Recap / Sponge Bob Square Pants S 6 E 8 Patty Caper Planktons Regular

aka: Sponge Bob Square Pants S 6 E 7 Patty Caper Planktons Regular

Patty Caper

Original air date: 8/5/2008 (produced in 2007)

When a secret ingredient for the Krabby Patty is stolen, SpongeBob takes it upon himself to figure out who took it.

Patty Caper contains examples of:

• An Aesop:
  • Make sure you know all the important details before making an accusation.
  • The true culprit may be whom you'd least expect.
• Bad Boss: Mr. Krabs, who stole his own secret ingredient and tried to frame SpongeBob for it, just to save $1.99.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: After SpongeBob falsely accuses Gary of stealing the secret ingredient:
  Gary: Meow.
  SpongeBob: You're right, Gary, that is impossible. I never would have stopped to pull up my sock during a pickup!
• Big "NO!": SpongeBob does this when Mr. Krabs tells him that he has run out of the secret ingredient. He does it again upon discovering that the case that is supposed to contain the secret ingredient is empty.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Mr. Krabs is made to watch Krabby Patties be given away for free for stealing his own secret ingredient all because he wanted to save $1.99 and for trying to frame SpongeBob for it.
• Didn't Think This Through: Mr. Krabs on multiple fronts.
  • Even if he had gotten away with it, having SpongeBob arrested for stealing the secret ingredient would have tanked his business because only SpongeBob can cook Krabby Patties; Squidward is so bad at fry cooking that he burnt a milkshake, while Krabs can't even cook peas.
  • Mr. Krabs didn't consider what would happen if he was caught stealing. The result: he has to give away free Krabby Patties all day long, all because he wanted to save $1.99. Depending on the Writer, a single Krabby Patty usually costs more than that, never mind the literal boatloads people end up getting for free.
• The Dog Bites Back: After Mr. Krabs puts extreme pressure on him to protect the secret ingredient, and then tries to frame him for theft, Spongebob happily gives away free Krabby Patties. He does this while Mr. Krabs is sitting right next to him being restrained and forced to watch.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The police laugh while making Mr. Krabs watch Krabby Patties being given away for free.
• Fall Guy: SpongeBob almost became this, when he had no one left to accuse and Mr. Krabs suspected he stole the secret ingredient himself. This was but mere minutes before the reveal that the culprit was Mr. Krabs himself.
• Forced to Watch: While SpongeBob gives away free Krabby Patties, the police literally hold Mr. Krabs eyes open.
• Foreshadowing:
  • At the beginning, Mr. Krabs shows SpongeBob the bottle to the missing secret ingredient. Later when SpongeBob was almost arrested, he shows the bottle again, and it is revealed he stole it himself.
  • In the same scene, SpongeBob walks into Mr. Krabs' office dark, then Mr. Krabs shines a light from his desk onto him, causing him to shade his eyes from the glare as Mr. Krabs shows the secret ingredient bottle, possibly to prevent SpongeBob from seeing such and finding out the truth.
  • Mr. Krabs is briefly shocked when SpongeBob reveals his only clues of the suspect just before accusing him, giving a visual hint he matches up to everything SpongeBob described and tries to avoid blowing his cover.
  • When SpongeBob discovers the ingredient's been stolen and sees the hole in it, he says, "A thief must have cut a hole, and swiped the secret ingredient! But who?" Mr. Krabs immediately shows up right after he says this, almost as if on cue.
• Get Out!: After walking out of his house, Squidward says this to SpongeBob and Patrick, picks up his house, moves it away from them, and finally walks back inside.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: Plankton's Krabby Patty filled with raw sewage.
• Hand Gagging: Mr. Krabs did this to SpongeBob right before he could say he didn't steal the secret ingredient and had nothing to do with it.
• Idiot Ball: SpongeBob has no excuse to not speak up and tell Mr. Krabs he didn't steal the ingredient, given that he never stole it to begin with. Justified, as Mr. Krabs shut him up right when he tried to explain. Patrick also doesn't bother to stick up for his best friend when Mr. Krabs silenced SpongeBob, given that he wasn't silenced unlike him.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Mr. Krabs deserved this big time. For stealing his own secret ingredient and trying to let SpongeBob take the fall for it (and all because he didn't want to pay $1.99 for his delivery), he was not only arrested but sentenced to give away Krabby Patties for free, not to mention forced by the police to watch this happen.
• The Ludovico Technique: The police force Mr. Krabs to watch SpongeBob give away Krabby Patties, done in a way deliberately invoking the Ludovico Procedure in A Clockwork Orange.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Mr. Krabs didn't know the only flaw in putting the blame on SpongeBob for stealing the secret ingredient, which would have him arrested and fired, would rid the Krusty Krab of its only fry cook and the only one who knows how to make krabby patties correctly. SpongeBob tries to tell this to him, but he was silenced.
• Not Me This Time: Plankton didn't steal the formula, Krabs did it.
• Oh, Crap!: By SpongeBob when he learns the secret ingredient has been stolen, followed by a bigger one when Mr. Krabs frames him for it. Mr. Krabs has the biggest when it's revealed he stole his own ingredient and is forced to watch SpongeBob give away free krabby patties as punishment.
• The Reveal: It was Mr. Krabs himself who stole the secret ingredient; it costs $1.99 for a delivery, which he hates because of his cheapskate status, so he secretly stole it from the factory to avoid paying and tried to put the blame on SpongeBob to avoid facing punishment.
• The Scream: Mr. Krabs has a really long one in the final scene as he is forced to see SpongeBob give away free Krabby Patties as punishment for stealing the secret ingredient and almost letting him take the fall for it.
• The Scrooge: Mr. Krabs takes his greed to a new level by committing theft of the secret ingredient and framing his most loyal employee (who, as it has been proven on multiple occasions, the restaurant cannot survive without) for it, all to save $1.99 (which, Depending on the Writer, is usually less than the cost of a single Krabby Patty).
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Patrick disappears from the episode after SpongeBob returns to the Krusty Krab and is accused by Mr. Krabs, to make the buildup to the true culprit more unsettling and forboding.
• Shown Their Work: Unlike previous episodes that incorrectly portrayed squirrels as hibernating or migrating, this episode accurately depicts Sandy burying food reserves pre-winter.
• Stupid Evil: Just when Mr. Krabs is about to have SpongeBob arrested, he ends up pointing at him with the stolen secret ingredient itself, which results in him having to confess everything. Even if he did get away with framing SpongeBob, he just got rid of the only fry cook who could make the Krabby Patties with the secret ingredient that he went through the trouble of trying to save $1.99 on. Clearly Mr. Krabs Didn't Think This Through, at least not with who he should have framed.
• Tempting Fate: On trial, Mr. Krabs expresses his fear to see Krabby Patties served for free, which results in the cops making him see the free service against his will.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Mr. Krabs was absolutely at his worst. Along with ordering SpongeBob to find out who stole the secret ingredient, he threatens to fire him if he doesn't succeed. Then when SpongeBob failed to do so, Mr. Krabs frames him for stealing the secret ingredient (and refused to let SpongeBob call him out and say he didn't) and almost landed him in jail, until it's revealed that he stole it himself.
• Use Your Head: SpongeBob uses Patrick as a battering ram to break into Squidward's house.
• Villainous Breakdown: Mr. Krabs is forced to watch Krabby Patties getting sold for free for stealing his own secret ingredient and for trying to frame SpongeBob for it. He screams in horror as he watches SpongeBob giving Krabby Patties to Krabs’ loyal customers.

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Plankton's Regular

Original air date: 8/6/2008 (produced in 2007)

When someone actually prefers Plankton's chum over Krabby Patties, Mr. Krabs takes it upon himself to change their mind.

Plankton's Regular contains examples of:

• Ascended Extra: Nat Peterson, the fish that shows up at the Chum Bucket.
• Determinator: Even though his rival Plankton has one customer, Mr. Krabs wants him out of the picture.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The episode ends with Mr. Krabs getting out a laugh after seeing Plankton's plan failed, except for SpongeBob who prefers a hasty retreat.
• Everyone Has Standards: SpongeBob shows at least some sympathy for Plankton when he finds out he never had a regular customer, and would prefer a hasty retreat, unlike Mr. Krabs who laughs at his misery.
• Evil Is Petty: Even though he already has more than enough customers than Plankton, Mr. Krabs deliberately attempts to make him lose that one customer out of sheer spite, and to monopolize Bikini Bottom's fast food industry.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Why Mr. Krabs wants Plankton's regular customer because he wants Plankton's business to fail as usual. It also doesn't hurt that somehow SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs can make "better" chum than Plankton.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Karen senses Nat coming to the Chum Bucket for the last time with a “large wad of cash,” Nat seems unhappy in the live footage.
• Force Feeding: When SpongeBob sees Nat outside, he tries to force Nat to eat a Krabby Patty, but Nat keeps avoiding it as SpongeBob tries shoving it in his mouth.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Nat said this after eating The Krusty Krab's chum.
    Nat: It's the second foulest thing I ever tasted!
  • When SpongeBob asks Nat if he really eats nothing but chum all day long, Nat stammers while reaffirming it.
  • Note that Nat looks obviously disgusted after eating a chum stick the second time, before proclaiming his love for it.
• The Freelance Shame Squad: In the ending, Mr. Krabs delights in watching Plankton crying over not having a regular customer, but SpongeBob does not and watches in stunned silence and would rather prefer a hasty retreat.
• Idea Bulb: Mr. Krabs' eyes turn into giant idea bulbs when SpongeBob gives him the idea to steal Plankton's secret formula.
• Irony: Lampshaded by Plankton who catches Mr. Krabs trying to steal the Chum Bucket secret formula just like when Plankton tries to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • After getting sabotaged in his efforts of getting a regular customer, Plankton rightfully rewards Krabs and SpongeBob by trapping them with giant spoons.
  • Plankton also gets his comeuppance for being a smug jerk to Krabs when Karen reveals that she paid Nat to eat Plankton's food, showing he never had a real customer who liked his grub.
• Offended by an Inferior's Success: Mr. Krabs is so upset that Plankton has one customer, that he tries to steal said customer, even though Plankton offered to stop stealing the Krabby Patty Formula.
• The Reveal: It turns out Plankton never had a real, regular customer. Karen paid Nat to eat Plankton's chum so he'd stop whining about no one liking his food. When Nat reveals the secret and Karen confirms it, Plankton starts to cry about no one wanting to eat his slop, reinforcing why she did this in the first place.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: The entire plot revolves around Mr. Krabs throwing fits and going to ever-increasing measures to lure back the one customer who ignores the Krusty Krab in favor of Plankton's Chum Bucket.
• Token Good Teammate: In the end when Mr. Krabs laughs off Plankton's misery, SpongeBob does not, and prefers to escape.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Nat curls up in a ball after explaining that Karen was paying him to eat Plankton's chum.
• Wham Line: Thought Plankton finally got a lucky break with his "regular"? Well...
  Plankton: Back for more of my delicious chum, I see!
  Nat Peterson: Not this time.
  Plankton and Mr. Krabs: Huh?!
  Nat Peterson: Not ever again! (as he angrily chucks the money Karen bribed him with to her face) The deal's off, computer! I can't eat another bite of this slop, no matter how much you pay me!
• Yank the Dog's Chain: A big one for Plankton. It's revealed that Nat was paid by Karen to eat in the Chum Bucket so Plankton would stop complaining about his lack of success, but he couldn't eat any more chum, regardless of the money (they already pumped his stomach four times).

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