The Boss

"The Boss" is the thirteenth episode of Season 3 in The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the eighty-ninth overall.

Synopsis
Gumball and Darwin help Rocky get an office job to impress his father, but it's not what it seems.

Plot
The episode starts off with the Robinsons relaxing in their garden. Mr. Robinson is mowing the lawn, but cuts a blade of grass too short, and he complains about the rest of the grass being slightly taller. Gumball and Darwin blow through the Robinson's fence, and offer to cut the rest of the lawn. Mr. Robinson tries to object, but the boys trim it anyway. However, the same blade of grass is cut too short again, and Gumball pulls on it. This somehow destroys the Robinson's lawn and fence, and Mr. Robinson starts yelling at the boys. But Mr. Robinson's anger is too much and it causes a rip on his head, making him lose a lot of stuffing and collapse face first on his ruined garden.

As an ambulance arrives to take Mr. Robinson to the hospital, the paramedic asks Mrs. Robinson if there is anyone to donate stuffing for her husband's transfusion. Due to Mrs. Robinson's language barrier, Gumball and Darwin answers that their son Rocky can help, but Mr. Robinson momentarily regains consciousness to yell that he refuses to receive help from his disgraceful son before collapsing again. The boys still make up their mind to save Mr. Robinson.

Gumball and Darwin try breaking the news to Rocky by hiding a note in a brownie, which accidentally makes him choke. The trio then discuss that in order for Rocky to save his dad, he has to get a real office job. The group meets in Gumball's bedroom to find Rocky an office job, but all Internet search results point to Chanax Inc. After a short résumé and spraying a business suit on Rocky, they are ready to give the interview to Chanax. Gumball gives Rocky a walkie-talkie if his nervousness gets the better of him. During the interview, Newspaper employee was skeptical of Rocky's résumé, but nonetheless hires him, who has to sign a contract, give away his hope and dreams, and exhale into a bottle for Mr. Chanax.

Gumball and Darwin then visit Mr. Robinson in the hospital, but his wife was nowhere to be seen (partying with a bunch of sailors at the beach). They tell him that Rocky has got a job so that he can be proud of him. Mr. Robinson is happy to hear of his son's maturity and tries to shed a tear but fails. Unfortunately Rocky is swamped in work that he can't come to donate stuffing. The two say that they will stay with Mr. Robinson day and night until Rocky's arrival but the thought of having the two boys torment him is enough to cause Mr. Robinson to lose more stuffing, making him resemble an empty sausage. With so much stuffing lost, Mr. Robinson doesn't have much time left, causing the boys to hurry back to retrieve Rocky.

At the Chanax Inc. Headquarters, Gumball and Darwin tells Rocky of his father's condition and pleaded with him to come with them immediately, but Rocky did not heard him, and an office employee tells them that Chanax owns Rocky's spirit when he signed the contract and that leaving is impossible given that he himself has been stuck here for 47 years straight, missing all his moments in life. Regardless, the boys decide that the best way to free Rocky is to rip his contract. After navigating through the dangerous maze of the archive department, overcoming massive stacks of paperwork, and getting past the secretary, the trio manages to reach the elevator to the head office of Mr. Chanax.

However, they only meet the Newspaper employee who then reveals his boss Mr. Chanax by uncrumbling himself. The CEO of Chanax Inc. gloats that Rocky belongs to him and began to exert his control over Rocky by humiliating him. The boys then tell him that they are here to free Rocky's spirit, but Mr. Chanax will have nothing of it as they now know his secret and tries to exert control on them, but forgets the fact that only he can control those who signed his contract. Desperate, he warns them that he will drink Rocky's spirit in the bottle, but Gumball says that it is just a bottle of breath air and rips Rocky's and all of Soulless Office Workers' contract. Defeated, Mr. Chanax crumples back into a ball and Newspaper Employee (free from the control of Mr. Chanax) collapses and every employee regains their sprit, including Rocky. With the deed done, the three hurry to the hospital while the employees heard the news that the Goblin assistant of Mr. Chanax has been promoted to CEO by the shareholders due to Mr. Chanax's "retirement" and told them to get back to work, earning a groan from everyone in the building.

At the hospital, Mr. Robinson groggily wakes up from his stuffing transfusion, which was a success thanks to Rocky's rather large donation. He says to his son that he and Margaret are proud of him, with his wife immediately arrived without him noticing her hiding a wedding veil and shooing her would be rebound husband. Rocky, however reasons with his dad that he cannot live to be like his father and decides to return to his janitor job. Though Mr. Robinson says that he understands, on the inside he was raging up a storm and the heart monitor tied to him was overloading. Gumball asked him "are you really sure cause it looks like your about to..." but was unable to finish, as the heart monitor exploded.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Rocky
 * Mr. Robinson

Supporting Characters

 * Mr. Chanax

Minor Characters

 * Mrs. Robinson
 * Sailors
 * Nurse
 * Soulless Office Worker
 * Goblin
 * Cyclops Woman
 * Clipboard Man
 * Bandage Doctor
 * Principal Brown (cameo)

Trivia

 * This episode aired one year after "The Game", and two years after "The Knights."
 * This episode was originally titled "The Heart."
 * This is Rocky's first major role in the series.
 * It is revealed that Rocky can whistle with his buttocks.
 * It is also revealed that the Newspaper Employee has an evil alter-ego, Mr. Chanax.

Continuity

 * This is Mr. Robinson's fifth major role in an episode. The other four were in "The Debt," "The Poltergeist," "The Car," and "The Tag."
 * This is the second time it is mentioned Rocky is the son of Mr. Robinson, the first being in "The Debt."
 * Rocky wears his painted-on suit like Gumball and Darwin did in "The Fraud."
 * The terror music in the paperwork room is reused from "The Puppy," when the Evil Turtle attacks a restrained Gumball.
 * A picture of Principal Brown from "The Lesson" can be seen on one of the desks.
 * Rocky's "birthday suit" is actually a dress impersonating Darwin from The Genius.
 * This is the fifth time a character dies onscreen, in this case Mr. Chanax. The other four episodes were "The Picnic", "The Virus", "The Recipe" and "The Name".

Cultural References

 * Mr. Chanax being physically connected to the employee's back is a reference to Voldemort and Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
 * Rocky whistles "The Star-Spangled Banner" with his butt.
 * Gumball's facepalm is a direct reference to the popular "extreme facepalm" meme.
 * When Gumball, Darwin, and Rocky entered the room with the giant stacks of paper it might be a reference to the "Symmetrical Book Stacking" from "Ghostbusters"
 * When Gumball, Darwin, and Rocky were in the room where the filing cabinets were moving and the spooky voice calling to them might be a reference to the game "Batman: Arkham Asylum" when Batman was in the morgue and the same thing happened to him.

Goofs/Errors

 * After Darwin screams over the skeleton, Rocky's eyebrows go missing for a few seconds.