The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Master

"Boom. Mega happy ending."

Dungeons & Dragons, Dragons & Dungeons. It was something of an inevitability for Gumball to cover in its ongoing mission to get an angle out of every major pop culture phenomena of our current era; if anything, it's shocking that it took until close to the end of the series to make an episode centered around it. It's the sort of idea that allows you to theoretically do what the series does best: explore the many complications of its core cast by putting them together on the same road and watching what happens. "The Master," in that regard, is generally successful.

As a disclaimer, I should say that yes, I have played Dungeons & Dragons. I had a triumphant run as Sheridan the Aasimar that lasted all of two games before being pummeled to death by lowly goblins, but realistically, that's all the experience you need to understand all of "The Master's" jokes. That's not a diss, in any way: that's really all you need. "The Master" isn't looking to do some elaborate survey of everything D&D; it's all about the experience, the perpetual bickering and dicking around and those incredibly-inconvenient 2 rolls, which I swear happen more often than 1's. The entirety of their journey reminds me of me and my five other roommates managing to wring out an entire hour of D&D getting into bar fights—good times.

Of course, that's also where I think there's some criticism to be made of "The Master," to bring it back to the review portion of this, uh, review. There's almost too much bickering involved in the episode to ever feel like it's getting anywhere for the most part, and while it's fun to watch Gumball, Darwin, Anais, and Nicole let out their animosity in various in-game and real-world ways (making each other headbutt their own butts, or doodling on character sheets), it gets a bit tiresome at a certain point. Gumball uses D&D as a framing mechanism perfectly, giving each character fantasy roles that perfectly-compliment their real-world attributes, but there's something of a bitterness to the episode all the way until the climax, leaving the episode feeling like it's not really getting anywhere for a few beats too long.

Once that shift in gears comes, though, the episode starts to get really enjoyable, as well as finding a fun way to deflect the gang's resentment of each other into weaponized blame. From that point on, "The Master" is firing at full-cylinders and gives each character a shining moment, and for the first time ever, Darwin actually walks away with this episode, with his character of Frumpet the Elf Bard pulling off the episode's best moment: serenading the final monster into falling in love with him, then immediately breaking its heart by text, as well as summoning the courage in his party's heart with a triumphant operatic song.

The final reveal of the episode, too, is legitimately sweet, which comes as a complete surprise, with the treasure they've been after the entire game revealing that the greatest treasure on earth is the time you spend together. It's cheesy, no doubt, but Gumball manages to play it off very sweetly, and even if Richard proceeds to bomb his grand exit by slamming into a bookcase, "The Master" ends with its heart in the right place: on its sleeve. It's just a matter of getting to that point that's a bit frustrating.

Even so, there's an inherent likability to everything the episode does; it's not as outright bold as the series' other efforts in genre parody, but allows for a fun examination of the Wattersons at their most aggressive, leaving Richard to reunite everyone and prove his worth as, secretly, the beating heart of the show.

Notes and Quotes:
-"The Master" brought to mind Community's two excellent Dungeons & Dragons themed episodes, "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" and "Advanced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons." If you like Gumball, I'd recommend you look into that show; they're surprisingly similar.
-"I was so distressed I spent the whole afternoon by the lake listening to soft rock while cross-fading!"
-Other than Darwin as Frumpet and Nicole as Testosterona, I liked that Anais' character was just flat-out named "Norovirus," and Gumball, once again, got screwed with a name as stupidly rushed as "Mario Kebab the Dwarf Warrior."
-Don't use "lol." Literally never use "lol." Why would you use "lol?" I know it was for that lol-lull pun but that's no excuse to have a character physically say the word "lol." You literally have three kids at your dispensary, one of whom is a massive memelord, and I'm ashamed that none of them banished the utterance of the word "lol" to the deepest depths of writer hell: off of the script. Tirade over.
-"I heard it say her hair looks great!" "Oh." "Said it makes her look fifty again."

FINAL GRADE: B+. Even if "The Master" has a few issues tonally, with the bickering among the Wattersons eventually becoming something of an impediment to the natural progression of the episode (which, to be fair, is somewhat the point), I really can't hold that against the episode that much. This is just a fun time, finding a great way to parody a piece of pop cultural phenomena in a fun and incredibly-accessible way, clearly made with a lot of thought and adoration for the source material. At the end of the day, isn't that what you want from Gumball?

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

For my review of the fantastic new show, Rilakkuma and Kaoru, CLICK HERE.

For updates every time I post a new review, follow me on Twitter @Matt_a_la_mode.