The One

"The One" is the fifth episode of Season 6 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 201st episode overall.

Synopsis
Tobias tries to be Gumball’s best friend.

Plot
The episode starts with Gumball and Darwin in the locker room where Gumball makes fun of his weight gain by manipulating the fat into a face and and Darwin joins his brother in playfully insulting his weight as well; however, Tobias then comes and mocks Gumball's belly fat as well, much to Gumball's disgust. The brothers are then seen in the hall mocking Gumball's weakness after he drops a pile of books that he was attempting to place in his locker with a renewed sense of humor, but when Tobias walks by and tries to insult the feline as well, Gumball once again has a facial expression that indicates his disgust. In the cafeteria, Gumball attempts to pull a trick in which he flips a bottle of soda with intentions to have it land on the bottom; however, it lands in the spaghetti and the bottle sprays soda all over the feline. At this point, the brothers start to make fun of Gumball's tendency of being a loser, but Tobias once again tries to join in leading to Gumball being disgusted once more. Darwin, confused, asks why Gumball makes that face every time Rocky's around only for Gumball to clarify that it is because of Tobias's comments. Darwin thinks Gumball's problem might be his personality and then they go to their house to evaluate it.

At their house, Darwin suggests uncovering each layer of Gumball's personality which leads to a yellow, jolly being to come out of Gumball's body. This being introduces himself to Darwin under the name of Humor and tells a joke (even if the punchline was himself); however, Humor begins to cry and come out of his facade when he removes his orange nose to reveal another layer of Gumball's personality: anxiety. This is a possible hint that a portion, or all, of Gumball's humor stems from a level of anxiety. Another fragment of his personality comes out of Humor's body under the name of Fear, which is bigger than Humor, and another fragment pops out under the alias of Optimism; however, the aforementioned personality fragment crushes Optimism. By attacking Optimism, it's hinted that Gumball's aggressions come from fear deep enough that could harm his usual optimism.

The personality fragment confesses that his aggression is because he is scared of the one thing behind all of them: Gumball's ego. Despite warning Darwin not to pry at showing any more layers of personality, a massive creature comes out of the body and eventually grows to the size of their house while Darwin makes an escape. From outside, Darwin concludes that his ego is normal. The scene then cuts to the brothers sitting on a bench, the feline now reverted to his normal self. After Darwin comments about not needing to see his ego showing immense love to itself through self-smooching, Gumball playfully tries to kiss Darwin, to which his brother responds by doing the same resulting in a kiss fight without the direct contact. Tobias emerges from behind the bench and kisses Gumball's forehead and declares victory as he walks away, nonetheless leaving the boys in shock, especially Gumball.

After this shock, Gumball realizes that he has stumbled upon an epiphany: Tobias is not good enough friends with him, which is the reason why Gumball cannot pick up on how Tobias is trying to join in their playful insults. This is further elaborated when Gumball compares the way they treat each other and their other friends, such examples include Gumball being hospitalized for a broken leg and reading Get Well cards as he recovers. The cards were sent by Leslie, Bobert, and Darwin. The former two were thoughtful while Darwin sent a rather insulting card, nonetheless the joke was perceived by the feline (through this card, it is revealed he was hit by a bus).

Another example of these playful insults at work is when Darwin is dressed in a bow tie and loafers, and while Carrie suggests that he pulled this look off, Gumball reveals himself from behind Darwin's locker door and tells him that he should, quite literally, pull it off. The two of them share a high-five and Darwin actually pulls off his bow tie. The next example is the two of them in their living room as Gumball passes by Darwin who is watching TV, and Gumball proceeds to belch in his hands and throw the cloud of obnoxious fumes at his brother, suffocating him in the odor briefly before the two of them laugh it off. The scene cuts back to the bench where Darwin suggests explaining their findings to Tobias so they may smooth things over; however, Gumball decides to have them wait until next Monday.

Back at their house, Gumball laments not wanting to hurt Tobias's feelings through wanting to explain that there are boundaries, but is unable to finish his thought when Tobias suddenly barges into their living room, much to the boys' shock. Tobias, as he is walking into the kitchen without a care in the world, suggests staying in for the weekend since they would only be talking to each other anyways if they did go out and do something together. Gumball becomes angry at his sudden appearance, but Tobias declares themselves friends as he grabs a tub of ice cream from the kitchen and joins the boys on the sofa while asking Gumball to ask his mother to buy more food. Overcome with anger, Gumball (quite literally) throws Tobias out of the house and he lands in the street face first as the feline quickly closes the door in contempt.

Gumball returns to the sofa to complain about Tobias when the housebreaker suddenly appears next to them and pickpockets the feline out of his wallet and steals money out of it, declaring that since they are friends, he does not need to ask before borrowing any funds. Gumball looks on in horror and confusion, and cannot bring himself to say anything out of the immense feeling of being violated by a colorful housebreaker who calls himself a friend. Tobias interprets his "friend"'s silence for a normal, comfortable pause. While Tobias commentates about the peacefulness of solitude, Gumball quickly snatches the money away from Tobias and once again literally throws him out of the house through the door where he rolls a far distance towards a public bus stop where the bus doors open just in time to catch a confused Tobias before it drives towards an airport where the bus doors open again. Tobias is shown to still be rolling as he tumbles up a flight of stairs towards a plane with its door open. As the plane is flying, it is shown that Tobias is rolling in his chair, yet not moving while his face holds an expression of trying to process recent events.

The athletic teen finds himself rolling in a barren desert, then ascending a tall, icy mountain where he reaches the peak to pause, then rolls down the other side. The scene cuts to Gumball applying the finishing touches to the broken door. As he reflects upon his work, Tobias rolls towards the two boys from inside the house and greets them, startling the boys. Tobias takes notice of the door being fixed and remembers when they had to fix the roof after Ocho supposedly damaged it. A flashback shows the brothers on the roof trying to repair it, but the memory is altered so Darwin could have large, buck teeth and recounts the fact that Tobias was not even there at all, but the althete is quick to defend his claims when scene zooms out significantly to show Tobias using binoculars to spy on the brothers and claims that the memory was shared by them regardless of his absence.

Gumball is quick to end the charade and declares that Tobias was never present when they fixed the roof, and would not be there for when they will need to fix the door. Before the colorful athlete can fully understand by what he meant about fixing the door, Gumball swiftly throws Tobias into the front door face first; however, the door doesn't receive any damage much to the dismay of the annoyed feline. Tobias proclaims that he is okay and remarks that Gumball did that because that is what friends supposedly do. Darwin finally stops their classmate by telling him that Gumball will clarify that they are not close enough to do these things, but Tobias is quick to understand the context before it is further explained. Tobias reveals through inquired assumptions that he might know the difference between best friends and "just okay" friends, but does not fully adhere to such unspoken rules since it stems from a narcissistic delusion that was brought on by his inner fear towards facing his true place in the universe, and concludes his interrogations by asking why they do not want to be more than just regular friends.

Gumball tries to smooth things over by just saying that he is not important enough for major things, such as moving furniture, but Tobias understands that he cannot be his best friend because there can only be one. Tobias entertains the idea that if the other friends next in line to be Gumball's best friend were gone, he would ascend into the position of being the feline's best friend, to which he concedes to. Tobias, seemingly understanding the circumstances, peacefully leaves the house as they see him off and attempts to leave the episode on a good note as indicated by an iris wipe.

Darwin then mentions that the last few statements could be breeding grounds for misunderstanding and inquires if what he feels is correct; however, Gumball is unable to understand what his brother is saying and closes the door once more. The scene cuts to a crowded mall where Leslie is walking, and becomes slightly startled when he sees a person dressed in a trench coat and sunglasses, and they lock eyes in a form of confrontation. Leslie, with a bored and exasperated facial expression, finds himself in a parking garage walking calmly despite the door closing behind him and steam blowing out of one of the pipes in the ceiling. The steam conceals the trench-coated person (which is obvious Tobias) and Leslie turns around to confront him. Tobias pulls out a large sword from his trench coat, but Leslie perceives this as a sales pitch. Tobias proceeds to attack Leslie with the sword, but misses, and the flower runs away.

Tobias approaches his victim as he walks backwards, throwing anything at Tobias to stop him. In a last ditch effort, Leslie beheads himself and throws his head at his assailant, but only succeeds in killing himself. Tobias is enveloped in blue energy that resembles electrical currents and proclaims that it is the essence of friendship that emerged from Leslie thanks to his death, and this energy is so strong that every car in the garage (or, at least on the current floor) is totaled. The scene cuts to Bobert walking in a school corridor as Tobias pops up from behind and inserts a USB in his USB port that contained a virus (or a kill code) and results in fatal error messages, hinting that Bobert has also died. This is further indicated when the blue energy surrounds Tobias again and damages the lockers.

Next, Banana Joe is sitting on the bleaches whilst listening to music, which is the same music being used during Tobias's killing spree when the assailant is hidden beneath his victim. Tobias rips Banana Joe out of his banana peel and presumably kills him as well as the same blue energy surrounds the athlete. Tobias then goes to Sarah's house and melts her with a hair dryer, and absorbs her friendship energy. He then finds himself in a graveyard where Carrie resides, and attempts to bludgeon her with a stick, but it breaks on her body since she is already dead. He then proclaims that the stick is also a ghost, and knocks her out with it. She is already a ghost, but her energy is absorbed by Tobias nonetheless.

Tobias, now almost finished with his excursion, confronts Gumball to tell him that he has eliminated all of his other friends except for one, but Gumball could not care less as he slams the door in the athlete's face. The power goes out in their house and Tobias phases through the door while taunting Darwin that there can be only one of them that can be Gumball's best friend and announces that he has gotten rid of their other friends. Tobias begins to shoot lasers out of his eyes and chases Darwin, intending to take his life. Darwin gets off of the ground and tosses books at his assailant, but misses the target every time. Tobias tries to use the abilities of the spirits that he has absorbed, but they prove to be useless to him in a fight. However, Carrie's powers prove to be evidently useful by lifting the sofa Gumball was hiding behind. Tobias throws the couch at Darwin, partially crushing him, and begins to suffocate. As his brother goes to help, Tobias declares that he now has Darwin's powers, but Gumball stops him to make him realize that it was all a delusion.

Through clarified flashbacks, Tobias did not kill anyone at all, but only screamed and acted like a complete fool towards those he was trying to get rid of; he did not phase through the door, but he did use the mail slot. Now defeated, he laments on his futile efforts; however, Gumball is quick to reassure him that it does not matter how high in the ranks Tobias is, but he is a friend nonetheless. Tobias apologizes and insults his own behavior, to which the feline joins in. Gumball urges him to help move the couch off of Darwin, but Tobias insists that he is not good enough to do so, thus he leaves. The episode ends with Gumball reflecting on how fair that is as his friend was never rescued from the lack of oxygen caused by the furniture.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Tobias

Minor Characters

 * Penny (shell/photo)
 * Nicole (drawing/mentioned)
 * Richard (drawing)
 * Anais (painting)
 * Carmen
 * Felix
 * Leslie
 * Sarah
 * Rocky
 * Pigeon
 * Gumball's Humor/Anxiety
 * Gumball's Fear
 * Gumball's Optimism
 * Gumball's Ego
 * Carrie
 * Gary
 * Blue Person
 * Marvin
 * Ocho (mentioned)
 * Hot Dog Guy
 * Black Pentagon
 * Juke
 * Felicity
 * Martin
 * Jackie
 * Green Oval
 * Librarian
 * Exercise Bacon
 * Green Guy
 * Cowboy
 * Bobert
 * Masami
 * Banana Joe
 * Billy
 * Principal Brown

Continuity

 * This is Tobias' seventh major role. The first six were "The Third," "The Knights," "The Mothers," "The Points," "The Slap," and "The Test."
 * A photo of Penny in her former shell form from Season One can be seen in Gumball's locker.
 * Josh's shirt can be seen hanging up in the same scene.
 * A drawing of Nicole and Richard from "The Hero" appears in Gumball's school locker.
 * Tobias breaks the fourth wall by flashbacking the ending of "The Phone" which is mentioned in dialogue.
 * This is, however the second time Tobias has flashbacked to a previous episode. The first time was in "The Test."
 * Music from "The Third" is reused.
 * A voice clip that has appeared in many previous episodes of an announcer saying "Our big sale will end in 24 hours!" can be heard.
 * This is the third time in the series that Leslie has been decapitated, the first two being in "The Gift" and "The Petals."
 * This is the second time an excerpt from an actual song is used to accompany the title card. The first time in "The Potato," having its title card be accompanied by "Potato."
 * Running Gag: Gumball makes a shocked face every time Tobias mocks him.

Cultural References

 * Gumball references the "Hadouken" attack from the Street Fighter series when he throws his burp onto Darwin.
 * The scene where Gumball strips of the layers of his personality may be a reference to Riley's five personified emotions from the Pixar movie Inside Out.
 * Tobias dons a long coat and wields a sword, then proceeding to "defeat" Gumball's friends by taking their powers represented by their spirits being sucked into him and electricity surrounding him. This is a direct reference to the Highlander film series. The film's famous quote "There can only be one" is uttered by Tobias.
 * It could also possibly be a reference to the Devil May Cry franchise
 * The bottle trick Gumball performs is a reference to the "bottle flip" trend, where people attempt to make a plastic water bottle do a flip and land upright.