User blog:Mattalamode/A Second Opinion: The Pony

ONE DAY LATE! ONE DAY LATE! TWO DAYS LATE? TWO DAYS LATE!

Introduction
It was bound to happen someday, so I might as well just allow it right now while I have the excuse of all of my finals to rely on. (There's also the fact that I'm working on maneuvering four different articles at the same time - ugh.) I digress: "The Pony!"

"The Pony" is nothing more than a classic formula done perfectly. It's a routine that everyone's done, cartoon or not - the never-ending task with obstacles failing to comply - but it takes something special to turn such an overused premise into inspired brilliance, and TAWOG's just the kind of show to pull that off.

It's not even like anything extreme happens either, as in "The Misunderstanding" - it's just a pile-up of the most uncomfortable situations imaginable suddenly manifesting themselves all at the same time. We'll get to that soon enough, though.

The Actual Start of the Article
"The Pony" starts off unassumingly enough, with Gumball and Darwin trying to buy a terrible DVD to watch with their sister, fully aware of the consequences of not abiding by her whims. Unfortunately, the simple task proves difficult, with every obstacle they could possibly perceive happening, well, happening. In the course of presumably an hour or two, they, among other things, get held captive at a birthday party, make a lifelong enemy, and lose $1000, all while of getting absolutely nowhere.

Writing an episode like "The Pony" is a challenge; it's the kind of episode that can't function by virtue of a sturdy premise, instead incorporating as many jokes in from as many different angles as possible. It's a strategy that's become a sort of staple when it comes to cartoons, but a constant issue is the hit rate of the jokes; "The Pony," however, is almost flawless. Even the most minuscule beats of the episode work swimmingly. One of my favorite moments, for instance, is the brief flash at Anais back at home asking Richard if she's really that boring, to which he can only respond by calling upon Nicole to answer. It's not a complex joke so much as a universal truth to parenting - there's some questions that parents just can't answer and instead try (and fail) to deflect - and it shows the Wattersons from a nice, candid angle as a properly-functioning family. That, or I'm just a sucker for those slice-of-life moments.

There's also the fact that they endure one of the greatest hardships across all of mankind: not remembering somebody's name. It's such a perfect bit because it's so real and just as unavoidable, and even if Gumball and Darwin have the benefit of being able to kick poor Rob down a manhole to temporarily put the issue at rest, it only comes back to ruin their progress even more upon his reappearence. (He catches the DVD as it falls down a sewage grate, but throws it in annoyance when the pair fail to remember their name again.)

Heck, the episode even found a cute use for Sussie, with Gumball and Darwin forcefully invited to her birthday party. It's the perfect use of the character because it understands her lack of complexity and doesn't feel the urge to revolutionize her routine. (I can't wait to be called out for saying that.) The episode doesn't feel the urge to make the situation more intolerable than it already is, letting it sit there as awkward but not unnerving, a gentle tone that carries on throughout the rest of the episode.

Analysis
Now, as for "The Misunderstanding:" there's no denying that it and "The Pony" share the same narrative structure, but the latter, in my opinion, works much better. As much as I enjoy how "The Misunderstanding" becomes increasingly bizarre and impossibly complex in its obstacles, there's something more impressive to me in finding some way to contain all of the insanity. Everything in "The Pony" is exaggerated beyond belief, sure, but it never leans towards the surreal. "The Pony" just feels more... real. That doesn't even make sense, does it?

For once, almost every obstacle feels commonplace and believable. There's not a need for complexity or an almost divine intervention setting Gumball and Darwin back so much as a string of human error and minor inconveniences. The show even takes the time to mock how often it otherwise exaggerates things for the sake of lengthening its jokes, a truth smarmily mocked when Gumball screams that the movie is lost forever when it gets lost in a pile of other DVDs... only for Darwin to find it immediately afterwards.

It's like it understood the simple, day-to-day minutiae of Elmore rather than chasing after mind-bending absurdism for convolution's sake. "The Misunderstanding" banked on Gumball's continued disbelief at the events that plagued him, but in "The Pony," it comes off as more of a tedious chore than anything else. It's a grueling quest to watch an even more grueling movie - there's no true incentive for our heroes who continually chase the runaway DVD for the sake of it all. It's a lose-lose, and they're trapped, but they keep enduring because there's never a sense that the task is impossible. The chase could end at any second, but by virtue of poor circumstance, it keeps on going.

I'm only really noticing it now, but a lot of the episodes I've been talking about as of late all share that sort of theme - a delicate simplicity ("The Oracle" notwithstanding) - and it's really a shame that the show hasn't employed that many simple episodes since Season 2. That's why they interest me so much: while TAWOG has certainly gained a lot since then in terms of originality and creativity, it's like they've lost touch with simple character work. It's a show very much dominated by conceit nowadays and pushing the limits, and it feels wrong to complain, but at the same time, there's nothing wrong with playing it safe every once in a while. While the latest main character-driven episodes are perhaps even better than "The Pony" or "The Flakers," they capture a different spark - they use grandiose, celebratory occasions or pull at the heartstrings to leave a mark. It's no doubt phenomenal story-telling, but I've been yearning for watching an episode that simply depicts itself as "just another day," where the beginning is as insignificant in the grand scheme of things as the end. Watching episodes where the stakes are low allows the characters to shine in their own right; it demonstrates that they can play by their own rules and just casually exist while still being refreshing and worthwhile.

I can understand why TAWOG would rather trailblaze and forge its own path, and it feels like a stupid argument, but there's nothing wrong with exploring the well-beaten path, because of all shows, TAWOG is always able to find an exciting angle.

Next week, we'll be taking a look as "The Refund" from Season 1. Since I would otherwise spend twenty minutes trying to find some inventive way to end this instead of simply typing "bye," since I've already wasted the excess of 30-ish hours to collect the mental wherewithal of writing this, I won't even try.