The Romantic

"The Romantic" is the fourteenth episode of Season 4 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 130th episode overall.

Synopsis
When Gumball misunderstands a message from Penny online, he thinks he is about to lose her as his girlfriend. In an attempt to prevent this, he sets up a treasure hunt for her.

Plot
The episode begins with Gumball chatting with Penny. Anais comes in the room and asks him what he's doing. Gumball is eating online dinner with her via emojis. Gumball then freaks out when Penny leaves, but types out one emoji with hearts for eyes instead of three. Anais tries explaining that Penny was just tired, but Gumball takes it as a sign she's losing interest in him. Determined to not let this happen, he decides to set her up a treasure hunt to remind her of the memories they've shared.

In the next scene, Gary goes to Penny's house and gives her a letter from Gumball. She reads the letter and does as it instructs by going to the mall. When she arrives, everyone falls down and she panics. Everyone then addresses her, each person speaking one word at a time. They then perform a dance routine for her, and after finishing, tell her to go to the bus stop for her next clue. After the crows inadvertently re-enact what Gumball did when sending instructions to them, Penny realizes Gumball set this up for her.

Penny goes to the bus stop, where Rocky arrives with the school bus. She asks what's going on, to which Rocky then reads Gumball's poem. However, this causes havoc on the road, despite Penny's numerous attempts to get Rocky to watch the road. After a while Rocky crashes into the school, tossing him and Penny from the bus.

Penny is then seen at the science lab and mixes two chemicals together, as per Gumball's instructions. The chemical mix then turns into a monster, which tries to attack Penny, forcing her to flee.

She then is seen at the desert, where she finds another message from Gumball, this one made out of bones. In it, he explains that he made a spelling mistake on the blackboard at the science lab. He misspelled "dessert" as "desert." After learning this, Penny then laughs maniacally, getting increasingly frustrated with Gumball.

In the next scene a dehydrated Penny goes back to the mall and enters the ice cream shop. Larry arrives and gives her an ice cream on the house. Penny proceeds to swallow handfuls of her ice cream while Larry reads the writing on the plate. While reading, he states the second layer of ice cream is blueberry, which Penny is allergic to. Larry then reads off that Gumball put an allergy pill in the cherry to balance it out. Unfortunately, Penny still gets disfigured as a result of allergic reaction.

At the school auditorium, Gumball smiles weirdly while Leslie is playing a violin. Gumball explains that his instructions were for her to go where they had their first kiss. Leslie then reminds him that their first kiss was not in the auditorium, which causes Gumball to remember their first kiss was at the forest.

Penny is then seen at the forest, trying to evade the wild animals. She escapes a wolf, but then encounters a bear. Attempting to defend herself, she tries to control her transformation. This fails, and she runs away again. After getting cornered by the animals, Gumball appears to help her. After failing to do so and landing them both in trouble, Penny wants Gumball to say something make her angry so she can transform and get rid of the wild animals. Gumball tries to do so by mocking her mother and sister, which Penny finds rather funny. After that, Gumball reveals that the reason he put her through all this trouble is because she put one heart-eyed emoji instead of three. Penny, furious that she had to endure all these mishaps because of something so insignificant, turns into a dragon and manages to fight off the creatures with ease.

In the last scene Penny walks home, annoyed with Gumball for putting her through all of this. She then tells Gumball to take their relationship easier and not to make any more big gestures. Gumball then pulls out a walkie-talkie to tell Darwin to call off the fireworks, but is too late. The fireworks go off, while Gumball tries to convince Penny it's not his work. After a firework goes off shaped like his head, he simply makes his face an emoji with hearts for eyes. Penny then makes a half-lidded smile and forgives him.

Main Characters

 * Penny
 * Gumball

Supporting Characters

 * Woodland Creatures

Minor Characters

 * Anais
 * Gary
 * Marvin
 * Neck Beard
 * Felicity
 * Crocodile Woman
 * Hot Dog Guy
 * Sphere Citizens
 * Green Bear
 * Mushroom
 * Pantsbully
 * Siciliana
 * Floppy Disk
 * Carmen's father
 * Exercise Bacon
 * Karen
 * Jackie
 * Cowboy
 * Hank
 * Jeff
 * Brown Oval
 * Rocky
 * Melted Cheese Guy
 * Principal Brown
 * Blue Elephant
 * Patrick
 * Cupcake Woman
 * 8-Bit Dog
 * Charlie
 * Billy
 * Chemical Monster
 * Larry
 * Leslie
 * Mrs. Fitzgerald (mentioned)
 * Penny's Sister (mentioned)
 * Darwin

Trivia

 * This is Penny's ninth major role in an episode. The first eight were in "The Pressure," "The Party," "The Date," "The Knights," "The Flower," "The Dream," "The Shell," and "The Bros."
 * Footage from "The Law" is reused.
 * Music from "The Lie" is reused.
 * This episode reveals how Gumball and Penny first met.
 * Multiple scenes during the bus driving scene are recycled from previous episodes.
 * In the Philippines, this episode aired on Valentine's day.

Continuity

 * This is the tenth episode to reference previous episodes. The first nine were "The Finale," "The Fan," "The Name," "The Vacation," "The Password," "The Oracle," "The Nobody," "The Egg," "The Nemesis," and "The Pest."
 * This is the fourth time Penny shapeshifts. The first three were "The Shell," "The Bros" and "The Mirror."
 * This is the third time, Penny shapeshifts into her jackalope form. The first two were "The Shell" and "The Bros."
 * This is the third time, Penny shapeshifts into her Medusa-like form. The first two were "The Bros" and "The Mirror."
 * This is the second time, Penny shapeshifts into her dragon form. The first was "The Shell."
 * This is the fourth time Gary can be seen as a mailman. The first three times were in "The Microwave," "The Tape," and "The Spoiler."
 * This is the fifth episode where Darwin is a minor character. The first four were "The World," "The Extras," and "The Butterfly," and "The Return."
 * The precipice background from "The Treasure" is reused and it stills without bridge, since Anais knocked it.

Cultural References

 * This story was inspired by Ben Bocquelet's friend Paul who set up an insane treasure hunt for his girlfriend at that time.
 * When Penny tries to transform, the background and poses are like in Sailor Moon, but the way she talks during it makes her sound like a Wonder Twin from Superfriends.
 * The dance Gumball's flash mob performs is a nod to the Crystal Light National Aerobic Championship opening.

Errors/Goofs

 * During the bus ride, Principal Brown and the Blue Elephant appear in several different crashed cars all blocks apart.