User blog comment:ThatGuy456/A Guy's Thoughts: Slight Shortcoming's Sequel/@comment-31194372-20191208102253/@comment-30307603-20191208201127

Hey, always good to see your comments! Don't worry about being timely or anything; I'm just happy to see a comment in general.

I do still believe that at some point the writers were genuinely invested in making the whole Gumball/Penny dynamic work. The way they capitalized on the ramifications of their relationship in Season 3's "The Burden" and "The Bros" and how Penny was occasionally sprinkled into episodes such as "The Mirror" and "The Spoiler" have me convinced that at the beginning at least, there was an earnest if not somewhat unprepared attempt to really bake this into the show. However, as time progressed, it seemed as if the writers became complacent, and rather than actually progress the thing, they opted to do less than the bare minimum in regards to maintenance.

The Darwin/Carrie pairing, however, is something I have unfortunately come to accept was more likely done in an attempt to pander rather than contribute something to the overall show. "The Matchmaker" is a great episode and with strong writing and all, but if six throwaway gags and "The Drama" is the only fruit it could bear, then it is ultimately a wasted effort. It's a shame given how a correct execution of this pairing would have done both characters a tremendous favor and could have allowed the show to explore new territory, but alas, it is what it is.

"The Transformation" has always been somewhat of a hard episode to dissect because yes, you are right, there was clearly thought put into the episode. It managed to execute the concept of a real-time bottle episode pretty well, and it had a lot of clever gags, Gumball's neverending story especially being a highlight. However, it primarily exists to expand on what "The Shell" established, and quite frankly, it fails to do that, and given how late it was in the show's run and how burned out, in general, I was with the show's use of Penny at that point, it meant that the episode was never really going to resonate with me. I honestly wish I could like it more, but those flaws are enough to take me out of the whole thing.

Oh, don't get me wrong: "The Spinoffs" is a fantastic episode and is the show at some of its most creative material! It's like "The Mess" in that in general discussion about the episode, I really wouldn't pay mind to Rob's role because I would be too busy gushing about all the other sketches, but in this specific context, it's something I have to bring up. However, you do make a fair point about the gap between "The Rerun" and "The Future;" it's something I never really considered too much, actually. This isn't going to negate what "The Ex" did for the show by any means (it's not a good look in any context), but it makes "The Spinoffs" look better (not that it really needed the help, but hey, credit where credit is due).

Rest assured, I'll still be around with the blogs for quite a bit. But even if I do go, it seems like the blog section here is doing decently in regards to discussion. Regardless, always good to see you!