The Debt

"The Debt" is the fourth episode of Season 1 of The Amazing World of Gumball.

Synopsis
After Mr. Robinson supposedly saves Gumball's life, the latter is determined to repay his debt.

Plot
The episode starts with Gumball, Darwin, and Anais hanging out on the street in front of their house. Gumball is waiting for Mr. Robinson's senior talent show performance, which, as Anais points out, doesn't start for another ten hours. Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson pull into their parking spot. Darwin and Anais move out of the way, but Gumball is frozen by panic on the spot. Despite Darwin's telling him to just step aside, Gumball truly believes he's done for. Mr. Robinson simply stops, and Gumball, believing this to be an act of great kindness, jumps onto Mr. Robinson's windshield and starts thanking him. Mr. Robinson, who doesn't like Gumball one bit, gets annoyed. Mrs. Robinson eventually throws Gumball off by flinging up the hood. The force is apparently enough to launch Gumball into space, where he makes a deep promise to repay Mr. Robinson for supposedly "saving his life."

Gumball decides to follow Mr. Robinson around everywhere. He stands guard outside Mr. Robinson's front door, and curls around the carpet like a dog. Mr. Robinson was just warming up his voice, and goes out to run some errands. As he steps outside, he trips over Gumball and falls flat on his face. He's even more annoyed now, and tells Gumball to leave him alone. Gumball, ignoring his remark, follows him anyway.

They end up at a convenience store. While Mr. Robinson reviews a brand of mouthwash, Gumball notices a wet floor sign. Thinking it is dangerous, he moves it out of the way, only to see Mr. Robinson slip over the puddle it was warning about. The fall knocks Mr. Robinson out, prompting Gumball to attempt CPR. Before he can try, though, a chubby guy with a big mouth and a lisp performs it instead. Mr. Robinson awakes just in time to see his huge mouth make contact with his.

Annoyed and grossed out, he walks outside to a vending machine near the store. He buys and drinks a something hot, hoping it would soothe his vocal chords. He tests out a few notes, coughing every time to try to get the right pitch. Gumball, however, thinks he's choking, so he runs in and performs the Heimlich maneuver. This causes Mr. Robinson to cough out his heart and collapse to the ground. He struggles over to where his heart landed, and scoops it back into his body using his tongue. He scolds Gumball and then storms off.

He arrives at a tanning salon and steps into a tanning bed to enhance his appearance. Unfortunately, Gumball arrives and mistakes the tanning bed for a casket, and begins mourning Mr. Robinson's death. He refuses to give up, though - he comes back later with a defibrillator. He attempts to revive Mr. Robinson with a zap, but since Mr. Robinson was still alive, all it did was electrocute him. Gumball, completely misunderstanding the process of defibrillation, zaps him again, thinking it would make him healthier.

Mr. Robinson returns home to find Gumball waiting at his front door to greet him. Gumball informs him that he booby-trapped his front door. Now, whenever someone rings the doorbell, a bowling ball will be launched at the ringer. He demonstrates this by ringing the doorbell, causing Mr. Robinson to get slugged in the groin by a bowling ball. Mr. Robinson, frustrated with the day's events, starts crying and begging Gumball to leave him alone. This finally reaches Gumball, who realizes he failed and decides to give up, breaking his promise to the universe.

Anais and Darwin witness Gumball's angst, and decide to help him out. They throw over a note informing him that Mr. Robinson will be assassinated at the talent show. Gumball, seeing this as an opportunity to redeem himself, cheers. As Mr. Robinson heads off to the talent show, Gumball tries to warn him of the assassination attempt, but he just ignores him, thinking it's just a silly kid joke.

At the talent show, there are only two entries. The first was a group of old people tap dancing. In the audience, there are only three people - Mrs. Robinson, an old elephant, and the old purple guy. Nobody applauds for their performance. The next performer was Mr. Robinson, who performs I Wanna Be Free. Throughout his performance, Darwin and Anais start attempting to hurt him with various props and effects. Gumball, however, was oblivious to these events, and kept searching in all the wrong places for the assassins. Finally, as Mr. Robinson sings his last note, it causes an overhead light to fall down. Gumball notices this, and pushes Mr. Robinson aside. Mr. Robinson, acknowledging the fact that Gumball just saved his life, looks thankful for a moment. He suddenly scolds Gumball for cutting him off short, though. Despite the abrupt ending to his performance, the two audience members (Mrs. Robinson left, disgusted by her husband's half-nudity) start applauding like crazy. Mr. Robinson bows repeatedly, ignoring the fact that the lift that was carrying Anais and Darwin was about to crush him. He eventually does get crushed, and Anais and Darwin run off without helping him.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Mr. Robinson (debut)

Supporting Characters

 * Darwin
 * Anais
 * Mrs. Robinson (debut)

Minor Characters

 * Rocky (debut)
 * Pantsbully
 * Marvin Finklehimer
 * Blue Elephant (debut)
 * Gary
 * Yellow Old Man (debut)
 * Louie (debut)
 * Donald (debut)
 * Nicole (mentioned)

Songs

 * "I Wanna Be Free"

Trivia

 * In the newspaper, Gendi's name appears; he is one of the show's storyboarders.
 * This episode marks the first time Mr. Robinson has a major role.
 * When Gumball uses the defibrillator, he yells "Clear!", but remains in contact with Mr. Robinson.

Cultural References

 * While Gumball is doing his slow motion "No!", the background music is playing a part of a famous song by The Beatles called "A Day in the Life".
 * The emblem on the steering wheel of Mr. Robinson's car is similar to that of a Cadillac.
 * The last part of the music for the title card sounds similar to the music that plays on the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 continue screen.
 * When Darwin and Anais walk off the stage platform, a tune similar to the Alkaseltzer jingle plays.

Goofs/Errors

 * The word assassinated is misspelled as "assasinated" on the note Anais throws to Gumball. It might be that Darwin made it, and she forgot to check it.
 * The stage light that almost kills Mr. Robinson disappears shortly after he is pushed out of the way.