Patrick and the Doppleganger Situation

Patrick and the Doppelganger Situation is the premiere episode of Season 18 of SpongeBob SquarePants. This episode relies on mystery, suspense and humor, as Patrick goes face to face against a smarter, and sophisticated doppleganger which makes Patrick remember his split personality Patrick SmartPants, which was unleashed after he switched brains with the doppleganger in the past.

The episode was met with critical acclaim, with 95% of critics giving the episode perfect reviews while some have given it a 9/10, with the critics stating "The episode has successfully revitalized SpongeBob after years of torment and torture without Stephen Hillenburg." The viewership soared, hitting a 12.06 record, beating the previous record of 8.6 million viewers from Dunces and Dragons.

Synopsis/Plot
It was an absolutely normal day at the Krusty Krab, and SpongeBob has been cooking extremely fast, causing Squidward to become confused at what SpongeBob's been doing. The customers praise SpongeBob's speed at cooking, and then around that time later, when the restaurant is closing, Mr. Krabs gives SpongeBob his paycheck. SpongeBob happily runs to his house.

Meanwhile, Patrick was lazy all day watching his favorite movies, such as his and SpongeBob's amateur film Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture, and many more. He falls asleep midway to their movie, as we cut to Rock Bottom. A Patrick doppelganger arrives, and then orders a bus to Bikini Bottom, and proceeds to rent a room at an apartment. He then brings pieces of pictures and paper, and a map of Bikini Bottom.

A few hours later in the morning, SpongeBob awakes and greets Patrick, as they go jellyfishing before SpongeBob goes to work. It was at this time the doppelganger greets everyone and outsmarts them, causing the citizens and neighbors of Patrick to praise him and mistake him for the real Patrick, thinking he's finally gotten smart. Squidward wants him to teach him the ways of the clarinet, where he savagely embarasses him.

When the doppelganger sees SpongeBob, it was strange to him that Patrick changed. It was at this moment he was suspicious that it was not Patrick, but a doppelganger himself. When Patrick learns of the news, he decides to declare it wasn't him but the people start to tell him he's changed but he really didn't, and someone deceived them into thinking he's changed. Haunted by their voices, Patrick leaves and locks him in his rock house.

Patrick tries to stay away from SpongeBob until he accidentally breaks in, and then explains that something fishy is going on. SpongeBob then goes to his house, and in the course of seven days he starts to take pictures and then question some of his peers to where they first saw 'Patrick'. He then does what the doppelganger did back at his apartment and then with a bit of science and clues, SpongeBob learns the shocking revelation about 'Patrick'; It's not really him.

The next day, he proceeds to warn Mr. Krabs, who saw 'Patrick' but he thinks he's delusional and then tells him to get back to work when Patrick enters a state of rage and angrily enters the restaurant. He then points at 'Patrick' and the screams "You!" while he fights him. The police then arrive after a concerned fish called them as they take away Patrick and 'Patrick'. As soon as they are escorted out, it turns out 'Patrick' was a robot and the real 'Patrick' was driving the car, where he vengefully explains that back at Brain Coral, he switched brains with him, causing the Patrick Smartpants event, while he tries to crash the car into the same area in Jellyfish Fields when Patrick lost his brain.

But all of a sudden they are halted by police officers as they arrest 'Patrick' with charges of identity theft. 'Patrick' is then forced to wear a straitjacket as he is taken to jail on a confined room. SpongeBob and Patrick are relieved, and then SpongeBob wonders what will happen now, as we travel into his brain and then we see the body of SquidBob TentaclePants, as it awakens.

Music
TBA

Release
The episode is available on the Season 18 DVD, which is numbered No. 1a - Patrick and the Doppelganger Situation and is also available on iTunes.

Reception
Critics and fans response were met with critical acclaim, with fans and critics-alike giving overwhelmingly positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the episode a weighted rating of 9/10 with a score of 97%, based on 250 reviews, citing "Beautifully crafted and brilliantly written, the first episode of the forever-changing Season 18 of SpongeBob SquarePants gives us a look at the series' bright future." On Metacritic, the episode garnered an average score of 95/100, citing "universal acclaim". RogerEbert.com reviewed the episode, saying "This episode is just as great, if not, significantly greater than Band Geeks. It's absolutely one of the best, if not, the best SpongeBob episode in the world."

The viewership of the episode garnered 12.06 million viewers, breaking Dunces and Dragons' record and has made it the most viewed SpongeBob episode ever. Fan response, however, was mixed by just a tiny bit of fans, but the majority of them happened to have said that it was the best SpongeBob episode since Band Geeks, and has praised the humor, overall tone and the portrayal of the Doppelganger, citing that it was the best interpration of a doppelganger humiliating the person he/she would look like, and has favored the plot twist that the doppelganger and Patrick had met before, due to their brains switching places back in Patrick SmartPants.