Original air date: 7/23/2007 (produced in 2006) note
Mr. Krabs thinks Plankton is up to something, so he has SpongeBob and Patrick spy on him.
Spy Buddies contains examples of:
- Adults Dressed as Children: SpongeBob and Patrick disguise themselves in baby clothes while spying on Plankton.
- Affectionate Parody: Of James Bond and Mission: Impossible.
- Ash Face: SpongeBob has one when the Krabby Patty with the instructions for the mission self-destructs, and later he and Patrick both have them when the Spymobile self-destructs.
- Ass Shove: Implied when Patrick’s telephone pants tell SpongeBob to deposit 25 cents.
- Bait-and-Switch Accusation: When Plankton catches SpongeBob and Patrick sneaking into the Chum Bucket (which also foreshadows he's Mr. Krabs in disguise):Plankton: "Secret mission", eh? (SpongeBob and Patrick scream) Don't you think I know what you're up to?! ...You want to eat at the Chum Bucket without your boss knowing!
- The Bet: Mr. Krabs and Plankton did a bet that Mr. Krabs disguised himself as Plankton so he can steal the Krabby Patty formula better than him.
- Bond Gun Barrel: Parodied at one point with SpongeBob, where it's then revealed that Patrick is looking at SpongeBob through a drinking straw.
- Call-Back: Plankton uses his Mr. Krabs robot suit from "Imitation Krabs".
- Cast as a Mask: When someone is flawlessly disguised as the other, he even manages to impersonate the voice flawlessly.
- Disguised in Drag: At one point when SpongeBob and Patrick are ripping off each other's disguises, Patrick is wearing a full-body suit of Sandy Cheeks.
- Eat the Camera: Patrick does this when he falls from the sky.
- Foreshadowing: There are several minor instances throughout the episode that Mr. Krabs and Plankton were pretending to be each other.
- At the beginning of the episode, we see Plankton's shadow sneak over to the Krusty Krab and unlock the safe containing the formula, then SpongeBob turns on the lights to reveal it was Mr. Krabs. Plankton's shadow is also three times as large, and Mr. Krabs sounds nervous when SpongeBob catches him.
- When Mr. Krabs calls SpongeBob and Patrick he's not paying them to goof off, SpongeBob reminds him he never pays him. Mr. Krabs replies flatly.
- Note that Karen does not come when Plankton calls for her, a dead-ringer that this is not really Plankton. Also, he sounds mildly surprised when he sees SpongeBob and Patrick, and offers them snacks that are not chum-based.
- After Patrick lets slip of the secret mission, Plankton sounds a little puzzled, followed by the Bait-and-Switch Comment above.
- Mr. Krabs shoots the customers out of a cannon towards Plankton’s blimp, which is something the real Mr. Krabs wouldn’t do.
- Full-Body Disguise / Latex Perfection: This is how Mr. Krabs managed to disguise as Plankton, while the real Plankton wore a rubber Mr. Krabs suit over his Mr. Krabs robot from "Imitation Krabs". Then SpongeBob and Patrick parody it, ripping off different bodysuits of each other, even including impersonations of Squidward and Sandy!
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Patrick calls the idea of Plankton buying baby clothes embarrassing... while he and SpongeBob are also disguised in baby clothes.
- At the end, Mr. Krabs gloats about how he managed to destroy Plankton's place of business... ignoring the fact that he is currently standing in the wreckage of his own restaurant.
- Not a Mask: After Patrick supposedly rips off his Full-Body Disguise to reveal Squidward, SpongeBob wonders who the other Squidward next to him is and tears off his face, revealing Squidward's body tissue underneath."I'm not..." (RRRRIP!) "...wearing a disguise."
- On One Condition: The usual wager to Mr. Krabs and Plankton's bet was just a dollar. A DOLLAR!
- Plot Twist: Turns out everything that happened was part of a bet between Plankton and Mr. Krabs to see who would be better at the other's occupation.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Zigzagged. Krabs has reduced his restaurant to rubble, but is too overjoyed at winning his dollar to notice. Even Plankton seems nonchalant about Krabs' "beating" him for it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Mr. Krabs tells Squidward to man his battle station, he says he's on it then goes to the bathroom.
- Shout-Out: After Mr. Krabs tasks SpongeBob with being a spy, a reference to the famous James Bond gun barrel sequence is used.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: 60s surf music is what's used as music considered annoying enough to drive Mr. Krabs' customers away.
- Spoofs "R" Us: Plankton buys baby clothes at "Guppies 'R' Us".
- Swapped Roles: It's revealed that Plankton and Mr. Krabs had actually switched places as a part of a bet to determine if Krabs could steal the formula himself.
- Title Drop: SpongeBob and Patrick drop the title upon becoming spies:Hooray! We're spy buddies!
Mrs. Puff, SpongeBob and Squidward appear on a boating safety film.
Boat Smarts contains examples of:
- Anti-Role Model: SpongeBob serves as the documentary's example of a driver without boat smarts. Mrs. Puff refers to him by name at one point and corrects herself cause he's meant to be a general example.
- Broken Aesop: Invoked and parodied, Squidward is meant to display safe driving to contrast from SpongeBob's recklessness, but it's the former who suffers consequences from the latter's actions. Of note is the seatbelt portion; Squidward fastens his seatbelt as he should, only for SpongeBob crashing into him to cause the seat to rip out of the boat and fly towards a spiked steamroller, and Squidward can't change his flight path because his seatbelt gets stuck and he has no choice but to get sucked in the rollers along with his seat.Mrs. Puff: Well, at least he had his seat belt on...
- Butt-Monkey: Squidward and Mrs. Puff suffer great misfortune thanks to SpongeBob.
- Drives Like Crazy: SpongeBob once again doesn't know how to drive properly and causes chaos.
- Faux-To Guide: The documentary is meant to advocate for safe driving, but Broken Aesop is invoked where the reckless SpongeBob comes out top while safe driver Squidward suffers various misfortunes. Mrs. Puff seems to realize this at the end, as she goes "Never mind..." as the documentary abruptly ends.
- Fun with Acronyms: C.O.B.B.U.T.K.S.B.S.P.O.T.R.A.O.O.B.A.T. (Citizens of Bikini Bottom United to Keep SpongeBob SquarePants Off the Road and Out of Boats All Together)
- Hypocritical Humor: This line in the ending.SpongeBob: Looks like you guys forgot your boat smarts!
- Idiot Houdini: SpongeBob causes chaos but ends the episode unscatched.
- Letting the Air out of the Band: Happens at the end after SpongeBob tells Squidward and Mrs. Puff that they "forgot their boat smarts".
- Medium Blending: Crash test dummy Squidward is footage of a real-life crash test dummy with an animated Squidward head.
- No OSHA Compliance: Some kind of spiked steamroller with no discernable purpose is driving down the street for Squidward to sucked into. Note the spiked roller portions are independent of its actual wheels, but the driver still had them turning as if he was hoping for someone to fly into it.
- Right Way/Wrong Way Pair: Squidward is the good driver while SpongeBob is the bad driver. However, when SpongeBob does things wrong, it's Squidward who gets hurt instead.
- Safe Driving Aesop: Parodied. Even though Squidward is the one who drives safe, he still suffers injuries due to SpongeBob's recklessness, while SpongeBob himself isn't harmed at all. Truth in Television, as being the world's greatest driver will not protect you from morons on the road.
Squidward tries to prove to Mr. Krabs that he can learn the names of all the Krusty Krab's customers in the hopes of winning a prize.
Good Ol' Whatshisname contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: Squidward resorted to stealing a man’s wallet to find out his name to win the prize. But the prize wasn’t anything special, it was just the brochure, no actual vacation which is what he really wanted. And he rips it to pieces after Mr. Krabs gives it to him. And now he’s going to be spending time in prison.
- An Aesop: Sometimes a prize just isn't worth the hassle. Squidward gets himself in legal trouble when he steals the customer's wallet to figure out their identity, and as it turns out, the reward was entirely worthless.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Squidward is at least happy to have won Mr. Krabs' competition despite being tossed into prison, but to his frustration, the prize wasn't even a vacation like he was led to believe, it was the brochure advertising it. Then to top it off he realizes Patrick is his cell mate (for some reason).
- Disproportionate Retribution: The cop beats up Squidward and gives him a 10-year prison sentence for stealing a wallet and running a stop sign on foot. Then again, Police Brutality is expected in this show.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: When Squidward runs off with the guy's wallet, the cop can be seen eating a donut.
- Downer Ending: Squidward ends up arrested and jailed because he took the customer's wallet. To top it off, he ends up having Patrick as his cellmate.
- Gag Echo: Near the beginning, Squidward imagines himself playing parcheesi on his vacation. At the end when Squidward is in his jail cell, Patrick invites Squidward to a game of parcheesi.
- Grumpy Old Man: The guy whose name Squidward wanted to know.
- Jerkass: Squidward for trying to get rid of SpongeBob when the latter keeps beating Squidward to the punch in acknowledging the customers' names.
- Laughing Mad: Squidward does this when ripping up the brochure after finding out there was no vacation included in the prize.
- Never My Fault: Even if Squidward didn't want any valuables from the wallet, the fact remains he still, well, stole it. Yet he acts like the latter fact should absolve him from punishment.
- Noodle Incident: For some unexplained reason, Patrick is Squidward's cellmate.
- Oh, Crap!: When Squidward sees that Patrick is his cellmate, he literally goes to pieces.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted; two customers inside the Krusty Krab are both named Gus.
- Prefer Jail to the Protagonist: At the end of the episode, Squidward comments that at least he'll have some peace and quiet for the next ten years. And then Patrick is revealed to be his cellmate...
- Real Joke Name: What Zit Tooya. Squidward even comments, "What kind of ridiculous name is that?".
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The prize was actually the brochure for the trip.
- Snap Back: Squidward is back out of prison the very next episode with no mention of him serving time (and his sentence was supposed to be 10 years).
- Tap on the Head: The cop knocks Squidward out cold with a whack from his nightstick before arresting him.
- Tempting Fate: Squidward gets sent to jail for ten years, but he’s happy he’ll have peace and quiet. Then he finds out Patrick is his cellmate, causing Squidward to fall apart.
- The Unreveal: The reason Patrick is in jail and is Squidward's cellmate is unknown.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- Mr. Krabs holding the competition to learn all the customer's names led to Squidward doing anything he could to win, even stealing a guy's wallet.
- Mr. What Zit Tooya. With a name like that, it's no surprise that Squidward thought the guy was withholding his name.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: The episode centers around Squidward trying to find out the name of one of the Krusty Krab's patrons. Each time he asks the man appears to ask "What's it to ya?" but after all the hilarity it is ultimately revealed that the man's name is really "Whatzit Tooya." He'd been telling Squidward what his name was the entire time. This gets lampshaded when Squidward asks what kind of name that is.
- Who's on First?: The man whose name Squidward is trying to get is named What Zit Tooya (What's it to ya?).
- Withholding Their Name: Squidward and SpongeBob compete in against each other to learn the names of all the customers in the Krusty Krab. When Squidward gets down to the last customer, it seems like the customer doesn't want to tell Squidward his name, as it sounds like he tells him "What's it to ya?". After Squidward takes the customer's wallet from him, getting himself arrested as a result, Squidward finds out the customer's real name is "What Zit Tooya".
- Zonk: At the end of the episode, it's revealed that the prize Mr. Krabs was offering was actually the brochure itself, not the tropical vacation it advertised.
