User blog comment:Mattalamode/A Second Opinion: Gumball Wiki Individual Appeals: Part I.5/@comment-30307603-20170916030253/@comment-31194372-20170917054720

I think the issue with "The Grieving" joke is less that it was dragged out but more that there wasn't any evolution of the joke in how long it was taking to get to the point. I think there's a lot of comedy to draining all the fun out of something completely and practically freezing time, but it doesn't work here because it's neither breezy enough nor painfully stretched out. I like that it amounted to nothing, but there wasn't any comedic tension with each subsequent flash of "The Grieving;" if the segment became increasingly melodramatic in the whole "This segment will ruin you" department, it would've killed. Alas, though, this is no "Happy Fun Ball."

And I still don't get the abnormally high prestige people hold for Season 4. Especially coming fresh off of Season 3, which borders on objectively flawless - there's only one near-miss of an episode and I consider it one of the most consistent seasons of any show I've seen - Season 4 is wildly mixed in quality. Sure, there's a lot of series highs, but I think those serve to overshadow how dire some episodes were, and if the fact that four of the episodes I'm covering soon isn't enough of an indication, then I don't know what is.

Hmm... maybe another debate might be an order. Pfft, as if I didn't have enough going on already.