Dumped

Characters

• Gary the Snail
• Template:Data:Links
• Patrick Star
• Rex Template:Debut
• Larry the Snail Template:Debut
• Jerry Template:Debut
• Squidward Tentacles ^{(as a driftwood carving)}
• King Neptune ^(mentioned)

Synopsis

As the episode begins with SpongeBob and Gary playing tag, Patrick joins in and begins to get better acquainted with Gary. At the end of the day, Gary seems to want to spend time with Patrick a while longer, so SpongeBob agrees to let Gary have a sleepover at Patrick's house. The next morning, Gary is still reluctant to leave Patrick, who concludes that Gary wants to be with him permanently, and so claims him as his own pet. SpongeBob refuses to believe this, but when Gary is given the choice of who shall be his owner, Gary heads for Patrick. SpongeBob is heartbroken, and out of jealousy, he attempts to find a new pet to show Gary that he does not need a two-timing snail.

First, SpongeBob gets Rex, a worm, and shows him off to Patrick and Gary. SpongeBob extols all the traits that make worms superior to snails, such as their loyalty. Rex promptly illustrates this by completely abandoning SpongeBob and hitching a ride on a bus. Next, SpongeBob brings home Larry, a snail with a terrible temperament. SpongeBob bends over backward to accommodate Larry, but Larry's unceasing viciousness leaves SpongeBob to remain forlorn, forced to give up his own bed to the picky and greedy snail, and after failing to entertain Larry with a joke he said Gary loved, Larry probably completely abandons SpongeBob like Rex did. Even the anatomically correct snail, Jerry, cannot fill the hole in SpongeBob's heart.

File:Dumped 200.png

"I thought what we had was special...!"

Patrick, accompanied by Gary, stops by SpongeBob's house to do some laundry. In desperation, SpongeBob begs and pleads with Gary, offering him the privilege to do whatever he wants if he comes back. Patrick patronizingly tells SpongeBob to let it go, that Gary has already made his choice. Gary, meanwhile, crawls into the washing machine after Patrick throws his shorts in. SpongeBob and Patrick watch, and Patrick is angry that Gary apparently just likes him for his shorts. SpongeBob, however, realizes that all along Gary had only wanted the cookie that was in Patrick's pocket. Right after eating the cookie, Gary immediately returns to SpongeBob.

As the episode ends with SpongeBob and Gary, now satiated and reunited, going outside for a walk, a heartbroken and devastated Patrick stares at the door and asks, "Gary? I thought what we had was special...!"

Production

As Carson Kugler's first episode, he began storyboard plussing on it during May 2000, which is when he joined the SpongeBob SquarePants crew.

Art

• Title card background.
  Title card background.
• File:SB161-SC.061.png
• File:FWIoUbZXwAEpTbW.png
• File:Snail Nip painting.jpeg.jpg

Release

Broadcast

• Before this episode was paired with "Survival of the Idiots" on May 19, 2001, it premiered by itself during Slime Time Live's U-Pick.

Distribution

• This episode is available on the Tide and Seek, Complete 2nd Season, Christmas Who?, Bundled Up in Bikini Bottom, First 100 Episodes, Underwater Driving, Sponge Crazy, SpongeBob on DVD, The Best 300 Episodes Ever, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 3, Complete Second Season, From the Beginning, Part 1, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Snail's Meow, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, The First & Second Seasons, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.
• This episode is also available on the Sponge-a-Rama and Tide and Seek VHS tapes.

Reception

• Template:Rank
• Template:Rank2

Trivia

General

File:SB161-162.jpeg

• This episode was originally called "Gary's Choice."
• This episode originally had the packaging code of 31b, and was paired with "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III."
• In the beginning, SpongeBob plays tag with Gary. When he runs up his house, an extra window is seen next to the upstairs window. The extra window reappears at the beginning of the scene where SpongeBob introduces Rex.

File:New sb mac and cheese packaging.jpg

File:Dumped 124.png

Origin of the screenshot for the episode.

• This is the first episode for three things:
  • Caleb Meurer's first episode as a storyboard artist instead of an assistant storyboard artist.
  • The first time SpongeBob addresses Gary as "Gary the Snail."
  • The first episode of season 2 features Squidward's house without the owner himself, not counting a likeness of him.
• This is one of eight Season 2 episodes to use the season 1 character model for SpongeBob, the others being "Your Shoe's Untied," "Squid's Day Off," ","Bossy Boots," "Big Pink Loser," "Imitation Krabs," "Life of Crime," and "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic."
• This episode's title card music was later used in the first episode of the series The Mighty B!.
• A rendition of the face SpongeBob makes when he says, "Who's a good boy?" to Rex is seen on various SpongeBob-licensed products, including the 2010-2014 packages of Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese. It is accompanied by the slogan "Grin and square it!"
• Rex looks similar to Template:Data:Links' pet worm, Mr. Doodles.
• SpongeBob, in a throwaway joke, reveals that he has another pet snail, Jerry, a photo-realistic land snail.
• This episode was the source of a creepypasta about a bootleg version of said episode, which showed an edited frame of SpongeBob with big, bloodshot eyes and no mouth.

• The edited frame from the creepypasta
  The edited frame from the creepypasta
• The original frame
  The original frame

• There are several hints and clues that foreshadow Gary is only interested in the cookie in Patrick's pocket:
  • Gary is often shown on Patrick's stomach in many scenes of the two together, most notably when he first jumps onto him and when Patrick wants Gary to sleep over.
  • Most of the time after Patrick has done playing with Gary, he often crawls back to his stomach area.
  • When Patrick and SpongeBob are arguing after Gary makes a choice of staying with his new owner, Gary doesn't seem to be listening to the conversation.
  • After Patrick places his pants into the washing machine, Gary straight away goes inside the machine to retrieve the cookie, a clue that he is only interested in the cookie in Patrick's pocket.
• This title of episode is a metaphor for a break-up.
• SpongeBob's laugh from "Sandy's Rocket" is reused in the scene where SpongeBob slides down the pineapple with his teeth.
• This is the second time SpongeBob is seen in his bathrobe. The first time was in "Jellyfish Jam."
• Surprisingly, Patrick and Gary are cousins, as revealed in "Rule of Dumb."
• Gary was only attracted to Patrick because of the cookie in his pocket, but throughout the episode, Gary makes no effort to check his pocket until the end.
• SpongeBob's grunting from the end of "Plankton!" is reused in this episode.
• This episode was paired with different episodes in several marathons.
  • This episode was paired with "Gary Takes a Bath" following the premiere of "Have You Seen This Snail?"
  • On the November 10, 2006 airing, this episode was paired with "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired."
• This is the third episode where a soundtrack bookends it, in this case, "Daytime Drama." The first is "Take That! (a)" in "Karate Choppers" and the second is "Down by the Riverside" in "Survival of the Idiots."

Dub facts

• First title card
  First title card
• Second title card
  Second title card

• In Germany, this episode has two title cards.

Errors

File:Dumped 094.png

• When SpongeBob carries Gary away from Patrick, when the scene zooms in on Gary, SpongeBob's sleeve is the same green color as the side of his head, instead of white.
  • Gary's spots are also larger than usual in that scene.

File:Dumped 161.png

• When SpongeBob begs Gary to come to him, the picture of Gary has no spots.
• On a June 5, 2020 airing on Nickelodeon, a banner was erroneously shown saying The Stars of SpongeBob Fan Favorites Special was coming up next; a standard rerun followed instead as scheduled.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	L'éponge abandonnée	Sponge Abandoned
German	Allein gelassen	Left Alone
Italian	Mollato!	Dumped!
Polish	Odrzucony	Dumped
Russian	Покинутый Pokinutyy	Dumped
Spanish (American)	Expulsado	Dumped
Spanish (European)	Plantado	Dumped