The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Diet

"[Shudders] This is a new low." "Meh, feels like a very familar low."
This is the kind of episode where I feel the need to put an ellipses count at the bottom.That's how concerning this whole thing was. I have no idea how to feel about "The Diet." It was just... really disturbing and uncomfortable. I don't know if I really liked it or hated it, which is a sensation I haven't had in a long time and I really don't enjoy that.

Even from when the description to this episode was leaked, I thought it sounded terrible. It might as well have been ripped straight from Season 6 of SpongeBob, and honestly, this episode felt like that at points. It was just a mess.

At the very least, I thought the first half of the episode was fine. Richard eating multiple diets at the same time was a nice reveal, if not stupid (even by the character's standards). I also liked Gumball and Darwin failing to lock him in the shed, creating a very horror movie-esque scene, and then (of course) the montage of Richard working out, synth rock and crossfades included, was good fun. Unfortunately, the good news doesn't last long enough, because the show just nosedives into something. Something... weirder.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Grades

"It's a world of scheduled nap-times, optional pants, and food you don't need to chew." "You just described a retirement home."
Welcome to the third week of the Gumbomb folks. It's an interesting one to say the least.

I had incredibly low hopes for this episode, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be really, really good. I mean, the plot is so overdone, but whereas episodes like "The Sorcerer" fail to elevate their tripe storyline, this one raised the bar.

So yeah. The premise is that, because Gumball bombed a test when he was in kindergarten, his GPA is a point too low and he's forced to repeat it.

I will say that I immensely enjoyed the scenes of Gumball in the kindergarten because they shine so true. He's essentially being tortured because of his inhibitions as these kids stuff garbage through his mouth or cover him in glitter. The whole thing is both stupidly comedic and terrifyingly accurate at the same time. However, once Gumball removes the inhibitions that mentally block him, the episode gets interesting.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Stars

"Okay, what do you want to say?" "'I left this hairdresser a sad, broken man.'" "Dad, you went in a sad broken man."
It seems that this episode has proven to be quite divisive. A lot of people have admitted to greatly enjoying it, while a good buddy of mine is, I assume, preparing to metaphorically piss all over it, for a lack of better terms. So, with that being said, what did I think?
Well, it was fine. I feel like it's been a bit overhyped at this point, either for being amazing or terrible, so when I go into the episode with much more defined expectations, I only get underwhelmed. That being said, I can still recognize this episode as good- just nothing too special.

The whole premise is that Richard is angry at Larry for giving him a bad haircut (or calling him bald, or both- it's really not that clear), so Gumball and Darwin get him to write a review online. Larry finds the review, but bends easily to try to appease Richard, causing the kids to go on a reviewing spree to exploit Larry's weakness and get free stuff along the way. Basically, for their self-gain, they're just effing with Larry as much as possible.

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.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Catfish

"Umm.. I like mortgages and voting, and... I drive cars with my driver's license."
I'm sure a lot of people were more into this episode, but I found it to be completely servicable. There's nothing wrong with it and I found a fair amount to be funny, sure, but it felt largely forgettable. It's a fine episode, if not one you would really pinpoint as being a high point for the show, let alone the season.

The premise is simple: Louie is lonely, so Gumball and Darwin set up a fake ElmorePlus account under the name of Muriel to make him feel he has a friend. However, when Granny Jojo finds out, she goes berserk and possessive, attempting to kill the REAL not-Muriel, but Gumball and Darwin come to the rescue and set it straight.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Console

(Sorry this is late, I was preoccupied. That shouldn't surprise you that much.)

"Okay, we need to find this Awesome Store before we all start growing anime hair."
I was super cautious about approaching this episode. Don't get me wrong, I was excited, but I tried to rationalize how likely it would fail. Well, it was amazing. However, because this article is up so late already and so many people already know it by heart, I'm just going to skip to my thoughts. No plot synopsis.

There is so much to like about this episode, but most importantly, they managed to nail to source material better than any other show I've ever seen. I mean it: there is not another show that I can think of that has such an acute understanding of how this kind of stuff works and is able to make every joke flow perfectly instead of feeling contrived.

Seriously. Almost every cartoon has done a video game episode. So few get it right, yet here we have Gumball, which has nailed it so many times already - "The Phone," "The Words," "The Blame" - but to have the audacity to pull out the most generic concept possible - "THEY GET SUCKED INTO A VIDEO GAME" - and utterly destroy the source material is insane.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Box

"Why did you choose to merge with a cockroach?" "Just imagine what I could do with the powers of a nuclear-resistant parasite!" "Repel girls even more?"
I blame myself, I really do. Perhaps it was because yesterday's episode was immaculate. Perhaps it was because I've been surprised by almost all of the recent episodes and inadvertently raised expectations a bit too high. Unfortunately, I found this episode to be just... fine. Not bad enough for there to be too many salvageable points that stand out and not good enough for what works to be consistent. This was just flat peaks and moderate valleys. Don't get me wrong- some of it I did appreciate. Most of it, however, I did not.

"The Box" is, in effect, a slightly different version of the much-superior "The Check." My main issue is that the latter was completely original and astonishingly smart with every approach it took (see: Darwin accidentally founds a corrupt charity, Anais attempts Marxist utopianism, Gumball destroys the universe). Here, a lot of the ideas felt reheated and lacking in originality, and when you top that with a surprisingly boring ending, there's no true satisfaction to be gained from it.

The premise is a simple one that serves merely as a launching point: Gumball finds a box on their front porch, but nobody ordered it, so they all take turns imagining its contents. No, seriously, that's it. There's not much set up like in "The Check" either. It worked fine, though: it makes sense that a suspicious box would be found by chance and without reason. That's how it works.