Finally, at last! I've wrote in-depth reviews for all 16 episodes for this event! I feel so accomplis-

Wait what

There's 4 more?

Crud

Well, this post is about Week 4 of the Gumnuke, a very interesting week in terms of quality, to say the least. Click on the following links if you're interested on my thoughts on the previous weeks of the Gumnuke: Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3

As always, here's your warning on spoilers:



SPOILER AHEAD!

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



Contents show]

"The Grades" was a surprisingly good episode that I immensely enjoyed. The premise has Ms. Simian kicking Gumball out of her class because of a test he failed in kindergarten. For a premise that sets itself up for "HE's DUM!" humor, the episode is quite enjoyable.

An issue that concerned me with the plot synopsis is that it would overplay Gumball's stupidity for the sake of the plot; although there is a quick and throwaway visual gag that relies on this crutch, the episode otherwise doesn't resort to using this tactic. It instead has Gumball's supposed stupidity come from Ms. Simian underestimating him. Never once do the viewers have to bare watching Gumball struggle to solve basic mathematical equations or tussle with reading elementary-level books. Whenever Gumball is exposed for being an "idiot", it's from Ms. Simian's demeaning comments coming from a place of discontent. The cheating sequence is not the result of Gumball being too stupid to understand anything, but rather a series of comedic misunderstandings and honest mistakes on his part. Not seeing the writers break character with Gumball and making him overly idiotic benefits the episode that much; it's especially enjoyable to see that he didn't even need o cheat to ace his test in five minutes, I may add.

That aside, the episode brings Ms. Simian to the spotlight once again, and like her previous roles, she proves to be an amusing character. The jokes the writers convey with her inability to show an emotion outside of apathy make for a nice visual treat, especially her first attempt at crying. In addition, her whole ramble about the morality of cheating is absolutely hilarious, and seeing her attempts to help Gumball cheat was even better, especially when she transformed into a replica of the famous paining The Birth of Venus.

Some of the other jokes the episode tells are also good, such as Gumball comparing the kindergartners to British tourists, oddly enough, and Gumball ridding himself of all his inhibitions. Principal Brown trying to hide secrets from Ms. Simian such as his FBI warrant ("The Fraud", anyone?) and his secret furry status.

"The Grades" is an episode that could have gone in a terrible direction, but it steers away from that direction and in turn, makes a strong episode.













I'm going to make a bold statement: "The Diet" is the worst episode of Season 5 thus far. Heck, I could even argue it's the worst episode of the series since "The Society". "The Diet" is a wake-up call that not every episode in a series is going to be good; it emphasizes that nearly every show will have the episodes that are just downright awful.

"The Diet" follows Richard and his sons, as they embark Richard on a diet in order to make him thinner; the episode takes this premise and botches it up. In the second half of the episode, Richard eventually accomplishes his buff dreams, and this is when an already mediocre episode takes a plunge for the worse. Throughout this entire half, we are treated to two basic jokes, and not much else - "Richard is buff!" and "Richard is an egotistical selfie maniac!". This would be perfectly fine with me if the jokes were actually funny, but they're not. The jokes are pretty bottom-of-the-barrel quality, especially for a show like Gumball.

The jokes involving Richard being a selfie maniac are especially disappointing because of the circumstances. Usually, the show integrates modern technology into its world effortlessly, but in this episode, the joke about the Watterson brothers tracking their father via his status posts and selfies feel shoe-horned in. It doesn't feel as natural as other cases, such as "The Uploads" or "The Catfish"; it rather feels like a half-baked attempt to appeal to the kids. "Luk at how cuwell were are tih the seeeelfies. kek." is all I see when I watch this segment. These jokes feel like they belong in Powerpuff Girls (2016) instead of Gumball, and that to me is a whole new low. It doesn't help that the other joke, Richard being buff, doesn't have too much substance to it, and just becomes awkward to watch after the first time.

The first half of the episode is okay, but it's nothing special or anything that saves the episode. Outside of the montage sequence and two visual jokes, searching for food and monitoring Richard, there's not much else going on. The first 3 minutes of the episode waste time focusing on an even fatter Richard struggling to even leave his house; it lacks a comedic punch, and looking at the way Richard is designed is just not enjoyable.

"The Diet" is definitely an episode I will not be looking into viewing again, and honestly, if someone has not seen it, he/she is better off just skipping it.

I would refrain from calling "The Ex" a terrible episode that's on the same level as "The Diet". However, given the circumstances "The Ex" was building up to, with focus on both Penny and Rob, it's a very disappointing episode that just left me unsatisfied after the first viewing.

"The Ex" is a satire of the typical teenager romantic comedy breakup episode; it's not as good as some of Gumball's other bi-sexual moments, such as "The Slap" or "The Uncle" (I'll get to this one later), but it's nothing awful. Seeing Gumball's attempts to woo Rob back were slightly entertaining.

My qualms with the episode comes for the way the characters were poorly-handled, in my opinion. While the characterizations aren't as bad as I found them to be in "The Stars", it still leaves a lot to be desired.

Rob, in particular, was quite disappointing to me. After the events of "The Rerun", I wanted to see a bit more complexity from Rob's side of the relationship he shares with Gumball. With the show having a huge theme of whether-or-not-to-break-the-status-quo, it would have been much more interesting and less unusual to see Rob debate with himself on whether he should break the status quo and try to reinstate his former but brief friendship with Gumball or he should fill the niche of the show he's required to play. Seeing this concept evolve into its own arc would have made the episode much more satisfying and it would have allowed the writers to continue to utilize Rob for villainous roles. Instead, the episode practically undoes any progression the "The Rerun" made, and it just leaves a distasteful flavor in my mouth.

The way Penny was handled in this episode was also lackluster. As it is, Penny has been getting very little supporting and main roles in Season 5 given that she's the protagonist's girlfriend, the most important person in his life after his family. In a situation like this, I expect Penny to be more involved, especially since this is a supposedly rough time in Gumball's life. However, for the most part, Penny is cast away in favor of Gumball's conflict with Rob. Viewers aren't even treated to a subplot involving Penny coping with Gumball's new priorities. It's a shame because as a character, Penny has potential.

Even though I found it hilarious for a while, Gumball's sudden infatuation with Rob is off-putting; while Gumball has never hated Rob, he's never been very diligent in remembering the kid's existence, so to see him so head-over-heels for him is just off. Darwin's rivalry with his hat is also strange and way too Season 1-esque.

There are some good jokes, like Banana Joe giving Gumball a copyright strike for his mockery of the legendary banana dance and Banana Joe dancing to no music, but in the end, "The Ex" is an episode that could have and should have been more.

"The Sorcerer" was from a bad episode, in my opinion. However, the episode was far from good as well. "The Sorcerer" is a middle-of-the-ground episode with some entertaining bits sprinkled throughout the episode, but it's riddled with plenty of boring bits and a pretty mundane climax.

The premise of "The Sorcerer" has an insecure Gumball take on an apprenticeship with Mrs. Jötunheim in order to learn magic and appear as a viable companion to his classmates. The episode takes the premise and doesn't do too much with it. There are some enjoyable bits - I love the first 2 minutes of the episode in which Gumball is trying to find a superpower, comparing himself to his peers, and reflecting on previous attempts to gain a superpower. The musical number, A Sorcerer's Apprentice, is very catchy and it leads to 90 seconds of visual jokes one after the other, with my personal favorite being the one in which Darwin gets trapped inside of the mirror. Gumball only having access to the demo version o magic, complete with a watermark, was also funny.

That aside, I found that the episode didn't too much with its premise. The climax in which a troll comes out and attack the town wasn't too funny, especially since it was nothing more than an allegory for internet trolls, and thus relied on trolling jokes. After episodes such as "The Internet" and "The Uploads", the jokes the writers tell here don't do too much, and from what I've heard, Wander Over Yonder did better (I should probably start watching that show more). The gags in the scene just feel one-note and half-done compared to the other episodes.

Looking back, it's much harder to remember scenes from this episode than for other episodes, and that's because it isn't too memorable. "The Sorcerer" isn't an episode to leave a poor taste in one's mouth, but it isn't going to be one that sticks out too much.

























Closing Thoughts

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

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

Okay: "The Guy", "The Code"

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

Disliked: "The Stars", "The Diet"

Well, this week was supposed to conclude this mini-series of posts, but Cartoon Network blind-sided me and released more episodes, so expect a post next week detailing "The Menu", "The Uncle", "The Weirdo", and "The Heist".

This week, Matt wrote about his thoughts on "The Picnic", a notorious Season 1 episode. If you have the time, look into it, as it's a very good summary of many of Season 1's flaws.

However, if that doesn't interest you, then I am here to inform you that Matt is doing a project a little more user-generated for the next two weeks. On r/gumball, Matt submitted a discussion post asking users about which episodes they disliked. His plan is to counter all their reasons for disliking the episode and provide a "second opinion".

You can still submit a request for an episode (or multiple) until Monday. You can click here if you're interested in putting in a request.