Kwarantined Krab Guide

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Utsav Bhagat

Ustav is a huge fan of all things Nickelodeon, but SpongeBob has a special place in his heart. With SpongeBob’s resurgence in popularity, Ustav is eager to re-watch one of his favorite shows and share his thoughts on its quirky setting and characters.

Latest posts by Utsav Bhagat (see all)

• Kenny the Cat Guide - June 6, 2022
• Kwarantined Krab Guide - May 26, 2022
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While most SpongeBob SquarePants episodes are kid-friendly (albeit borderline gross at times) hilarious affairs, there is perhaps no episode more notorious than “Kwarantined Krab,” which is Episode 263 of Season 12. What does the episode pertain to, you might be wondering? Well, wonder no longer. We have broken down all the pivotal moments from the said episode in this Kwarantined Krab Guide, so keep on reading!

This particular episode was banned from broadcast in 2021 and was even removed from Paramount +, the streaming service hosting the entire library of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes. The episode focuses on SpongeBob and the crew being forced into quarantine due to an unidentified illness.

Bottom Line Up Front:

SpongeBob and his friends are forced into a mandatory quarantine inside The Krusty Krab after discovering someone amongst them is infected with Clam Flu. The paranoid group starts fingerpointing at each other as all hell breaks loose within the restaurant. Eventually, they discover that no one really had the Clam Flu, but in the commotion of attempting to confine the contaminated, everyone ironically gets infected with a variety of diseases.

Key Information

Detection of the Infection

The episode opens up inside The Krusty Krab with Pearl Krabs and Mrs. Puff waiting for their meal. Mr. Krabs comes up to them, and he tells them that he appreciates their patronage. The money-mindedness of this shrewd crab is on full display as Pearl is his daughter, yet he still views her as a paying customer.

That is something that I love about Mr. Krabs. For him, business comes first. And while charging one’s daughter for her food may seem like an unfatherly thing to do, I think it serves in the development of character and instills in Pearl a sense of fiscal responsibility. Either that or Mr. Krabs is just really, really stingy.

In the background, we can see Patrick still undecided on his order, as Squidward, annoyed as always, is standing before the cash register, waiting on Patrick to make up his mind.

SpongeBob comes out the doors of the kitchen with very puffy eyes. He can barely see as he fumbles around the restaurant to where Mrs. Puff and Pearl are sitting.

Eyes still puffy, he feels and squishes the face of Mrs. Puff to recognize her. He greets her excitedly, but Mrs. Puff tells him that they agreed that they don’t know each other outside of their driving classes.

SpongeBob realizes the agreement and calls her a ‘mysterious lady’ as he begins serving her meal.

We then see the reason for his puffy eyes as he spurts out the elements of the Krabby Patty right from his eyes.

First come the buns, then the Patties, then the cheese, the lettuce, he squirts out ketchup and mustard, and finally the top bun. Last but not least, his eyes pop out as they land right on top of the bun.

“Eye hope you enjoy your meal!” he says as he laughs

The entire process is as gross as you can imagine it, and I’m perplexed how Pearl and Mrs. Puff didn’t ask SpongeBob to take back their meal and serve it a bit more appropriately.

Soon after, we see the health inspector barge through the door, holding a beeping device. He takes a quick look at it and concludes that his fears have been realized; Someone in Krusty Krab has the highly contagious clam flu.

He points at everyone in the restaurant and tells them that they’re all placed under quarantine.

The Quarantine

The health inspector steps out of the Krusty Krab and chains shut the entrance. He put a neon yellow “Caution – Quarantine Area” sticker on the glass for good measure.

This leads to a state of utmost panic as everyone inside the restaurant, barring SpongeBob, begins to lose it;

• Squidward starts brushing his tentacles, and his tongue
• Puff puffs up to an enormous size
• Pearl starts bawling her eyes out as streams of tears break down Mr. Krabs’ office door
• Patrick starts smashing furniture

At this point, Patrick stops and asks what quarantine is. SpongeBob tells him that it’s like a mandatory sleepover, and hearing this, Patrick lightens up, and the two start dancing instead.

Squidward stops them to clarify that quarantine means that they’re locked inside with a sick person.

This seems to bring up a dread within the room as early signs of suspicion and mistrust start to appear within the restaurant.

Hearing all this commotion, to everyone’s surprise, we see Plankton jumps out of the straw of a soda drink (presumably there to steal the secret Krabby Patty formula) as he says that he’s aborting operation ‘soda-jerk’ as he begins to leave the establishment.

He climbs up through the vent and escapes the restaurant.

“Haha! Quarantine Shmorentine!”

No sooner than the words leave his mouth, he’s burned to a crisp by a robot, as another health inspector in a hazmat suit declares that the breach has been contained.

The whole crew watches on from inside the Krusty Krab, terrified. Squidward says that it’ll be best if they don’t leave.

This establishes the primary motif of the episode. A group of friends is forced to stay in a confined space as they attempt to speculate who amongst them is down with an unknown illness. Escape is not an option till the sickness can be identified and cleansed.

The Illness among Us

Pearl begins complaining that she had to cheer at the big game the next day. Mr. Krabs reassures her not to worry and that they’ll do what Mr. Krabs did in his past navy days.

Mr. Krabs rips his shirt to show the crew tattoos of his navy days. Through his tattoos, he explains what they would do back then;

• The crew would identify the sick person on the ship.
• Said sick person would be locked in the Freezer of the ship.
• The rest of the crew would enjoy their continued good health by playing badminton.

Mr. Krabs, after putting on a fresh shirt, asks the gang who’s feeling queasy. No answers.

Mr. Krabs starts growing suspicious and tells the crew that he’ll examine everyone for signs of pestilence by himself as he waves a pair of tongs at everyone menacingly.

Squidward starts panicking again as he says he won’t let anyone who’s infected anywhere close to him. He starts walking backward and collides with a table, launching a shaker of pepper straight into SpongeBob’s nose, making him sneeze.

Everyone starts panicking and accusing SpongeBob of being the sick one. SpongeBob dejectedly says that he’s willing to go quietly to the freezer, despite feeling perfectly fine.

Here we see the true character of SpongeBob, selfless and willing to self-sacrifice for the betterment of his friends, despite them throwing accusations at him without proof or reason. SpongeBob has constantly exhibited this persona, which is one of the reasons he’s the most lovable sponge in all of Bikini Bottom.

SpongeBob dejectedly walks towards the freezer (after giving Squidward an affectionate peck on the cheek!) and asks everyone to remember him as he was in life.

Before SpongeBob is about to break into a monologue about life and friendship, Mr. Krabs shuts the freezer door, dooming SpongeBob to his icy fate.

Locked Up in the Freezer

Soon as SpongeBob is locked in his icy prison, we hear his howls from inside the freezer as the crew makes their way out of the kitchen to leave SpongeBob suffering in agony.

However, when we’re shown the inside of the freezer, it’s no less than an icy paradise as we see SpongeBob having the time of his life skiing on snowy slopes, jumping across ramps, and eating all kinds of ice creams.  

Patrick goes to the kitchen to check up on his locked friend, and he peers inside the freezer to find SpongeBob enjoying an ice cream cone. This gets Patrick’s gears into motion as we see the longing in his eyes to be with his friend (or ice cream).

After putting relish over himself, he returns to the crew and tells them that he’s feeling under the weather. Everyone panics again as Mr. Krabs grabs him by the head and chucks him straight into the freezer.

Looking back inside the freezer, we see SpongeBob and Patrick having a blast, chucking snowballs made from ice cream. Who wouldn’t want to be trapped in that freezer!

Outside, we see the crew still being paranoid about who the flu carrier is, despite having thrown in two suspects.

Squidward has a tiny itch on his arm, which leads to the entire group getting mistrustful of him now, as they pick him up and chuck him right into the freezer with SpongeBob and Patrick.

At this point, it’s clear that paranoia has overcome all forms of sense as the trio stare at each other, waiting to catch any signs of illness. Soon as Mrs. Puff takes a yawn, a bewildered Mr. Krabs yells “Freezer!” and straight into the freezer, she goes.

This leaves just two people outside- Mr. Krabs and his daughter Pearl. Pearl then tells Mr. Krabs that she had forgotten to tell him that she didn’t spend all his money at the mall, as she offers to give back the change. Thinking that his daughter has had her mind addled by sickness, he chucks her straights into the freezer and then sanitizes the change she left behind.

Back in the freezer, we see the gang is now holed up in an igloo discussing amongst themselves that none of those inside the freezer is actually sick. There is only one logical conclusion then, the group as Pearl shrieks in horror, realizing that her father must surely be the one with the flu.

Squidward suggests that those inside the freezer should band together to escape the freezer and lock Mr. Krabs in instead. At first, SpongeBob resists, but soon as he realizes that he can’t cook Krabby Patties while locked in the freezer, he dons his black sunglasses and gets ready for the mission.

Catching a Crab

The crew somehow manages to escape by rolling themselves in a massive snowball and hurtling at the freezer door, which pops right open.

Mr. Krabs is mortified as he thinks that a bunch of sick people have escaped their confinement and are now out to get him. Patrick hurls himself at Mr. Krabs, but the sly crab manages to escape under the fryer and into the oil-filled grease trap.

Patrick figures out that the best course of action would be to break away from the fryer and shove a lanky Squidward right into the chute. Squidward falls face-first into the pool of grease below as he’s dripping head to toe with disgusting fry-refuse.

As he looks around, Mr. Krabs emerges from within the pool of grease as a startled Squidward coughs directly onto Mr. Krabs’ face.

Mr. Krabs somehow manages to bust through the grease trap and out to the main dining area. Pearl rushes towards him but accidentally inhales Mr. Krabs through her blowhole, and she coughs out the greasy old crab.

Patrick tries to subdue Mr. Krabs, only to be flung by his tongue and tossed into a dusty old broom closet.

Its utter pandemonium as a free for all ensues. As day turns to night, the chaos eventually simmers down.

Later at night, the health inspector goes back to the Krusty Krab, unlocking it and announcing that he had his equipment upside down the whole time, so nobody was actually sick.

The Krusty Krab is silent and dark, with broken furniture littering the floors. The health inspector grabs his torch to see a sight of pure horror.

Squidward is leaning back against a chair with bulbous tentacles (“Grease Gout,” the health inspector exclaims)

A disheveled looking SpongeBob scratching away at his skin (“Mouldy Measles”)

Mrs. Puff is covered in trash with boils all over her (“Trash Trichinosis”)

Patrick, with his enormous tongue hanging out onto the floor, blowing out dust bunnies as he coughs (“Dust Bunny Bronchitis”)

Pearl, lying against the wall with her blowhole swollen red as she blows, sneezes violently, spewing snot all over the place (“Polyester Plague”)

And then, finally, Mr. Krabs perched on top of a beam, showing all the symptoms mentioned above. His red skin looks moldy and shriveled, his face inflamed, and the look of a rabid Crustacean in his eyes.

The horrified health inspector sprints away as he yells out for a ‘Mega Quarantine.’

We then see people in hazmat suits box up The Krusty Krab (Yes, the entire restaurant), akin to an enormous crate, as they call for a helicopter to pick up the box and drop it somewhere where no one ever goes.

So the helicopter drops the enormous crate onto Plankton’s restaurant, The Chum Bucket. Problem solved.

Banning Due to the Pandemic

This particular episode of SpongeBob SquarePants was pulled from broadcast and streaming after the Pandemic hit the world. Nickelodeon decided not to air this episode due to sensitivities surrounding the coronavirus and the pandemic. While the episode had been in production before the spread of the virus, it is understandable that airing it might have been considered to be in bad taste.

The episode puts front and center the paranoia that the characters (mainly, Mr. Krabs) feel upon discovering that someone amongst them is afflicted with a deadly contagious flu. There is nothing but apathy for whoever is considered to be afflicted, with the gang choosing to throw them in the freezer. Since the show is specifically geared toward a younger audience, it may be considered reasonable to hold off on airing this particular episode.

Conclusion

To me, this particular episode does not deal with the pandemic, or quarantine, in an insensitive manner. There is nuance to how paranoid everyone gets when put under mandatory quarantine, but it is overtly overplayed for dramatic effect.

The slow burn of cabin fever that engulfs Mr. Krabs is the highlight of the episode and is actually hilarious to watch and brings to the fore the inherent paranoia of Mr. Krabs. This has always been one of Mr. Krabs’ core personality traits, as exemplified in other episodes like Plankton Paranoia.

There is, of course, a masterful irony in the fact that the health inspector mistakenly puts the restaurant under quarantine due to fear of a Flu, when he should be shutting down the place for being highly unsanitary, leading to the entire gang (including the owner, Mr. Krabs) getting extremely sick.

However, in a surprising move, Nickelodeon chose to unban this episode after airing it officially on 29th April 2022, making it the final episode of Season 12. Perhaps better sense prevailed. Who knows? We SpongeBob fans are just excited to have another great, albeit a tad bit grotesque, episode to enjoy! For those wishing to view this episode, it’s available on Kimcartoon.

FAQS

Looking for more interesting readings? Check out:

• Tea at the Treedome Guide
• Mid Life Crustacean Guide
• Spongebob Chaperone Guide