The Puppets

"The Puppets" is the fortieth and final episode of Season 5 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 196th episode overall.

Synopsis
Darwin is delighted when they discover their old childhood toys, but soon realizes that some things are best left in the past.

Plot
The episode starts with Gumball and Darwin in the attic packing their old toys while preparing for the garage sale. They discover their old toys from seven years ago. Darwin sees their puppet toys, Grady, Frank and Howdy. Gumball tells him that it is time to grow up and learn to let things go. Later, Darwin picks up Frank and Howdy and talks through them. Frank asks Darwin if they will fun forever and ever, which Darwin promises. And Howdy asks if Darwin will never take them off of his hands again, which Darwin promises. Then Darwin goes to use the bathroom, with Frank and Howdy still on his hands. Frank and Howdy look shocked, and Darwin says they made him promise it.

Gumball and Darwin are at the bus stop, when the bus comes and picks them up. Howdy asks Rocky where he as been all of her life. Rocky responds they he has been sitting there, driving the bus, wondering what went wrong with his life. Then Howdy responds with "One ticket to kiss-town, please." Then she attempts to kiss Rocky, until Rocky sees Darwin is behind Howdy. Due to Rocky being distracted from driving the bus, he gets into a wreck with a truck, injuring him.

In the cafeteria, Darwin walks by Rocky, and makes Howdy say "Call me" to Rocky, only making Rocky nod at it. Darwin is trying to make Howdy and Frank share a sandwich. Then Gumball comes up to Darwin, who quickly hides Frank and Howdy. Gumball talks about the school bus accident with the truck. Gumball also mocks Rocky by saying that him being a puppet driving a bus caused the accident. Frank and Howdy, who Darwin hid under the table, take offense from Gumball's words. Darwin then makes them both talk bad about Gumball. Gumball then asks Darwin what his problem is, also asking why he talked with his voice like that. Darwin responds, with his voice still talking like Frank, that his problem is that his butt is twice as wide has his shoulders, and his brain is half the size of his head. Gumball takes offense from it, and asks Darwin if he has anything else to say. Darwin says that he has nothing else to say, but also says he can try to insult his face, but nature has already done enough damage. Gumball then takes the meat out of Darwin's sandwich and slaps Darwin with the meat, then sticks the meat on Darwin's face and walks away from the table. After Gumball walks away, Darwin then takes Frank and Howdy from underneath the table.

Back at the house, Darwin is bathing with Frank and Howdy still on his hands. Frank says who skinned those puppets, referring to Darwin's socks on the bathroom floor. Darwin clears it up that those are his socks and also tells them to keep it quiet or Gumball will hear. Gumball opens the door and asks to Darwin who is he talking too. Darwin replies to him, making Gumball suspicious. Darwin pulls Frank and Howdy out of the tub. Gumball convinces Darwin to take the puppets off, but Frank and Howdy attack Gumball. After a struggle, Gumball pulls the puppets out of Darwin’s hands. Darwin pleads for Gumball to give back the puppets, but Gumball tosses them in the trash nonetheless, making Darwin sad.

Later at night, Frank and Howdy pop out of the trash and drag Grady back into the house. Howdy destroys’s Gumball’s video game console with a bat, making Gumball scream in horror. Gumball angrily asks Darwin why he fish the puppets out of the trash, and Frank responds that Darwin made a promise never to abandon them. Gumball tells Darwin to stop talking to the puppets, but Howdy said he can’t because he lives in their world now, and Frank convinces Gumball to play, and both the puppets and the mindless Darwin faint. Leaving no other choice, Gumball puts on Grady, and greets him. Grady then asks Gumball if they should go find Darwin.

Gumball puts his hand on Grady, which transports him to a live-action bizarre puppet world. Grady and Gumball journey their way through the puppet world to find Darwin. Gumball discovers several imaginary characters he and Darwin imagined through in their childhood years. They arrive at a bizarre house. Inside the house, Frank and Howdy are playing with Darwin while singing a song about having fun. However, they are torturing Darwin with a dance. Gumball bursts through the house to rescue Darwin, but Grady betrays Gumball and declares that this was actually a trap for him. Gumball and Darwin (now as puppets) are now being tortured by Grady by making them to weird things, like eat toenails and grease, and wear an itchy fleece. Darwin, however finds a piece of string on Grady’s left arm, ripping it off as well as ripping Howdy’s left eye out and Frank’s stomach, defeating them. The three puppets all scream “Nooooo!!!”, and their world explodes, with Grady declaring revenge on Gumball and Darwin.

Back in the animated world, Gumball and Darwin are sitting on the front deck while their yard sale goes on. Billy stops by, and Nicole asks Gumball and Darwin if they’re okay with them giving away their old toys, and Grady attacks Billy. Gumball and Darwin respond “Yep, pretty sure,” ending the episode.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Frank
 * Howdy
 * Grady

Minor Characters

 * Rocky
 * Carmen
 * Juke
 * Bomb Guy
 * Masami
 * Jared
 * Penny
 * Sarah
 * Ocho
 * Carrie
 * Tobias
 * Molly
 * Colin and Felix
 * High-five Guy
 * Sammy Sunscream
 * The Tree of Permanent Happiness
 * Bird-Plane-Bird
 * Keyboard Dog
 * Nicole
 * Billy

Trivia

 * This episode was co-written with Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling, creators of the famous web series Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.
 * Despite being the season finale, it was aired as the 36th episode.
 * The puppet segment of the episode was shown at the Annecy Festival on June 15, 2017.
 * Not counting pre-production, storyboarding, and designing, the puppet segment of the episode took three months to make.

Continuity

 * The Krupoch the Barbarian action figure appears again. It was first seen in "The Plan."

Cultural References

 * Among the old toys Darwin has taken out of the box are a Bop It Extreme, Tamagotchi, and Dragon Flyz.
 * The way Gumball flails his arms is a reference to the popular "Yay" arm flail from Kermit the Frog of The Muppets.
 * Sammy Sunscream is a direct reference to the screaming sun from Rick and Morty from the episode "The Wedding Squanchers."
 * The Tree of Permanent Happiness looks very similar to the tree that appeared in the third episode of the web series, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.