what she says: I’m fine.
what she means: In the sixteen years since the release of the Spongebob episode, “Tea at the Treedome,” and simultaneously, the introduction of Sandy Cheeks, only one thing has baffled me. Sandy is clearly rather intelligent, as we can plainly see, and later, confirm, in the episode, “Chimps Ahoy,” where we discover she works for the company Treedome Enterprises. She is an accomplished scientist and inventor, not to mention she is musically and athletically skilled. She must have gone to a prestigious school, and she ostensibly knows much about marine life, as she must have studied it extensively before she was assigned to her treedome in Bikini Bottom. That all said, it begs the question: how is she not immediately aware of Spongebob’s need of water for survival? In “Tea at the Treedome,” she invites her new friend to her treedome, but it does not occur to her that he is a sea creature and needs a constant supply of water, much like she requires air? It just does not add up. And she is not one to miss social cues, either, so why does she fail to notice Spongebob’s growing discomfort, and eventual desperation? It has been 16 years and I have not received closure on this gaping plot hole.
