This article is a transcript of the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Tango Tangle" from season 14, which aired on February 20, 2024.

• [The episode opens with an exterior shot of the Chum Bucket. Karen is smiling while sitting at a table while Plankton is in her cupcake, singing to her. A flame is sitting on top of Plankton's head.]
• Plankton: [singing] ♪ Oh happy birthday on you. It's your birthday, it's true. [puts hands together] It's the day that I built you. Happy birthday on- ♪
• [The flame engulfs him, making him jump up, scream, and run around.]
• Karen: [sticks Plankton into her cupcake to extinguish the fire]
• Plankton: [groans]
• Karen: Oh, Sheldon. This has been the best birthday I've ever had. [picks up Plankton to kiss him, which electrocutes him]
• Plankton: And it ain't over yet. It's time for the birthday girl to open her present. [does hand movements as he holds out an envelope] Ta-da!
• Karen: [takes the envelope and rips it apart] Oh? [laughing]
• Plankton: [moving his eyebrow] It's a gift certificate for tango lessons.
• Karen: [disappointed] Oh, you know I'd love to dance with you, sweetie, but we've tried this before. And if you recall--
• [Flashback montage to Plankton in a disco outfit on a dance floor, dancing.]
• Plankton: Yeah? Oh, yeah? [gets stepped on]
• [Cut to Plankton in a cowboy outfit on a saloon dance floor.]
• Plankton: Yee-haw! [gets stepped on by a cowboy boot]
• [Cut to Plankton blowing a whistle while wearing a zipper hat on a punk dance floor, where he gets stepped on by a black boot. End of montage.]
• Karen: It did not go well.
• Plankton: [jumps and runs off] This time is gonna be different. [giggles as he grabs onto a giant white cloth] Because your other birthday present is [yanks away the cloth to reveal a giant wall with several gears on it] this. The Leg Yanker Five Zillion. [jumps on top of it and straps himself onto it, crying] This is for you, baby. [uses his teeth to pull a lever that activates the machine, which pulls his legs along the gears. After the yanking is finished, he lets out a large scream and limps to the floor, then gets up to Karen's level with his newly long legs]
• Karen: [making a ":0" face] Ooh.
• Plankton: Hmm, nice weather up here. [loses his balance, then Karen catches him as she smiles] Whoa.
• Karen: Well, hello, tall, green, and evil.
• Plankton: May I have this dance?
• [Bubble transition to the Bikini Bottom Recreation Center. SpongeBob is heard grunting as a sign displays the text "Suzie Groove: School of Dance; 7:30 PM." Inside, SpongeBob and Pearl are stretching their legs. Slappy and Slippy can be seen, as well as Plankton and Karen, now in formal wear.]
• SpongeBob: Love the new stems, Plankton. [winks, then loses his balance and falls] Whoa!
• Plankton: [as his watch beeps] It's 8:00 p.m. already. Where's our dance instructor?
• Suzie: [off-screen as everyone looks in her direction] Hello, class! [enters from a door as she begins dancing, does the split, and stops in front of everyone]
• All: [cheers and applause]
• SpongeBob: [jumping and cheering, grabs onto Pearl and continues cheering]
• Pearl: [sighs]
• Suzie: I'm your tango instructor, [moves her head back and forth] Suzie Groove. And when I'm done with you, [takes off her hoodie] this is how you gotta move. [tango dances with her hoodie, then tosses a rose to SpongeBob with her mouth]
• SpongeBob: [catches rose with his mouth, blushes and giggles]
• Suzie: [places her hoodie on a clothing rack] So, everyone start dancing, and I'll come around and give you some tips.
• SpongeBob: [bouncing around as Pearl looks unimpressed]
• Suzie: [makes SpongeBob stand up] You're breaking the first rule, honey. It takes [holds up two fingers] two to tango.
• SpongeBob: Sorry, Miss Groove. Mr. Krabs ordered me to be Pearl's [twirls around] tango partner tonight, but she [struts his legs] just doesn't dig my tangy moves.
• Pearl: [points] SpongeBob, you can't tango. I need a real dance partner, not a cackling, bow-legged goofball. No offense.
• SpongeBob: [his legs are tied together like a bow] I take it as a compliment. [laughs while plucking his legs]
• Suzie: I can teach [gives a thumbs-up] anyone to tango. All you gotta do is... [starts tango dancing with SpongeBob, then exchanges him to Pearl]
• Pearl: Wow, you can tango. [begins tango dancing with SpongeBob] Thanks to Suzie Groove.
• Slippy: [laughing as she merges together with Slappy]
• Suzie: [approaching] That's too close to tango. [separates the two and holds a stick between them as she begins to tango dance with them, then sets them off]
• Karen: [tango dancing with Plankton, who is sweating and struggling to keep his balance] One, two, three. One, two, three. Relax, Sheldon.
• Plankton: I'm trying, my little whirling dervish, [gesturing to his legs] but these legs have minds of their own. [his legs hit him in the face and butt] Not that way, you idiots. [hits his legs with a stick] Down, mule! Hya!
• Karen: Compose yourself, darling. We're in public.
• Plankton: Huh? I know. I just need something to balance me. [grabs a rose from a vase with his mouth] See? It works. [losing balance] Uh-oh. Wait, I got it. [accidentally sticks his leg in Pearl's blowhole, which she blows to release his leg, which goes out the now-broken window] I got it! [his leg goes through another building's window steps on an open stove in a different building, which makes him scream and retract his leg, which returns to the building and gets caught by Suzie]
• Suzie: Stop dancing!
• Plankton: [losing balance again as Karen sadly grabs his legs, then he falls over] Ow.
• Karen: Sorry, Suzie.
• Plankton: [shrugging] I just washed my legs, and I can't do a thing with them.
• Suzie: [as Plankton stands up and tries to keep his balance] Legs ain't your problem, honey. If you want to tango, you got to learn to dance with your [moves hips] hips.
• Plankton: With my lips? [live-action close-up of him moving his lips] This isn't working.
• Karen: [eyes roll off her screen] Ugh.
• Suzie: That's because I said hips! Watch me. All you got to do is... [moves hips]
• Karen: Wow, your hips are so hip. You got your work cut out for you, Sheldon.
• Plankton: My hips can't do that.
• Suzie: Of course they can. You got to force them to do it. [holds onto Plankton and Karen] The tango is physical, [dances with Karen] emotional, and most importantly, [pushes the two out of the way] aggressive.
• Plankton and Karen: What?
• Plankton: Aggressive? [grinning evilly with Karen] Now you're talking my language.
• Karen: Yeah, we speak fluent aggression.
• Suzie: Good. Tap into that aggression and put it in your [flexes arm] hips. Now, abrazo. [slams hands together] Embrace!
• Plankton and Karen: [grabbing onto each other] Abrazo.
• Plankton: Ready? [aggressively dancing] All you gotta do is...
• SpongeBob: [dancing with Pearl] Terrific tangoing, Planktons.
• Pearl: Yeah, I thought we were good.
• Plankton: Aw, how nice of you to say. [twirls Karen into SpongeBob and Pearl, sending them backwards and creating an explosion as he laughs with Karen]
• Slippy: [dancing with Slappy] Abrazo, my stinky cheese. [laughs]
• Slappy: Abrazo, my rotten rose.
• Karen: [holding a spike strip] Oh, no, I accidentally dropped [drops the spike strip behind Slappy and Slippy] my spike strip. Oopsie.
• Slappy: [steps on the spike strip, making him and Slippy both deflate like a balloon around the room and crash into a piano] Ow!
• [Slappy and Slippy get up, and their teeth have merged into a piano. A tune plays.]
• Slappy and Slippy: [giggle and blush, then sigh]
• Plankton: [swinging while dancing with Karen] We're the king and queen of tango.
• Suzie: [approaching] Okay, Planktons, take four. [gets slammed into the wall] Ahh! [rolls onto the ground]
• SpongeBob: [holding onto Suzie] That wasn't very nice of Plankton and Karen.
• Suzie: [brushing herself off] No, it wasn't, but [places her arm onto SpongeBob] that's the tango, honey.
• Karen: [laughing]
• Suzie: [applauding] Bravo, Planktons. Nice aggression.
• Karen: Oh, thank you, Suzie. I haven't had this much fun since I got defragged.
• Plankton: I'd say we're the best in the class, [Karen nods] wouldn't you, Miss Groove?
• Suzie: I think you're great, but my top students might disagree.
• Plankton and Karen: Top students?!
• Suzie: [looking at her watch] Yeah. They're late today.
• [The lights go out as Bubble Bass and his mother arrive in formal attire. A spotlight shines onto them.]
• Bubble Bass: The tango masters have arrived.
• Mama Bass: Sorry we're late. Bubble Bass needed clean underwear.
• Bubble Bass: [blushing] Mother!
• Plankton: Bubble Bass and his mom?
• Bubble Bass: [moves butt] That's right. Mother and I have won the Undersea Tango Championship [holds up three fingers] three years in a row. We're the best.
• Plankton: But yet somehow, and without warning, [yelling] we're the best!
• Suzie: [getting in between the two pairs] I smell a dance-off.
• Bubble Bass: [gesturing as they all move] Insects first. Hmph.
• [Plankton and Karen begin dancing with each other.]
• Plankton and Karen: Ta-da! Well, try and out-tango that.
• Bubble Bass: Don't mind if we do. [begins dancing with his mom as Plankton and Karen move out of the way]
• Plankton: [Karen has a "!" on her screen] Huh? [both growling as they begin dancing again] I said we're the best. [knock Bubble Bass and his mom out of the way] Abrazo.
• Bubble Bass: [he and his mom squish Karen and Plankton] Looks like someone ordered a Bass sandwich.
• Karen and Plankton: [yelling as they bounce around the building and end up outside the building on the ground]
• Karen: [getting up] Well, that was fun. But I guess we're not aggressive enough to be the best.
• Plankton: [getting up] Nobody is more aggressive than us. [a ray gun drops to the ground] They just have more practice. If only there was some way we could cheat [Karen sighs] and show them who's really the best.
• Karen: Let's just go home, Sheldon. [picks up the ray gun] Here, this fell out of your pocket.
• Plankton: [eyes the ray gun and takes it] Ooh, it's my Ray-Ray ray, [looks at the camera] the device that turns me into my alter ego with great hair, Ray-Ray. That'll make me more aggressive.
• Karen: [takes back the ray gun] Ooh, you're right, Plankton. [looks at the camera with big, goofy smile] My Ray-Ray is the only one who could take charge of this. Hold still. [Plankton holds still as her shaky aim shoots Old Man Walker with the ray instead, turning him into Ray-Ray]
• Old Man Walker: [walking with confidence as he tosses away his walker] It's Ray-Ray, baby!
• Karen: Oops. Sorry, wrong old man. [shoots Plankton with the ray, turning him into Ray-Ray]
• Plankton: It's Ray-Ray, baby.
• [Cut to Karen and Plankton breaking through a window in the recreational building.]
• Plankton: [pointing] Looks like someone ordered a cold plate of revenge.
• Karen: With extra humiliation.
• Bubble Bass and Mama Bass: [hissing like cats]
• Suzie: Tango rematch, honey.
• [The two pairings begin dancing. Bubble Bass and his mom try to tackle Plankton and Karen, but miss. Bubble Bass whimpers as Plankton and Karen's dancing sets the room on fire.]
• Plankton and Karen: [laughing]
• Mama Bass: [yelling while holding Bubble Bass]
• [Karen kicks the pair to the wall, who is left in awe as they fall down.]
• Suzie: Whoo!
• Karen: [laughing with Plankton] Go, Ray-Ray, go!
• Bubble Bass: I want to hate the Planktons, but they're so good. [cries]
• Mama Bass: [comforting her son] Oh, there, there, there.
• SpongeBob: He dances like an angel.
• Pearl: Of death.
• Suzie: By the tango vested in me, I pronounce Karen and Ray-Ray my [gets on top of Bubble Bass and his mom] top students, honey.
• Karen: [still dancing with Plankton] We did it, Ray-Ray. We're the best.
• Plankton: Happy birthday, Karen-cakes, top of the world. Now for the big finish. [his legs begin to shrink] Oh, no. Too. Much. Friction! [ends up spinning on the floor with no legs] My--
• Fred: [covers Plankton's mouth] My legs! Sorry, that's my line.
• SpongeBob: [holding up his legs while on a skateboard] Here, Plankton, you can borrow my legs.
• Plankton: No, thanks. Mine are growing back already. [Karen picks him up] Thank you, Karen.
• Karen: It takes two to tango. Come here, Ray-Ray. [kisses Plankton, electrocuting him]
• [The Ray-Ray ray falls out of Plankton's pocket, causing everyone to be turned into Ray-Ray.]
• All: The name's Ray-Ray, baby.
• Karen and Plankton: Uh-oh.