Clare: My name is Clare and today is the worst day of my life. My dad has lost his job, we've lost our house and now we're forced to move back to Detroit. I only have one day to say goodbye to the ones I love. One last day to say goodbye... to my so-called world.
When Darwin and Gumball discover that Anais is an eighth grader, their minds are opened to the world of other students and staff members they've never noticed before — one of which, a mopey, green-haired girl named Clare Cooper, ends up turning Gumball's life into a teen drama called The So-Called World of Clare.
Tropes:
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Out of all the weird things that have happened to them in Elmore (whether they caused it or not), Gumball and Darwin consider Anais being in junior high at her age to be unrealistic.
- Backstory Invader: Inverted. Since Gumball is so self-centered that he believes the entire world revolves around him, he (and thus, the audience) only ever saw the students of his own class. After opening his mind
, he realises that there are dozens of students and several faculty members he never noticed before. - Character as Himself: Mr. Corneille as Mr. Corneille.
- Continuity Nod:
- Darwin thinks Claire is speaking Cantonese when she says "This is not about you." As he stated in "The DVD", Darwin can speak Cantonese, but the only thing he can say in Cantonese is that he can't speak the language, but he can understand it.
- Gumball and Darwin ride on Clayton as a horse, which is a form he showed (or at least imagined) in "The Skull".
- Deus ex Machina: Gumball and Darwin stop Clare from leaving town and give her a Happy Ending, whether she wants to or not.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Wilson Bilson, Clare's best friend since childhood, is stated to have "always struggled with his identity"note . He's a masculine jock, a cheerleader in a skirt, and a majorette.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Anais purposefully tries to bump into Clare from around a corner for dramatic effect, but she's so short that Clare doesn't see her and just trips.
- Hero of Another Story: Anais tells Gumball that there are plenty of people around him whose lives have nothing to do with his and are even more interesting. When Gumball says he's sure there aren't, the story suddenly becomes about Clare and Gumball tries to make himself the hero of her story as well.
- Hostile Show Takeover: The episode suddenly becomes about Clare and her life without her making any effort, and Gumball and Darwin are the ones forcefully trying to make it about them again.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction:
- When Clare insists that she doesn't mope, next scene she does just that.
- Clare's teacher Mr. Corneille does not give very good advice.Mr. Corneille: Question everything.
Clare: Why?
Mr. Corneille: Don't question that, question everything except that.
- It's All About Me: Gumball is actually so accustomed to believing the universe revolves around him that he literally mentally blocked out the other staff and students in his school that aren't in his class. He keeps trying to take over Clare's story and narration and when she tells him "It's not about you," it's literally a foreign concept to him, as in he thinks she's speaking another language.
- Literal-Minded: When told to open his mind, Gumball (harmlessly) splits his head open.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The episode focuses on a bunch of never seen before characters. Gumball and Darwin force themselves on this new story.
- Narrative Shapeshifting: Darwin grows Clare's green hair with bangs when he and Gumball are telling her that she's giving up too easily.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Wilson is a drawing made up of several different body parts which gives him his identity struggle. He's part cheerleader, part goth, part football player, and part majorette.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: Whenever the episode focuses on Clare, it suddenly becomes more of (a parody of) a teen drama, akin to My So-Called Life or Degrassi: The Next Generation, in a world that is anything but that.
- Paper People: Wilson Bilson is a literal drawing on a piece of paper cutout akin to Gumball's classmate Teri.
- Refuge in Audacity: After realizing how unlike real life and magical their world is, Gumball quickly employs the entire town into giving Clare a Surprisingly Happy Ending. He gets Ms. Jotunheim to buy back Clare's house with a pot of gold stolen from the end of the rainbow she flew to on her broomstick. They get Masami to have her dad hire Clare's father as an engineer at the rainbow factory, which he doesn't need qualifications for since it's a made up career anyway. Wilson feels less insecure about his mixed up identity after seeing "a cat and a goldfish riding a T-Rex down the freeway" since he's not that weird by comparison. This is all announced along with Clare and Jared winning prom queen and king through a megaphone with manic glee after they crash her bus with the aforementioned T-Rex ride to the cheers of the whole town.
- Selective Obliviousness:
- Gumball and Darwin think their class is the only class in the whole school until Anais opens their minds, at which point all the other students in the school suddenly become visible to them and the audience. When Gumball decides he doesn't want to listen to Anais anymore, he then makes her invisible to him and the audience, though he still feels the swift kick she gives.
- Clare believes there is no way she'll be happy as she believes she's in real life where bad things happen... while ignoring the weird things around herself in Elmore like her fellow classmates, her teachers, and how anything good can happen as long as she can make it happen.
- Shout-Out: Gumball has apparently watched Dragon Ball Z, because the episode starts with him trying to turn into a Super Saiyan.
- Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Gumball tells Clare she can find the solution to her troubles if she'd just try, though it's debatable if he's right. It's vaguely implied Clare is bringing some of her misery upon herself, but Gumball's plan only works because they live in a bizarre fantasy world like Elmore. Clare and her friends also think Gumball and the rest of "these people" are completely insane, even if they did get them a "happy ending".
- Starring Smurfette: The So-Called World of Clare seems to be this with protagonist Clare being the only female character in the opening credits, alongside her two male friends and teacher.
- Status Quo Is God. Slightly averted. While this episode is not a major event in the series, Clare and some of the characters introduced in this episode reappear later on due to Gumball mentally un-blocking them.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Anais tries to bump into Clare at the most dramatic moment but because she's shorter than her line of sight Clare just trips over her. After giving her advice she walks away when Clare isn't looking.
- Stylistic Self-Parody: Banana Joe having butt cheeks is lampshaded by Gumball when he realizes they live a fantasy world. Banana Joe seriously wonders about it after they leave.
- This Is Reality: Clare angrily insists that this is real life and bad things will happen that nobody can do anything about. Gumball briefly concedes her point, then realizes they're living in the exact opposite of real life and anything is possible.
- Title Drop: Gumball awes at the others after Anais opens his mind to their existence.
- Unwanted Assistance: Clare does not want Gumball and Darwin's help, but they insist anyway. Anais tries to warn Clare to accept it because Gumball and Darwin are stubborn and a lot worse when they don't get their way.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The episode is a homage to My So-Called Life. The lead characters are even named Clare (Danes) and Jared (Leto).
- You Say Tomato: When Clare tells Darwin and Gumball that her problems are not "about you", she slightly slurs the pronunciation, which makes them think she's saying "a bad chew" or something in Cantonese.
