Review: Spongebob SquarePants “Mall Girl Pearl; Two Thumbs Down”

Spongebob

Spoilers Below

Mall Girl Pearl

Pearl decides to get a job at the mall because all of her friends work there too. After a string of bad luck in finding a gig, Pearl meets the manager of Grandma’s Apron and is able to secure a position there.  When her friends hear about the new job, they give Pearl a hard time at working at a store that sells stuff to the elderly. After a while, store manager Beatrice gets annoyed with Pearl’s friends and teaches them a hard lesson in manners.

Our Take

I love episodes of Spongebob Squarepants that feature episodes not with all Spongebob. The show has such a large cast of characters that this show can get away with having full shows without its titular star. This week’s episode seems a bit too cliche, however. Kids getting jobs at the mall has happened a thousand times, and even with Betty White stepping in for an important role, there wasn’t enough to keep me interested.

Score

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Two Thumbs Down

Spongebob’s thumbs are a sign of a good job, but he ends up abusing the gesture so much that he destroys his precious appendages. The doctor tells Spongebob that he may have to think of a future without his thumbs which sucks because Spongebob kind of needs them for work. Mr. Krab fries the fry cook and gives the gig to Patrick. Days later, Sandra finds Spongebob as a shut-in, depressed that he’ll never be able to use his thumbs again. After stewing in self pity for a while, Spongebob opts for thumb rehab. He’s able to get his fingers to the point of defeating Patrick at a thumb war thereby warranting him his job back.

Our Take

I think the producers should’ve named this “two thumbs up” because that would’ve been closer to the actual score the show gets. I thought this episode reached back to the earlier Spongebob in that we got to see some of the Looney Tunes DNA that the show used to be so good at exhibiting.

Score

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