No, more catches, right?

Really?

It's finally over?

Well, at long last, here's the final post in this mini-series to review all the Gumbomb episodes!

WHOOP!

If you're interested in my previous blog posts concerning the event, click on the following links: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4.

Spoilers, as always:



SPOILER AHEAD!

Important details about the plot or story are up ahead (Skip section)



Contents show]

"The Menu" is another episode starring Richard, and despite his recent failings as a starring character, my final verdict on "The Menu" is that it's a good episode. Sure, it's an episode that brings attention to Richard's shallow food obsession, a trait I'm not the biggest fan of, but it takes that trait and squeezes some great comedic value out.

The premise involves Richard and his two sons trying to order a secret burger from Joyful Burger, and while it's a fairly mundane premise, the episode makes up for it telling some good jokes. One of my personal favorites has to be the one involving Gumball's and Darwin's rise from lowly burger flippers to multi-million dollar business tycoons. Perhaps the jokes goes on for a bit too long, but everything from their facial expressions to how they conduct their daily affairs in their mansion is just very well-done. The later attempt of the Watterson guys to slander the Joyful Burger brand in order to make Larry leak the name of the burger was also hilarious, especially when Burgie starts eating the competitor's food. Gumball's fall down the punhole was short, but also pretty funny.

That being said, I still did have my gripes with the episode. One of them being the missed opportunity to do a callback to "The Job" when the Watterson brothers question their father's motives for not wanting to get the job himself. It honestly hurt to see such an obvious chance for a reference to the episode, and it would have been a much better justification for his unwillingness to join the workforce than his supposed medical condition, which reminded me way too much of "The Laziest" and Richard's awful Season 1 incarnation. However, that complaint is minor compared to my problem with the climax and Richard's body. Perhaps it's because "The Diet" is still fresh on my mind, but something about the way Richard's body is designed rubs me the wrong way. The color palette used on his body is less-than-appealing, and in addition, I'm not too keen on the "sward" and "sweeze" jokes. They push the gross-out boundaries for me a little too much and wincing occurs every time I see it on the screen.

Complaints aside, "The Menu" is still a solid episode that gives Richard a much better starring role after his not-so-good role last week.













"The Uncle" is one of Gumball's funnier episodes. Although the plot is quite simple, the episode makes up for it by pumping joke after joke. "The Uncle" is filled to the brim with well-done black comedy and it further emphasize the show's general understanding of that branch of comedy.

The premise involves Gumball trying to win over Ocho's trust so that he can meet Ocho's famous uncle, Mario. In addition to the episode treating its viewers to some funny jokes about Gumball's ambiguous sexuality at the beginning of the episode, the trials that Gumball is forced to endure also have some great comedic value. The scene involving the fight between Gumball and Rotten Cupcake was quite entertaining, and the way Rotten Cupcake got maimed by the exercise equipment was quite messed up, but at the same time, hilarious. The best of Ocho's trials, however, has to be the prank kidnapping. It's a perfect reflection of everything wrong with the internet pranking community and Ocho's nonchalance to Gumball's trauma is just perfect. There's also an offhand joke about Richard falling further and further into debt after Gumball takes his $100, and Richard's reaction to Larry constantly piling up the money brought a chuckle out.

However, the best and most memorable part of the episode is Gumball's R&B styled song detailing ways to get rid of or even potentially murder Ocho. Not only are the visuals spot on, including the poor resolution and the screen formatting, but the contrast of the lyrics to the nature of the song just blend very well together. Having the overly dark lyrics be played to what's supposed to be a sentimental and heartfelt song make for a very interesting combination that had me laughing the entire time.

If I must complain, some of the references to Super Mario do seem a bit forced at times. While I did enjoy the bit in which Gumball becomes pixelated and jumps around as Mario all over the town, some of the stuff Gumball said in the introductory sequence did seem a bit tacked on, to say the least. It's not a huge issue, but considering how well this show usually handles its cultural references, it is a little offputting.

All that being said, "The Uncle" is a very humorous episode and is something that has my highest of recommendations.





"The Weirdo" turned out being a surprisingly amazing episode, especially for a character such as Sussie. This episode met and surpassed my expectations, and it's easily my favorite of this week's batch.

The episode is working with a pretty simple synopsis - Gumball and Darwin take notice to the amount of attention Sussie receives from bullies, and the two work to help make her more "normal" (or as normal one can get in this show). Right from the start, the viewers get treated to some good jokes. Sussie's strange homemade gifts amused, especially Idaho's "map of an egg". The creative ways the other students find to throw away their gifts at the end of the lunch period are very delightful; the unexpected ways that both Jared and Banana Joe choose to deal with their presents are sure to leave a grin.

"The Weirdo" also pokes fun at the chinkin puppet medium itself; not only was the It's Sussie! (In Color) bit a clever way to showcase the brothers observing her behavior without it getting to mundane, but it humorously bring attention to the limitation of giant puppet hands with the infamous segment of "T H E W O R L D I S W A I T I N G!" by showcasing Sussie struggling to peel her eyes off the sheet only to later put them on in a jump cut in front of a green screen. The same song also briefly mentions Sussie's general inability to move, and that mention cracked me up. However, the best of these meta jokes has to be the one in which the Watterson brothers attempt to change Sussie's appearance. The episode treats its viewers to the chins of Mr. Graves and what I believe to be Mr. Bocquelet as well as a messed up version of Ms. Charbonnier's face.

The highlight of the episode, however, is the heartwarming song at the end. Not only does the episode provide some charming crayon drawings (which was apparently done by actual children) that compliment the song and fit the upbeat mood, but it also provides a sweet message that made me tear up a bit. It's not the deepest message in the world, but it doesn't need to be. It tells the viewers everything they need to know about Sussie's views on the world while leaving them with a good message, and sometimes, that's all that's needed to make a good scene.

"The Weirdo" is not only one of the best episodes of this batch, but it's also one of the best episodes of Season 5, and is a must watch for the series, in my opinion.





To wrap up this long 5-week Gumbomb event, we have "The Heist". For the most part, "The Heist" is a good episode. It probably wasn't the strongest episode to end the event on, but that doesn't negate its quality.

The premise has Richard accidentally steal $2 million after he wears his new motorcycle helmet to the bank. Now, admittedly, the first few minutes make it seem as if viewers are in for another "Richard is an idiot!" episode; it has Richard go through a series of actions that could have easily been avoided had he thought for a second. However, once the episode is past that, it completely changes and becomes something much better. Heck, even the "Idiot Richard" segments aren't too awful given that they do tell some decent jokes in it, my favorite being the line "We need to settle up!"

The episode's biggest strength is definitely the interactions between the police force, Larry, and the cupcake worker. Sure, the Cupcake worker is somewhat of a jerk, but the jerkiness is just so hammy that it's hard to take it seriously, and it instead come off as comical. The way the police chief and the other officers conduct themselves towards Larry is golden, especially the gag about how the police officers are wasting tax money on building models of roadblocks. The general brutality of the police officers is also something I found quite funny.

The interactions of the police officers are mostly a side element; the episode's main focus is on the Wattersons and their different plans on how to return the money. Although I'm not too keen on them reusing the same basic concept twice ("The Check", "The Box", twice in the same season), the fantasy sequences are still pretty good. Because the circumstances surrounding the episode are very different to that of "The Box" and "The Check", the fantasy sequences don't have as much room to derive from previous episodes. In turn, they feel fresher; Nicole's was just awesome even though I think they played the money obsession a tad too much (just a tad). Anais and her use of her intellect and leadership skills also makes for an entertaining sequence, and Richard's was decent. The only fantasy I wasn't a fan of was Gumball's, as it plays him way too much of an idiot for my personal liking.

Overall, "The Heist" is a good episode worth taking a look into if one has the time.

















Closing Thoughts

Here's a summarized version of my thoughts of Season 5:

Loved: "The Rerun", "The Stories", "The Vision", "The Choices", "The Test", "The Copycats", "The Fuss", "The Matchmaker", "The Console", "The Ollie", "The Grades", "The Uncle", "The Weirdo"

Liked: "The Slide", "The Loophole", "The Potato", "The Outside", "The Vase", "The Box", "The Catfish", "The Cycle", "The Menu", "The Heist"

Okay: "The Guy", "The Code"

Meh: "The Boredom", "The Ex", "The Sorcerer"

Disliked: "The Stars", "The Diet"

Overall, this Gumbomb was pretty strong. Although I think quality was kind of wonky during Week 3 and 4, it made a nice comeback in Week 5, and Weeks 1 and 2 were just amazing. I hope that Season 5's last 10 episodes will continue to pump out that same pristine quality.

Some Hopes for Future Episodes

Just a fun little list on some stuff I would like to see for the remainder of Season 5 and Season 6

An episode showcasing the direct interactions between Darwin and Carrie as a couple

An episode focusing on Penny and her cheerleader squad

Evolution on the relationship between Gumball and Rob

For "The Rex" to finally leave the void and become a real episode; we need more Tina

An episode showcasing the day Frankie left his family

Anais finally finding a friend

More focus on the plot with Alan first introduced in "The Vision".

My Plans for the Future

Well, this post finally concludes my 5-week mini series to review every episode of Gumball in this massive bomb, so what's next?

As for things that are set in stone, Matt and I are planning to collaborate on a blog post at the end of this month/beginning of next month tackling an infamous episode. Matt's an amazing writer, so you can get hyped for that.

I have taken a liking to this format of blog posts, so expect to see more in the future detailing a certain "theme" of episodes (Alan episodes, Mr. Robinson episodes, etc.). Heck, who knows, I might cover the other Season 5 episodes for completion sakes. Maybe. I also want to do some other one-off things. Nothing's set in stone, though, so we'll see.

Just click the link. He's tackling episodes that his fans on Reddit requested, so please, read it if you have the time.