User blog comment:Katapultman/My Take On "The Hero". An analysis of its downfall./@comment-30307603-20170717011837

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I really like how you were analyzing character motives and why certain traits come across as contrivances as opposed to analyzing the narrative as a whole.

Interestingly, Richard wasn't always the all-loving and well-meaning oaf. In Season 1, he was your typical sitcom father: lazy, detached, and self-absorbed. Season 2 was working really hard to rectify these issues. Perhaps the writers were aware of just how dreadful of a character Richard really was in Season 1, and despite Richard being a legitimately well-written character in Season 2, the writers may have subconsciously made everybody around Richard unbearable because they feared "The Hero" wouldn't have had the desired effect given the stigma surrounding him. A shame that it ended up alienating a sizable chunk of fans.

"The Hero" also struggles because of its inability to mesh the comedy and the emotional portions correctly. This is especially evident in the climax. Jokes can work in emotional scenes, as the show goes on to prove in the future. However, a good chunk of the comedy in the episode's climax comes from making Gumball insufferable, and it doesn't gel well with the character growth the writers were pining for.

Whew. This comment was long. Anyways, a tip for the future is to incorporate images within the article itself as opposed to relying on an external source. I hope to see more of your content in the future.