Gumball: Hm... what's our dad good at? He's good at being nice. [...] And you'd expect someone who eats that much would be way better at cooking.
Darwin: [Opens his mouth] Yeah, I chipped a tooth on one of his cupcakes.
Gumball: Heh! What's he doing, using cement instead of flour?
Darwin: [Opens his mouth] Yeah, I chipped a tooth on one of his cupcakes.
Gumball: Heh! What's he doing, using cement instead of flour?
After cracking jokes about Richard being a Bumbling Dad, Gumball and Darwin are cut off from all amenities in the house (no food, no use of the bathroom, etc) and are forced to apologize to Richard in order to get them back, but when that fails, they stage a rescue to make Richard feel like a hero.
Tropes:
- Break the Cutie: Gumball and Darwin, you can't help but side with them at some point, despite their behavior.
- Characterization Marches On: The premise of the episode is that nobody, even Richard and Nicole, can say what Richard's good at. Subsequent seasons would have Richard as more of a Genius Ditz and Brilliant, but Lazy. Nicole in particular would recall his strengths in later episodes, particularly when it came to keeping her relatively sane and balanced.
- Strangely, neither Gumball nor Darwin point out Richard's Big Eater tendencies when asked what their father was good at, even though this had been established since the first season and would be a perfectly notable skill.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: When Richard comes to "rescue" Gumball and Darwin, Gumball responds with an endless stream of sarcasm, criticism, and even Sarcastic Clapping ("You want us to save you before you save us?"). Once things get serious though, Gumball tearfully regrets and apologizes for everything he says when it looks like Richard died, then goes back to sarcasm in the same breath when he finds out he survived. He does appreciate it once Richard finally succeeds.Darwin: You are so insensitive, Gumball! Would it really hurt you in the guts if you just encourage Mr. Dad once or twice?
Gumball: You can encourage a clam to read all you want but that's not going to get it into college. People have limits and Dad reached his own a long time ago. - Didn't Think This Through: When his sons are about to be dropped into a trash compactor, Richard focuses on climbing up to them but then realizes he didn't think of any way to actually help them once he got there.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Gumball and Darwin unknowingly hurt Richard's feelings when they criticize his fathering. Nicole punishes them by not letting them use anything in the house (including food) until they apologize and Anais throws cement cupcakes at them.
- Engineered Heroics: Darwin tries to make Richard feel better and get Gumball to appreciate him by setting it up so he has to save them. Unusually for this trope, Darwin immediately admits this to Gumball instead of hiding it and and came up with a backup plan that immediately failed.
- Honor Before Reason: When Gumball learns he's being punished for hurting Richard's feelings he stubbornly refuses to apologize because what he said was true, regardless of how hurt Richard is or how much he's punished for it. Darwin, for his part, doesn't bother apologizing until he agrees to, and instead tries to convince him to do so.
- I Meant to Do That: Richard says this when he turns on a electromagnet, accidentally making a ladder of junk that can reach his kids.
- Insane Troll Logic: Somehow, both Nicole and Anais assumed that neglecting Gumball and Darwin for several days would teach them a lesson about respect, instead of simply talking about it in a responsible manner.
- Jerkass Ball:
- Gumball, of all people, falls into this category. At the same time, Gumball stubbornly and callously ignores how much he's hurting Richard's feelings by relentlessly criticizing his failings after initially doing it lightheartedly.
- Nicole and Anais become flat-out abusive, denying Gumball and Darwin necessities such as food and use of the shower, along with trying to brain them with cement cupcakes, just because they were complaining about their father at school.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As mean as Gumball was toward Richard, his criticism is honestly justified. On multiple occasions, Richard has proven to be a terrible parent, to the point of nearly killing his kids from incompetence and moments of insanity. Even in this episode alone, Richard's actions (e.g. making CEMENT cupcakes, sulking like a child, etc...) speak for itself.
- While they went way too far, Nicole and Anais do have a point about Gumball's disrespectful attitude, especially since it genuinely hurt Richard's feelings.
- Karma Houdini: Nicole and Anais completely get off scot-free for their abuse towards Gumball and Darwin. Also, none of Gumball's classmates receive punishment for laughing at Richard.
- Lethal Chef: Richard's cupcakes are as hard as rock. Not because he overcooked them, but because he used cement instead of flour.
- My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: The episode starts when a bunch of kids are bragging about how cool their dads are: Masami says her's is rich, Banana Joe's is rich (in vitamins), Teri's can beat rock, and Hector's is so huge that hikers get lost in his belly-button. Darwin and Gumball can't think of anything Richard is good at all but embarrassing them, and Richard overhears all of it.
- Ordered Apology: Gumball and Darwin aren't allowed to eat or use anything from the house (like the shower) until they apologize to their dad. Gumball is so stubborn he takes it as a challenge, and by the time he decides to apologize, both are emaciated, have worn-out clothing, and smell so bad they get kicked off the school bus for driving the other students to one side, messing up the suspension.
- Playing the Victim Card: Instead of owning up to his mistakes like a normal adult would, Richard decides to lock himself in a shed when Gumball and Darwin made fun of him for being an incompetent Manchild. Doubles as Not Helping Your Case.
- Way Past the Expiration Date: Parodied when a bunch of food reaches its expiration date and instantly becomes inedible: eggs hatch, sunflower seeds bud and turn to dust, meat rots while maggots devour it and turn into flies in seconds, and a rat in a can springs back to life.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Nicole and Anais find out that Gumball and Darwin talked about how embarrassing Richard was to their classmates, they flat out refuse to do anything else for them until they apologize.
- You Know What You Did: Nicole and Anais passive-aggressively punish Gumball and Darwin for hurting Richard's feelings and yell at them that they know very well why they're being punished when asked, much to the boys' confusion.
