Written by Kyle McCulloch and Jack Pendarvis (The Fishbowl) / Josh Androsky and Daniel Dominguez (Married to Money)
Storyboard by John Trabbic (The Fishbowl) / Lynne Naylor (Married to Money)
Animation Directors: Alan Smart and Tom Yasumi
Original air date: 5/2/2016 (produced in 2015)
"The Fishbowl" contains examples of:
- Acting Unnatural: Sandy wants to observe SpongeBob and Patrick acting natural, but when she starts recording data, they start acting very unnatural.
- Brick Joke: When Sandy first decides to experiment on Patrick and SpongeBob, she shouts "Eureka", which then cuts to a gold-fishing prospector saying "That's my line". Sandy later says "Double Eureka" and it cuts to two prospectors saying "That's our line".
- Didn't See That Coming: Sandy says this word-per-word when she sees SpongeBob and Patrick beginning to fight each other.
- Dissension Remorse: SpongeBob and Patrick immediately stop their fighting when Sandy arrives to reveal she was filming them for an experiment.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Upon finding out that Gary was helping Sandy study them, SpongeBob responds with "Et tu, Gary?"
- Feud Episode: Sandy's meddling with the experiment ends up degrading into one between SpongeBob and Patrick.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: Of Patrick's feet when he makes SpongeBob rub them.
- Imagine Spot: Patrick has one on being the head of his own corporation and doing nothing but playing with the telephone and spilling a cup of coffee on the ground.
- Jerkass Ball: One of the complaints for this episode was that Patrick is a jerk to SpongeBob when he is put in charge. He does have a Jerkass Realization, though.
- Hollywood Psych: Sandy's "experiment" breaks some critical rules.
- There's no hypothesis or questions asked. What data is Sandy looking for? What does she expect the results to be? How would other researchers be able to reproduce this test? The goals of exactly what Sandy is trying to accomplish here are unclear to begin with.
- Sandy consistently refers to what she's doing as an "experiment". This does not fit the definition, as it does not have a control group or defined variables.
- Sandy's description of "I observe you while you two act normal" would befit a naturalistic observation. The key point of this is that researchers must not disturb the participants or their environment. Sandy explicitly tells SpongeBob and Patrick about the observation, which means the data is incredibly skewed.
- The informed consent process, where the researcher tells the subjects anything they might be expected to do, is very brief and nonspecific in this episode. There is also no debriefing process at the end, where the researcher explains the purpose of the test and any deception they may have used. By not including these processes, Sandy breaks the rules of ethical studies.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Patrick realizes he was a monster after being a Jerkass to SpongeBob in this episode.
- Rage Breaking Point: SpongeBob finally snaps and steams with anger when Patrick eats his ice cream.
- Running Gag:
- Squidward not getting his ice cream.
- SpongeBob and Patrick freezing like robots whenever they realize they are being filmed.
- Sanity Slippage: Squidward getting upset that there’s no more ice cream in the end of the episode.
- Showdown at High Noon: SpongeBob and Patrick end up igniting this when Patrick drops his ice cream, complete with letterbox shots and western music.
- Stanford Prison Experiment: Sandy's experiment is a Whole-Plot Reference to this.
- You Need a Breath Mint: When Sandy invites SpongeBob and Patrick to help out with her experiments, Patrick mishears this and his bad breath burns his face. Patrick then says, "I could use a mint!"
- Your Head Asplode: Patrick's head explodes when he realizes that "Mr. Pavlovi" the ice cream vendor is actually Sandy in disguise.
Original air date: 5/3/2016 (produced in 2015)
"Married to Money" contains examples of:
- Bouquet Toss: SpongeBob quickly constructs a bouquet for Cashina to toss. A lot of women, including Mrs. Puff, clamor for it. But Patrick ends up catching it in his mouth and swallowing it.
- Call-Back:
- The sea bear from "The Camping Episode" makes a return as part of Plankton's plan to steal the formula.
- Just as he did in "Truth or Square", SpongeBob sets up an extremely low-budget party for the Krusty Krab using the restaurant's food and condiments.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Pearl is hostile to the idea of gaining a stepmother on the basis that she would get mistreated akin to Cinderella. Mr. Krabs' reaction implies it's not the first time she's gotten fiction and reality confused.Pearl: No way! I have seen stepmoms in movies, Dad. She'll make me sweep up the cinders, and then she won't let me go to the ball! And then I'll never meet my Prince Charming!
Mr. Krabs: Ya know, we're gonna have to have another talk about fantasy and reality. - Downer Ending: Mr. Krabs is about to reveal the secret formula to Cashina, only to suddenly get emotional and tear up. One of said tears causes Plankton's control panel to short circuit, and Cashina blows up, revealing herself as Plankton. Mr. Krabs is too emotionally devastated to even bother crushing Plankton, choosing to bemoan his loneliness to him instead. Plankton, being Plankton, then insults Krabs and leaves him crying in his hotel room, vowing to get the formula someday.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets: It is mentioned that Mr. Krabs wet his bed until he was 40.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Plankton says this to Mr. Krabs after the latter becomes depressed from finding out Cashina was Plankton in disguise.Plankton: Get a hold of yourself Krabs.
- Iris Out: The first HD episode to end with this, before becoming a prominent example in future seasons.
- Karma Houdini: Besides leaving empty-handed as usual, Plankton doesn't receive any comeuppance for destroying Mr. Krabs' heart.
- Mini-Mecha: Plankton used this under a false identity Cashina.
- Money Fetish: Mr. Krabs exaggerates it here by being in a relationship with a sentient wad of money.
- The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Mr. Krabs introduces himself to Cashina this way.
- Ocular Gushers: When Pearl worries that Cashina will treat her like a slave, her tears flood the house and Mr. Krabs pulls a plug from the floor to drain Pearl's tears.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Cashina was actually Plankton. This is actually the 5th time he disguises himself for the sake of the plot.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Pearl is completely correct to be suspicious of Cashina. However, she's suspicious on the basis that Cashina would become her stepmom and mistreat her, when in actuality it's because Cashina is actually Plankton in disguise as part of another scheme to steal the formula.
- Shock and Awe: This happens twice when Mr. Krabs kisses Cashina.
- Spaghetti Kiss: Subverted: Mr. Krabs and Cashina do end up pulling on the same piece, but Plankton cuts it off before they can kiss.
- Took a Level in Badass: In "The Camping Episode", SpongeBob was afraid of sea bears to the point where his only means of defense was to draw a circle in the sand to keep one away. In this episode, he's become capable of taming numerous sea bears at once.
- Why Don't You Marry It?: After Plankton's failed attempts to get the Krabby Patty secret formula in the beginning, he mocks Mr. Krabs's love for money and asks why doesn't he marry it. To which Mr. Krabs replies sadly that he would if he could.
- Wingding Eyes: One of the sea bears has hearts in its eyes when SpongeBob covers himself in jellyfish honey.
- You Monster!: Mr. Krabs says the phrase verbatim after Cashina is revealed to be Plankton.
