User blog comment:Nacho1804/Season 6 Expectations Analysis 6: The Best Summer Ever (?), Part 2/@comment-30307603-20180714165757

Okay, so this somehow slipped my radar, and the episodes are already out on the internet, so rather than talk about expectations, let's talk about the episodes themselves.

"The Spinoffs" was easily my favorite from this batch. My only real gripe is that the episode was not allotted a longer runtime because there is just so much one can do with the premise and that Larry's segment went on for a tad too long. Everything else was a hit, especially the Techno Power Teenage Warriors and Everyday Heroes segments. Rob was utilized to great effect, something I worried about following the disaster that was "The Ex." This was definitely one of Season 6's strongest episodes.

"The Transformation" was interesting. On its own, it was a perfectly fine episode. I feel as if the ending was a bit rushed, and the stories segment could have been truncated to dedicate more time to it, but it was otherwise fine. However, when I look at the episode in the grander context of things, it really just drives the point home as to how misused Penny was as a character and how much potential was wasted.

For starters, "The Transformation" feels like the conclusion to events that happened between "The Shell" and now. Events that never happened. "The Shell" established that Penny had a very fragile sense of self-worth and hid behind a shell to compensate for that. This has since never been explored, so when she is arguing for how free she feels in "The Transformation" it feels like we are missing an episode or two to bridge that gap.

Her shapeshifting abilities also play no role in this argument. Save for one gag, nobody bothers to bring up how unstable they are due to how sensitive and emotional Penny can be, which would have helped in making her parents' argument more nuanced. Of course, this is nothing new as "The Romantic" is the only episode to make proper use of these powers since "The Shell." Heck, if the show took the time to properly set this up, it would have been a cool chance to reflect Penny's potential growth as a character emotionally.

I get that Gumball is a comedy show and that it is not obligated to do any of these things. However, when you make such grand step toward shifting the status quo with episodes such as "The Shell," you should at least deliver.

Please do respond. Discussion is always fun with two people and impractical with one.