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.

Eventually, this spirals into the kids forcing Larry to make a review site, allowing the pair to devalue other people, eventually leading to a society where everybody is too scared to do anything- one move could kill off all their credibility in mere seconds, so the entirety of Elmore is essentially frozen in fear. The kids see Larry driving by (as the only credible figure in Elmore now) and beg him to give the review site he made zero stars to kill of its worth, but he refuses unless one condition is met: Richard has to admit that he is, in fact, bald- the primary source of conflict from the episode's launch.

Richard being Richard obviously refuses, and Larry reaches to give the app a five-star review instead, assumedly permanently reinforcing the reviews in community and becoming some sort of supreme leader, but before he can tap the stars, a ray of light comes down and shines off of the top of Richard's head, blinding Larry and causing him to mis-tap, instead rating the app zero stars and returning society to normal. At the very least, the ending is pretty unpredictable (aside from some delicate foreshadowing), so bonus points for that.

I don't think the episode was as comedically strong as other episodes, but there were a few great moments.

The bit where Larry trims Richard's one strand of hair, causing it to fall in slow motion accompanied by Italian opera music was just weird enough to kill. It's been a while since they've done a good opera cue (the last I remember was in "The Promise"), but it's the combination of dramatic music and stupid subject matter that makes the joke so effective. Like, there's no real reason it should be as funny as it is. There's not even a legitimate reason why the moment should even exist. It's just hilarious.

I feel the same way about Richard's thoughtful typing of his review, complete with Spanish guitar, only for the reveal of excessive computer chiming- he wasn't typing a review, he was failing to log in repeatedly. What a delightful throwaway.

Also underrated was the brief aside on the movie Gumball and Darwin were watching: Man Man. "He was bitten by a man and given the powers of the man." (Movie dialogue shows his stark interest in managing tax returns.) Still, that moment was immediately overthrown by the sheer weirdness of seeing Larry forced to reenact a romance film using himself to play every role just to appease them. I especially liked the shoddy editing of the bit- even the show understands the physical impossibility of three Larry's on the same screen, requiring some editing to make it look right, to limited success of course. (Then there's Gumball walking out disgusted and Darwin walking out touched- it's a joke everybody's done, but it works every time.)

Alright, with all that being said, the big complaint everybody seems to be having is how off Richard and the kids' characterization is, and I do get that to some extent. I don't think it was as bad as some people have claimed it to be, especially with how much the characters' personalities have changed over time (and how wont Gumball's attitude is to change given that he's the main character, the most consistently dull character in every TV show). My main issue is how ill-advised it was to have the episode after "The Cycle."

In "The Cycle," we saw the kids try to help out their father who is being perpetually bullied by Harold. Gumball and Darwin are thus much more understanding and respectful, seeking to actually do right or at least set the record straight. In this episode, however, there's such a stark contrast, with them just manipulating Larry as to improve their own lives with minimal consequence. I can kind of see some continuity in Richard, if not just because of the other episode's ending (where he revealed a much more vengeful side), but Gumball and Darwin just came out of this episode looking really bad, and that certainly caused some disconnect with the show.

I get that Gumball episodes are constantly shifting in mood, but the shifts should be more gradual to help hide some characters' inconsistencies. This episode jumped from feel-good to cynical, and it definitely suffered a bit, but ultimately, I just couldn't bring myself to hate the episode.

Takeaway:
-Alright, so when I reviewed "The Box," I expressed particular distaste in Gumball's gross-out vision, and I noticed that the show pulled something in a very similar vain, what with Larry's new, gross zoo animal that churns another out of its orifice.
It wasn't as gross, per se, but I still really hate these jokes that just don't have a solid reason to exist. A lot of cartoons use gross-out as a crutch to compromise on smart content, and I really hope the show will at least employ it sparingly. Plus, we're getting close to Season 6, where SpongeBob started using these kinds of jokes, which honestly makes me even more worried that they're going to become more and more frequent. I certainly think the show knows better than to bank on gross-out, but it's just a bit concerning, that's all.
-I also think the initial premise is a bit weird too, what with the implication that Richard is bald. Dude, he's a rabbit. It's called, like, fur, man.
-Where did Darwin put his earplugs, but more importantly, do we really want to know?

Final Grade: B. Honestly, I haven't been that impressed with the past week's episodes, especially not since the first two weeks were so stellar. This is definitely the closest episode to a good-range to come out this week (excluding "The Ollie," which was leaked much earlier), but it's held back by some iffy characterization and another pointless "Nothing is resolved"-type ending. That being said, the subject matter was unique enough for most of the episode to go off without a hitch.
In more technical terms, I suppose I'd give it three stars.

For the last Gumball review of "The Cycle," CLICK HERE.