The Origins

"The Origins" is the twentieth episode of Season 4 episode of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the 136th episode overall.

Synopsis
The story of Darwin's arrival with the Wattersons is told.

Plot
The episode starts from Nicole's point of view, being forced to deal with a hyperactive 4-year-old Gumball, who does all sorts of mischievious things, such as catapulting oranges, putting objects in the washing machine, breaking the ceiling, and is somehow able to bring both sand and snow into the house. She goes upstairs to find Richard in a bath of grape soda. She then finds Gumball in his room, acting so cute his mother can not even stay mad at him. Tired of their son's behavior, and in desperate need for sleep, the parents decide to get him a pet fish. Gumball is fascinated with his new pet, and decides to call it Darwin. Despite Darwin being unable to respond to his owner, Gumball enjoys playing with him very much. However, one early morning, Darwin does not wake up, and Nicole and Richard realize he is dead. Not wanting to upset Gumball, Richard buys a new fish to replace the dead one without telling his son that his first fish died.

After many fish end up dying because of Gumball and or Richard's irresponsibility, Richard goes to the pet store to buy yet another fish. While there, he is interrupted by Larry, who tells Richard the last two fish jumped out of the tank when they saw him coming. As Richard walks home wondering how he is going to explain this to Gumball, Richard is offered a fish by a man from a mysterious van. As Richard purchases the fish, the man tells him that this fish is very special, and must be treated with good care.

The new Darwin is placed as Gumball's new pet fish. Later on, Gumball is seen playing with Darwin under the kitchen table. However, he notices that Darwin is unusually intelligent for a goldfish, as he is able to understand everything he says, and is able to mimic facial expressions. Out of curiosity, they both reach their hands out for each other, and unknowingly establish a strong bond between them, which they can feel in their hearts. Then, Darwin demonstrates his ability to talk. Gumball, amazed at this wants to surprise his parents, and tells Darwin to look as dumb as possible. As he goes to tell Nicole, Richard walks into the kitchen and sees Darwin floating motionless in his bowl, thinking he is dead. Richard almost flushes him down the toilet, but Gumball stops him at the last second. Nicole then decides to take a family picture. When she tells everybody to say "Cheese," Darwin jumps out of his bowl to say it. Nicole and Richard are startled by this, and accidentally throw him out of the bowl. He lands on the lever and the toilet, and gets flushed, much to Gumball's horror. A title card saying "To Be Continued..." then comes up on the screen.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Nicole
 * Richard
 * Darwin

Minor Characters

 * Darwin the First
 * Pet Fishes
 * Larry
 * Banana Bob
 * Banana Joe
 * Leslie
 * Van Shopkeeper

Trivia

 * This episode aired on the same day in the U.K. and the U.S.
 * This episode was originally going to be titled "The Roots." This title was later used for another episode.
 * This episode was the first 2-part episode in the series.
 * This episode was mentioned at the Paris Comic Con during Ben's panel.
 * The house next to the Wattersons was sold to the Robinsons before they moved in at the time.
 * This episode reveals that Darwin's shoes used to belong to Gumball.
 * It also reveals used to have a singular bed rather than the bunk beds he currently has due to the fact that Anais was not conceived yet.
 * This episode breaks the fourth wall when the camera bumps into Gumball when trying to warn him about Darwin.
 * Banana Joe was originally an unripe green banana as an infant.
 * Leslie was originally a potted flower bud as an infant.
 * Gumball is 4 years old in this episode.
 * All Gumball's fish (excluding the last one - current Darwin) belonged to the Ryukin species.
 * This episode reveals that Darwin was purchased from the same store from which Richard purchases the Evil Turtle in "The Puppy" and the Gamechild in "The Console," Rob purchases the remote in "The Disaster," and Sarah picks up the Magic Notebook in "The Shippening."
 * ​Running Gag​: Every time a pet fish dies, Richard sings "Swing Low" six times, followed by him buying a replacement fish from the pet store.

Continuity

 * The Awesome Store later appears again in episodes such as "The Puppy" and "The Disaster" due to the fact that characters end up purchasing mysterious items from it.
 * Gumball's question, "If I ate myself, would I grow twice as big, or would I completely disappear?" is answered in "The Procrastinators."
 * Richard's "grunge" outfit reappears in this episode and the next. It previously appeared in "The Treasure" and "The Hero."
 * Pictures from "The Hero" appear again.
 * This is the first episode to be set before the current events of the series.

Cultural References

 * The mysterious van shopkeeper's warnings about Darwin is a reference to the 1984 fantasy/horror film Gremlins.
 * The episode aired in Italy on February 12, which was chosen due to it being Charles Darwin's birthday.
 * This episode is similar to the Studio Ghibli movie Ponyo, in which the main character, a fish, gains magic powers and transforms into a human to find her owner, Sosuke.
 * Richard sings lyrics from an American Negro spiritual, called "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" every time he flushes a fish down the toilet.
 * The shirt with the logo that Richard is wearing is a reference to the American rock band, Nirvana.
 * The scene where Gumball makes fire cereal for his parents is a possible reference to an infamous fire cereal scene from an episode of The Simpsons, "Homer the Smithers."
 * The scene where Gumball moves at super fast speed while everything around him moves super slow is similar to Clock-Up from the Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series, Kamen Rider Kabuto.

Goofs/Errors

 * This episode contradicts several previous episodes:
 * In "The Party," Darwin's full name was "Darwin Raglan Caspian Ahab Poseidon Nicodemus Watterson III." But in this episode, it is shown he was not the third Darwin the Wattersons had, in fact, he was the eighth.
 * In "The Game," the skeleton of Darwin the First was found under Gumball's bed, but this episode shows he was flushed down the toilet.
 * In "The Hero," one photo shows that Darwin was a Christmas present for Gumball, but in this episode, he was not bought by Richard on Christmas.
 * When Nicole is trying to find Gumball in his room, Gumball is seen without shoes, but in the next scene, he has them again.
 * When Richard sees Darwin in the kitchen and thinks he is dead, his stubble disappears.
 * In Gumball's room, there is a picture of Nicole and Richard. Nicole can be seen wearing her Rainbow Factory uniform in the photo, despite not having started working there.
 * When Gumball scares Richard, Darwin and the water drop into the toilet leaving the bowl empty. However, when Gumball puts him back into the bowl, water is already in the bowl.