The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Buddy

"An English dictionary! This can only mean one thing! This book must belong to either someone who speaks English or someone who doesn't, and wants to learn!" 

One of the show's more underdeveloped but enduring story arcs is Anais' long quest to try to make friends. While that arc's progress, for the most part, has slowed down, with the last installment ("The Guy") pretty much just suggesting that she'll never be able to find a healthy friendship, "The Buddy," taking a cue from Season 6's other, generally winning efforts, decides to finally answer her long-awaited call for help in a pretty unexpected place.

I'm talking about Jamie. While other similar episodes have generally gotten by through introducing new, one-off characters (like Jodie in "The Parasite," or Josh in the aforementioned "The Guy"), "The Buddy" indulges in that surprising alliance with a buttload of, despite the odds, chemistry and charisma. Jamie hasn't been explored at all since "The Girlfriend," where she found an identity based entirely in abuse and incomprehension, but that just makes her use here even more interesting, especially because it never really undermines how she's already been established. She's still unaware of how the world works by all means, but she takes it with stride, and in the crime-fighting partnership that flourishes as the episode progresses, she's the brawn to Anais' brains.

The best component of "The Buddy," after all, is how well Jamie and Anais mirror one another in their mission to discover who infected the library's computers, or else face being expelled. Anais' intelligence gets off-set by her cockiness; Jamie's strength gets off-set by her idiocy. Both of those personality traits allow the characters to balance one another out, creating an awesome dynamic that activates the best in both characters while feeling true to their behavior.

While Anais makes the general observations that push the episode forward—Anais notices the surveillance camera that may contain footage of who infected the library's computers—Jamie ensures that her leads actually get—when suspect surveillance footage turns out to have been erased, Jamie threatens it until it reveals the lost video. As a whole, the episode feels like a more traditionally-paced sequel to "The Detective," especially in regards to some rare and exciting linear progression, and that's a nice change of pace.

The culmination of the episode is the reveal that the school librarian contaminated the computers because they made her job redundant, launching forth the episode's best sequence: an all-out brawl using the magical powers of classic books in the library. Sure, the visuals are predictable for the most part, with Dante's Inferno unleashing fire and whatnot, but it's still a ton of fun to see what book gets pulled out next, and the section is littered with tons of perfect little moments. (When Jamie opens Gone with the Wind, for instance, it just reads out a romantic excerpt and makes kissing noises.) The resolution comes quick, but seeing the librarian emerge as an antagonist is such a perfect turn, and the idea is so entertaining that the episode is impossible to hate.

With the main issue resolved, "The Buddy" does something else unconventional, closing the episode out really nicely: Anais has finally found a friend, even if it might take some time to get used to. There's no caveats, no tricks, no nothing: just a nice ending to a solid episode. It never hurts to do that more often, guys.

Notes and Quotes:
-"Thank goodness she didn't stick around to hear that, it's like my brain got emotional food poisoning and the nearest exit was my mouth."
-"What? You're saying you're intelligenter than me or something?!" "Jamie, I would never say that! Because it's not a word."
-Jamie attempting to read the bar code on the back of the English book as a last name was much appreciated.
-Also, while I never mentioned it in the review, I really enjoyed the scene of Anais, Jamie, and the librarian's silent conversation, managing to find some really fun means of breaking the fourth wall and managing to sustain its one joke without it ever growing tiresome. I wonder how many people the piracy joke is gonna freak out.
-"'Uncouth' doesn't have an opposite. Like 'nonsensical.'" "Ohh, I get it. Yeah, that's sensical."

FINAL GRADE: A-. It's nice to finally see some closure for Anais in her pursuit of a friend, let alone closure this legitimately sweet, but "The Buddy" manages to pull it off effortlessly thanks to Anais and Jamie's unsuspecting but fantastic dynamic, all while telling a solid narrative with surprises around every corner. Here's hoping that the final quarter of the season will be able to follow through with the renewed excitement that these past few episodes suggest—I'm optimistic, to say the least.

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