"There is no future..."
A desperate Banana Joe seeks the help of Gumball and Darwin in order to find his missing mother, who has been kidnapped by Rob.
This episode won the 2020 British Animation Awards for Best Use of Sound.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Gumball can't get the hang of pronouncing Banana Barbara's name properly. He only gets it right after Banana Joe spells it out... badly.
- Ambiguous Syntax: Banana Barbara "played a chicken" in a stage show—as an instrument.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Gumball and Darwin feel bad about Rob being erased out of existence, so they got Banana Barbara to repaint him back.
- Bittersweet Ending: Gumball, Darwin, and Banana Joe rescue Barbara. Rob's fate is left uncertainnote and it's heavily implied that something big is going to happen soon. For added measure, Barbara hints that the world will have no future soon.
- Cassandra Truth: Whenever Barbara's future painting show static, Rob assumes it isn't working. He never considers that the static is the future.
- Cessation of Existence: Rob is erased from existence by Barbara’s painting. Thankfully he is painted back... but seems to either have been put back in the Void, or returning only for The End of the World as We Know It.
- Continuity Cavalcade: The paintings Banana Barbara is shown to have already made all reference past episodes. Among the ones seen are:
- Darwin kissing Carrie in "Halloween."
- Richard grabbing Frankie by his shirt collar in "The Signature."
- Gumball, Darwin, and Nicole running out of Laser Video in "The DVD."
- Gumball being naked at the mall, as well as the painting of the Wattersons running in the Void which Barbara was shown painting at the end of "The Oracle."
- Gumball using the remote to try and chase after Rob in "The Rerun."
- Richard glitching in "The Signal."
- Banana Bob jumping off a freeway overpass in "The Bus."
- Banana Joe's dream from "The Night."
- Gumball and Penny's kiss scene during the play in "The Shell."
- Gumball, Darwin, and Tina sneaking up on a sleeping Tina in "The Quest."
- Nicole hit with a Gender Bender due to reality breaking down in "The Job."
- The Wattersons reduced to sketches in "The Money."
- A Day in the Limelight: For Banana Joe and Banana Barbara. Barbara in particular, as the nature behind her paintings is elaborated.
- End-of-Series Awareness: Barbara's line "There is no future" really leans on the fourth wall with regards to this being the show's final season.
- Exact Words: Banana Joe doesn't think his mother suffers from mental problems—she enjoys them.
- Lame Pun Reaction: A strange occurrence where the one who made the pun also makes the reaction as Rob's Badass Boast to Banana Barbara is that if doesn't paint the future, he will make her face 'una-peal-ing' causes him to say that it was lamer than he thought.
- Living Shadow: At one point, Gumball's shadow comes to life and tries to direct him, Darwin, and Joe to where Barbara is, but they decide to go in the opposite direction, causing it to scream in frustration (with no sound) before begrudgingly following them.
- Not Quite Back to Normal: After asking for Rob to be restored after erasure, Gumball suggests punishing him by adding something embarrassing "like a goatee or a third nostril." Barbara give him a pig's tail.
- Poor Communication Kills: If Rob just told the trio what was going on rather then kidnapping Barbara and trying to kill the trio during the rescue attempt, they might have listened to him instead of erasing him.
- Rewriting Reality: Barbara can actually alter reality with her paintings (and may have been causing the future rather than predicting it). At first, she uses it to alert Banana Joe, Gumball, and Darwin where she is, but when that fails she simply paints a portal for them to stumble into. Rob then uses this power to attack them; for example, by drawing a crack in front of them, or changing the floor into water. Eventually, they turn the tables on Rob and erase him out of the painting, and out of existence.
- Save the Villain: After erasing Rob from existence, Gumball and Darwin ask Banana Barbara to use her painting to restore him.
- Sequel Episode: Returns to the topic of Banana Barbara's prophetic painting shown in "The Oracle."
- Sequel Hook: Every time Banana Barbara tries to paint the future, it's nothing but a static pattern, and she even says there is no future. The painting that has the Wattersons inside the void has yet to transpire.
- The Unreveal: The reason why Rob kidnapped Banana Barbara and what he considered bigger than Gumball himself was never revealed because he was erased and repainted back into The Void. The closest indication is that he wanted to know what the future held, as every time Barbara painted static, he told her he wanted to know the future and to do it again.
- Vagueness Is Coming: It's not revealed why Rob wanted to know the future, and Barbara's claim there is no future is shortly after followed by the screen turning to static, a silhouette visible within it.
- Villainous Breakdown: Rob loses it when he's about to be erased.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Whatever Rob was planning, it had nothing to do with Gumball, and just as Gumball is about to erase him, he cries out they have no idea what's going on, nor what he's trying to stop.
- Wham Episode: Thanks to Gumball, Darwin, and Banana Joe, Rob is back in the Void. The future paintings keep depicting ominous static patterns, meaning that something (likely bad) is going to happen in the near future.
- Wham Line: At the very end of the episode, after Gumball says he'll see Rob in the future.Banana Barbara: But there is no future.
(cue the static screen with the appearance of a mysterious person)
