Shuffleboarding (SpongeBob SquarePants)

“Shuffleboarding” is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season six. In this episode, SpongeBob and Patrick pretend to be their heroes at a shuffleboarding contest, but get sidetracked on the way home.

Plot
SpongeBob and Patrick take the place of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, who is injured. At the shuffle-boarding contest, they pretend to be their heroes, but on the way home, they get distracted.

Why It Doesn't Shuffleboard

 * 1) The main issue with this episode is that it is an 11-minute long attack on Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy's likeability since both superheroes go through a lot of torture put on by the citizens of Bikini Bottom. The beginning half of the episode and even the ending rely more on making the two heroes miserable in the whole story.
 * 2) *They get whacked in the face by a boomerang SpongeBob and Patrick have been playing with.
 * 3) *They get injured and end up in the hospital thanks to SpongeBob and Patrick.
 * 4) *They even meet up with an angry mob at the very end, even though they have done nothing to warrant their misery.
 * 5) Both SpongeBob and Patrick, being the flanderized morons they are, throw everyone they see in jail for completely petty and unjustified reasons, making them no better, if not worse, than the Bikini Bottom Police Force, which is already corrupt enough as it is. Examples include:
 * 6) *Riding a store electric horse because they thought the kids were loitering;
 * 7) *Throwing out and wasting a Krabby Patty.
 * 8) *Chewing too loud - Patrick should just tell him to just stop chewing his gum so loudly.
 * 9) *Shoes untied - SpongeBob should have just told them that their shoes were untied or helped them. That also makes him a hypocrite, because he forgot to tie his own shoes once.
 * 10) *Being too old - If anything, the old lady should just be in a retirement home instead of jail.
 * 11) *Being a (retired) villain - They arrested Man Ray just for being a villain, not caring at all to the fact he's retired.
 * 12) *Being friends with a former villain - Mable was friends with Man Ray and they only arrested her for her association with the retired Man Ray.
 * 13) Misleading title: This episode is called "Shuffleboarding", yet no shuffle boarding is shown in this episode and no one is doing any shuffle boarding at all. It's like the makers of the episode had this idea SpongeBob and Patrick would be shuffle boarding a few seniors, but when they changed their minds when SpongeBob reveals to Patrick "they've already won the tournament" far too out of nowhere, they somehow changed their minds by having SpongeBob and Patrick arrest everyone for going about their business.
 * 14) This episode is also similar to "Sandy's Rocket" from season one as both episodes involve SpongeBob and Patrick capturing and locking people up, as well as "Hall Monitor" from season one as both episodes involve SpongeBob misusing his power of authority. But unlike "Sandy's Rocket" where SpongeBob gets his desserts at the end, here, SpongeBob and Patrick receive no repercussion for their actions.
 * 15) *Unlike the previous episodes, they go fully out of their way to assault old ladies and abduct children without any repercussion or consequence.
 * 16) There are two notable animation errors:
 * 17) *As SpongeBob and Patrick walk away from the prison area, just as it is about to explode, they suddenly disappear out of the screen.
 * 18) *When the citizens and Man Ray chase after Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy at first, the sky is blue, but later as the episode ends, it is sunset for some reason.
 * 19) This was pointed out by Anim8ball, everyone believes that SpongeBob and Patrick are truly Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, hence rendering the Bikini Bottomites come off as complete idiots.
 * 20) *Since they were going to be with seniors, this wouldn't have been a problem.
 * 21) Awful ending: SpongeBob and Patrick return the costumes, but as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy leave the hospital, they are confronted by an angry mob of the people who SpongeBob and Patrick wrongfully arrested and everyone mistakes them for the real Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, start chasing the aforementioned duo, while SpongeBob and Patrick confuse them for fans, and the episode ends there.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Granny from “Have You Seen This Snail?” from season four makes a cameo appearance here, where she is arrested for being “too old”.
 * 2) Man Ray's high pitched voice sounds really funny.

Reception

 * Along with Professor Squidward, Shuffleboarding has a 5.6/10 rating on IMDB.
 * Much of the criticism of this episode comes from SpongeBob and Patrick assaulting and locking people up illegally, the misleading title and the plot change.
 * Shuffleboarding was the fourth worst episode on MoBrosStudios's 20 worst SpongeBob episodes list. Even after revisiting, Anim8ball did not find the episode any better.
 * This episode was a candidate for Mr. Enter's "Top 10 Worst Patricks a Prick Episodes" since Patrick was the one with the idea.
 * This episode was paired with Slide Whistle Stooges during its first airing.