The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Awareness

"We should just nip it in the bud." "Uh, no, let's not. That phrase is actually incredibly offensive to plants."

Continuing off of Gumball's grand tradition of releasing episodes early in different countries without a US airdate in sight, "The Awareness" found its way inconspicuously on British airwaves yesterday, and through the power of shady Internet wizardry, I'm here to review it.

I think I'll start things off by saying this much: even if I don't think a lot of episodes are great, I can generally see how people could get to those conclusions. Maybe you like "The Intelligence" and the extent of its commitment to the medieval motif, or you enjoyed the macabre hijinks of "The Ad." But "The Awareness" is an episode that eludes me on that front; it's not that it's bad, it's just uniform in every way. It takes a fun premise and just goes along with it as much as necessary without ever breaking into more exciting territory, making for a respectable but unmemorable outing.

First of all, it's worth noting that the episode tackles a very interesting satirical target in the form of Gumball attempting to demonstrate an understanding of plant culture to a skeptical and condescending Leslie, with the two creating an echo chamber of cultural appropriation in an attempt to maintain the upper hand. Theoretically, the premise brings out some of the strongest cynicism that Gumball has to offer, at times bordering on Season 2 levels of deviousness, but none of the episode really gets channeled into a satisfying end, and in my opinion, there's a lot of reasons for that.

I think the most glaringly difficult area is the dynamic between Gumball and Leslie. The best comparison I can make of "The Awareness" is in relation to "The Boombox," an episode that, despite very polarizing reception, worked incredibly well for me. In that episode, Gumball and Darwin were against each other attempting to get towards a common goal (with the sly ulterior motive of asserting dominance), much like how Gumball and Leslie are trying to outdo each other here, but "The Boombox" manages to balance the conflict through Juke, who keeps the episode balanced as the straight man who wants no role in their petty arguing. Here, the absence of such a figure turns everything into an echo chamber where we can't root for either character, but it's not exciting enough in that general voyeurism for it to be fun to just watch them fight without the need for investment.

I feel as if the balance would be better achieved if the two characters weren't operating competitively. It's not a matter of me having issues with the characters being unlikeable—my sincere enjoyment of "The Promise" is fairly well-documented—but there's not really a point to it, and the episode can't find a way to really acclimate with that premise in mind.

Instead, the episode just sort of lingers, first wanting to demonstrate Gumball's ineptitudes and refusal to bear sincere conviction towards his ignorance, but quickly seguing into Leslie and Gumball actively trying to one-up each other. There are certainly great moments of physical humor sprinkled throughout, such as Gumball emerging from himself and traumatizing Banana Joe in the process, but an episode is only as strong as the sum of its parts, and there's not much direction aside from hammering in the point until Gumball and Leslie are at a point of near-death.

What "The Awareness" needed, more than anything else, is an end game. There's certainly an effort to concoct something exciting, but instead of reaching any exciting breakthroughs, the episode just goes through its gags at increasingly faster speeds. Sure, you could argue that everything comes full circle by the end, with the two reconciling before Leslie reveals an offensive lack of awareness of mammalian culture, but the pacing is so odd to everything leading up to that point that everything leading up to that bookend blurs together.

Basically, it's easy to see the episode's potential, but it never deviates from the path it establishes from the start.

Notes and Quotes:
-Also following tradition, "The Awareness" has the worst plot synopsis provided by TV Guide yet, stating "In an attempt to go green, Gumball and Darwin cause their school to become overrun by vines." That isn't even a plot point in the episode at all.
-"I hate all these theme weeks! Cake Week, Cake Crumb Clean-Up Week, Ant Week, How Do We Get Rid Of Ants Week, Anteaters Week, How Do We Get Rid Of Anteaters Week..."
-"Plants do loads of important things!" "Really? Name one." "Only one? But there's so many!" "Okay, then give me five." "Let's just start with one, shall we?"
-The extended scene of Gumball being blasted by the fire hose brings to mind this season's infatuation with those extended gag scenes (like with Tobias rolling in "The One"). I particularly enjoyed Gumball going up a slide and proceeding to destroy a crime scene.
-While it is exciting to see Leslie getting major roles, I feel as if his appearance from "The Petals" only serves to make "The Awareness" look less exciting. That episode found such a perfect way to examine the character on a more intimate level (largely through his vanity), but this one basically just runs with the fact that he's a plant and he's sassy.
-Scooch says hi.

FINAL GRADE: B-. Despite having an interesting idea and satirical target, "The Awareness" is never really able to figure out a way to utilize what it's been given, instead offering up more of the same. While there's some solid laughs to be had throughout, there's a lack of distinction to how it tells its story which holds the episode back and makes it blend in with the general ebb and flow of the series.

For the last Gumball review of "The Ad," CLICK HERE.