Jerkass Woobie: While Pearl is still the Bratty Teenage Daughter she usually is, she's sympathetic in this episode to the mere fact that Mr. Krabs' cheapness won't let him throw her so much as a decent birthday party. While wanting a fancy party may be unreasonable, wanting her dad to think of something other than money for once isn't.
Memetic Mutation: Referring to "Boys Who Cry" as if they were a real boy band.
Moment of Awesome: SpongeBob saving Pearl's party by bringing all the gifts he bought with Mr. Krabs' credit card, including the real Boys Who Cry.
Karate Island:
Accidental Nightmare Fuel: Despite the noble intentions and without the intent of disrespecting anyone, the Pat Morita tribute at the end can be considered this, consisting of a monochrome image of the actor's face staring at the screen, occupying a third of the screen on a black background, appearing a few seconds after the episode ended. This aesthetic decision can easily catch anyone off-guard due to the suddenness of the scene which lasts a few seconds. It doesn't help that in some television broadcasts, the dedication was removed to add it again later, catching some viewers even more off-guard.
Broken Base: Some people find this one of the better season four episodes for its humor; other people find it one of the worst due to SpongeBob's treatment of Sandy. At the very least, SpongeBob wholeheartedly apologises to Sandy at the end, and there's a sweet little discourse between them.
Demographically Inappropriate Humour: The first of the Four Floors of Fear is called the Tickler. He's a literal French guy who weaponizes Tickle Torture, but "French tickler" is also a well-known nickname for something far less kid-friendly.
Magnificent Bastard: "Master" Udon ostensibly offers to crown SpongeBob "King of Karate" as a ploy to rope him into his real estate scheme. Luring SpongeBob to the fabricated Karate Island, Udon plays to his pride as a martial artist even as Sandy casts doubt upon his words. When she attempts to free SpongeBob from signing Udon's contract, he deploys a series of his minions against her, traps her in a cage and engages her in a karate match himself when she breaks free, before recovering from seeming defeat to scam Squidward as his next mark with the allure of being named "King of Clarinets".
Misblamed: Quite a few fans have blamed this episode for making SpongeBob inept at karate, which stuck for the rest of the series, when he and Sandy used to be equals who could go toe-to-toe with each other. This is ignoring the fact that SpongeBob was only ever depicted as being on par with Sandy at karate in "Karate Choppers", an early season one episode, and the season 3 episode "No Weenies Allowed" (the only other episode to show the two sparring up to that point) already showed Sandy completely dominating him at karate.
