The Future

"The Future" is the thirty-fourth episode of Season 6 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 230th episode overall.

Synopsis
Banana Barbara can predict the future, but she can't predict her own disappearance.

Plot
The episode begins at night at the Banana's house. Banana Barbara has just finished her latest painting and placed it on the wall along with her paintings of previous episodes from the past. Suddenly, she sees a shadowy figure on her painting and doesn't notice the figure behind her. Banana Barbara then turns around and reveals that it was Rob, and gets kidnapped.

One week later, Banana Joe tries to set a poster about his missing mom, but Gumball and Darwin's way of advertising is not very helpful. Joe then states that his mother went missing multiple times before (and was found on various unusual places), but not for as long as that exact same occasion. The Watterson brothers want to help, but don't know where to start.

Trying to discuss where Barbara would be, Gumball and Darwin conclude that she's very unpredictable. Joe states that she used to be more sensible, but after being overworked by Mr. Chanax, she finally snaps and suffers from a "burnout", which causes her to become what she is today. Banana Joe and the two brothers decide that the only way to find the former's mom, they have to think like her, and the trio proceed to act "stupid" to trace her steps.

Meanwhile, at a warehouse in the junkyard, Rob is forcing Barbara to paint the future, but all she ends up painting are multiple out-of-context scenes of Gumball, Darwin and Joe, and multiple drawings with static resembling the Void, much to Rob's annoyance. While he's distracted, Banana Barbara takes some of the pictures with the three boys and paints clues to lead them to her location. Unfortunately, since the trio is still acting stupid to find her, they end up misinterpreting or ignoring said clues.

However, Barbara does have one last idea: to paint a hole that would teleport the boys into the warehouse. Rob notices Barbara altering the paintings and thinks she can change the future, but before he can learn more, Gumball and his friends fall down the hole and end up on the location of Joe's mother captivity.

Rob quickly uses Banana Barbara's powers to change reality to combat the trio, and ends up knocking Joe and Darwin out, leaving Gumball alone to fight until he manages to get closer to Barbara's canvas. Once confronting his arch-nemesis, Rob states that the reason for the kidnapping was more important than Gumball. Darwin and Banana Joe become conscious, and knock over Rob. Gumball and Darwin go to the easel and erase Rob from existence by multiple brush swipes into a painting of him. Joe and Barbara are glad to be together again, but the Watterson brothers feel bad about Rob's predicament, and ask Barbara to paint him again. When she does, however, it was within one of the paintings of the Void, and when Gumball states that they'll see Rob in the future, Banana Barbara enigmatically says "But there is no future..." and the screen cuts to static before the episode ends.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Banana Joe
 * Banana Barbara
 * Rob

Minor Characters

 * Anais (painting)
 * Nicole (painting)
 * Richard (painting)
 * Frankie (painting)
 * Penny (painting)
 * Banana Bob (painting)
 * Idaho (painting)
 * Larry
 * Santa
 * Tony
 * Brydie
 * Felicity
 * Siciliana
 * Soulless Office Worker
 * Spray-Paint Bottle
 * Lozenge Lady
 * Paperball
 * The Sun
 * Shark

Trivia

 * At a Q&A, Mic Graves confirmed that the episode would be centered around Banana Barbara's ability to create prophetic paintings, as shown in "The Oracle."
 * This episode was intended to be the premiere for Season 6, but was delayed due to excessive production problems.

Continuity

 * Music from "The Void" is reused.
 * Events from "The DVD," "The Quest," "The Job," "Halloween," "The Finale," "The Kids," "The Void," "The Allergy," "The Shell," "The Butterfly," "The Oracle," "The Society," "The Money," "The Signature," "The Signal," "The Bus," "The Night," "The Blame," and "The Rerun" are depicted in the paintings hanging on the garage wall.
 * Mr. Chanax is shown as the boss of Chanax Inc. during a flashback.

Cultural References

 * The way Banana Joe rips off his peel is likely a reference to  ripping off his shirt to reveal his identity.

Goofs/Errors

 * The mall's interior can be seen outside the doors of Elmore Shopping. This error is also present in "The Uncle."
 * When Rob holds up the shark painting, half of his eyebrow is missing.
 * When Rob and Gumball watch Barbara do a weird dance, Rob's eyebrow is thinner than usual.