User blog comment:Mattalamode/A Season 5 Retrospective Review: The Problem Child/@comment-30307603-20171112042616/@comment-31194372-20171112190933

I suppose I neglected to mention Season 5 Gumball's naivete, but it ties into a larger problem with the season: there's a sense that the show is reducing its characters for the sake of making its plots play out better, and the result is a strange imbalance where, even if the show is externally the same, something feels ever-so-slightly off because everybody's been marginally diluted. While it never affected Gumball as much, considering he's the most malleable character in fitting the needs of the show, characters like Darwin definitely struggled to retain their position in the show (which was already weak enough from the start). As for Rob... the success or failure of "The Ex" will all be determined by how capable the show is of raising the bar. The episode admittedly ruined a lot of what made his character work, but it's sort of a necessary step if the show has any further plans considering that "The Disaster" and "The Rerun" were, more realistically, the root of the issue.

I agree with you on the topical humor, too: the show's just felt so... soulless. Episodes like "The Gripes" worked because they didn't delve in the same topicality, though while still being particularly incisive and demonstrating interest in what it's trying to deconstruct. By comparison, it's almost as if the show deemed episodes like "The Worst" mandatory and inevitable, creating them for the sake of their relevance and trying to capitalize off of them and nothing further. ("The Vision" is the only episode that manages to find that middle ground, and it worked perfectly.)

So... yeah. TAWOG is a strong show, and calling Season 5 "bad" is an unfair label; I'm willing to acknowledge that and my shortcomings in discussing the season prior to this post. The issue is merely that the bar has been set, and the show has struggled to maintain that level, which should be expected. That Season 5 sought to experiment, however, instead of simply coasting off of past season's successes, shows a willingness to keep the show fresh that can't be overlooked.

Hurry up and get writing! I need the excess traffic. (And stop low-balling me with that Season 4 stuff, bro. It's perfectly competent, if not vastly overrated in your mind.)