Koen's Corner

Disclaimer

The following Koen’s Corner discusses a variety of topics that some viewers may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised

Introduction

We have already tackled some episodes of the classic Spongebob era. Now let’s take a stab at the not so classic era.

After the disaster that was season 6 and 7, and the underwhelming season 8, things finally started to pick back up for Spongebob Season 9. This was the season where Stephen Hillenberg came back. Along with some of the original writers for this series, who would bring back some of the magic that made Spongebob so special in the first place.

Although the season still had its lows, when the season hit, it hit hard. Which it still has a habit of doing several seasons and years later. But as much of an improvement as it was, there were some major misses. As for every Plankton’s Pet, which was a brilliant episode, there was a Little Yellow Book, which is my personal least favorite of the whole show.

But then there’s episodes that are incredibly divisive among fans. One of which is the infamous Squid Baby. Buckle up, creators. This is a spicy one.

Chapter 1: Squidward’s Head Injury

Squid Baby revolves around Squidward getting a really bad head injury, which would revert the poor guy back to being essentially a baby. He spends the whole episode in diapers, and is to be looked after by Spongebob and Patrick who got him in those diapers in the first place.

Yes, the concept is as wild in practice as it sounds on paper. But at the same time it actually has a lot of truth to it. See, head injuries tend to do a variety of things to someone. Many get dizzy a lot, some may end up in a wheelchair, while others may suffer brain damage. But it also can cause a phenomenon called age regression.

Age regression is when someone reverts back to the behavior and/or thought patterns of a younger age than they are. It’s often caused by mental health struggles, like PTSD, or anxiety. But it can also be caused by a severe head injury, like Squidward is suffering here. Yeah, this is another example of an episode discussing a serious subject matter in its own, Spongebob way. And as stated in the intro, this is one of the more divisive ones.

You see, Squid Baby is structured very differently than most episodes that tackle serious subject matters like this. This certainly is not quite like Pickles which took a serious subject, and sugars the pill as my friend Strider puts it with a decent amount of jokes. This makes the subject much lighter, and still discusses it in a way that kids, and adults alike understand.

Squid Baby, similarly to Have You Seen This Snail, doesn’t tell a whole lot of jokes. It portrays Squidward’s situation very realistically. Very little of what we’re seeing is played for laughs, and before the end of it, you are rooting for him to recover from this head injury he had sustained.

On paper, I think this concept is quite fitting for a Spongebob episode. This is not the kind of show that would shy away from serious subjects like this. Let alone pull very many punches when doing so. However ideas and concepts only go so far. Its execution is where it really counts. And this is where the episode starts to show some problems, and where much of its criticism comes from.

Chapter 2: The failures of Squid-Torture

Montage of Squidward pain

Squid-Torture. A term that if you’re active in the Spongebob community would sound quite familiar to you. It’s the term used to group episodes together that seem to have been made specifically to cause loads of pain to poor old Squidward. Often for very little reason, other than he was just looking a bit grumpy that one day.

The amount of episodes that revolve around this one idea alone is quite astounding. But then again, we are talking about a rather astounding show. So I guess it is strangely fitting in a way? Ehhh, it’s complicated.

See, Squid-Torture has been a big part of the show since its inception. Jellyfishing being one of the first ever examples of having Squidward going through loads of pain. Mostly at the hands of Spongebob and Patrick. And these kinds of episodes have been a staple of the show ever since.

The only issue with this, is that it’s very easy for a story that relies on this concept to get completely messed up. Often tormenting Squidward to such a degree that it becomes very uncomfortable to sit through. Resulting in a story where all you want by the end is for Spongebob and Patrick to just leave the poor guy alone. Or for them to at least get a good kick in the sponges. Good Neighbours, Cepholopod Lodge, That Sinking Feeling, and Jellyfishing are prime examples of such episodes.

Squid Baby is often put on a similar pedestal as all of these, because of how much Squidward suffers throughout it. Regressing to a very young age, thanks to his bad head injury. Topped by getting constantly beaten to shit by Spongebob and Patrick, which would only make his head trauma much worse as stated within the episode itself.

Mention of the episode’s title often provokes very expressive responses of disgust from everyone who has either watched the episode, or a review of it. Plenty of cartoon reviewers have expressed their distaste for its story. Reviews of it are very split in the middle. And in some countries like the Netherlands, it only ever aired once, only to then completely disappear from television entirely. Never to be aired again.

Chapter 3: Unfortunate Implications

So what exactly happened to cause such an uproar? Although Spongebob’s definitely had its fair share of fails during its time, it is not often a response like this comes from it. We have had episodes that audiences were outraged about because of their cruel stories, or some that had great concepts, but very poor execution. Squid Baby reached infamy similar to One Coarse Meal and A Pal for Gary as being one of the worst episodes of the show. But does it truly deserve such a reputation?

To answer that question, we need to look a little deeper into it. Starting with its Squid-Torture elements, which we don’t need all that much time for. As I personally think we can conclude rather quickly that those complaints are more than a bit overblown.

One of the reasons why Torture episodes fail is because the suffering one has to endure was often done intentionally by the other characters around them. Their actions are often very calculated, and more often than not feel like the characters have next to no regard for the well being of others. Like with the episode Gone where the Bikini Bottom-ites literally leave Spongebob behind for a whole week.

Squidward going through a very severe injury, to the point where he is regressed is painful for sure. However his pain I would argue was never intentional. Throughout it all, Spongebob shows very genuine concern for the poor guy, and does everything he can within his power to help him. Whether he ends up making things worse in the process is a whole nother debate, but I do at least applaud Spongebob for trying to help as much as he can. Even if his methods don’t always work out.

But that is, I believe not even the biggest complaint against it. As Squid Baby is a victim of some very unfortunate implications with its story. Squidward’s injury, although portrayed in a pretty serious manner, has been interpreted as little more than fetish content for the creators. Because of the age play, the diapers, and the uh…. bodily fluids.

The responses to Squidward’s age regression have not been charitable to say the least. There is no shortage of audiences who heavily criticize Squid Baby for telling a story that relies more on fetish fuel, rather than proper jokes. And as you can probably guess by now, the episode almost exclusively consists of Squidward being in diapers as he is very badly regressed. This is where the conversation starts to get a little more…. complicated.

Fetish fuel is nothing new to the animation industry, or even the creative industry as a whole. There’s Totally Spies which had loads of kinks going on during its run. Spongebob itself has had several instances where Spongebob goes full on nude. Fairly OddParents sees several characters getting swallowed whole. But what makes this discussion complicated is how audiences look at it, and how they respond to it. And how audiences look at it will determine whether or not they will be able to look past it.

Now I am not one to tell you how you should feel about something this incredibly complicated subject, and this objective a subject. But I do want to say that I find it a bit concerning that so many people have looked at this and believe that Squid Baby is nothing more than a fetish episode. Because I don’t get that vibe from it at all as I watch through this.

The opening sees Spongebob and Patrick playing with baby toys, and even acting like actual babies themselves. Which could be interpreted as age play, where you roleplay as being a different age. But after researching age regression some more, I found that it can also be caused by a number of mental handicaps such as ADHD or Autism. And Squidward, beyond just being diapers until finally reverting to his adult self, is suffering something incredibly severe.

Let’s be real, head injuries are nothing to be sneezed at. They can cause a massive number of problems to the human brain. Age regression is just the tip of the ice berg. It can also cause memory loss, shut off any number of your limbs, leaving you disabled for a time. And it can even end your life when it is particularly bad.

It should be obvious by now, but I certainly do not agree with the idea that it’s just a fetish episode. Above all else, I believe that Squid Baby is a very realistic portrayal of what head injuries can do to someone. Which I respect it for, and I think it deserves a little more credit than what it’s getting.

But all this also made me wonder; what if Squidward’s head injury resulted in another condition entirely?

Chapter 4: A Squid Baby Rewrite

We’ve already established that head injuries can cause a number of frankly horrible things to someone. Age regression is just the tip of the iceberg. But obviously audiences have not taken too kindly on that. So I was thinking about a way to possibly improve upon this. Here’s what I came up with.

Instead of Squid Baby revolving around age regression, how about we let him behave more like a different animal species? Like a wolf, leopard, or even a rat? After all, a head injury has the potential to change your behavior and mindset entirely. So for someone to become an animal from it would not be that far fetched, right? Well let me tell you a story.

In the 1800s a man known as Phineas Gage had sustained a really bad injury from an iron rod to the head. Resulting in permanently damaging the left side of his brain, and him slowly losing his humanity. Becoming more feral by the day, until he was more beast than man.

Let’s say Spongebob and Patrick are out and about in a big, dark forest. Probably camping, or hiking. You know, their typical shenanigans. Squidward is on his way biking to the Krusty Krab, but ends up tripping over something. Launching him into the air, and landing in the exact same forest Spongebob and Patrick are in, right on his head. Sustaining an injury that would cause him to go absolutely feral. Acting more like a wild animal than his usual self. Even howling to a full moon at night.

He catches the scents of Spongebob and Patrick, from which point he would try and hunt them down. Now seeing them more as food, than his neighbours. And the episode would now revolve around Spongebob and Patrick’s battle to survival. The journey would end with Squidward getting hit on the head with a tree trunk, which brings him back to normal. Everyone walks off like nothing happened, and the episode comes to an end. Which would be titled “The Squid Beast”

Conclusion

By this point I think I made it clear that I don’t necessarily agree with the common consensus surrounding Squid Baby. I believe that it was a very big example of an episode that had some unfortunate implications, and that its reception would have been much more favorable, had it not been about age regression. And I’m certainly glad I gave it another viewing and made a whole Koen’s Corner on it, to share my own thoughts.

Researching this video was definitely an endeavour. I learned a lot about how the human brain works from it, and even got to learn a bit of history. Though I think I should disclose here that I am by no means an expert on any of the subject matter discussed here. So as far as head injuries and the effects they cause go, please do take this video with a grain of salt, and talk to your doctors about potential injuries you sustain at all.

I also wanna take this moment to thank PhantomStrider for inspiring me to make this video, and for helping me get some fun ideas for it. He discussed Squid Baby first, and he did so way better than I did quite frankly. The link to his channel will be in the description.

And with that, my time to tune out has now finally come. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and I will see you creators in the next one.