User blog comment:Mattalamode/Second Opinion: The Promise/@comment-24972567-20170228204414/@comment-31194372-20170302001450

Realistically, Season 2 was the only season to really push Gumball's cynicism front and foremost, especially towards the second half of the season ("The Hero," "The Dream," "The Limit," "The Boombox," etc).) Season 1 was more focused on cartoony antics with dumb characters whereas later seasons, if deploying Gumball's rash behavior, sought to balance it out (like in "The Saint").