The Amazing World of Gumball Review: The Spinoffs

"Diction, diction, action!"

Vignette episodes have always proven to be a somewhat difficult thing for the show to pull off. For every episode like "The Singing" that oozes with creativity, there's another episode like "The Compilation" that struggles by virtue of the threat of variance in quality and loose structure that the format allows. "The Spinoffs," though, managed to avoid the usual pitfalls that such episodes have to endure, and as a result, it rises to the top as, I'd argue, one of the most successful episodes of its kind, and a shining example of the show's unbridled creativity.

I just want to take a moment, though, to express why I really think it works better than a lot of other entries, because that's a fairly bold claim to make. One of the most concurrent issues of vignette episodes is that they try to follow a plot; this both limits the scope of their skits across every scene and, at worst, creates an incredibly weak center. "The Spinoffs" has the perfect solution: present the scenario as Rob (with the "assistance" of the Internet) hijacking the show's usual programming with video demos of alternative shows led by other characters across the series.

In other words, it's enabled to do practically anything it wants, all while producing a diverse set of components that make sense under the same theme. "The Spinoffs," thus, explores pretty much every spectrum of television, from thoughtful documentaries to cooking shows to '80s cartoons, all while feeling nicely organized and breezy.

Speaking of, boy, there's a lot of things I have to unpack here, and no organized way to do it! For however common vignette episodes are, I've only actually covered twice before, and one of those times was "The Singing," for which I cheated and wrote a song. (This was, I decided, somehow easier than breaking down that sort of episode.) So I'll just break down certain things I appreciated the most, I suppose.

If there's one thing in common across most of the sketches, it's that there was a lot of discipline put into making them land. Even the simplest ones are executed thoughtfully; "Tina the Dinosaur," for instance, is just a joke about how Tina's going to burst through a barn and destroy the set of her show, but it gives itself time to build and set a more mellow tone to completely uproot. We know how the punchline will be executed, and the show knows that, so instead it just savors its time getting there. The same principle gets laid out for "Barcode Cowboy," beautifully parodying the intro to Cowboy Bebop with Larry-oriented touches (see: spray bottles, barcode scanners) for over a minute before cutting to the "content" of the show, entirely consisting of a brief clip of Larry checking somebody's groceries out. It's silly, but it knows it's silly, and it has its moment before letting the punchline drop.

The more long-format sketches, too, benefit from evolving their punchlines and demonstrating some stylistic flair. "Bobert's Kitchen" is perhaps the most straightforward idea: what if Bobert, a robot with a complete disregard for basic ethics, had a cooking show with a living sidekick (in this case, poor Felicity, though she probably deserves it)? The result is him performing a series of mechanized tasks, all at great risk to his unassuming aide, tainting Felicity with radiation and making her pass out from eating rat meat. "Reality Toddlers" operates similarly; I've seen some people complain about the easiness of its punchline, but it's a segment that really goes all out in emulating what reality television actually looks like, down to the wonky cinematography, black-and-white shot angles, and shots of furniture, all pushed against the risible idea of toddlers being unable to perform basic tasks.

The best sketch, though, was "Techno Power Teenage Warriors," a parody of '80s cartoons led by Troy and Carlton, but slowly revealing itself to be a cheap cash-grab, with Troy repeatedly summoning new Techno-Robots just to sell more and more toys, ultimately just committing to unabashed transparency and hawking credit cards while Carlton ponders over the in-show tactical advantage. It's just a fully-furnished premise, and as a seasoned sketch comedy fan, it's surprisingly top-notch. (I wouldn't be surprised to see a proper sketch show pull this sort of premise off.) Having Troy just continue yelling new robots into existence, too, while the baddie they were initially fighting starts wrecking stuff on the other side of town, was a particularly inspired ending.

There are, of course, plenty of other bits scattered throughout, and they're all perfectly serviceable, if not spectacular enough to warrant mentioning. So let's just skip to the ending: with the admission that none of the attempts at new programming were particularly good, Rob instead has the Internet search for another show... only for the better option to be on a different channel. It's a silly, self-aware way to end the show—for however evil Rob's trying to sell himself as (which, by the way, is already pretty questionable based on his tactics here), he wouldn't want to damage the integrity of the network.

As an episode that jokingly lies itself out with a stance of "take it or leave it," I'd gladly take something like "The Spinoffs" any day of the week.

Notes and Quotes:
-"Joseph A. Banana's Afterschool Stories" was nothing too special, but it was a nice bit to warm up the audience before diving into the meat of the episode. Plus, I'll happily take any chance to see how adorable young Banana Joe is.
-While certainly good in its on right, the weakest bit from the batch was "William & Tobias," selling itself as some Seinfeld parody but quickly turning into a routine with William prompting mass destruction due to his inability to deliver lines. Rob's appearance here, too, is particularly puzzling; if he's trying to sell this clip as a potential show, I don't get why he'd keep in film where he's actively intervening.
-Last but not least, "Everyday Heroes" was just a little premise about how Ocho has three butts, selling his medical oddity with cutesy sympathy as he goes over the inconveniences his condition causes and how it's impacted his life. It's sort of like a less cynical version of Mitchell and Webb's fake biopic sketches (mildly NSFW). I appreciate it.
-Rob's VA had a few iffy moments, dipping in and out of his American accent with a couple very noticeable British slips here and there. (Notice "Stop" and "optimistic" at the end, as well as some lines during "William and Tobias"). Get yourself together, Hugo.
-I also really want to know what it's like when characters talk to other characters voiced by the same VA. Like, does the VA reenact the conversation in one take, or do they do separate tracks? I'd like to imagine the former. Either way, nice accent retention, Hugo.
-"And if I had to describe myself in one word, it would be Charlie-Ann."

FINAL GRADE: A+. "The Spinoffs" is just an episode that does everything right, even if, granted, there was a lot stacked in its favor. It goes to show, though, that the show can take a premise that can't fail and still approach it with an admirable level of devotion instead of coasting along by virtue of how lovable it is. The end result was, no doubt, a season highlight.

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