The Job

The Job is the eighth episode of season two of The Amazing World of Gumball.

Synopsis
Richard gets his first job as a pizza delivery guy, but strange things begin to happen around Elmore as a result.

Plot
The episode starts in the front lawn with a passed out Nicole being slapped awake by Anais. She passed out at the news of Richard getting a job as a pizza delivery guy. Nicole uneasily walks back to the house, assisted by Anais, uncertain about her husband's newfound profession. Before leaving, she instructs Gumball and Darwin to watch over Richard, to which they comply. The boys express their surprise at Richard getting a job. He had originally called a hotline to Fervidus Pizza, but the number was a job application. He explains his method of getting "free" pizza: slicing off the middle segment for himself and hiding any evidence. After drooling a bit, he drives off on his scooter like a madman, dropping several pizzas. Gumball and Darwin notice this, lending their assistance by delivering the dropped pizzas.

Back in the house, Nicole is still taken aback by Richard gaining employment. Anais comforts her, saying that the additional income will be of tremendous help. She uses a family picture for reference, pointing out the fact that they've been wearing the same clothes for a year, Nicole, Richard, and Gumball lacking shoes, and Darwin's lack of pants. Nicole initially concedes, but notices something wrong with the picture: a huge crack where her husband is pointing on the stone model of the earth, and his red eyes. As a premonition, ominous music plays in the background.

In the meantime, Gumball and Darwin have arrived at the first house - 438 Elm Street, home of two married pizzas, the Pepperonis. Their order is their new baby, which Gumball presents to them. The couple gushes over the new member of their family while the male pizza gives Gumball $20. Unfortunately, as Gumball reaches for the money, he drops the pizza to the ground. Gruesomely, it slithers down the steps, leaving behind a blood-red trail of pizza sauce. The Pepperonis are flabbergasted, and a panicked Gumball drops the empty pizza box and hands them a different one. They slowly walk down the stairs, making their departure, but not before Darwin skids the dead pizza baby's face across the pavement.

Richard, meanwhile, is singing a rap about his new job. He trips, and as he stumbles around on his vehicle, he leaves behind a trail of distorted reality.

Gumball and Darwin have fled to their next destination, Mr. Small's house. Unfortunately, his order is the replacement given to the Pepperoni's. Gumball improvises and crams a clump grass and dirt into a pizza shape, adding a piece of gum from off Mr. Small's doorstep and spreading it on the pizza. As Gumball finishes, a starved Mr. Small pops out, tearing into the pizza like a maniac immediately after explaining his new diet. After a few monstrous bites, he stops, twitches, and faints. He is still alive and well, denoted by the bubble of gum blown through his mouth. Darwin, relieved, asks him for payment.

At the Wattersons', Nicole is filling a mug with tap water. Richard passes by the house, causing the water to defy gravity by falling up to the ceiling. Nicole panics and turns the water off as Anais walks in. Nicole tries to show Anais what had transpired, but with Richard long gone, the water is running normally. Anais decides to tease her mother, talking about how running water didn't exist during her childhood. Nicole shrugs it off and solidifies her belief that Richard having a job is a bad thing, prompting Anais to take her coffee mug away. This small action causes Nicole to snap, exclaiming that she's not hysterical.

The final pizza that Gumball and Darwin need to deliver is to the Bananas. Banana Bob answers the door and begins chanting pizza repeatedly. He is soon joined by his wife and son, as Gumball and Darwin uncomfortably watch. Then Richard zooms by, distorting reality once again by putting the family in a continuous loop. Gumball and Darwin, unaware of this, believes the Bananas are just crazy. Gumball teases them by asking questions where pizza is the answer. Their amusement worn thin, they leave the pizza in the house and close the door. Gumball takes one last peek at them through the mail slot and sees them still chanting, but in slow motion. He dismisses it as the family's regular creepiness.

Anais is trying to set Nicole at ease. She describes Richard working as a change in the balance of the universe and that of the authoritative power within the family, which upsets her. Gumball and Darwin enter the house and tell her that they delivered the pizzas to their houses and nothing went wrong. Nicole flips the TV on in time for a breaking news report illustrating many bizarre occurrences across Elmore. Nighttime has fallen early upon the Food 'n' Stuff store, there is snowfall elsewhere in Elmore, and a red senior citizen is floating. Linking these events with her husband's employment, which she affirms as an anomaly along with other examples, Nicole sets off to have him fired.

The family are driving with Richard's employer Larry Needlemeyer, who claims that tearing the fabric of the universe is not grounds for dismissal. They catch Richard in their sights, who speeds towards his destination and further distorts reality with repeated wrings on the throttle. His family gains on him, but Anais warns them to be more cautious. Richard pushes the throttle many times, altering the family's appearance into various artistic styles.

They find Richard's destination through a beam of light vacuuming everything in sight. Their hurried pace saves them from a falling, hardened cloud. He rings the doorbell and the beam grows brighter. Nicole is turned into a puddle, and the children and Larry into many more variations of themselves, from the warped reality. Before accepting the pizza, the customer complains about its half-eaten appearance. Larry learns of Richard's crude method of obtaining 'free' pizza and is given enough of an incentive to fire him, undoing the damage to the universe and restoring Elmore to normal.

Richard is stripped of his helmet, scooter and job. The family comforts him over his termination, rekindling his drive to search for another and sending the fabric of reality hanging in the balance once more.

Characters

 * Richard
 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Nicole
 * Anais
 * Larry

Minor Characters

 * Purple Moose
 * Blue Dog
 * The Pepperonis
 * Mr. Small
 * Banana Bob
 * Banana Barbara
 * Banana Joe
 * Pantsbully
 * Lizard Woman
 * Marvin Finklehimer
 * The Old Men
 * Gaylord Robinson
 * Newspaper Employee
 * Principal Brown
 * The Sun

Trivia

 * This episode makes several references to the 1976 horror film The Omen, most notably with the strange things that occur as Richard does his pizza delivery and the heavy usage of choral music to signify the catastrophes he brings without realizing them.
 * Mr. Small mentions a 'Tibetian diet where you're supposed to eat nothing but sunlight', which may be a nod to the recent news story about a woman who tried something similar.
 * Mr. Small complains about the weather being cloudy, but in this episode, it is very sunny outside.
 * The "Eat Banana's" truck from The Colossus can be seen among the other floating cars just as Richard pulls up by the house.
 * The name of the pizzeria Richard works for is "Fervidus Pizza". Fervidus is the Latin word for "fiery".
 * This episode has been nominated for the Annie Awards of 2013 in the categories Best Animated Television Production For Children and Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Television or other Broadcast Venue Production.
 * The music that plays during Richard's guide to eat pizza sounds similar to the Nintendo Wii "Mii Channel" theme.
 * The only reason nobody tried to execute Richard at the end is because this is a kids show and it would be cancelled otherwise and/or have to go on Adult Swim instead. Yet they got away with having things as creepy as a bad plot device of the universe ending because something happens that's not meant to be.

Goofs/Errors

 * Nicole tends to transform first - when we see her change, some of the passengers in the backseat (notably Darwin) have not changed with her.
 * When Nicole turns the faucet on again to show Anais something is wrong with it, it stops running in the middle of their conversation.
 * When Nicole is driving the car behind Richard, her seat belt is taken off of the car door.