The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Catfish

"Umm.. I like mortgages and voting, and... I drive cars with my driver's license."
I'm sure a lot of people were more into this episode, but I found it to be completely servicable. There's nothing wrong with it and I found a fair amount to be funny, sure, but it felt largely forgettable. It's a fine episode, if not one you would really pinpoint as being a high point for the show, let alone the season.

The premise is simple: Louie is lonely, so Gumball and Darwin set up a fake ElmorePlus account under the name of Muriel to make him feel he has a friend. However, when Granny Jojo finds out, she goes berserk and possessive, attempting to kill the REAL not-Muriel, but Gumball and Darwin come to the rescue and set it straight.

I liked the typical mid-episode build-up a lot. The whole premise is really just another take on old people never knowing when to stop talking about overtly trivial things, but the degree that it played with Gumball's focus and drove him close to insanity with every buzz of the phone was amusing. I especially liked how it turned Gumball's portrait of Banana Joe into a shaky Pollock, which is such an inspired joke, especially with Gumball looking at it when it's finished almost insightfully, as if thinking, "Huh."


My favorite joke, however, was Gumball's phone literally committing suicide after Louie types about Granny Jojo's "cutie patootie" by declaring his refusal to visualize and letting himself fall to the ground. It's so stupidly dark that you have to appreciate it in all of its glory. SpongeBob already bombed a suicide joke or two, so to see this show actually work one in effectively makes a really good case for the show's sensibilities. They, more often then not, get the line between being funny and being edgy, and they've found the perfect balance between the two.

I think the big reveal, though- Gumball and Darwin, a cat and a fish, were catfishing- was just ill-delivered. It's such an obvious thing, really, and it feels almost like the episode was written just for the sake of delivering the final joke, but at the same time, it didn't hit hard enough. There are great examples of comedy where the final joke is so glaringly obvious but it just kills you, but this just wasn't that.

Still, the ending was a bit cute. Louie points out how suppressed he feels by Granny Jojo and how she holds him back from having other friends, and she accepts it and partially sympathizes. Sure, the whole resolution is downplayed by Granny Jojo's promise to let him have one friend online, turning out to actually be herself, but it could have gone much worse, so I'll allow it.

Honestly, my biggest issue was how starkly similar the climax felt to "The Limit." Sure, the build-up to the climax is incredibly different (and I do prefer the other episode's much more), but the climatic sequence is structured a bit too similarly, in my opinion, and the fact that both completely undo their positive message only helped to make the two more comparable. Other than that, the episode just felt like a standard, mid-season episode- it didn't try anything new, and while it didn't suffer because of it, the lasting appeal of most of it won't last too long. Basically, there have been much worse, but also much better.


Takeaway:
-The fanart PTSD joke was the perfect non-sequitor. I don't care if it was shoehorned in (spoiler: it was), because it was great. It's incredible how effortlessly the show can lampoon its own fanbase without ever coming across as mean-spirited or cringy and I can't wait to see how much more they're going to push it.
-The American Beauty reference, though. That was something to note, I guess. Again, the show is great at pulling specific references and keeping them funny, or at the very least interesting, without the context. Even if they deploy a reference extravaganza, they know how to structure the mockery in a way that still works regardless of our understanding the reference or not.
-Gumball and Darwin swapping out a snake Granny Jojo was about to hurl at not-Muriel with a dove holding an olive branch was excellent.
-"I just cringed all the way back into my lower intestine."
"Anywho, that's enough about me. What's your favorite food?" "Edible."
-"I'LL STICK MY FOOT IN YOUR BAGGING AREA!"

Final Grade: B. A fine episode, just not particularly memorable. There were some strong jokes, sure, but the main gist didn't stand out enough.

For the last Gumball review on The Ollie, CLICK HERE.