User blog:Mattalamode/A Second Opinion: The Flakers

Welcome to Season 2! Just like most TV shows, the quality drops drastically.

Alright, so last season (yes, I'm calling them seasons), I talked about episodes that I enjoyed that others hated. This season, I'm going to be doing something a bit different: I'll be discussing episodes that I think are criminally underrated. There are a lot of episodes that fall under the radar. Maybe they're overshadowed by bigger episodes; maybe they're a bit low-aiming. (I dabbled a bit with the concept in writing about "The Others," so it'll be along those lines in terms of analysis.) Regardless of the reason, some episodes just deserve a moment in the spotlight, and what better place to start than "The Flakers?"

The Actual Start of the Article
The episode is simple. At first, it's all about restoring trust: Darwin ditches Gumball right as he's about to get pounded by Tina, and he's not taking Darwin's explanation for an answer, let alone an apology. After a long struggle, Anais finally interjects and fixes everything for them (while simultaneously humiliating them on the interwebs), bringing the caper to a cute close.

...If only. While all of that was going on, Richard was high on anesthetics after some dental work. While he starts of as nothing more than some light comic relief ("My hands don't match."), by the time the kids make amends, he's driven off and run amok. Now, it's up to the gang to work together and save the day: Anais has to retrieve Richard, Darwin has to stall Nicole from getting home too early, and Gumball has to fix the house.

I usually try to keep these mini-summaries fairly objective, but I just have to say that this is one of my favorite moments from the entire series. Every component works perfectly: first, there's Anais who, after some frustration, causes Richard to charge down the neighborhood, smashing houses, shaving Principal Brown, and destroying some garden gnome romance. Even better was Darwin, tasked with stalling Nicole by painting a maze on the road and framing Nicole of stealing her own car. Best of all, though, is Gumball, in charge of cleaning up the house. (Among other brilliant touches, he re-draws a mirror with Nicole's angry face reflected in it.) It's not boundary-pushing, but it's a delectable cavalcade of successful gag after successful gag, adding up to a memorable two minutes. Seeing everything come together at the end, just in the nick of time, was one of the most satisfying things I've ever watched. Yes, Richard did recover and ruined everything, but for what it's worth, the climax is one for the ages.

Analysis
When I talked about "The Others" a while back, I commended it for being an episode that didn't try to push the limits and simply embraced the characters it was working with for some fun hijinks. "The Flakers," along with "The Remote," set that precedent. It's not deep and it's not prodding: it's simply about watching how all of the Wattersons play off of each other. It's very sitcom-y in that sense, and it's a shame that the show doesn't like to take that angle too much.

Yes, I get it. This is the "Amazing" World of Gumball. We've seen our heroes fight everything from time to robots to the deconstruction of the world they live in. At the same time, though, they're still kids, and the show shouldn't forget that. Granted, it's important that the show keeps pushing the boundaries of story-telling, but there's something great about sheer simplicity. This is, more than less, a look at their daily lives. I guess you could argue that Richard is a bit of a red herring, but I don't think that he's as big of a problem here. This is an episode all about getting to that resolution, so he works to help motivate some more zany shenanigans after Gumball and Darwin kiss and make up. Yes, it's sweet to see their reconciliation, but the fact that a new direction emerges (with Richard fleeing the house) and that the general crux of the episode is quintessential to its execution - the kids are back together and have to rely on their newly-restored faith in one another to reach the common goal of fixing everything before Nicole gets home - ties everything up nicely, even if the ending spoils the moment a bit.

It reminds me a lot of the first third of "The Castle." I'm admittedly not that big of a fan of the episode (it's not bad but not great either), but I really enjoyed the first few minutes where it was just the kids and Richard being themselves and going through their day-to-day existence. There's no complexities - it's just the Wattersons as the Wattersons without some scenario tampering with how they act. It's pure, unbridled character work and it's glorious. You might call it aimless, but it's just true to life - not every day is an adventure, not even for cartoon characters that seem to never get a break. What we get is an intimate view of their lives, at least until everything comes crashing down. That's not to forget that this was an episode that managed to embrace Season 2's controversial characterizations to the best of its ability without any of the characters having to compromise. Every character is an unrelenting force, but it works because however mean-spirited it can get, there's no real victim to it all. Everyone's made into a fool, and in the end, everyone's a winner.

Again, I get the need to go big, but at the same time, I think these slice-of-life bits are equally as important. You just have to be able to step back and admire solid writing - it doesn't cater the show's trademark bizarreness, but the simplest and most integral part of the show: its characters. "The Flakers" didn't have anything to prove aside from the fact that the show doesn't need to go for broke to make an episode work.

That's all I've got to say for now. Next week we'll be looking at two episodes, both alike in dignity: "The Parking" and "The Vase."