Next up for season 5 is "Fungus Among Us"! And yeah, let me go ahead and just say it now, haha amogus. Okay, moving on, "Fungus Among Us" is definitely one of the better-known episodes of season 5, for better or worse. Now, of course, I'm convinced that this episode has become more well-known (or just thrust into the spotlight to begin with) now vs. 5 years ago, for reasons that I'm sure are very obvious. Those reasons I will continue to refer to as the elephant in the room throughout this review, because I really don't want to actually talk about it, but there are some things that do need to be said around it.
Getting into the actual episode, my interest is immediately piqued as we see Gary being the one to get us started here. His antics trying to get SpongeBob awake are fun, and this whole beginning scene is cute. Not particularly funny or even super amusing, but cute. I love all the personality Gary has in this section. One of my favorite, hardly used and known tracks is in this scene too, Hawaiian Party, so that's a win. As the first bit of this episode progresses, I have so many questions about what this weird fungus thing is. The design of it is nice, looking gross without actually being hard to look at. I also have a lot of questions about Gary being a bottom feeder. So bottom feeders are real, but they’ve also been used as insults in this show…SpongeBob bigot confirmed? Just kidding. It’s actually a pet peeve of mine when people take random characters and be like “this character would so hate [insert marginalized group here]”, like why would you do that? It’s unnecessary and uncomfortable for said marginalized group, and it just means you’re showing yourself as someone who finds bigotry funny for one reason or another. Okay, that’s my high horse for the day.
The suspense in the first minute or two of SpongeBob dealing with the fungus is very well-crafted. The music, the absolute helplessness, the mystery of what this fungus even is, very well done. And of course, because this is SpongeBob SquarePants, there’s comedy intermixed in there as well, such as when Squidward barges in to find SpongeBob scratching. I love how Squidward is more confused than anything until SpongeBob’s fungus-covered nose sticks back out, and then he starts screaming and jumping on the cabinet, that was funny. And then not Squidward literally calling a SWAT team on SpongeBob, that’s horrible and hilarious. The way the team treats SpongeBob like some kind of animal is just horrible, but in a good way. Though it is a bit harder to watch given the…context we find ourselves in now, and how shamefully society has acted towards certain infected groups. But I really, really don’t want to get into that here today. So I won’t.
Of course, that can’t be end of the fungus, so Squidward now gets infected. I won’t say deserved, but I will say deserved because mans was smiling the entire time SpongeBob was getting captured, he took glee in having SpongeBob be treated in such a manner. Watching the ick spread is just nasty. Seeing SpongeBob in the quarantine bubble adds more and more mystery to whatever is going on here, and seeing Gary being locked up too is upsetting, but I always do love seeing SpongeBob’s concern for Gary. The way the doctors just leave him there is quite…questionable though. Malpractice, honestly. And how did Patrick even get in? Just an alarm blaring and that’s it? Sure, why not. Patrick always manages to get places he shouldn’t, probably because he’s so dumb that he thinks outside of the box. Patrick continually doing things to pop the bubble while SpongeBob tells him not to is annoying (though the cleats bit of it was funny) and brings to mind "Wet Painters", but thankfully that portion of the scene ends quickly. I definitely prefer Patrick popping the bubble because of an activity he and SpongeBob agree to do over him doing it while SpongeBob cries out against it. And any residual annoyance I have at this scene pretty much dissipates once Patrick actually becomes part of the solution to the bubble problem, rather than SpongeBob having to fix Patrick's mess.
Back at the Krusty Krab, watching everything go down with the ick is just nasty. I can’t tell if it helps or hampers how I feel about this episode. I just think the elephant in the room has really changed how I view this episode because now instead of abstractly knowing the consequences of bad hygiene when one is sick, I’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it. Anyway, once Squidward realizes what’s going on and an angry mob forms against him, I love the way the most pretentiously-spoken one there tells Mr. Krabs why they’re in a commotion. And then we get a wonderful bit of the exact opposite of what Mr. Krabs says happening with an absolutely disgusting and horrid looking SpongeBob walking into the Krusty Krab. They really went all out with making this episode look gross, but not necessarily revolting. Now, it does end up making me feel more gross than I would like to, but that’s really because of our unnamed elephant, not because of anything this episode did. And that is why “The Splinter” has much to learn from this episode. Much to learn.
The way the mob turns on SpongeBob is just upsetting to watch, not to mention frustrating. Considering the ick is visible, first off everyone should look inward and ask themselves why they didn’t see the bright neon green s*** on their patties (I try to refrain from swearing in these reviews out of common courtesy, because irl I'm like a sailor, but sometimes some things just need to be said). And from there, we need to question again the health code violations of the restaurant considering Squidward was scratching all on himself and handling food, no hand washing to be seen. Frankly, out of everyone working at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob was taking the most health precautions by covering his fungus-covered hands and covering the fungus on his head with his hat. He really should’ve just not come into the workplace, but we’re just dealing with what we have. So what I’m saying is basically this is not SpongeBob’s fault. He even came to the Krusty Krab in a quarantine bubble! And then in terms of the actual scene, it’s upsetting to watch everyone attack SpongeBob (stupidly might I add, why did they not consider that popping his quarantine bubble would be a horrendous idea), while he just cries.
Thankfully, we cut to Gary which cuts that scene short, at least a little bit. And once the bubble inevitably pops, Gary returns quickly to help resolve the problem of the ick with his bottom feeding tendencies. The fighting between Nat, the other fish, and Patrick about who goes first was pretty funny. And then I love Mr. Krabs just being such a greedy person. The way the British guy slaps him was hilarious. And then of course I just love the ending of the episode, because Gary is so happy! And I love me some Gary. And I also love that this episode is an example of some pretty concise, full-circle writing with Gary being the solution, and the episode starting with him (and if SpongeBob had let him eat the fungus in the first place, the entire problem could have been avoided).
"Fungus Among Us" is an episode that fits very well in my "Good" tier. There are moments that irritate me for sure, but they're redeemed by other pretty great moments in the episode, which balances the scales a bit. And I think there's more to enjoy here than not. The beginning of the episode is more dull than anything, in general, but it's still enjoyable enough to watch, and things get far more entertaining as the minutes roll by. However, I do think this episode has been...diminished, at least a tiny bit, possibly permanently by our unnamed elephant. I know we were all mad about episodes like "Hiccup Plague" and "Kwarantined Krab" getting delayed or pulled, but after watching this episode I can fully understand the logic (I could before, but I think rewatching this episode has cemented my perspective). It can just make you think about things you don't want to think about.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.5/10
