The Remote

The Remote is the first episode of season two of The Amazing World of Gumball.

Sypnosis
The Watterson family fights over the remote to the extreme when they realize everything they want to watch comes on at the same time.

Plot
At the dining table for breakfast, the Watterson family excitedly talk about the shows they plan on watching that evening. Gumball and Darwin want to watch Cutie Pets to see a submitted picture set to be featured, Nicole wants to watch Win or Don't Win to win a new microwave, and Anais wants to watch a new episode of the Daisy the Donkey show. All is well until they discover that their respective shows are scheduled to air at eight o'clock. They all rush into the living room in a race for the remote. Richard informs them that he has been saving his seat all night for the series finale of a soap opera entitled La Casa De Las Lagrimas, having already hidden the remote prior. After informing the family of this, he promptly falls asleep on the couch. An argument ensues in the living room, which goes on until Anais exasperatedly decides to go to her room, loudly wishing she could buy her own remote. Hearing this, Nicole leaves to do so herself.

With Nicole having left, Gumball and Darwin resort to manually changing channels on the television. Gumball attempts to do so, but collapses a few inches away from the TV out of laziness. Darwin gets him back on the couch and breaks a chocolate bar to revitalize Gumball. The snap of the chocolate bar catches Richard's attention, immediately awakening and asking for it. This prompts the boys to taunt him with it, demanding the remote in exchange for the chocolate bar. The phone starts ringing, and Anais answers it. Nicole is on the other end of the line, who asks Anais for the brand of the TV. After threatened to be grounded for six months, Anais concedes and answers Nicole's question.

Meanwhile, Gumball and Darwin give Richard the chocolate bar, who in return hints the duo on the remote's location in a riddle. They deduce the meaning of the riddle: the remote is between their father's butt, but not after thinking that the remote is in a valley shaped like a butt and going there. However, upon trying to obtain the remote, they discover a hole in the couch where he was sitting, and that the remote is not there. With Nicole out to buy a remote, they conclude that only one person who could have gotten the remote was Anais. Richard and the boys go upstairs to their bedroom, where they find Anais sewing up her Daisy the Donkey plush. The three confront Anais about the remote, and Gumball snatches Daisy from Anais's hands, using the doll as hostage. Surprisingly, Anais quickly pulls what appears to be the remote out from behind the desk. As she is about to give them the remote, she promptly smashes it on the ground in front of them, much to the boys' dismay. After Gumball threatens to destroy the Daisy doll, she tells the group that Nicole went to the store to buy another remote. From there, they rush off to the store get it from her, with Gumball giving Anais back her Daisy plush. Anais remains behind, explaining to Gumball that she did not care about watching TV anymore, and that she only needed her Daisy plush.

At the parking lot of the mall, Nicole is seen exiting from an elevator, but is suddenly confronted with an angry Gumball, Darwin and Richard staring her down. The boys charge at her to attack, with everyone prying to get the remote from each other's hands. At one point, Richard gets the remote, and the boys run straight into his gut in an attempt to grab it, which momentarily knocks them unconscious, only to have Nicole steal the remote back from her husband. At the next level of the parking garage, Nicole is cornered. Much to the boys' surprise, she jumps from the parking lot to the next building, landing perfectly and making a run for it. The boys decide to just take the stairs instead of following her. Richard, on the other hand, tries the same jump his wife made, only to fail horribly and plummet down below. Nicole starts running for the parking lot exit, but the gate suddenly makes its descent. Gumball and Darwin get down the stairs and notice the gate closing, so Gumball shouts to his mother that not paying the toll would set a bad example to her children. As she hastily sprints towards the exit, she digs frantically through her skirt pockets for the correct change, but she finds it too late and is clotheslined by the gate's arm, knocking the change and the remote off her grasp. Gumball thanks Nicole for being a good citizen as he grabs the remote, and he and Darwin run home.

Upon arriving home, the Wattersons begin to fight over the remote again, pressing the buttons on the remote in the process. A repetitive smashing sound can be heard as they press the buttons, and Gumball points out that the remote their mother bought was a garage door remote, not a TV remote. Asked by her angered son, Nicole informs him that Anais told her what brand of remote to buy. An epiphany dawns on the Watterson family: it was an elaborate plan orchestrated by Anais. One at a time, the family recounts the entire day, beginning with Anais giving her mother the idea to buy another remote by yelling that she wished she could buy her own; Nicole calling and asking Anais for the TV brand, Anais overhearing Richard's riddle and stealing the remote from underneath him by cutting a hole in the couch, and Anais apparently smashing the remote, which turned out to be a calculator. They discard the garage door remote and rush to the window where they see Anais sitting in the living room, unzipping the back of her Daisy doll and taking out the real remote. The rest of the family watches with horror as Anais switches from the channel of Richard's show, causing him to exclaim "Oh, Madre Mia!" and pass out. Nicole is conflicted, feeling both pride and fear for her daughter. The last shot of the episode shows Anais' face as she joyously watches her show, with an ominous, looped rendition of the Daisy the Donkey theme song playing in the background.

Characters

 * Anais
 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Nicole
 * Richard

Minor Characters

 * Principal Brown
 * Purple Moose

Quotes
": Pets? I thought you preferred "animal companion." : Oh, who cares about moral principles? This is TV we're talking about!"

": The remote is in a valley betwixt two hills. Its name begins with a "B", ends with two "T"s and has "U", in the middle. And you'll never find it!"

",, and : Nnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-...."

": I feel so proud of her, yet... really scared at the same time."

": "All I need is my Daisy.""

Trivia

 * It is shown that the Purple Moose lives across from The Wattersons.
 * This episode was revealed on the Cartoon Network Schedule before it was officially announced.
 * Richard, in most times speaks Spanish, in Latin America version Richard speaks English.
 * The episode was aired as a preview of season two, just as "The DVD" was for the first season. This technically makes it the second season premiere.
 * Richard's show, La Casa de las Lagrimas, translates into English as The House of Tears.
 * Darwin reveals that he prefers the term 'animal companion' instead of 'pet' in this episode.
 * The signs in the Elmore Mall's parking garage say: "Strictly no Kung-Fu within this car park" and "How come you're reading this, this is like 50 pixels on the picture?? Seriously, even I have trouble reading myself while writing this text. You have very good eyes. I strongly suggest you to apply for a plane pilot position, or a small animal spotter for a nature tv show. Bye."
 * This was the first time Butt Valley is shown.
 * This was the first episode to be free in the iTunes Store.
 * A total of 1.805 million viewers watched this episode on its premiere night.
 * This episode won in the writing catagory at the 2013 BAFTA childrens awards.
 * This episode was the first one to be censored in US. The second was "The Skull." (See The Remote/Gallery for its screenshots)

Continuity

 * This was the second time in the series that Richard's head has gotten stuck in a car. The first time this happens is in "The Ape".

Cultural References

 * In the scene where Nicole jumps out of the building onto another, her falling pose resembles the pose the character Faith Connors does in Mirror's Edge.
 * The way Richard tries to jump from one building to another but fails is a parody of Building Jump Fail
 * The fight scene is a reference to the movie District 13.
 * The family's realization of Anais' scheme is a reference to the ending of The Usual Suspects.
 * The scene in which Richard, Gumball, and Darwin await Nicole (as seen in the image) is a reference to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
 * The fight in the car garage is a reference to several karate films.

Goofs/Errors

 * When Nicole talks about how scared she is while Gumball is blinking, Gumball's right ear is missing.
 * When Gumball is mashing on the Logikar remote's buttons, Darwin disappears.
 * When Anais is about to destroy the calculator, it was turned off and contained no numbers on its screen, also only had 9 buttons. However in the flashback scene, it is revealed to be turned on and have numbers on its screen, with 16 buttons.
 * When Gumball explains that Anais took the remote, Richard's whiskers are missing.
 * When the Watterson's House was seen in daytime, there was no lamp by Mr. Robinson's House, but when the Watterson's House was seen in nighttime, there was a lamp next to Mr. Robinson's House.
 * When Gumball yelled at Nicole why Anais told her to get the wrong remote, he has a slight lazy eye.
 * When Gumball yelled "Tell us where it is!" when interrogating Anais, his ears disappears for one frame.
 * At the start of the long "Nooooooo", Gumball has eyelashes.