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 Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Drama

"Oh, it's funny 'cuz we're dead." "Darn it, he's right, it is funny for that reason."

Isn't it weird to think that, across the last 52 episodes, Gumball has barely done anything to address the fact that Darwin and Carrie are in a romantic relationship? No, like, seriously. The only times it's really been acknowledged are in brief moments where the joke can be made (like "The Deal" and "The Best"), but not in any meaningful way beyond light implication.

Because of that, there's a lot of pressure on "The Drama." More than just being an enjoyable episode, it has to face those near-insurmountable expectations, or else risk being completely ineffective and difficult to believe in its sincerity. Ultimately, it falls somewhere in between, a fun albeit long overdue episode that wants to reaffirm Darwin and Carrie's relationship more than further illustrate it.

There's nothing wrong with simply showing that their relationship is on the show's mind somewhat, but instead of trying to find any particularly incisive angles, "The Drama" examines the perception of their relationship and Gumball's increasing doubt in their well-being (which is, to be fair, incredibly true to the show considering how little anyone has seen of it). That pretty much enables Darwin and Carrie to be at the center of the episode, but they never motivate it in their antics; rather, they present material for Gumball to riff concernedly off of. Because of that, the episode doesn't really go anywhere until Gumball decides he's had enough, even though the events of "The Drama" can barely count as evidence in support of his worldview, cynicism aside.

The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Slip

"Can't you just give it to me?" "Yeah, sure, I'll just give it to you! If rules and regulations mean nothing to you." "So I can have it?"

Despite the past few episodes creating a sort of midseason slump for Season 6, "The Slip," and the two episodes that followed it, are a step in the right direction, each delivering fantastic stories with a refreshing sense of confidence and direction. "The Slip," for my money, was the most successful of the three, taking a silly but pedestrian premise that you might find in any show and taking it to the sorts of extremes that only Gumball is really capable of.

The central premise at play here is that Richard needs to get his package delivered, but he accidentally misses its initial delivery, spiraling into a relentless quest to pry his package from a belligerent delivery man with ruffled feathers (pun unintended). While it could've easily been another forgettable Richard vehicle that made jokes at the character's expense, or otherwise give him some stipulation that causes his identity to misalign (see: "The Diet" or as early as "The Laziest"), "The Slip" was so successful because it was true to who Richard is as a character, and instead of modifying him, it plays out entirely indebted to his strengths and flaws, all without interrupting the pacing of the episode and making him the episode's greatest asset, culminating in a heroic speech dedicated to the lazy (even if they sort of choke in terms of reciprocating enthusiasm).