Review: SpongeBob SquarePants ‘What’s Eating Patrick?’

Spoilers Below:

Now that SpongeBob has found a little consistency in both its output and timeslot – and I actually remember to cover it (sorry, John!) – ol’ Gonzlord Green is back on the beat with our favorite yellow friend.

This episode began with a Founder’s Day celebration and krabby patty eating contest, which was in danger of being a failure when all but one contestant dropped out. In order to not lose out on the money, Krabs chose Patrick to compete, and trained him. Pat got discouraged at one point, but Mr. Krabs pushed him to continue.

During the contest, the opponent took an early lead, but Patrick drew inspiration from the little boy with the hurt foot, and pulled out a win.

In Case You Missed It:

1) Mr. Krabs literally greases wheels.

2) Patrick ordered 47 krabby patties for his light lunch.

3) Patrick’s one-toothed smile is still one of my favorite parts of the show.

4) During the training, SpongeBob was dressed like Mickey from Rocky.

5) Patrick’s file photo showed him with a chair stuck on his head.

This was a solid premise for a SpongeBob episode. Patrick Star is a great main character, installments that take place at the Krusty Krab are usually entertaining, and the idea of an eating contest seems ripe for laughs.

But it wasn’t as successful as you’d think. There wasn’t much to point to specifically, it was just an amusing episode that lacked a large number of quality jokes. It had its moments (like above) that really landed, and also a few comments like SpongeBob’s assertion about Patrick’s opponent’s tax situation that were especially good.

Given the content, the installment leaned a bit more on visual gags, which is fine, but the writing took a backseat in these moments.

Overall, this was a decent showing for our Bikini Bottom friends, but definitely not one of the stronger efforts.