The Best

"The Best" is the thirty-second episode of Season 5 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 188th episode overall.

Synopsis
No matter what Gumball does, Carmen thinks she knows better; when Gumball attempts to gain the moral high ground, but fails, his only option left is to bring Carmen down to his level.

Plot
The episode begins on a relatively slow day for Gumball; he is apathetically grazing his lunch while he allows himself to get lost on his phone. This seemingly peaceful day comes to a halt when Carmen starts correcting all of Gumball's improper behavior, much to the feline's annoyance. Carmen's constant criticism drives Gumball to not only trash his lunch, but eat it straight from the trash, resulting in his eventual choking. Unfortunately for Gumball, Carmen's nitpicking does not remain in the cafeteria. Throughout the day, Carmen goes out of her way to call out Gumball's mannerisms every chance she can get, leaving Gumball at wit's end.

Eventually, everything comes to a culmination at the library with Carmen condemning Gumball for the last time. In an angry tirade, Gumball declares to his brother that he is tired of Carmen's constant "wrong-shaming" and that he will give get even with Carmen. Of course, his initial attempt to settle the score with Carmen proves to be a colossal failure. His endeavor to defend Marvin from Carmen's "ageist" assumptions on the public bus (said assumptions being nothing more than Carmen offering Marvin his seat out of a respect for her elders) causes Marvin to trip over himself and lose his dentures. Gumball ventures once again to gain the moral high ground over Carmen, this time in the school lab. The cat's attempt to correct Carmen's presumptions about the limitations of chemistry results in him creating a powerful substance that gets him quickly intoxicated.

Fed up, Gumball has Darwin plug him into Ramblr so that he may learn "the martial arts of the social justice warrior." Gumball brings his newly acquired skills to school the next day and begins using them to thrash Carmen around. The situation seems grim for the cactus, but before Gumball can deliver the final blow, Carmen calmly but affirmatively tells Gumball that disguising his selfish desires as concern for others' well-being hurts the causes of legitimate issues. This results in Gumball's powers diminishing and his ultimate defeat.

Left with no other options, Gumball determines that attempting to one-up Carmen is a fruitless endeavor and that he should instead focus on trying to devalue her as a person. Gumball's plan to accomplish this is simple: he is going to search the school files for some information on Carmen that will cause a loss of her credibility. However, the first part of the plan goes horribly; what was supposed to be a stealthy entrance into Principal Brown's office becomes a succession of awkward hijinks Gumball and Darwin are forced to endure, all captured by the security cameras.

Once the two finally make it in, Gumball heads to the principal's computer in an attempt to find that one piece of information that will expose Carmen. Darwin desperately begs for his brother to show some decency, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. Gumball continues his search effort until he finds the Carmen's criminal record, complete with a news report of her being expelled from her former school, Franklin Junior High. Gumball is quick to upload and share the video with all his peers, but Darwin is equally as quick to do everything in his power to stop him. Gumball's morality eventually comes through, as he stops himself right before he clicks the "Upload" button. Darwin congratulates Gumball for his decision, but the accidental misplacement of his fin causes the video to be uploaded anyway, much to his horror.

In a state of panic, the Watterson brothers rush out of school with their only goal being to prevent their friends from seeing that incriminating video. Quickly, the duo make its way across the town, demolishing the phones of any peers that happen to be in the two's path. The boys manage to destroy the phones of all but one of the recipients: Carmen. Gumball profusely apologizes to Carmen for his blunder, and to his surprise, Carmen shows no disdain, even stating she no longer has any anger after learning from her criminal life. Gumball is relived until Carmen reveals that the video the boys uploaded was never about her. The video that was uploaded was the security footage of the boys' embarrassing entrance into the principal's office, leaving them shocked and ending the episode.

Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Carmen

Minor Characters

 * Juke
 * Colin and Felix
 * Leslie
 * Sarah
 * Penny
 * Miss Simian
 * Masami
 * Marvin
 * Mrs. Fitzgerald
 * Crocodile Woman
 * Apple Family
 * Hot Dog Guy
 * Hazmat Workers
 * Anais
 * Bobert
 * Alan
 * Carrie
 * Banana Joe
 * Tobias
 * Mike
 * Franklin Junior High Principal
 * Doughnut Sheriff
 * Hamburger Cop
 * Felicity
 * Billy
 * Teri
 * Hector
 * Hank
 * Idaho
 * Squirrels
 * Harold
 * Tina Rex
 * Saxophone Chihuahua
 * William (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This episode reveals that Carmen used to be a troublemaker in Franklin Junior High.
 * A picture of Mic Graves can be seen on Ramblr.
 * According to the security cameras in Principal Brown's office, the episode takes place at least partially on May 14, 2017.

Continuity

 * This is Carmen's second major role. Her first was in "The Storm."
 * Darwin and Carrie are officially dating after the events of "The Matchmaker."
 * Music from "The Diet" is reused.

Cultural References

 * The website Ramblr is a parody of the social media website called Tumblr, although there's already a website of it in real life.
 * When Gumball uses his powers against Carmen, he mentions the words and behaviors that is similar to Tumblr's social justice warrior communities upon its negative behavior and self-righteousness towards others.
 * When the episode was available on Video On Demand, the scene where Gumball uses the powers of a social justice warrior from Ramblr has received negative and mixed reactions from both Tumblr users and the social justice warrior community without knowing the reference or the scene Gumball uses his computer for.
 * When Gumball finishes plugging in from Ramblr, he references a quote from the movie, The Matrix.
 * Tobias activates "Quiri," a parody of the virtual assistant, Siri.
 * When Gumball throws Idaho's phone on the ground and does not break, it resembles the infamous Nokia 3310 phone meme, due to its deceiving indestructibility.
 * The stick figure drawing on the wall resembles art did by Keith Haring.

Goofs/Errors

 * When Gumball is searching the school files for dirt on Carmen, the files for his classmates can be found in the sixth grade folder despite the kids being in the eighth grade according to "The Grades."