User blog comment:Mattalamode/A Second Opinion: The Candidate/@comment-9300845-20180306031015/@comment-31194372-20180307062114

Thank you so much! And I'm always wary of satire in this sort of stuff too; it's very easy for the whole product to stumble by virtue of the writers trying to create something subversive at the expense of the final product, or worse, using their show as some platform off which to preach a disconnected message. But with Gumball, it's just a part of the show's identity, and it's the sheer amount of care put into how the show presents itself and discusses things that really sets it apart, let alone that the writers are actually able to find an interesting comedic grip far removed from some metaphorical sermon-spouting.

To some extent, I suppose you could question just how much the target audience actually understands what's happening, but episodes like "The Candidate," at the very least, do a fine job of undercutting that fact by just being flat-out hilarious. At the end of the day, comedy transcends all.