Line #37 Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E35TheCountdown


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/countdown80.png]]
2
3	Gumball and Darwin miss the bus and have only six minutes to get to school or face expulsion, but when Gumball [[CameraAbuse hits the screen]] and breaks the timer, the duo begin messing with time and reality.
4	----
5	!!Tropes:
6	* AfterTheEnd: The first attempt to go advance the clock forward to zero instead results in skipped to post-apocalyptic Earth--possibly so far that the sun explodes.
7	* AlternateTimeline: Gumball and Darwin go through a variety of these after they start [[NinjaProp messing with the clock on the screen]].
8	* BehindTheBlack: Darwin and Gumball invite Alison to push them off the bus once it stops, oblivious to the out-of-frame bridge that the bus is on the edge of.
9	* BilingualBonus: The German Sarah and Tobias shout out doesn't mean what their angered tone suggests.
10	-->'''Sarah:''' Ich geh gern ins Diskothek! (I like to go to the discotheque!)\
11	'''Tobias:''' Keine Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung auf der Autobahn! (No speed limit on the freeway!)
12	* BreakingTheFourthWall: While the fact that Gumball and Darwin are aware of the timer definitely counts, the more important instance (which causes the plot to spiral out of control) is Gumball running into (and breaking) [[CameraAbuse the camera]].
13	* BusesAreForFreaks: Gumball [[InvokedTrope claims]] that the public bus is full of degenerates and gives advice (hit the first person that looks at you sideways) that's typically given for people in prison. [[SubvertedTrope It's actually nowhere near as bad as he expected]], which causes Gumball to apologize, but claim Darwin was the one who thought it was like that.
14	* ButterflyOfDoom: Darwin and Gumball accidentally mess with some apes in prehistoric Earth and try to fix it, which results in numerous weird versions of the present with things like everyone being a quadruped, everyone looking like the two of them, [[BigFatFuture everyone being fat]], and everyone [[GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel looking pissed off and yelling in German]].
15	* CameraAbuse: When Gumball and Darwin rush to get to school, Gumball runs so fast he crashes directly into the screen and shatters it. And apparently, the impact was so powerful that it ''freezes time altogether.''
16	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Gumball employs what [[KnowNothingKnowItAll he thinks]] is LeParkour to get to school on time because he believes it's the fastest way to get anywhere. Problem is what he thinks is parkour is [[UnnecessaryCombatRoll pointlessly rolling]] under or jumping over every obstacle he sees along his path, even if it's not in his way or he has to backtrack to get one he missed.
17	* ContinuityNod: Darwin and Gumball try to read the ''Captain Punch'' comic from "The Colossus" that they said was too intense for their mom to let their dad read and that Hector the giant's mom had to censor in her efforts to sedate her son.
18	* CloseEnoughTimeline: Gumball and Darwin end the episode in a timeline that doesn't appear any different than it was before.
19	-->'''Gumball:''' This looks suspiciously normal.\
20	''(Darwin and Gumball [[NotQuiteBackToNormal blink with vertical eye slits]])''\
21	'''Gumball:''' Eh, I can live with that.
22	* FrictionBurn: Since time is frozen, Gumball opening a page on a comic book moves it so fast that it instantly bursts into flames.
23	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When the Darwin and Gumball copies all start coming out, the apes they interrupted stare at them annoyed, with the one that was on the cliff angrily crossing his arms.
24	* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The episode starts out being about Gumball and Darwin trying to get to school before the eponymous countdown finishes lest they be expelled for tardiness. Then Gumball accidentally freezes time when he [[CameraAbuse runs into the TV screen and breaks the countdown timer]]. The rest of the episode is then spent on the boys engaging in time-related shenanigans.
25	* LeParkour: Gumball tries to use parkour to get to school because [[WrongGenreSavvy he thinks it's the fastest way to get anywhere]], but he just slows things down by taking time to jump and climb over things.
26	* MissedTheBus: The episode begins with the school bus pulling away from the Watterson house as Gumball is just getting out of bed.
27	* NarrativeShapeshifting: When Gumball [[FlashbackFail can't remember Miss Simian's lecture on tardiness]], Darwin's face looks like Miss Simian's as he imitates her voice and explains they'll be expelled if they're late again.
28	%%* MindScrew: Oh yes.
29	* NeverMyFault: Gumball tries to blame Darwin for harassing the people on the bus, letting Alison shove them out of it, and making the clock jump forward a minute, which were all his fault.
30	* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: Gumball and Darwin run into a bunch of time travel duplicates during one scene where they try to correct the past. They get into a big argument until the pair the episode is following simply says none of the others should even exist and they all vanish out of reality.
31	* NinjaProp: A driving plot element: A typical RaceAgainstTheClock ensures for the first half of the episode, but the actual clock on display is [[MediumAwareness completely visible]] to Darwin and Gumball, and they begin interacting with it in several ways.
32	** The clock corresponds to time spent on-screen, rather than how much time would seem to pass in-universe. A cut where Darwin and Gumball go from their house to the street is pointed out to have happened in only a few seconds.
33	** No time passes during a cut of Darwin and Gumball falling onto a truck and being carried out of town, which Gumball points out makes no sense.
34	** With seven seconds to spare, Gumball and Darwin ScreenTap. They [[CameraAbuse break the screen]] and the clock on the screen, and therefore, TimeStandsStill.
35	* OverlyLongGag: Gumball's dramatic announcement that they'll need to take the public bus is accompanied by a ScareChord that last ten solid seconds.
36	* PassThePopcorn: After a crowd of Gumballs and Darwins are made through time travel, one last pair comes with food and drinks.
37	-->'''Gumball 5:''' What're you guys doing here?\
38	'''Gumball 6:''' [[PreemptiveDeclaration We're here to watch the fight.]]\
39	'''Gumball 4:''' What fight?\
40	'''Gumball 6:''' The one about [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne who gets to go back to the present]].
41	* PuffOfLogic:
42	** When Gumball questions how a truck carried him and Darwin to the outskirts of town [[TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot with only four seconds on the timer passing]], a solid minute is instantly subtracted from the clock. Gumball almost points out that this should have taken ''hours'', but Darwin stops him, and they instead say they must be close enough to also get back in town in one minute. Cut to them in town with the clock only advancing one minute.
43	** Gumball points out a bunch of Darwins and Gumballs being in the same place at once would be a TimeParadox. They all agree and then disappear, which makes the apes mistake them for gods.
44	* RetGone: Gumball and Darwin trying to prevent themselves from interfering with the timeline seemingly results in [[KillingYourAlternateSelf killing their past selves]], which Gumball points out means they should disappear into nothingness. Luckily, another set of Gumball and Darwin put down a trampoline.
45	* StylisticSelfParody:
46	** Darwin draws his own face on in the morning, and briefly tries out drawing a nose before [[TheNoseless erasing it]].
47	** [[FlashbackFail All Gumball remembers about Ms. Simian's lecture on tardiness]] is noticing that her bald head looks like Mt. Fuji.
48	* TimeFreezeTrollingSpree: When time is frozen, Darwin and Gumball pull a bunch of pranks, including switching Tony's ice cream cone with his dog's butt. They also [[InvertedTrope foil Sal's purse-snatching]], but Gumball [[DoubleSubversion decides that's too heroic]] and pants Gary who they set up to look like the hero.
49	* TimeTravel: Messing with the countdown timer allows Gumball and Darwin to travel through time.
50	* TimeyWimeyBall: Don't try to make sense out of the time travel in this episode.
51	* TheToothHurts: Gumball throws a piece of food into Pantsbully's mouth when time is frozen, which dislodges one of his teeth. Gumball tries to put it back, but embeds it so far into his gum that it's not visible anymore. When he attempts to get it back out, Pantsbully ends up with a fire hydrant shoved into his mouth and [[AnArmAndALeg one of his arms ripped off]].
52	* WithGreatPowerComesGreatPerks: Gumball and Darwin are ''ecstatic'' when they think time has frozen in place, using it do things like [[TimeFreezeTrollingSpree pulling pranks]] and reading comics they wouldn't normally be allowed to. In fact, when they foil a purse-snatching and make it look like Gary's the hero, Gumball seems opposed to the idea of using their power for good.
53	-->'''Darwin:''' Dude, we're superheroes!\
54	''(Gumball puts lipstick on Gary.)''\
55	'''Darwin:''' Right. I guess we're still above average.\
56	''(Gumball pulls down Gary's pants)''\
57	'''Darwin:''' I guess we're more like OK.

Context Recap / TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E35TheCountdown