Karen 2.0

This is the page about the season 8 episode. For other uses, see Karen (disambiguation).

If you were looking for the article about the character, then see Karen 2.

Characters

Synopsis

At the Chum Bucket, Karen dumps a bag of chum onto a tray and zaps it into a three-course meal, with the entree being chum pot pie. She goes to Plankton, who works on a project. Annoyed, he tells her the pot pie chum was supposed to be a stir fry chum, and she responds that her memory is full. Plankton says such problems will be solved by his newest creation, which he reveals to be Karen 2. Karen is distraught that Plankton is replacing her, and his words anger Karen to the point where she tries to zap him. He flees from her blasts, but Karen 2 shuts her off via the Chum Bucket's power source. At the Krusty Krab, it is closing time, which makes SpongeBob sad. Mr. Krabs walks home as SpongeBob follows him and says goodbye until he trips over a box filled with Karen's components. Mr. Krabs is about to get away until SpongeBob points out the "free" computer. Mr. Krabs rushes back, feeling anything free should be taken.

File:Karen 2.0 062.png

Karen on the "free box."

They go back to the Krusty Krab, where they activate the computer, who turns out to be Karen. SpongeBob is wary that it may be one of Plankton's schemes, but Mr. Krabs is convinced that anything free is automatically good. When Karen's startup is completed, the screen turns to a hysterically crying face. SpongeBob tries to comfort her, but he unintentionally makes her even more depressed. Karen looks out the window of the Krusty Krab, where she sees Plankton and Karen 2 having a romantic dinner at the Chum Bucket. She angrily says she never wants to see Plankton again, and Mr. Krabs welcomes her to the Krusty Krab crew.

The next day, Squidward walks in to see Karen is at his post. He is baffled until Mr. Krabs explains that she will be doing his cashier duties for free. Squidward jumps for joy at the thought of no longer working at the Krusty Krab and dealing with SpongeBob or customers, but his joy is quashed when Mr. Krabs reassigns him to restroom duties. Unfortunately, Karen is still upset, even snapping at a customer who requests a Krabby Patty. A knocking is heard at the front door: it is Karen 2, who repeatedly slams into the front door. Plankton pops out from inside her, asking what is wrong, and she tells him he did not program her with arms. Plankton sees Karen at work, and becomes uneasy, then a wave of customers pushes him and Karen 2 into the Krusty Krab. Karen and Karen 2 argue, reaching the point that Karen jumps out of her post, ready to fight Karen 2. Mr. Krabs uses the opportunity to make money from people betting on the fight.

File:Karen 2.0 146.png

Battle of the Karens, with Mr. Krabs judging their fight.

Karen and Karen 2 fight, striking each other. When Plankton falls out of Karen 2, she accidentally runs him over and crushes him, and Karen is horrified. Karen 2 is unconcerned, which infuriates Karen, who finally destroys her replacement and gives her a lesson that no one runs down by Plankton. She talks to a wounded Plankton, who sees the error of his ways in replacing her. Karen's power runs out, and Plankton takes the battery from the destroyed body of Karen 2 and puts it into her. Plankton begs Karen to wake up and promises that he will never take her kindness for granted ever again. Karen reactivates, thinking it was all a dream. She and Plankton return to the Chum Bucket, and Karen 2's screen explodes. Mr. Krabs is upset over the loss of Karen 2, but when SpongeBob suggests that he rebuild her, he has Squidward wearing Karen 2's screen like a mask and taking orders like a robot, because "the kids love robots," as the episode ends.

Production

This episode was produced during^[1] and completed in 2011.^[2]

The episode was confirmed and added to the US Copyright Office on January 30, 2012,^[2] along with its sister episode "InSPONGEiac."

Music

Release

Broadcast

This episode marks the ending of the "Two Whole Weeks of Never Before Seen SpongeBobs" event.

Distribution

This episode is available on the SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 14, Complete Eighth Season, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, SpongeBob, You're Fired! (international releases only), The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Next 100 Episodes, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, The Seventh & Eighth Seasons, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs.

Trivia

General

File:268-846 Former Titles.jpeg

This episode was originally called "Computer Trouble" and "The Karen II."
- The second title parodies the Apple II.

File:Karen-2.0-episode-building-set.png

The building toy playset.

In 2020, a building toy playset based on this episode (pictured right) was released. It is modeled after the scene where Mr. Krabs reactivates Karen in his office, and the set includes Karen, Mr. Krabs, and his desk.
The title card font is the same along with its color as the one used for the episode "Komputer Overload."
This episode marks the second time Plankton replaces Karen with another machine; in "Komputer Overload," Plankton blames Karen for his repeated failures to obtain the secret recipe and builds three machines to help him with that task.
This episode marks the second time Karen works at the Krusty Krab. The first is in "Bucket Sweet Bucket."

In Comic Crazy... Take 2!, there is a comic strip called "Krusty Karen" that shares a very similar plot where Karen leaves the Chum Bucket and works for the Krusty Krab.
When Karen 2 says that Plankton did not design her with hands, she seems to have hands when she disconnects Karen's hard drive. However, this is only one arm.
Usually people push the Krusty Krab door open, but this time it is pulled.
When Karen and Karen 2 argue, they use computer terms against each other. When Karen says she will "crumble" Karen 2's cookies, it is an actual computer term; cookies are files that contain information about a user that are sent to the central computer with each request. The server uses the information to customize data sent back and to log the requests of the user.
This episode's working title was "Computer Trouble."
On May 28, 2021, this episode was paired with "Gary Takes a Bath."^[3]
This is the third episode to contain a number in its title, with the first being "SB-129," and the second being "20,000 Patties Under the Sea."
In the UK and Ireland, this episode and its sister episode are one of the few season 8 episodes to be NTSC-pitched. The others include "A Friendly Game"/"Sentimental Sponge" and "Sweet and Sour Squid"/"The Googly Artiste."

Cultural references

When SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs boot up Karen in Mr. Krabs' office, the screen reads "Karen Classic." This is a parody of the Macintosh Classic, which is an Apple Macintosh computer from 1990.

Errors

Karen 2 tells Plankton that she has no arms, but earlier, she turns off Karen Classic with an arm that came out of a panel.
Plankton goes and puts a battery inside Karen Classic. When he opens the battery hole, it has no battery inside.

File:Blue Fred error.jpg

Fred's brown eyelids.

When Karen 2.0 gets defeated, her screen is blue for a frame.
- In the same scene, Troutenheimer's eyelids are brown.

Videos

File:"12 Days of Spongemas" Music Video 🎄 - New SpongeBob Holiday Song

Multiple clips of this episode are shown, with the first at 0:16.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Karène, version 2	Karen, version 2
German	Karen 2.0	-
Hungarian	Karen 2.0	-
Italian	Karen 2.0	-
Russian	Карен 2.0 Karen 2.0	Karen 2.0
Spanish	Karen 2.0	-

References

es:Karen 2.0 pl:Karen, wersja 2.0 pt-br:Karen 2 ru:Карен 2.0

[1] EIDR Record: Karen 2.0 / InSPONGEiac (2011, TV)

[catalog-2] 2.0 ^2.1 SpongeBob SquarePants : 171, Karen 2.0/Inspongeiac. - Catalog.org Public Catalog

[3] May 28, 2021 - Nickstory

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