season Merriwether Williams said the episode's story is "so simple." She remarked "To me, it's one of the best episodes. It just stayed with one idea." The episode was about "how he [SpongeBob] keeps missing the bus and how that makes him feel." Williams said the episode was "so small that you could explore gags and opportunities for gags." The episode was an example of "a good outline" in the series where the storyboards and humor were done easily. Williams said "it was great for the board guys." She added "In many ways, my job was to create situations where the board guys could be funny, to create a situation that could be funny, and let them go for the actual, specific jokes." "Rock Bottom" was released on the DVD compilation called The Best of SpongeBob SquarePants on May 11, 2004. It was also included on the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 1st Season DVD, released on October 28, 2003. On September 22, 2009, the episode was released on the SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five. Reception "Rock Bottom" was watched by 2.1 million viewers upon its release. It received very positive reviews from media critics. Nancy Basile of About.com gave the episode a positive response and ranked it 4 on her "Best SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes" list. Basile said "The raspberries and SpongeBob's increasing frustration make this a hilarious episode." She cited the episode as a "running up against Murphy's law over and over again" and said "so it's very relatable." Basile's favorite scene was "SpongeBob tries to extract a snack from the vending machine before the bus across the road drives away." Emily Estep of WeGotThisCovered.com ranked the episode 5 on her "Top 10 Episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants" list. She said "While 'Rock Bottom' is mostly a goofy episode, it's also one of the scarier episodes of SpongeBob." She also said the episode has "the ideal balance of cuteness and sheer terror – like SpongeBob running from a mysterious character, saying, 'Well, that place will be there tomorrow. I guess I'd better keep walking. Running. Better start running. Running. Sprinting! Yes, I just gotta keep sprinting!' (Before he hits a wall; 'Sitting, sitting, bleeding.')" that made the episode "so well-remembered." Bill Treadway of DVD Talk gave the episode a 3 out of 5 rating. In 2021, Jordan Moreau, Katcy Stephan