The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The List

"I always thought I would go to college. Instead, I majored in shopping with coupons with a minor in tension headaches."
The last episode of Season 5... not one by choice, mind you, so much as a mistake on CN's part in regards to the episodes leaking, though their airing schedule isn't particularly great either... but still. It's like how "The Ollie" got leaked; we can't let that affect how we perceive the episode, even if it is a little tempting.

That doesn't mean "The List" is a disappointment by any means; it's probably one of the most straightforward and enjoyable episodes in the backhalf of the show's fifth season.

What makes it such a successful episode is its sheer simplicity, and how that allows for the show to contain, in 11 minutes, a near-all-encompassing array of great gags. Episodes like "The Compilation" exist wholly to do the same general idea, but the narrative tying into the jokes itself is crucial to such an episode's execution, and "The List" was such a creatively-freeing idea that it allowed the show to make whatever jokes it wanted - among them being holistic medicine, the illogic of charity marathons, and a journey across the world online - without ever interrupting the flow of the episode.

The premise, for reference, is that Nicole gives Gumball and Darwin a list of chores to help out around the house while waxing nostalgic over childhood memorabilia, but inadvertently gives them her teenaged list of dreams, which the pair proceed to accomplish with due diligence. Sure, there are a few holes - the largest being their failure to notice that the list they were working on wasn't just a ton of chores, which is a marginal oversight - but none of that matters, because the framework is simply a gateway into greater things.

Likewise, the plot means that the show doesn't have to rely too much on cohesion, an issue prevalent in a lot of other recent efforts. It's an episode about a list, so it plays out as a list. We can forgive a lack of general escalation because, again, IT'S A LIST, but more importantly, the episode is insanely consistent. There's never any dead air because the story never has any scenes mandated for the sake of progression, and the result is a fusion of all of the best, quick ideas that the writers had.

Take the infomercial, wherein Gumball advertises "The Stump Butler." The show recently did another similar joke in "The Nuisance," but here, the idea isn't compromised by any of the episode's framework, nor does it come across as a blatant non sequitur, and it's allowed to exist as its own isolated moment without causing the episode to drag. The scene itself is hilarious, too, as a parody of the useless infomercial products we know too well, but with the show's keen eye for wringing out laughs; take all of Gumball's pre-product fails, for instance, and the sheer bulk of his unflinching, post-product destruction. (And that's just one of countless excellent scenes, which I'll be sure to detail further in the "Notes and Quotes" section.)

The episode admittedly does have a climax, but it's approached as casually as the rest of the episode. Nicole confronts Gumball and Darwin, shocked at what they're doing before revealing that she accidentally handed them the wrong list, though it comes with a sweet little life lesson (courtesy of a documentary about a ping pong-playing dog): the opportunity to pursue your passions never truly fades. It's a surprisingly heartfelt moment - especially one hot off of Gumball and Darwin nearly suffocating a dolphin - and with that, the kids and Nicole set off to complete her final dream: traveling around the world.

The way they achieve this is one of the most creative gags the show's ever done, as the gang takes a tour of the world across "Elmore Maps." While the main gist might not sound the most off-the-wall, it's the various gags packed into it that elevate the bit greatly - it practically feels like a minisode. The jokes start off simple, like watching how Richard ends up in a traffic accident with each passing click, but as the segment goes on, it lovingly subverts our expectations more and more by playing with the expected in-jokes of their idea. The glitched-up panorama on some cows turns out to be the result of radioactivity ("Yeah, glitches," Nicole laments); Gumball whisks the gang off to a location he labels "Tokyo," which he tries to defend in spite of contrary results until the reveal strikes, and they're screaming in the middle of a busy highway; one adventure finds them on a frozen lake, falling through cracking ice, being eaten by a fish, and swallowed by a person who proceeds to choke before being sent to the hospital, all in the span of 20 clicks.

Once they complete their journey, Nicole presents the boys with that list she promised: their chores. An expected conclusion, sure, but the perfect way to end the episode.

NOTES AND QUOTES:
-It's worth noting that I watched the episode in Spanish before it came out in English, so my views of the episode might not be as freshly-minded, but given the frequent cuts to the list in English and the episode being visually-oriented, I didn't have too many issues.

-The gag of the kitchen being shaken up in Gumball and Darwin's wake led me to believe that the joke was them getting into a destructive fight, but in telling the story to Nicole, pretending they were just happily going along with their days while all of that was happening - the scene would thus be a visual alibi for their fibbing. The ultimate reveal that it's simply because they're kids was fine, but I'm smug, so I would've preferred that idea.

-Did somebody say holistic medicine? (Sorry, I can never resist the weekly Mitchell & Webb plug.)
-I liked the three-birds-one-stone synergy of the infomercial feeding into Gumball and Darwin becoming millionaires, feeding into them making a difference in Hobo's life.
-The mountain-climbing throwaway gag was that delightful sort of quick joke that's so hard to find the opportunity to pull off - I mean, look at how specific it is - but I'm glad episodes like "The List" exist to allow that sort of stuff to exist in the show. (The same goes for Gumball slamming a frying pan onto the back of a monk's head, causing his noodle brains to spill out all over the place.)

-"You look awfully young to be a doctor!" "Well, you look awfully young to be a librarian." "Aww, stop, please, go ahead, doctor."

-"We're so close I can already taste that gold medal! (tastes mouth in disgust) Tastes like coins..."

FINAL GRADE: A. "The List" is, simply put, a perfect breather of an episode. Season 5 has played around with being conceptually-daring, often to incredibly mixed results, but episodes like "The List" remind me of why I love the show so much. It's uncomplicated, hilarious, and packed full of great moments with a nice twist of poignancy... what else could you want? It'll never make a "best of" list, probably, but that's not the episode's intent, and it just happily exists doing whatever it wants to do. At the end of the day, that's all I could ask for.

Also, for the record, the eponymous list:
-Get a degree (A print-out degree for holistic medicine)

-Save someone's life (Gumball and Darwin "save" Gary's life with their newfound holistic medicine knowledge)

-Getting something named after me (Gumball and Darwin appear on wanted posters)

-Win a marathon (They ride on two marathoners' backs under the pretense of being sick children)

-Play a symphony (Gumball mouth-trumpets to the school orchestra)

-Start your own business (Gumball makes an infomercial for "The Stump Butler")

-Become millionaire (Extension of their infomercial profits)

-Make a difference in someone's life (More infomercial profit extensions)

-Beat a Shaolin monk (Gumball knocks a monk unconscious with a frying pan)

-Climb a mountain (They step foot on a mountain, which counts, right?)
-Go to the prom with <3 Chad Johnson <3 (Off-camera, though he was quote-unquote "a true gentleman")
-Cure a phobia
-Learn to speak Spanish (Gumball briefly speaks Spanish)
-Save the dolphins (Saved from drowning)
-Travel around the world (Achieved with Elmore Maps)

For the last review on "The News," CLICK HERE.

Expect a review of the past season next week on Thursday, otherwise known as what will soon be the most writerly week of my natural-born life.