Recap / The Amazing World Of Gumball S 5 E 5 The Choices

Nicole: What should I do with my life?
Richard: Hmmm... maybe start living it?

During a very chaotic dinner at the Watterson house, Nicole thinks about how she got herself to this point in her life and reminisces about how she met Richard. She then starts to contemplate a number of What If? scenarios concerning different choices she could have made that fateful day.

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Tropes:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Nicole's mother is a perfectionist and even a bigger Control Freak. Her father is quite apathetic toward her and readily expresses his anger issues in front of her. As shown here but later properly explained in "The Parents", Nicole voluntarily ran away after their repeated disapproval of Richard and their ridiculously high expectations, and her parents never even showed up to their wedding despite being invited (they tried to attend but interpreted "RSVP" as a town in Eastern Europe).
  • Various episodes have revealed that Jojo at least took care of Richard in her own way, but eventually she straight-up tossed Richard out on the street with a suitcase. Despite disapproving of the marriage, she at least attends anyway.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Richard gets Nicole to think hard about her life by repeatedly asking her why she "needs" to do the things her parents say she has to do.
• Black Comedy Burst:
  • Nicole imagines what would have happened if she joined Mr. Small's protest to legalize hugs as an alternative medicine. Smash Cut to a headstone labeled "R.I.P. Nicole" with Toccata and Fugue in D minor playing over the scene. Happens again when she chooses not to vault off of a butterfly and chokes on it instead. And again when she accepts a ride on Sal's scooter without wearing a helmet.
  • Nicole saying that murdering Harold and burning his house down would be "almost worth it" after she pictures what life would be like if she stopped to hear his emotionally manipulative pick-up lines (which ends with her becoming his Trophy Wife in an emotionally abusive marriage).
• Brainy Baby: Anais was born smart enough to correct a typo on her ID bracelet. Everyone is rightfully concerned.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Nicole leaves her parents to live with Richard, apparently telling them that she no longer wants them to control her life. They both seem unfazed at first, but her mother quickly bursts into tears.
• Chew-Out Fake-Out: Just when it seems Nicole is about to tear into Richard, Gumball, Anais, and Darwin for getting food onto her, she starts laughing and declares a food war.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Nicole is chewed out by her mother for having one F on her report card... in the place indicating her gender.
    Being a girl is not an excuse.
  • Nicole spends hours making sushi for Harold, which he complains is cold... which is how most sushi is meant to be served. She then offers to heat it up and sets the house on fire.
    IS THAT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?! IS IT?! IS IT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU!?
• Continuity Nod:
  • A pair of shots from "The Origins" two-parter is reused during the ending montage.
  • Young Mr. Small is wearing the same pink shirt with a yinyang symbol that he had in "The Gi".
• Delayed Reaction: After finding out Nicole is pregnant, Richard and Nicole are overjoyed until the camera zooms in and their faces fall when the two realize that a) they're about to be parents (which is a scary experience for any young couple, let alone a young couple living off cup noodles in a tiny apartment and clearly not expecting this), and b) they never got married prior to Nicole's pregnancy, which is why the scene after that is Nicole and Richard's wedding in the park.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • The end of Nicole's dictatorial reign in the Bad Future is marked by her statue being pulled over by a cord and Mr. Small hitting it with his flip flop, clearly referencing similar acts done to Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdos Square.
  • Mr. Small (in Nicole's flashback) leading a protest to legalize "hugs".
• Domestic Abuse: In the future Nicole imagines with Harold, he's perpetually demeaning toward her as a manipulative effort to lower her confidence, so she won't leave him for anyone else (which she recognized in their initial meeting, but fell for anyway). Harold tells her on her wedding day that she looks better with the veil on and, later, Nicole ends up getting horrendous amounts of plastic surgery just to get his approval, until she can't take it anymore and burns their house down (most likely murdering Harold in the process). Nicole imagining all that said it was almost Worth It.
• Education Mama: Nicole's mother takes this trope up to eleven. She has her daughter's life planned down to the exact minute, brazenly tells her that Second Place Is for Losers, and expresses disappointment in Nicole having one "F" on her report card (her gender).
• Eye Recall: Happens multiple times as Nicole is envisioning how her different options for a husband would have played out.
• For Want Of A Nail: Nicole imagines what would have happened to her if she'd made different decisions before meeting Richard.
  • If she'd made it to the martial arts tournament and followed the life plan her mother made, she'd win the tournament easily, graduate from college with honors, make loads of money, become a major elected official, turn into an Evil Overlord, cause the apocalypse, and have her monument toppled and vandalized after her celebrated death.
  • If she'd listen to Banana Bob's song, she'd be enamored with him because she thinks he's funny, but his constantly singing "banana" to the tune of other songs would eventually drive her completely insane.
  • If she'd listened to Harold's pickup line, she'd fall for his sleazy attempts to hook up with her by undermining her confidence, eventually getting into an emotionally-abusing marriage where she gets extensive amounts of plastic surgery, and eventually snaps and burns their house down.
  • If she'd listen to Mr. Small's idea to replace medicine with hugs, she'd meet an early grave from spreading disease.
  • If she hadn't stepped on a butterfly in her path, it would have ended up in her mouth, and she'd choke to death because Mr. Small tried to hug her instead of providing proper first aid.
  • If she'd taken Sal up on his offer for a motorcycle ride, he'd insist she didn't need a helmet, causing her to die in a crash.
  • After all this, she remembers what her life had been like between her decision and the present and decides it is better the way it is.
• Forgotten First Meeting: After Nicole and Richard introduce each other by name, Richard implies that he already knew who Nicole was (they may well have been classmates for years before this point).
  • "The GI" did show Nicole standing up for Richard when they were in school, although again she likely might not have known his name/they were not actually acquainted with each other yet, hence Nicole still introducing herself.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Freezing on Nicole's report card reveals her maiden name to be "Senicourt" (which is actually the maiden name of Ben Bocquelet's mother).
• Funeral Cut: Nicole imagines how various decisions on the day she met her husband could have changed her life. A Running Gag is that, whenever she considers a dangerous decision (such as rejecting modern medicine, choking on a butterfly, or riding a moped without a helmet), the scene cuts to an image of her tombstone, scored by Toccata and Fugue in D minor.
• How Dad Met Mom: We see how Nicole and Richard got together, though it's only shown to the audience through Nicole's memories, not to any other character.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Nicole's mother weeps after she leaves her parents, implying she did feel a little remorseful of her actions.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Nicole's dad is clearly a male Grumpy Cat.
• Rule of Three: Nicole ends up dying prematurely from several of the What If? scenarios, which happens three times in a row.
  Nicole: I'm gonna have to write the mayor about how dangerous this park is.
• Serial Escalation: The alternate fates Nicole avoided escalate from an eventually terrible life to immediate death.
• Series Continuity Error: This episode retcons a few events from past episodes/seasons
  • Nicole and Richard are shown getting married in a park, when flashbacks in Season One's "The Wand" and ”The Ape" showed them getting married in front of a church.
    • Nicole is also wearing a different wedding dress and veil than in "The Dress" and the two aforementioned episodes.
  • "The Treasure" revealed Gumball was an ugly baby so Nicole stayed in the hospital with him for a little longer so the doctors could find out why, while Richard stayed at home, showing they were already living there. Here Gumball looks perfectly normal and healthy, and the three of them move into their home (which is shown to be a fixer-upper) together after leaving the hospital.
    • Gumball being an ugly baby was also retconned in "The Hero" however.
  • Gumball is shown taking his first steps outside on the front porch, when "The Hero" showed him taking his first steps in the backyard with Richard encouraging him.
  • A flashback in ”The Man” shows that Nicole was still living with her parents when she and Richard were young adults, with both of them having the same designs they have when Gumball is shown as a baby/toddler, but in this episode she stormed out in her late teens and she and Richard have different designs for their age.
• Shotgun Wedding: The Time-Passes Montage all but states that Richard and Nicole only got married after Nicole got pregnant with Gumball.
• Silence Is Golden: A Time-Passes Montage shows Richard and Nicole's entire life together, from childhood to parenthood, without a single line of dialogue or noise besides the soundtrack.
• Stealth Insult: All of Harold's pickup lines are worded like compliments when they're actually insults ("Have you lost weight? Your head looks bigger."). As Nicole notes, he's trying "That creepy thing where guys criticize girls to lower their confidence so they'll go out with them."
• Take Over the World: If Nicole had actually made it to her tournament on time, she would eventually become so successful at life that she would end up turning into a dictator that ruled the world.
• Wet Cement Gag: On child Nicole's way to a martial arts tournament, her path is blocked by freshly laid cement which she is too considerate to run through. In the timeline where she does make it to the tournament, she runs right through it, covering Gary who laid it out and leaving her untouched.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: When Nicole is in 7th grade, her mother says she will graduate (presumably high school) in 45321 minutes, get a diploma in law in 374582 minutes, and marry a doctor in 754471 minutes. That's about one month, nine months, and seventeen months, respectively. Of course, this could just be Mary's psychotically high expectations for Nicole.

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