User blog comment:Mattalamode/A Season 5 Retrospective Review: The Problem Child/@comment-9300845-20171109033333

Nice write-up of your retrospective on Season 5. I'd like to offer some of my commentary on each section:

Characters

To be honest, I'm getting real tired of Gumball (and Darwin to an extent) headlining most of the episodes. It's nice to see certain supporting characters getting the spotlight this season, most notably Molly, Sussie, and Carmen who were long overdue. But I've often preferred the Wattersons-centered episodes over supporting character-centered ones, and I'd like more of the former. Speaking of the Wattersons, I don't mind Richard appearing more, but Anais and Nicole definitely need to play bigger roles more often.

Storytelling

I agree with the whole Rob arc part -- it should be just be left alone after the events of "The Disaster" and "The Rerun." I did feel as though the Rob arc was more or less completed in those episodes, and that "The Ex" seemed kind of unnecessary (at least for the time being.)

I wonder if Season 5's reduced focus on major arcs (i.e. the aforementioned Rob one, and Penball plus Carwin ones) is because this season serves as a sort of a breather after the more plot-heavy Season 4. With the upcoming Season 6 being the final one, what with hype for the whole Void thing and all, it does make sense to me that Season 5 would be relatively less focused on its major arcs.

Humor

I'd like to dispute one thing: the supposed "Americanization" of the show's humor. Kaiju cited this interview (entirely in French) as the source of the show's changing humor. Yet, when I put that interview through Google Translate, I couldn't find anything to support that notion. (The only time America was mentioned in that interview was the part where Ben discussed the storyboarding process.) Either Kaiju cited the wrong interview, or this "Americanization" of humor was nothing more than conjecture.

Nonetheless, I agree with your assessment of the quality of Season 5's humor. I seriously hope the show wouldn't continue to rely heavily on referential humor or socio-political satire (however well or poorly it may be executed) in Season 6.

Concessions and Conclusions

Sure, I may have my share of issues with Season 5, but I agree that it wasn't too awful. Like previous seasons, it has had its share of hits and misses. It's not afraid of experimenting, taking risks, and sometimes putting out relatively low-key episodes, and I can respect that. Better to take chances than to play it safe, right?

I nervously await what Season 6 has in store for us.