For something that started off as being about silly Spongebob theories and conspiracies, there's a lot of genuinely sad elements within.
Storyline
- The "Paradox Files" installment of The Cynical Critic seems normal (if ominous) at first, but the unlisted version that reveals what happened after Mark took his phone call is definitely this; we don't learn what he heard, but the context of the other videos, his furious response to Antonio asking what's wrong and Antonio's statement in the "listed" version that the phone call was about Mark's "family issues" makes it very likely that he was being informed that his mother just died. And to top it all off? Antonio responds to the outburst by converting Mark to a "host".
The Theories:
- The Mrs. Puff Theory is both very grim and extremely saddening. The poor woman is theorized to have made one horrible mistake by allowing an under-qualified student get a license, causing immense tragedy and pain. The end result is that she has to leave her true identity behind and start from scratch...only to be stuck with an even worse student in the well-meaning but utterly inept Spongebob. And because of the theorized mastermind behind all of this Richard Bottomfeeder for his own personal revenge for her earlier mistake, she is basically condemned to teach an unteachable student and suffer the consequences for the rest of her life.
- The tragedy is even worse when you consider that given she likely has a photo of the person Richard might have lost, it could have been cleared up that she does feel genuine remorse for her mistake. But because Bottomfeeder is so driven by vengeance and is keeping to being Hidden in Plain Sight, it likely means that they either don't know, or they do know and simply don't care.
- To further drive in the knife, it's also theorized that her lost husband, Mr. Puff, may very well still be alive, and is just one city away in New Kelp, but utterly unaware that his wife is suffering. It's entirely likely that if he did ever find out, he could have helped her, or at least kept her company through her ordeal.
