The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Puppets

"Is it me or was that kinda... underwhelming?"
Here's a quick disclaimer: I'm not all that invested in the abstract ambiguity that "The Puppets" dwells in, and that's a huge issue considering the fact that the excitement of the episode lies squarely in that aspect. I do think, though, that the episode's reliance on chasing the ambiguity was at the cost of the episode's overall enjoyment. In trying to bridge the gap between Don't Hug Me I'm Scared's off-the-hinge, sinister tones and TAWOG's delicate subtleties and overall energy, both sides took a compromise.

And yes, I'm fully aware that taking that stance is a bit mean to the episode, considering TAWOG willingly gave itself up to the creative brain forces of DHMIS - Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling, who were credited as head writers - but for all the work they do, the episode never quite feels comfortable with itself, and putting the two creative forces together wasn't quite a match made in heaven, if I may be so bold. Just... ride along for a second.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Petals

"Look, don't worry. True beauty is found on the inside - your personality." "Good-looking people don't need a personality! Personalities were invented by ugly people to make up for what they lack on the outside!"

Of all the episodes to come out of this batch, perhaps it's a bit odd to label the filler episode as the best, especially next to a controversy-hound, a reference fest, and a style-swapper, but "The Petals" succeeds in its incisiveness yet utter simplicity. Part social commentary, part gardening show, part psychological horror... it's got everything you could want. The best part, though, is how unassumingly the whole episode starts out before quickly gathering momentum and hitting as many ridiculous high notes as you could imagine.

The episode starts out with a simple idea: Leslie's beauty is fading, so Gumball and Darwin decide to do everything in their power to return the poor guy to his former glory. What we get, at least leading up to the tonal shift midway through the episode, is exactly that: a series of consistently successful and creative gags running the gamut from botany to social psychology. And it all makes sense, too. Leslie is designed to be a vain character, and being a flower is a major proponent of that. The idea of his eventual wilting is thus the perfect opportunity to play around with the character more while exploring how his mind operates, something we hadn't really gotten a proper glimpse of prior.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Nuisance

"Bet you guys feel really big, don't ya? Picking on the poor, defenseless billionaires."

"The Nuisance" is an incredibly difficult episode to talk about when it really, really shouldn't be, and I think everybody knows why. But to sum up the extent of the episode's issues with a singular sentence, the extent of which this review will simply hammer in very angrily:

I really wish they stuck to a less loud design choice because the sheer amount of unnecessary, misconstrued attention the episode is getting was inevitable when it really shouldn't have been.

In the same way that "The Best" will forever be immortalized for making fun of SJWs, "The Nuisance" will henceforth, for the rest of time, be the "Oh my God, they made a joke about Trump deporting the Wattersons :3" episode. The issue is that pigeonholing "The Nuisance" as some cold-blooded jab is both blatantly wrong and obstructs the point of the whole episode. For Christ's sake, this one is about freaking economics more than anything else.

Further, the angle the show is going for isn't guided by some political agenda, even if a bit of knife-twisting finds its way in. The whole message behind the episode is that the Wattersons are the Wattersons, and they play on their own terms. First, they're faced with pressures to conform or else face being moved across the country, the result of which is a horrific homogenization of their family as a poster 1960s suburban family with a few too many "How-dee-doodle-a-doos" in their lexicon.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Line

"Uh, I'll have you know that I am the president of the Stellar Odyssey Fan Club... Elmore chapter." "Really? I thought you'd be into, like... tea and stuff."
"The Line" is that it's basically just "The Uncle" but for Star Wars. I have never seen Star Wars. Thus, I am blatantly unqualified to be discussing this episode. Tune in tomorrow where we'll be disc- fine, I'll talk about it, but this is my choice.

But at the same time, my lack of an ability to grasp everything is a bit of a broader issue with the episode. There's nothing wrong with making a sly reference here and there, but just like, again, "The Uncle," "The Line" takes the position of jabbing at us and asking "Huh, did you get that one?! The Holiday Special?! The Cabornite?! Ooooh, Trash Compactor, that's a pun AND a gag!" There's nothing organic to the delivery, nor do enough of the jokes stand on their own two feet in the case that anybody in the audience (me) is left in the dark.