The Finale

"The Finale" is the fortieth and final episode of Season 2 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the seventy-sixth overall.

Synopsis
The Wattersons are surprised to discover that their past actions have consequences.

Plot
The Wattersons are at home, reminiscing and laughing as they go through their family album. The doorbell rings, and as Richard goes to answer it, Mrs. Jotunheim is at the door. She states that since a large portion of Elmore has been damaged after her son's rampage; the Wattersons must pay for the damages and reconstruction. Shortly after she leaves, Principal Brown enters the house and announces that Gumball and Darwin must restart school all the way from kindergarten since all they do at school is aggravate people until they chase them, shocking the whole family. Soon, Richard receives a phone call from the police about being sent to prison if he doesn't pay the fines for his reckless driving, but only manages to shrug it off. The Wattersons discover they must pay the bill worth $800,000 by tomorrow, or they will lose their house. Anais realizes the results of all their reckless actions are finally catching up with them, but before she can formulate a plan, Gumball, Darwin, and Richard run off.

The guys quickly plan to get money and catch up on their schoolwork all in one day. Richard hijacks, and recklessly drives Gary's bus in an effort to speed things up, but ends up crashing into the Fitzgeralds' house and getting into a staged fight with Patrick. Later, they change their plan so they could scam high-achieving students' parents into paying them a entrance fee for a nonexistent school. Evidently, the plan has backfired as the guys are chased by the police.

Meanwhile, Nicole and Anais plead Cupcake Woman at the Justice Department, who has massive piles of files on the Wattersons' past misdemeanors. Cupcake Woman sarcastically suggests they apologize to everybody and have them drop the charges against the Wattersons. Nicole enthusiastically takes her advice without realizing her sarcasm before running off with Anais and some files. They try to reconcile with Larry, who claims the Wattersons are responsible for his many troubles. However, they realize too late that Larry has filed a restraining order against them.

All the Wattersons end up inside a prison cell with some inmates. Just as it seems it is over for the family, Gumball declares that it is not over yet. He then insults one of the prisoner inmates so that he punches his dad out of the cell so they can escape. Anais then plans for the family to make things worse, being a Murphy's law.

At school, Gumball and Darwin run through the hall, vandalizing a wall and knocking over a few students. As they arrive in Mr. Small's office, Gumball shoves Mister Small inside an envelope. Meanwhile, Richard and Anais arrive home and open the freezer, with Kenneth inside a jar. Richard then heats the jar inside the microwave. Meanwhile, Nicole arrives at Hector's cave and insults his mother, which makes him upset.

As the chaos ensues, all the family members meet up with each other and drove away on scooters. They arrive home, knowing that they ticked off the whole town, but find that an angry mob of Elmore citizens form outside. The angry citizens break into their house and attack the Wattersons, seemingly getting revenge with the intention of killing them. Nicole states that it's the end of the Wattersons, but luckily Gumball states that a total reset can save them by some kind of magic device, which ends the episode abruptly. (said magic device is the end credits, or Deus ex Machina.)

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Richard
 * Anais
 * Nicole

Minor Characters

 * Hector
 * Kenneth
 * Principal Brown
 * Mr. Small
 * Larry
 * Pantsbully
 * Doughnut Sheriff
 * Newspaper Employee
 * Gary
 * Cupcake Woman
 * Juke
 * Carrie
 * Tobias
 * Harold
 * Carmen
 * Leslie
 * Bobert
 * Masami
 * Eggheads
 * Sarah
 * Hexagon Lady
 * Patrick
 * Penny
 * Mrs. Fitzgerald
 * Penny's Sister
 * Hamburger Cop
 * French Fries
 * Bomb Guy
 * Pink Bear
 * Rotten Cupcake
 * Siciliana
 * Mr. Pepperoni
 * Rob
 * Neck Beard
 * Hank
 * George
 * Marvin
 * Orange Security Guards
 * Mrs. Jötunheim
 * Albert
 * Santa
 * Goblin
 * Dolphin Man
 * Spray-Paint Bottle
 * Butterknife
 * Blue Elephant (flashback)
 * Karen (mentioned)
 * Alan (mentioned)
 * Dexter (mentioned)
 * Jessica (mentioned)
 * Mom-Unit (mentioned)
 * Bobert's Dad (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This is the season finale of Season 2.
 * In production order, however, it is only the 33rd out of the 40 episodes in the season.
 * This is also the last episode to air in 2013.
 * Despite the title, this episode is not the series finale, but the season finale.
 * This is the first episode to reference previous episodes, and the first to include footage of season one episodes as flashbacks.
 * Forty-three characters made an appearance in this episode, the third highest amount of characters in an episode. This episode is beaten by "The Shell" (in which 46 characters appeared), and by "The Butterfly" and "The Spoiler" (in which 65 appeared in both episodes).
 * This episode reveals that Richard has been in prison many times before.
 * It is revealed that Nicole can grow muscles at will.
 * This episode has many instances of leaning on the fourth wall:
 * Anais noticing that they were relatively unscathed after falling from such a large height in "The Responsible," a reference to the humorous laws of cartoon physics.
 * Richard explaining that when he is placed in prison, he is suddenly "just not in there anymore," a reference to the shift back to the status quo at the end of episodes.
 * Gumball noticing how they looked different in the family album, a reference to the transition in drawing style and animation that occurred between Season 1 and Season 2.
 * Gumball wondering why the episode looked like it would not end happily, a reference to how most episodes end happily.
 * Gumball stating that only a total reality reset can save them, a reference to how the ending of episodes tends to revert the town back to the status quo, is another example of the cartoon reset effect that occurs after episodes.
 * This episode reveals why Larry has so many jobs: all the damage the Wattersons have caused during his shifts ended up being paid out of his wallet, such as in "The Laziest."
 * In the family picture of the Wattersons' photo album in this episode, the Wattersons in that picture all have Season 1 character designs, including the designs of their eyes from Season 1, making this the first and only episode to feature designs of the Wattersons from both Season 1 and Season 2.
 * The goldfish on the box of Fish Flakes in the freezer looks exactly like Darwin, but without legs.
 * This episode reveals that the events of "The Sock" gave Mr. Small claustrophobia.
 * This is the last full episode where actors, Logan Grove and Kwesi Boakye, voice Gumball and Darwin respectively.

Continuity

 * The references to past episodes from this episode follows:
 * "The Responsible": The episode shows the clip of Gumball, Darwin and Anais falling from the sky.
 * "The Mustache": The episode shows a clip from "Because We're Men" before being abruptly cut off.
 * "The Car": Richard recalls a past event through flashback in the same fashion he does in the episode.
 * "The Colossus": The episode references the time Hector destroyed the town. It happens again later on.
 * "The Bumpkin," "The End," "The Helmet": The montage of Richard's reckless driving shows clips from these episodes.
 * "The Robot": Darwin disguising himself as Bobert is similar to the events of the episode.
 * "The Storm": Gumball disguising himself as Alan resembles when Alan and Gumball got their heads mixed up.
 * "The Sock": The episode references when Mr. Small got trapped in a filing cabinet.
 * "The Microwave": Kenneth, once again, gets defrosted. A clip from the episode can also be seen.
 * "The Watch": The Cupcake Woman refers to the events of this episode. Gumball and Darwin later steal the Senior Citizens' scooters again. Marvin is also mad at Gumball, Darwin, and Richard for blowing up the watch they were fighting over from that episode.
 * "The Job": The Pepperonis getting mad at Gumball and Darwin for dropping their "baby," despite getting a replacement.
 * "Christmas": Santa Claus getting mad at the Wattersons when they ran over him, despite forgiving them.
 * "The Lesson": The Bomb Guy getting mad at Gumball and Darwin for causing his head to explode, despite being impressed.
 * "The Pony": Rob getting mad at Gumball and Darwin for kicking him down a manhole.
 * "The Limit": The Orange Security Guard is still traumatized like he was in the episode. He's also angry at Nicole for traumatizing him and destroying the grocery store.
 * This is Kenneth's second appearance in the series.
 * The music during Richard and Patrick's "fight" is the same music from "The Apology" that resembles the Kirk Vs Spock music from Star Trek.
 * The bus from "The Kiss" returns in this episode.
 * Like in "The Kiss," Gary is the bus driver of this exact same bus.
 * The scooters from "The Watch" return in this episode, in the exact same colors and driven again by Gumball, Darwin, and Richard.
 * This is the third episode in which Nicole gets arrested. The first time was in "The Spoon," and the second time was in "The Flakers."

Cultural References

 * This episode shares the same name as the Seinfeld episode. The lock-up scene is also similar.
 * In some scenes of the episode, Richard is dressed up like Margaret Thatcher.
 * The bus's license plate reads "Otto 24," a possible reference to Otto Mann, the school bus driver from The Simpsons.
 * Gumball and Darwin breathe into each other when they hyperventilate. Breathing into a paper bag is widely believed to treat hyperventilation, however it has no significant positive effect on those suffering from it.
 * When Richard car-jacks the bus from Gary, he throws him out in a way similar to the popular sandbox game, Grand Theft Auto.
 * Gumball's insult to the Goblin Prisoner is similar to the insult used in The Sandlot.
 * The whole family completely getting in trouble is a possible reference to The Simpsons Movie.
 * The end of the episode did not turn out great.

Goofs/Errors

 * In the flashback to the ending scene from "The Helmet," the boat moves in the opposite direction than in the original scene: in this episode, it is shown going to the right, but in "The Helmet," it goes to the left.
 * Mr. Small sues The Wattersons because of the events of "The Sock," despite the fact Mr. Small fell into the filing cabinet because he rocked on his chair, making it his own fault.
 * This episode contradicts "The Goons," in which they state that the couch would be cramped with more than 3 people sitting on it. During the family photo album scene, The Wattersons comfortably fit on the couch altogether.
 * One of the Orange Guards is still traumatized, but he seemed to have went back to normal in "The Castle."

El Final