The Fraud

"The Fraud" is the eleventh episode of Season 3 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the eighty-seventh overall.

Synopsis
Gumball and Darwin discover that Principal Brown’s diploma is a fake.

Plot
Principal Brown asks Gumball and Darwin to show up on his office because he has just been informed that they have neglected the school rules. He figures out they're naked and drew on their bodies to pretend they're wearing real clothes. However, that, obviously, doesn't work and denounces them. They explain him Richard, while they were at home, damaged their clothes and they had to improvise, by painting their bodies. While Principal Brown is reprimanding them for what they have done, Gumball starts checking on Principal's diploma on the wall which attributes him the title of Principal of Elmore School. By analyzing it cautiously, Gumball finds out its fake, meaning that Principal Brown is not a legitimized school principal. Gumball and Darwin, however, promise him that they won't denounce him. Neurotic about the shameful truth which Gumball and Darwin have just discovered, Principal Brown misinterprets their message and assumes they are trying to manipulate him, by using their recent discovery as "blackmail." They decide to go out, feeling that he didn't understand the message they were trying to send. Before leaving the office, Principal Brown takes them inside again, where he suggests providing them special treatment if they don't denounce him. Gumball refuses his offering. They promise him again not to tell the truth and finally go out although it doesn't convince Principal Brown, who's not determined to observe the fall of his career.

He then decides to become a stereotyped "cool boy" to conquer Gumball and Darwin's trust. Nevertheless, he starts acting like a real jerk and Mr. Small, even defending peace and love, decides to hit him on his face, which immobilizes him. He rises up and Gumball and Darwin ask him why he is acting like that. He answers them he assumed that, if they considered him cool, they would be friends with him and wouldn't denounce him. Gumball and Darwin, to calm Principal Brown, decide to organize a camping trip (inside their house) and invite him. There, he doesn't get integrated so easily as they assumed and he gets off by the window, falling on a dumpster.

In the next day, Gumball and Darwin are talking when, suddenly, Principal Brown interjects into their conversation and tries to manipulate them; by showing a humiliant picture that depicts them wearing stupid costumes. Gumball and Darwin point out that, although the picture is humiliant, they've already felt shame so many times in their life that they are unable to feel it now. If Principal Brown reveals the photo to everybody in the school, it won't make any difference. Principal Brown goes out, sad.

After that, Principal Brown tells them to show up in his office again; where he explains them he has just figured out he has been acting crazy. He also explains them that he has lost his glasses and he can't find them anywhere, asking for their help to find them. He tells them to inspect his safe to check if they are inside it. Gumball manages to identify his plan by realizing Principal Brown is trying to trap them inside the safe so they won't tell anybody the truth. Gumball then emphasizes that if Principal Brown gets obsessed about that, school will start collapsing. Confirming his idea, the roof falls and Rocky shows up, going out then. However, Principal Brown, neurotic, doesn't understand his simple message and thus he assumes Gumball is trying to manipulate him again. On a neurotic moment, he decides to blow up the entire school.

Gumball and Darwin, when they realize everybody is in danger, decide they must intercept him. Principal Brown warns everybody that school will blow up. The students that hear his message run away while he reaches the school boiler and programs it so it can provoke an explosion that will destroy the entire establishment. Gumball, Darwin, Miss Simian, Mr. Small, Rocky and Coach show up. Gumball begs him not to blow up the entire school and asks him to reveal the truth. Principal Brown then mentions he is not a real principal. Every teacher in school then decide to confess something about themselves: Miss Simian lied about her age so she could obtain her job and that Mr. Small is not a US citizen.

Principal Brown then decides to interrupt his plan but the school blows up anyway. Amazingly, everyone survives (although Rocky is not seen).

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Principal Brown

Minor Characters

 * Richard (flashback)
 * Rocky
 * Mr. Small
 * Miss Simian
 * Coach
 * Tobias
 * Carmen
 * Eggheads
 * Penny
 * Sarah
 * Leslie
 * Gary
 * 8-Bit Dog
 * Nicole (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This episode aired one year after "The Lesson", and two years after "The Remote", the second season premiere.
 * The episode was originally titled "The Phoney."
 * This episode reveals 3 secrets:
 * Principal Brown's diploma is a fake.
 * Miss Simian faked her age for the job.
 * Mr. Small is not a US citizen.
 * Principal Brown breaks the fourth wall in this episode when he points out that Gumball and Darwin's privates are pixelated.
 * Gumball and Darwin used to wear punk clothes, as shown by the photo Principal Brown has.
 * When Gumball's head is put back together he begins speaking Danish.
 * Darwin uses the Seven Pressure Point Heart Disintegrating Move on Rocky despite this episode preceding "The Move" in broadcast order.
 * Principal Brown breaks the fourth wall by winking at the camera.
 * Music from "The Quest," "The Fan," and "The Puppy" is reused in this episode.
 * This is Richard Overall's favorite episode of Season 3.

Continuity

 * This is the third time Gumball's butt is seen uncensored. The first two were in "The Wand," and "The Fight."
 * This was the ninth time in the series we see Gumball naked.
 * This is the fourth time Darwin's bare feet are censored.
 * This is the sixth time we see Darwin's butt (seventh time if you count the trailer).
 * This is the second time Principal Brown's hair is on fire. The first time was in "The Sock."

Cultural References

 * The briefcase of confiscated items may be a reference to the movie Pulp Fiction, where the contents of a suitcase are never shown, but a bright light is emitted every time it is opened.
 * Mr. Small imitates the Chinese protestor "Tank Man" while trying to detain Principal Brown.
 * Principal Brown also leaves tank tracks on the floor as he crushes Mr. Small.
 * In the cafeteria, Principal Brown says the words "tweet," "hashtag," and "selfie," which are references to Twitter and Instagram.
 * The scene where Principal Brown tried to trick Gumball and Darwin into crawling into the safe so he could lock them up is a reference to the SML Movie episode "Chef Pee-Pee's Clone," in which Bowser Jr. tricked Chef Pee-Pee into crawling into the microwave so he could clone him. SML Movie was created by the YouTuber, supermariologan.

Goofs/Errors

 * At some point during the episode, Gumball is shown still wearing his fake clothes, but he is not censored with the pixelated censor bar.
 * Principal Brown says the wall he knocked through was drywall, but what we can see of it is clearly brick.
 * Principle Brown's diploma is painted onto the wall in this episode, whereas in all of its appearances before, it is a real diploma.

El Farsante