What got me to stop watching Spongebob was seeing the obvious decline in quality starting with season 4 and then noticing the really poor episodes in both season 5 and 6. I liked some episodes of the later seasons, including Dunces and Dragons and Karate Island is a guilty pleasure. I also enjoyed Skill Crane but its theme was surprisingly adult to me (the horrible depiction of gambling, the abusive manipulation Mr. Krabs benefits off of, the agony of Squidward watching Spongebob winning reminding me of people showing off their lucky rolls in Mario Kart Tour and Dr. Mario World) and its humor, while I thought was effective, didn't seem like the same brand as usual Spongebob stuff. But anyway, some really poor episodes I watched included A Pal for Gary, A Squid's Visit, House Fancy (that visceral scene scarred in my retinas and was the straw for me), Pet-Sitter Pat (though ngl that part where Patrick took out a flamethrower for Gary did make me laugh in its over-the-top presentation), the one with the laughbox, The Splinter, the tanning one, the one with Squidard and bad neighbors, Penny Foolish, the Plankton suicide episode, and the weird suicide imagery for Squidward (Squidward with a rope, Squidward putting his head in an oven; ultimately taken out of context but how is that appropriate). Some of these had out-of-place gross-out / shock / psychological horror??? remember the creepiness Spongebob did when replicating Squidward's House or that episode where Spongebob loses it and starts hallucinating his boat and also talks to a patty meat puppet? what? and remember that flea episode where it's just a lot of weirdly detailed shock animation of a flea's face in a big portion of the episode). It seemed Spongebob was going that direction in season 5 and 6 and I really don't want to continue with padding and more shock humor.
That being said, the first three seasons aren't flawless. There were some really weak episodes such as Paper, Gary Takes a Bath, I'm With Stupid, A Day at the Races (genuinely painful to watch), Grandma's Kiss, Rock Bottom (too much mean-spiritedness); some Season 4/5 episodes I'd consider stronger.
Anyway my favorite episodes are pretty much Season 2/3 stuff. Squid on Strike, Opposite Day, Jellyfishing, The Strangler, Hall Monitor, SB-129. I like the ones where Mr. Krabs loses too like Krabby Land.
