The Splinter

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SPONGEBOB TORTURE!

This contains torture to SpongeBob SquarePants, so if you're a fan of him, look away NOW.

The Splinter is a AEON SCUMBOB!-Infamous^[1] episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. In this episode, SpongeBob gets a splinter at work.

Summary[]

While working at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob accidentally gets a splinter. Because of this, Squidward threatens him with being sent home.

AIR DATE FOR THIS EPISODE: JUNE 2, 2008

Why This Episode Should Get A Splinter[]

Disgusting and Disturbing:
1. It is a pretty disturbing SpongeBob torture episode.
2. The episode is infamous for its over-usage of disturbingly awkward imagery and grotesque levels of cringe-inducing, unfunny attempts at gross-out humor. While gross-out humor has been used occasionally in ear lier e piso des, the scale hadn't been turned too far above eleven at those points (i.e. this is out of place in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants and feels as if it belongs in Ren and Stimpy instead).
3. The most notable examples of the aforementioned imagery and gross-out humor include:
  - The infamous scene where SpongeBob receives the splinter in slow-motion after slipping on a small puddle of spilled tartar sauce as said splinter goes right inside his thumb and it reddens.
  - Several close-up shots of the splinter.
  - SpongeBob's skin rips off of his body and his entire skeleton is exposed in the process after he attempts to bite off the splinter off of his thumb.
  - SpongeBob showing Squidward the splinter and some of the pus drip in his eye.
  - Patrick inserts SpongeBob's foot in his mouth and sucking and chewing on it.
    - Patrick hammering the splinter further into SpongeBob's thumb.
    - After Patrick puts a pile of garbage onto SpongeBob's splinter, it expands into a rather large size and becomes even more infected, with a lot of pus being released from the thumb.
      - The pile of garbage itself also looks disgusting in a way that comes across as disturbing.
      - The purple thumb with garbage on it looks very disgusting but at least the splinter itself becomes smaller in comparison.
  - The huge red abomination of a splinter with pus and a pulsating red vein.
  - SpongeBob's infected thumb expands even more as Mr. Krabs is about to remove the splinter.
  - Shortly after Mr. Krabs removes the splinter from SpongeBob's infected thumb, it first spews confetti but then spews a lot of pus onto Mr. Krabs and splats him all over until he gets an umbrella to shield himself from it.
    - Worse still, none of these gross-out moments are humorous, cartoonish, or over-the-top in the slightest or in a good way, instead, they're realistic, disturbing, and are very painful to watch or view.
The very premise of SpongeBob getting a splinter is generic in practice, and it worsens with the thumb enlarging with pus coming out of it.
1. If one thinks about it, the plot of this episode is also rather very pointless, since SpongeBob could just remove his arm with the splinter on his thumb and then regenerate it.
Squidward and Patricks Flanderization:
1. Squidward mistreating SpongeBob throughout the episode is very frustrating and filler.
  1. He flushes SpongeBob's hat and spatula away into the toilet and continues making SpongeBob break down crying.
  2. It seems he doesn't care about it and actually likes that SpongeBob got a splinter so he wouldn’t have to see him at work even though SpongeBob doesn’t see that.
2. This episode marked the start of Patrick's Flanderization, as he also mistreats SpongeBob.
  1. He worsens his infection by putting a pile of garbage onto it, assuming that it would make it "better"; he also doesn’t seem to focus on SpongeBob's splinter well, despite the latter's pleas to have his splinter be removed.
    - SpongeBob also would’ve called a real doctor so there would be better and smarter ways to get his splinter off.
    - In The Card, Patrick reveals to SpongeBob that he makes his stupid actions on purpose, showing that he does like torment other people, even SpongeBob, who is supposed to be his best friend. In this episode, he injured SpongeBob on purpose and didn't care about it.
    - Impersonating a doctor is considered a crime, according to Sandy Cheeks in "Suds. Unlike that episode, Patrick plays more like a real doctor and really breaks the law here.
      - Speaking of Patrick impersonating a doctor in "Suds", unlike in the aforementioned episode where Patrick did it out of kindness and actually tried to make SpongeBob better, in this episode, he is rather nasty and abusive towards SpongeBob,
      - Not only does he do it more aggressively seeming to make it worse instead of better despite claiming he would make it better.
      - He acts arrogant towards SpongeBob, thinking that SpongeBob is a doctor, and gets angry at him when SpongeBob claims that he isn't a doctor.
      - He also does it grudgingly, only giving in when SpongeBob cries about not wanting to be sent home by Mr. Krabs.
      - He even leaves after the splinter gets worse because his "shift" was over.
Awful Plot with Terrible pacing and Filler:
1. Like most Season 6 episodes, this episode has loads of filler.
  1. Even if the splinter wasn't so gross this would still be a bad episode that would drag on for 11 minutes.
  2. The splinter scenes themselves are mostly filler, and the worst kind of filler, gross-out filler.
2. This episode is gross and disturbing, and barely entertaining at all.
Predictable ending:
1. In the end of the episode, Mr. Krabs knows about the splinter after Squidward tells him.
2. He simply just pulls it out with his claws, and he gets squirted with green liquid and confetti.
3. The ending is disputably the worst scene in the entire episode, with the splinter exploding with pus and confetti, and the visuals just look bad.
Overall, this episode officially started the dark age of the series and it wouldn't recover until the second half of Season 9.

Redeeming Qualities[]

SpongeBob is still a likable character as he remains his normal self in the first part of the dark age until Boating Buddies, when his flanderization started.
1. The beginning was good, until SpongeBob gained the splinter.
Mr. Krabs was a likable character, especially in a bad episode:
1. As said before, SpongeBob's splinter was pulled out by Mr. Krabs in the end, which at the very least, ends the torture for both SpongeBob and the viewers
2. At least when Mr. Krabs helped SpongeBob, it showed he cared for him deep down. Whereas he probably would have sent SpongeBob home in pain on a normal basis.
Squidward giving himself his karma by hitting himself with a cash register for failure to obtain worker's compensation does justify him self-punishing himself. Despite this, though, Squidward is at least right about SpongeBob having to be sent home, even though he already failed to obtain workers compensation in the first place.
1. Squidward does seem to regret the way he treated SpongeBob in this episode given the prior explanation above and in the scene where he sees how bad SpongeBob’s injury and infection is, he faints out of shock.
The "third leg" joke is funny.
At least the splinter got removed by Mr. Krabs at the end.

Trivia[]

This is Tom Kenny’s (the voice actor of SpongeBob, Gary and the French Narrator) least favorite SpongeBob episode with his favorite being Pizza Delivery.
This is the very first episode that PieGuyRulz got angry about on his YouTube channel.
This is the first episode Mr.Enter reviewed as an animated atrocity.
In the UK this episode was advertised as a Friday the 13th scary thing, which could make sense since the episode did had scary parts, but we wish they could have done this with another much scarier episode with parts that might scare kids.
This along with it's sister episode are the first to use the 2008 Nickelodeon Lightbulb logo.
This is the first episode to get rated MORBID-infamous.^[2]
This is the fifth episode to be rated AEON SCUMBOB!-Infamous.
This is the first episode to be rated AEON SCUMBOB!-Infamous, then moved to MORBID-infamous by the community.^[1]

Reception[]

It is considered one of the worst episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants ever made and has a rating of 3.9/10 alongside Slide Whistle Stooges on IMDb based on 948 votes, making it the third worst SpongeBob episode on IMDb.^[3]
It also has a 2.67/10 rating on SpongeBuddy Mania based on 143 votes, making it among the lowest-rated episodes of the show.

Trivia[]

In the beginning of the episode, the splinter is red until the middle (where it becomes purple). But in the end of the episode, the splinter becomes red again, albeit much, much more gory.

Gallery[]

Infamous Quotes[]

"Oh, I'm sorry. [pulls SpongeBob's foot out of his mouth] I didn't realize you were a doctor. Hmph!"

― Dr. Patrick acting rude and snide, what a (dolphin chirp)!

"Hey, a splinter. Okay, well, it's been nice knowing you but you have got to go. Now. Okay, out we go. [he cannot take it off] Oh, that kinda' hurts. Come on. Ooh, that really hurts. Oh, barnacles, this hurts! Conch-shelled manatees, this is painful!"

― And the horror begins

"Come on, SpongeBob, it's just a little splinter. I mean, how bad could it...? [SpongeBob reveals his massive, swollen thumb which has a slight area of pale green fizz around the impaled center. His thumb is now red. Nasty. Mr. Krabs gags (having every right to do so) Oh, merciful Neptune!"

― Mr. Krabs at the climax

"Whoo... You really saved me- (he slips, and in slow-motion-ultra-bullet-time...) WOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....! (The splinter stabs him, which is basically what the episode's about)"

― SpongeBob moments before we see what's coming next

"Call me in the morning... If [SpongeBob] can still dial a phone."

― Patrick says this right when his "shift" is up. Yeah, I'm sure he'll definitely still be able to dial a phone after what you did to him!

References[]

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 https://scumbob.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000441682

[2] MORBID-Infamous#Episodes

[3] ttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272835/?ref_=fn_ttl_ttl_6

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