User blog comment:Mattalamode/A Second Opinion: The Banana / The Sidekick/@comment-30307603-20170609025431

May I start off this comment by bringing light to the fact that you "Tobias's mom" links to Rachel and not Jackie. Sly.

In all seriousness, though, I do see where you're coming from with Darwin. Being relegated to a moral compass can be restricting at times. As unlikely as it may be, having an episode without Gumball may fix the problem to a degree. Additionally, I do think there is a decent number of episodes in which Darwin's moral compass is not his most prevalent trait ("The Girlfriend", "The Origins", "The Roots" "The Matchmaker"). Although, one could make the argument Darwin isn't as front-and-center in those episodes as one would like. Maybe, Darwin does need a break from Gumball.

I would fight you on the boring thing, but let's not have a "vanillagate" reboot.

Personally, I prefer "The Banana"; it's the episode that really made me love Banana Joe and I found Darwin's more violent and aggressive side funnier in that episode. Given that it was the first time we have seen Darwin in such a light, it was more shocking, and thus more amusing. Seeing the goody-two-shoes enter a new rage of fury is adorably hilarious. "The Words" and "The Sidekick" also made good use of this trait, just not to the same effect as "The Banana".

While still on the subject of Darwin's aggressiveness, I feel as if a problem with it in Season 2 is that it was used way too frequently to be shocking or overly hilarious. This is more of a problem in late Season 2 than early Season 2, but there came a point where this dark side felt less like a nice comedic edge that showed up from time to time and more like something they were trying to push as a central part of his character, and while it was far from grating, it just wasn't as interesting and detracted from why I liked the character in the first place.

Funny enough, this segues nicely into Season 2 as a whole. I can't speak for others, but I for one do not think Season 2 sucked; there's quite a lot to enjoy about it: it's chill atmosphere, the emphasis on character interaction, and the introduction of the show's meta nature. Yes, I have shared my fair share of criticisms toward the Season 2 incarnation of Gumball, but most of the time, the season wasn't dragged down by his jerkish nature. Do I find Seasons 3-5 better? Yes. Is Season 2 bad? No. While we're at it, Season 1 is still passable, and is not something to scoff at.

May as well wrap up this question by asking what's up with the premature cancellation. What's up with that?