User blog comment:Mattalamode/A Second Opinion: Gumball Wiki Individual Appeals: Part I.5/@comment-26215750-20170915132348/@comment-31194372-20170916005841

Thanks for all the support, dude!

I feel like the way that the characters are evolving in the series is a bit strange. Season 2 definitely prompted a sort of mature peak, what with their hard-edged cynicism and knowingly mutually-destructive behavior, but subsequent seasons have been mellowing it down. Granted, that's not all that huge of an issue in Seasons 3 and 4, but I definitely think Season 5 is a bit out of line in that all of the characters come across as a bit more naive, and while I don't consider that a turn-off, seeing the strands of change so blatantly (comparing "The Castle" to "The Deal") comes across as a bit regressive. Maybe that's my ultimate gripe about "The Deal," it just doesn't fit the show very well in what it's portraying.

I also don't think that the episode is about Richard'c incompetence, it's more about how terrible everyone else is that his being competent is unrewarded. We still feel for Richard throughout to an extent, and the ending doesn't serve to blunt that sympathy so much as it deflects it.

And as for the prospects of a collaboration... we'll see about that. I have a few ideas up my sleeve.