The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Cycle

"Doo doo doo! Can Richard Watterson please come to collect his dignity from the front desk?"
What a mundane episode.
When I read the description and saw the promo, the first thing I was worried about was that this would effectually become an episode along the lines of modern SpongeBob- at best, forgettable and light, but at worst, mean-spirited and frustrating. This episode, while not that, fell dangerously close. It just never really felt like an episode of Gumball. It lacked a lot of the zany character interactions and smart jokes that have come to define the series, and I know why: it's Harold. But we'll get to that soon enough.

The whole premise is that Harold is being mean to Richard, and the kids are trying to get to the bottom of it all and help their dad get some revenge or, at the very least, a bit of closure. After a series of attempts to address the situation maturely, the gang decides to trick him by leaving a fake check for a billion dollars on the side of the road. Before they can tell Harold that they pranked him, though, he goes off on a lavish march back home, quits his job by manhandling his boss, replaces his wife, and is about to detonate his house. The kids are happy that he is inadvertently ruining his life, but Richard decides to man up and be honest to set it straight with Harold.

In the end, when Richard is about to tell Harold the truth about the check, Harold points out a bit of skywriting he created as to insult Richard ("Sorry we couldn't fit all of you in there. There wasn't enough space on the canvas."), causing Richard to have a change of heart, instead telling Harold he should stack his dynamite closer together for a more intensive blast. We then see a massive explosion in the background and that's it. The plot isn't particularly innovative- it just kind of drifts along- but I at least appreciate how the pace sped-up right when Harold found the check and more interesting things started to happen.

I am just going to say outright that I did not like this episode particularly much. For any other show, it would be completely serviceable and average, but for a show like Gumball, it just sinks, especially when the episodes that surround it have been almost consistently great. That being said, there were still a lot of moments I liked, though.

Despite not particularly liking Harold otherwise, his increasingly expensive celebratory march to his house (walking on dollar bills, nay, gold coins, nay, diamonds, to which he cringes in painful ecstasy with each step) was a great set-up, as was the idea of him replacing his wife with a new and improved trophy wife (in line with his behavior in "The Choices," might I add- we'll get to that soon). The latter is just a smart example of the show demonstrating a grittier side- the whole idea is literally that Harold doesn't particularly care about his wife, and with his new financial gains, he has no purpose for her at all, instead swapping her for a harmless plaything.

The whole scene where the gang tries to get a lawyer involved was also a nice touch, with the lawyer only operating through being continuously paid as if an animatronic, and when paid via Daisy Dollar when they run short on funds, the lawyer sings the rest of her legal jargon. The joke is obvious- lawyers are lowlifes that exploit you of money- but the way it's all delivered is smart.

There's also the portion where Richard shows his complete ineptitude at insulting his kids, instead unwittingly showering them with affection. It's nice to know that the show has figured out a place for the character- while Season 1 liked to show him as cynical and not particularly caring for his kids, this comes in stark contrast, portraying him as unable to be anything but affectionate, and it's a good change.

Probably my favorite was when Richard and the kids jumped behind the fence when Harold was about to pick up the fake check, only for the camera to pan over and reveal they fell 20 feet into a canal. It's a smooth reveal, especially because it's genuinely something completely unpredictable. There's no build-up to the joke, and it's delivered as abruptly as it would've had it happened in real life. The show is good at executing these kinds of moments, but this is definitely among the best instances that they've managed to pull.

It's just a matter of the episode that the jokes were being pieced around didn't provide enough coherence or backbone to most of them. You know, because of HAROLD.

For someone who's quite apologetic to episodes like "The Promise" and Season 2 in general, in which Gumball is perhaps irrationally insufferable, I found Harold to just suck all the energy out of everything. I think Gumball's petulance worked because there was something motivating it and it contributed to creating a greater character. Harold doesn't have anything intricate about his design nor any other motivating forces, so his being a douchebag in this entire episode just didn't work on any level for me. There wasn't even too much comically being exploited- he was just using Richard as a punching bag in juvenile and demeaning ways and chuckling.

I think that this episode has the same issues as "The Wicked" back in Season 4. In it, no efforts were made to make Margaret look like a good person or have any other facet to her personality, which definitely made a lot of the episode feel meandering. Here, though, there's not even an attempt to hide Harold's meanness with any level of background- sure, saying Margaret was always evil and nobody knows why is minimal, but it at least tied everything together nicely. This approach just didn't.

Again, I'm fine if a character can be mean if there's something behind it. Here, there's no true context as to why Harold's a jerk, nor is there really anything redeemable about the character as to justify how he acts. His sole intent is to be a massive pushover, and however sweet Richard's bit of comeuppance may be at the end, the lesson isn't learned and nothing's dissolved, only existing for the writers to have an easy out. It's not like the writers don't know how to elevate a side character, which they proved adept at it "The Outside." Comparatively, this just came across as lazy.

And yes, I get that Harold worked exceptionally in "The Choices," but that's only because he served as a quick aside without the need to prod any deeper into his character. Here, he needed more substance, but the writers failed to provide it.

Takeaway:
-The whole flashback sequence didn't work for me at all because it didn't tell us anything we didn't know and there's no explanation as to why Harold's so cruel. That being said, the subtle reveal of Harold's "Tell me more" was underplayed nicely, and the full reveal of Harold as the psychologist - pulling off a fake mustache that looked exactly like his actual mustache- was admittedly a great moment.
-I would've appreciated Tobias appearing kind of like Masami did in "The Fury" with a bit more exposition to help explain why he's such a jerk (even if Tobias is admittedly along the same lines).
-The joke about Gumball burning his hand on the trunk handle could've gone somewhere, couldn't it have? I thought it would serve to foreshadow something, but it just feels like a loose end. I get that it's a real thing and all that, but it didn't really carry enough comedic weight to justify the joke.
-"What are you talking about? I'm all about the thug life!" "You carry 'Get Well Soon' balloons in your trunk so you can tie them to roadkill."
-"BRING ME THE TARTAR SAUCE, THAT FISH JUST GOT COOOOKED!"
-"How does it feel to be better than everybody else, Anais? I mean this because I genuinely think you are. BOOM!"
-"Okay, so what's even better than being prom king?" "Having enough self-respect to not believes in vacuous popularity contests?"
-I don't know if this counts for anything, but the shot of Harold flying off on the helicopter ladder was very well executed and an especially fun angle that the show hasn't attempted before.

Final Grade: C. While a fair amount of the jokes landed, ultimately, the creative choices involving Harold never worked, which is an issue when he's doing the heavy lifting in the episode. As much as I appreciate any attempt to drag side characters into the spotlight, there was nothing to like, which is something crucial to their development. Even a tinge of sympathy would be nice, but instead, the only takeaway is that this guy's a jerk for no reason at all, with his unrelenting mockery going from mediocre to grating, and the ending, while an adequate capper, didn't make up for the differences enough.

For the last Gumball review of The Catfish, CLICK HERE.

PFFFFFFFFFF FFF F F F F F F