Best Served Cold

Characters

• Patrick Star
• Squidina Star
• Bunny Star
• Cecil Star
• GrandPat Star
• Walter the Waiter
• Fentin Finkle
• Gladys
• Squidward Tentacles
• Death
• Sheldon J. Plankton
• Fisherman
• Sea fly
• Goofy Goober ^{(as bobblehead)}
• Template:Data:Links
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 100
  • Incidental 153 ^(brown)
  • Incidental 162 ^(tan)
  • Incidental 169
  • Incidental 187

Synopsis

File:Best Served Cold 014.png

Patrick chases the ice cream man.

The Goofy Goober ice cream man is driving his truck away from Patrick, who is in close pursuit. His only attempt to avoid Patrick is to drive off a closing bridge, making his car crash and burn. Patrick shows up for ice cream, but takes so long in choosing which flavor he wants that the fire spreads and melts all of it. Frustrated, the ice cream man visits the Chum Bucket. There, he runs into Squidward, who is annoyed with Cecil stealing his newspapers; Fentin, who is jealous of Squidina's success; Gladys, who complains about Bunny; and Death, whom GrandPat has eluded for centuries. The ice cream man, realizing they all hate the Star family, suggests they team up to get revenge. Plankton kicks them out since none of them have ordered anything.

The five go in a van outside the Star house. Squidward goes first, setting a trap that will activate when Cecil goes to take the paper. However, Cecil doesn't fall for it. Frustrated, Squidward demonstrates it and ends up trapping himself, getting sent through a printing press. Next, Fentin writes a negative review of the Patrick Show and gives it to Squidina, but he is too young to know how to write and Squidina mistakes it for a fan letter. Death asks Gladys about her revenge plan, but she reveals she thought it was a book club about the Easter Bunny expose, and she does not hold an actual grudge against Bunny. She leaves and a sea fly comes in. The fly wants revenge on Bunny because she is always swatting flies.

File:Best Served Cold 133.png

The Grim Reaper about to get his revenge on GrandPat.

Bunny takes out the trash, dumping raw meat out as compost. The fly, originally intending to operate a mechanical flyswatter, is attracted to the scent and goes onto the trash. Bunny then gets in the machine and swats it. Death goes for revenge and teleports himself into GrandPat's room. However, his "revenge" is just playing a harmless prank on a sleeping GrandPat. The ice cream man decides to take revenge into his own hands, chasing Patrick with a spiked ice cream cone-shaped vehicle. Patrick runs away and hops into his other enemies' van, driving it around his house. Patrick manages to escape and jumps onto the ice cream man's vehicle. He attempts to eat it, sending it spinning away. His enemies drive it away, and are crushed by the mechanical flyswatter, then towed away.

Patrick is sad about not having any ice cream, when he notices some of the raw meat on the lawn and thinks it is a new flavor. Back at the Chum Bucket, the ice cream man, Death, Squidward, and Fentin are heavily injured. Fentin suggests that next time, they get revenge as a group instead of going one-by-one. Plankton jumps in and orders them to buy some chum, causing them to run away.

Production

This episode was confirmed on December 2, 2023.

Promotional art

• Drawn by Kenny Pittenger.

• File:PAT208-209A promo.jpg

Storyboards

• Plussed by Trey Chavez.

• File:PAT217TreyChavez1.jpg
• File:PAT217TreyChavez2.jpg
• File:PAT217TreyChavez3.jpg
• File:PAT217TreyChavez4.jpg
• File:PAT217TreyChavez5.jpg

Production notes

Trey Chavez:

• Chavez had a blast working on this episode. He thought Death was "a cool character."

Trivia

General

• This is the first episode in the franchise to premiere on a leap day in the United States.
  • This is also the first appearance of the bubble transition in season 2, as it hasn't been seen since "Super Sitters."
• This episode was paired up with a rerun of "Star Cruise" during the original American airing.

Episode references

• The way Patrick chases the ice cream man on all fours is the exact same way he does it in "Enemies à la Mode."
  • This episode can be seen as a spiritual successor to "Enemies à la Mode," in that it involves the Star family and their rivals.

Cultural references

• The name of the episode comes from the proverb "revenge is a dish best served cold."

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Russian	Подаётся холодным Podayotsya kholodnym	Served Cold
Spanish (American)	Sírvase frío	Serve Cold