User blog:ThatGuy456/A Guy's Thoughts: (10-6) My 15 Favorite Season 4 Episodes

For those who haven't read my previous post, this post here is a continuation of that one.

I'll be discussing "The Scam", "The Night", "The Bus", "The Romantic", and "The Blame".

10. "The Scam"
"The Scam" is one of the more popular episodes among the fandom, mostly for the Darwin/Carrie subplot, I presume (which I will admit, also swayed my opinion on the episode a bit as well). That aside, "The Scam" is still a great episode, acting as a spiritual successor to "Halloween", filled with solid comedy and an interesting climax that really capture what Gumball is all about.

It's Halloween night, and to presumably make up for their failures the previous year, Gumball, Carrie, and Darwin (very reluctantly) set out to deceive their peers in an attempt to scam some candy out of them. Now right off the bat, one of the episode's more obvious traits is its homage to the Ghostbusters. Although I'm not too familiar with the Ghostbusters brand (sue me), I do think I know enough about it to say that Gumball did a very good parody of it. The parody of the theme song was affectionate to the property yet humorous and fit the current situation enough. The idea of "the ghostbusters" teaming up with the ghosts in an ironic twist also made for a good chuckle. The equally ironic prospect of "the ghostbusters" going out of their way to scam people rather than help people is rather comical as well. The climatic reveal of Gargaroth and the fight that ensues between him and the trio was also quite top-notch. In typical Gumball fashion, the climax is fairly intense yet crammed with jokes, mostly deriving from Gumball's selfishness and ego. For the most part, his greed for sugary sweets is surprisingly enjoyable and leads to some great lines out of him such as, "He's a monster!...He's not even taking off the wrappers!" Though, I will say that the writers do play the selfish card for bit too long, specifically when Carrie is being married off to Gargaroth. I would have preferred for Gumball to kind of drop the act and do the right thing as opposed to holding onto the attitude, but it's a tiny gripe. The small Darwin/Carrie sub-plot was pretty adorable; finally seeing the concept brought to thee spotlight again after staying relativity dormant for a while was a treat. The writers manage to squeeze some good comedic juice out of it, such as Darwin's fantasy at the beginning or Carrie's questionably naughty request to "borrow" Darwin's body. Viewers are even treated to a sweet and heartwarming interaction between the two in the end.

With solid comedy, well-done cultural references (just take a look at the children's costumes), and an engaging climax, "The Scam" is a solid example of classic Gumball, and a solid episode overall.

9. "The Night"
"The Night" is one of the four vintage-styled episodes for this season, and in my opinion, it's the strongest of them. Not only do I find "The Night" to be the most creative in terms of theme, but I also find it to be the most entertaining as well, with each dream poking fun at a character's trait or in the cases of characters such as Gumball, are just pure fun.

"The Night" has the Moon exploring some of Elmore's residents' dreams, and that alone already allows for some great new ideas. No longer bound by the logic of the show (not that there was much to begin with), the episode can explore territory never crossed before, and that is exactly what the episode does. For the first time, we can see the comedic mileage that can come out of Hector being regular-sized. What would occur if Richard was a literal piece of dough? The episodes takes every opportunity to take advantage of the possibilities, and its one of the reasons to admire this episode. Typically in episodes such as these, there are always a dud or two. However, I feel as if "The Night" lacks any duds. Even the weakest dream, Darwin's, provided me a chuckle for how ridiculously simple it was. Gumball's and Teri's dreams took all too common dreams and exaggerated it to the point of comedic effect. Mr. Small's dream was a funny callback to "The Sock" and "The Finale" that was simple yet effective. Banana Joe's garners a laugh simply because of its absurdity, and Nicole's and Richard's dreams manage to comedically capture some of their secret desires, a vacation and food, respectively, while still somehow remaining interconnected. Larry definitely contends for one of the best dreams with his descent into insanity. Both Hector's and Juke's showcase their most sacred wishes that add a small layer of depth to the characters (especially in Juke's case) while adding a comedic twist in the end. Like the Watterson parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have dreams that manage to lace with each other, both involving the two bickering and eventually becoming super sayins, and also competes for the best segment. Carrie's and Alan's are short dreams that display their contrasting light and dark sides, respectively. Of course, Sussie takes gold for best dream for finding a clever way to break the show's fourth wall.

"The Night" is a great episode that tells some good character-based jokes that only leaves the viewers wanting more dreams.

Surely, I'm not the only one who wanted a look into the mind that is Tobias's.

8. "The Bus"
"The Bus" was one of the more anticipated episodes of the season, with fans first being teased with storyboards and speculating sense. Needless to say, I believe that "The Bus" not only met expectations, but it also exceeded fan expectations and made for an amazing episode and instant classic.

The story behind "The Bus" is that Principal Brown and some of the students' fathers stage a bus hostage in order to teach the children a lesson about playing hooky, with things going terribly wrong in the process. Although the episode can feel weak when looking at the mediocre interaction between Gumball and his gullible peers, the interaction between Gumball and the adults more than make up for it. This episode showcases Gumball's snarky side at its best; Gumball's dialogue is at some of its sharpest, and the adults' reactions to Gumball's sarcasm is fairly entertaining. The whole awkward air they present themselves in is quite hilarious and is very reminiscent of real-life school school orientations. My favorite interaction involves the adults realizing that the briefcase has real money, only for Gumball to come in and sarcastically congratulate them for doing a good job with the line, "I guess the lesson you have taught us is that crime does pay. Well done, boys. You've done good." It's enough snark to give the character a likable edge, but not enough to make him unlikable. The episode also succeeds because of its genius plot twist. The episode first sets itself up to be a higher-stake misunderstandings plot; the adults intend to set up "an act" for the children only for the police force to botch everything up; "The Bus" has you believing that the whole reason for the conflict come from the adult's lack of preparation and the police officers' complete incompetence. However, right when you think the adults are going to receive their supposed karma for failing to attend to all the fine details of their plan, the episode takes a totally different turn, introducing Rob as the primary instigator for the plot. It's arguably the most surprising plot twist the series has ever done, and is gives Rob this sort of menacing feel to him, making him the villain that the series wanted so much. The fight between Gumball and Rob also does an excellent job in establishing the new dynamic between the two and how Rob has finally stepped up his game as a villain. It's a plot twist well-earned and a plot-twist very entertaining. "The Bus" may have a slow start, but both Rob's reveal and the conversation between Gumball and the adults during the highway chase make it an exciting episode worth watching.

7. "The Romantic"
"The Romantic" is one of the more controversial episodes in the series; some people love it (such as myself) while others seem to show disdain for it because of the episode's treatment of Penny. Despite this criticism, I still believe that "The Romantic" is a great episode that proves that Penny is capable of carrying an episode by herself.

Upon believing that Penny's love for him isn't as passionate as it once was, Gumball sets up a treasure hunt for Penny in order to convince her that the passion is still there. The episode's most notable feature is Penny's prominence; unlike her other roles where she's typically bouncing off of Gumball's personality, Penny is on her own for the most part, and proves to be quite entertaining. Penny's bubbly personality and her strong tolerance for Gumball's antics make her an endearing character to watch and overall very likable. She also proves to be a fairly funny character with some of her funniest moments being her trying to conceal all her anger. A common complaint addressed to the episode is that Gumball's negligence is the reason for Penny's suffering and it makes the episode come across as fairly "mean". However, another strong aspect to the episode is that outside of the Gumball's inefficient way to correct his spelling error and his forgetting of his first kiss, all of Penny's suffering comes from her own carelessness or circumstances that Gumball wielded no control over. Gumball could not have predicted that Rocky would be such a terrible multitasker. Penny should have taken the time to read Gumball's note in its entirety and to listen to Larry's speech in order to avoid the creation of the chemical monstrosity and her allergic reaction respectively. Even though Gumball had a fairly major blunder in forgetting the place in which they first kissed, Gumball does attempt to redeem himself by returning to the forest and trying to save Penny. It's a nice change of pace from the typical "Gumball screwed everything up", and adds a flaw to Penny (that being her carelessness). With a heartwarming ending, "The Romantic" is one of Season 4's best giving spotlight to a surprisingly underused character.

6. "The Blame"
For selections 2-6, order doesn't matter too much as I honestly like them to a near equal amount.

"The Blame" is Gumball's attempt at tackling an old timely debate: are video games destroying the youth? With the special Gumball charm, "The Blame" takes this issue head on and even brings up an interesting point about literature that is surprisingly neglected when different shows try to tackle this issue.

After Billy passes out from playing too many video games, as president of the PTA, Ms. Parham is set on banning video games across Elmore, but not without Gumball having something to say. One of the things that makes this episode so special is the effective use of video game references to tell some interesting jokes. The allusions do not feel forced but rather well integrated into the story. Gumball uses the references to the Nintendo Wii and Minecraft to build his argument as opposed to them just being there, and it only helps to strengthen the episode. The episode also takes a fairly interesting stance on the matter; the episode eventually evolves into a video games vs. literature plot, and despite the children's disdain toward books, they make the surprisingly mature conclusion that neither books nor video games are to blame for the youth's problems. Both have fairly controversial material, and it is the job of the parents to properly care for their young. It's refreshing to see that the show does not go ranting on books and instead comes to a viewpoint not often seen on a Cartoon Network show. The episode also takes time to make sure that several of Gumball's classmates can get in a good line or have a brief moment to themselves. Penny, Tobias, Banana Joe, Carrie, Sussie, and even Tina are all present and accounted for and all get a good one-liner, a good verse in the song, or even just a shot of them going nuts. Many of Gumball's peers are some of he more interesting characters on the show, so to see them all gathered in one episode getting their own brief moment to shine.

"The Blame" is an episode that both video game avids and literature fans alike can get a kick out of that. It aims to deliver a message while delivering strong comedy, making it a cult classic.

Well, in the next post, I'll be discussing the "The Nest", "The Signal", "The Fury", "The Origins", and "The Disaster".

Later.

Other Posts

 * A Second Opinion: The Hero (feat. me) - A collaborative effort between me and Matt in which we debate and discuss "The Hero". It's something I'm proud of, so take a look if you have the time.


 * A Guy's Thoughts: (Week 4) "New Amazing World of Gumball in February!" - In that post, I discuss Week 4 of the February Gumbomb event consisting of "The Grades", "The Diet", "The Ex", and "The Sorcerer". Wiki-wise, it's my most popular post to-date; funny how it was my most negative post to-date as well. I guess people love negativity.