught, but SPONGEBOB was the one who cleaned up his mess. And he still gets allowed the chance to make the same scam going again thanks to Spongebob’s golden boy attitude. No punishment, no permanent comeuppance, all for the sake of some cheap laugh.    This just teaches the wrong lesson in morality as well as how people should not go about running restaurants.    And this was in a MODERN kid's cartoon.    Overall, this episode shows Krabs as a jerk and a terrible person. He's ignorant to the law, (which from previous episodes deviates from his character), unfaithful to his employees and uncaring to the customers he once showed small amounts of compassion for. Spongebob is the only person who is still in character and Plankton was shoe-horned in for the sake of the plot, like the grease itself. The citizens are devoid of intelligence and Patrick is only here because “laugh, monkey”. It demonstrated both immorality and careless writing on part of it being an 'entertaining' story.