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Recap / The Amazing World of Gumball S1E31 "The Car"

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"Here come the Robinsons."

Gumball and Darwin do chores for the Robinsons to make up for throwing a (bowling) ball into their yard, but Mr. Robinson's new car ends up getting destroyed.


Tropes:

  • Bratty Half-Pint: Anais doesn't care that Nicole is exhausted from working all night and just wants some sleep; Nicole promised to take her to see Daisy on Ice, and if she has to resort to guilt-tripping Nicole into going by repeatedly playing an auto recording of her declaring herself a "horrible mother" for not taking Anais to see her favorite show, then so be it.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Richard uses the same "electro-fat" device that's in the attic in "The Poltergeist".
    • Gumball and Darwin are playing the board game they invented in "The Third". Note that this episode was written first, hence why they were still excited in this episode despite being bored of the game then.
  • A Day in the Limelight: For Mr. Robinson.
  • Everybody Did It: It initially seems Gumball and Darwin destroyed the car by barely touching it, but the entire Watterson family had a hand in it: Anais's insistence that Nicole take her to see Daisy on Ice lead to Nicole giving the car a dent and leaving without telling the Robinsons. This made Richard think he caused a dent, leading him to total the car trying to pound it out, then fix those dents only well enough that they'd come back at the slightest push. Gumball and Darwin just put down The Last Straw.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The CGI characters are animated in the same style as the 2D characters. Later produced episodes improved the animation of the CGI characters to be a bit more smooth and less stiff.
  • Flat "What": Mr. Robinson's reaction upon seeing what it appears to be a doll driving.
  • Golf Clubbing: Mr. Robinson uses a golf club to destroy the Wattersons' car as a way to get revenge.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Mr. Robinson resorts to this when trying to get Donut Cop to arrest the Wattersons.
    Mr. Robinson: I pay my taxes and that pays your salary! Ergo, I'm. Your. Boss! NOW GET IN THERE AND DO YOUR JOB!!
  • Karma Houdini: Played with. While the Wattersons essentially get off scot-free for damaging Mr. Robinson's car, it becomes more of Karmic Protection since they were ready to owe up to their mistakes and properly apologize to him, but Mr. Robinson decided to escalate the conflict further by throwing a tantrum and trying to destroy their car as revenge, getting him and his wife into trouble with Donut Cop. Even then, he was being a petty jerk at the begining of the episode.
  • Little "No": While cleaning the Robinsons' yard, Gumball and Darwin find a leaf that looks like Mr. Robinson's face.
    Darwin and Gumball: (starry-eyed) Can we keep it?
    Mr. Robinson: ... No.
  • Nightmare Face: Anais makes one rather demonic face while trying to drag her mother to the car more quickly.
  • Not Helping Your Case: While the Robinsons are rather justified in being angry with the Wattersons for destroying their car, they don't exactly do themselves any favors by angrily screaming at Donut Cop to arrest them, smashing up the Wattersons' own car as payback with a golf club and a feather-duster right in front of him, and then flying into a rage and attempting to attack him when he tries to calm them down; in the end, all they succeed in doing is getting themselves arrested.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Nicole is driving with Anais by the house and sees the Robinsons talking with Donut Cop. She ducks and shoves Anais down, but Daisy the Donkey is still sticking up, making it look to the Robinsons and Donut Cop that the doll is driving their car.
  • Offscreen Reality Warp: Mr. Robinson insists Gumball and Darwin cut his lawn using nail clippers. As soon as they're offscreen and he turns to go in the door, the lawn is in immaculate shape. He orders them to also paint the fence and the same thing happens. Once Mr. Robinson says it needs to be a different color, it doesn't even take until they're offscreen: Darwin or Gumball don't visibly move at all, the fence (and the paint on their faces) just keeps instantly changing color every time he says it needs to be something else.
  • Only Sane Man: Downplayed with Gumball. Despite him being just as wacky as everyone else barring Nicole, he was the only one who even had the idea to apologize to Mr. Robinson as a family.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Donut Cop gives the Robinsons several warnings to calm down, and then subdues and arrests them when they try to attack him.
  • Revenge Before Reason: The Robinsons attempt to demolish the Wattersons’ car not only in front of the Wattersons, but also in front of Donut Cop. Just because the Wattersons accidentally destroyed their own car. This, alongside screaming at him to arrest the Wattersons and trying to attack him for trying to calm them down, encourages Donut Cop to arrest the Robinsons instead of the Wattersons.
  • Right Behind Me: Nicole shows up in the attic behind Richard right after he suggest hiding there forever and never telling her what happened.
  • Rube Goldberg Device: Gumball makes one out of trash when playing Dodge or Dare to try and get a bowling ball to the moon, but it ends up bouncing off his face and into the neighbor's yard.
  • Shout-Out: The scene where Mr. and Mrs. Robinson smash the Wattersons' car is based on the famous car scene in The Big Lebowski.
    Mr. Robinson: This is what happens when you mess with Gaylord! THIS! IS! WHAT! HAPPENS!
  • Tempting Fate:
    (Mr. Robinson's car is destroyed)
    Gumball: At least it can't get any worse.
    (car catches on fire)
  • Time Stands Still: Darwin and Gumball inexplicably freeze time so Darwin can tell Gumball he can't use his hands against the bowling ball headed into his face.
  • Unishment: Mr. Robinson punishes Gumball and Darwin by making them do his chores. But they love helping Mr. Robinson. He keeps trying to make them hate it by adding extra conditions (like painting the fence over and over many different ways), but just frustrates himself at how easily they do them all. Mr. Robinson couldn't even get them to stop doing chores when he asked.
  • The Unreveal: How can one cut the grass in seconds? Even with using nail clippers.
  • Watch the Paint Job: Mr. Robinson's fancy white car is entirely totaled by the mere touch of a sponge. Subverted, when it's revealed that the car fell apart because Richard tried to fix a dent (which he mistakenly thought was from him throwing his Electro-Fat machine at it, when in reality is was due to Nicole dinging the car), destroying the car, which he then put back together, but not well enough to prevent the car from falling apart at a single touch.

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