User blog comment:ThatGuy456/A Guy's Thoughts: (15-11) My 15 Favorite Season 4 Episode/@comment-31194372-20170403035120

Geez, thanks for blowing the entirety of my article on Bobert in one sentence, prick. Other than that:

I agree with you on "The Roots." I think people hate it because it's kind of in the same vein as "The Promise" in that it takes it upon itself to manipulate your heartstrings and trick the viewer. It goes in acting almost sentimental and like it wants to deliver some profound message, but it just doesn't. Either way, I love a good bait-and-switch, so it's all good! My only complaint is that the show seriously needs to figure out better ways to use Darwin. Even Darwin-centric episodes only have him in the frame, like, 30% of the time ("The Safety," "The Triangle," etc.) which honestly doesn't work out that great. I'll save that thought for later.

I also love "The Slap" a ton. It just shows how capable the show is that they can write an episode about Gumball needing some butt-slapping and make it original and hilarious. That being said, "My Lonely Backside and I" is miles better than "Stay Alive." That high note was amazing (and it totally broke Jacob's voice at the start of "Stay Alive") and Darwin's disgust afterwards is so, so perfect. I mean, both songs are great, and I get that the latter is more set in progressing the narrative than anything else (which the show usually doesn't do, with songs existing mostly as fun asides), but seriously. The fact that "Backside" is played so straight with so much sentimentality for the sheer idiocy of the concept is perfect. Also: "high school drop-out Chicken Kiev" was such an underplayed line that it took me, like, five watches to hear. I finally looked up what a Chicken Kiev was and just about lost it.

(I've complained enough about "The Wicked," so we'll skip right on over that.)

I'm bummed you aren't gonna talk about "The Detective," which has to be in my top 5. It's visually stunning for one thing, but it actually tells a complex narrative while retaining the show's charm, even if there's a bit more of a mock-serious angle to it all. It's just a smart episode that did exactly what it set out to do. I get it, people seem to think it's really boring, but the pacing is perfect for what the episode is trying to spoof and never misses a beat.

Either way, well done as always.