It is the annual "Free Day" at the Bikini Bottom Zoo, and Mr. Krabs helps himself to anything he can get his claws on. Meanwhile, SpongeBob and Patrick go to Oyster Stadium to see Clamu the giant oyster perform tricks. Unfortunately, as they enter the arena, they find Clamu is sleeping. Patrick prepares to leave, but SpongeBob tries to wake Clamu up by throwing a peanut at her, causing her to stir. SpongeBob calls Patrick back in anticipation of the show, only for Clamu to thrash around and attack the zookeepers, crying inconsolably all the while.
After being questioned by zoo attendants, SpongeBob and Patrick leave the park. SpongeBob feels very guilty and thinks that he caused the incident. Patrick decides to investigate the crime, determined to discover the culprit of Clamu's distress. At home, SpongeBob laments what he's done, but tells himself that the incident will soon blow over. But when he turns on the TV, the oyster incident is the top news story. The Realistic Fish Head reports that Clamu's sobs are so powerful that they can be heard all around the world (even above the surface).
With his guilt growing, SpongeBob goes to Squidward and Sandy for advice, but just like Patrick, both are concerned with finding and punishing the culprit. To make matters worse, Patrick reveals that he found an incriminating bag of peanuts left near SpongeBob's home, stating that he's getting close to solving the mystery.
Eventually, policemen enter SpongeBob's house and question him on the incident. SpongeBob admits to everything they ask him, but instead of arresting him, they conclude from their evidence that Patrick is the culprit and drive away with him. SpongeBob is shocked at what has happened to his friend and dashes after the car.
Patrick is taken to Oyster Stadium, where he is chained to a platform in the middle of the stage and pelted with peanuts by the angry audience for the crime. Unwilling to let Patrick take the blame, SpongeBob arrives at the stadium and asks everyone to stop. He finally confesses to having thrown the peanut, apologizing to Clamu, Patrick and the people of Bikini Bottom. The audience, assuming SpongeBob is also taking responsibility for the incident, refuses to accept his apology and decides to throw peanuts at both him and Patrick. Before they can, however, a zookeeper stops them, announcing that he has captured the real culprit--Mr. Krabs, much to SpongeBob, Patrick and everyone's shock.
Mr. Krabs is punished for his crimes
The zookeeper reveals that Clamu was distressed not by the thrown peanut, but because Mr. Krabs stole her pearl when she was asleep. The zookeeper returns the pearl to Clamu. To everyone's surprise, the pearl turns out to be an egg, hatching into a baby oyster. Having been reunited with her offspring, Clamu finally calms herself down. With the truth of the crime finally solved, SpongeBob and Patrick's names are cleared and they are forgiven by the audience. The crowd is moved at the touching scene before turning to angrily glare at Mr. Krabs. Rather than atoning for his actions, Mr. Krabs cowardly makes a pathetic excuse that it's Free Day, and he is buried in a pile of peanuts the audience throws at him, much to his discomfort.
‣Hawaiian Train - Victor Cavini [Free Day] ‣Circus Overture - Daniel Jean Jeannin ["He spits a giant pearl 100 feet in the air!"] ‣Lavender's Blue (a) - Brian Douglas Gulland, Richard A. Harvey [Clamu asleep] •Steel Licks 9 - Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick leaves] ‣Burglar Bill [#7.04] - Andrew J J Hall [SpongeBob throws a peanut at Clamu] • ? - Nicolas Carr ["The show is about to begin."] ‣Shark Attack A - John Charles Fiddy [Clamu throws a fit] ‣Hawaiian Link (b) - Richard Myhill ["Stupid Patrick. I didn't do anything wrong."] •Bikini Bottom News Theme - Nicolas Carr [news on TV] ‣Paradise Isle - Jan Rap ["This is getting a little out of hand."] ‣Wooden Bear - Gil Flat, Tony Tape, Florian Voelxen [SpongeBob goes to Squidward for advice] ‣Footsteps of Horror - W. Merrick Farran [Sandy rips phone book in half/SpongeBob twitches] ‣Flight in Panic 1 - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob running home] ‣House of Horror - W. Merrick Farran ["This is it! All of the clues are coming together!"] ‣Zelle 506 - Gerhard Trede [police at the door] ‣The Pursuit of Power (a) - Keith Mansfield [everyone throwing peanuts at Patrick] ‣The Pursuit of Power (b) - Keith Mansfield ["Wait! Hold your peanuts!"] ‣Dramatic Cue (a) - Ronald Hanmer [Mr. Krabs is the real criminal] ‣Dramatic Cue (d) - Ronald Hanmer ["Behold!" (showing Mr. Krabs' clothes)] ‣Dramatic Cue (e) - Ronald Hanmer ["The oyster's pearl!"] ‣Tribute to the King - Gregor F. Narholz [everyone cheers] ‣Nostalgic Hawaii - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [ending]
When SpongeBob wonders who would not hate him no matter what, he goes to Squidward, who does hate him no matter what.
Even though it seems like the whole problem started because SpongeBob threw his peanut at Clamu, it actually did help solve the true problem since it made Clamu wake up and she cried loudly when she realized her egg was gone. The people were trying to find out who caused her crying and the culprit was revealed to be Mr. Krabs.
The countries that are seen outside of Bikini Bottom are Egypt, The Netherlands, and India, because of The Giza Pyramid, The Sphinx, a windmill, and the Taj Mahal.
Since August 2019, the scene where SpongeBob goes to sit down while holding a remote to watch TV has become a internet meme. The screenshot makes it looks SpongeBob going up from his chair and the captioning saying Ight Imma Head Out.
Sandals has a Cockney accent in this episode instead of the wavy-like voice he usually has.
In all other episodes, Bikini Bottom has blue and white police cars. In this episode, the police cars are black and red.
There is a book called Zoo Day Disaster, which is based on this episode.
This is one of the three episodes in season 2 to use the Crowd Scream sound effect, the other two being "Something Smells" and "Wormy."
In the Polish dub, the episode's title is "Orzeszek," which translates to "The Peanut."
In the Croatian dub, the episode's title is "Leteći Kikiriki" or "The Flying Peanut."
Foreshadowing: Clamu does not cry instantly after the peanut has been thrown at her; she frantically starts searching around her enclosure before bawling. This is a hint that the peanut is not what is making her cry.
In the scene where police ask SpongeBob questions, they ask him, "Did you or did you not take part in various activities of zoo-time merriment?" Then SpongeBob answers, "Yes," which is not a complete answer to that kind of question. He should've said, "Yes, I did."
When Clamu's loud wailing makes SpongeBob and Patrick fly to their seats, the peanuts in SpongeBob's bag fly out, but when Patrick says "Now this is a show!," his bag is full of peanuts again.
Patrick's house is missing.
When SpongeBob knocks on Squidward's door, Patrick's house is nowhere to be seen.
Patrick's weirdly colored eyelids
Patrick's eyelids are usually purple, but when he says "Hey, SpongeBob!" when SpongeBob is trying to open his door, his eyelids are pink instead of purple.
When SpongeBob looks out his window, he sees Oyster Stadium. However, his house would have to be in the zoo to see Oyster Stadium clearly, as the stadium is inside the zoo.
When SpongeBob is about to go inside his house after Patrick says he will investigate, the lights are off, but when he enters, they are on.
This error happens again when SpongeBob says "Good luck with that" to Patrick.
It also happens when Patrick is arrested.File:507.png
Mr. Krabs' belt buckle with reversed colors
When the zookeeper pulls Mr. Krabs' pants off, his belt buckle colors are reversed to yellow on the inside and black on the outside, but in the next scene, the belt is back to normal.
SpongeBob's miscolored belt
At the end, some of SpongeBob's belt is not completely filled in.
Running gags
A peanut is thrown at someone in Clamu's enclosure, each of which the number of peanuts increases every throw, i.e. one peanut was thrown at Clamu, a moderate number of peanuts were thrown at Patrick, and a large number of peanuts were thrown at Mr. Krabs.
