Principal Brown recommends that the Wattersons become a more functional family after thinking Anais' drawing of her family (depicting a lazy Richard, a stressed-out Nicole, and Gumball and Darwin being themselves) is a cry for help.
Tropes:
- Automatic Door Malfunction: When Richard tries to go to work, the automatic door doesn't work for him and he constantly runs into it. He has to go behind another employee to get inside.
- Big "NO!": After being told to get a job, Richard does this and doesn't even finish before the scene transition. You think he's going to stop after awhile because his voice starts to trail off, but then he just goes back into it.
- Bowdlerization: Versions of this episode shown on Cartoon Network channels in Asia and Australia cut the part where Mr. Small smashes the painting (or, as he calls it, a "relic of convention") and sets fire to it to teach Gumball and Darwin about letting their anger and energy out in more constructive ways.
- Brick Break: Mr. Small tells Gumball to break a board representing "inhibitions". Gumball smashes his faces into to no avail, so Darwin smashes it to pieces with a bat.
- Cathartic Scream: Mr. Small advises this to Gumball and Darwin as a way to express their rage and gives a quick, loud yell to demonstrate. Gumball manages nothing but a pathetic squeak. Darwin blows a bubble that, when popped, shows Stock Footage of an atomic bomb test followed by Shell-Shock Silence.
- Comically Missing the Point: Principal Brown looks at how Anais drew her family members and concluded they're all terrible for her. Then it pans down to the painting's caption: "I love my family."
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The episode's plot wouldn't have happened if Principle Brown hadn't jumped to conclusions about Anais wanting her family to change, even though she was happy with how things were. But every time she tries to tell them, they cut her off. Anais even lampshades this!Anais: If you'd listen for a second, you'd know I never wanted anyone's change!
- Daydream Surprise: Richard seems to have already gotten a job at an office, but after he shows up Charlie at water-cooler talk and gets a key to the executive washroom, it turns out to just be his imagination as he stands in front of the building's entrance.
- Eye Scream: Mr. Small tries to get Gumball and Darwin to "be the brush", which ends with them getting loads of paint in their eyes.
- Given Name Reveal: While Mr. Small has appeared in previous episodes, this was the first to give him a name.
- Hammerspace: While destroying a painting, Mr. Small pulls a baseball bat from offscreen, and just as quickly, the baseball bat disappears and is replaced with a match. Exactly where either of these objects came from, or where the baseball bat went, is never specified.
- Ice-Cream Koan:Mr. Small: And remember, boys: when the monkey looks at the mountain...
Darwin and Gumball: He's looking for bananas. - Mood-Swinger: While teaching the boys interpretive dance, Mr. Small rapidly flips between gentle instruction and angrily barking orders while Gumball tries it for himself.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Anais spends most the whole episode trying to tell everyone that she doesn't think there's anything wrong with her family but Principal Brown and her mother won't let her talk.
- Percussive Therapy: After compulsively doing every chore imaginable when she's supposed to be relaxing, Nicole starts breaking thing to give herself more stuff to do and gets carried away with enjoying that.
- Punctuated Pounding: Mr. Small ends up doing this to a traditional portrait for being a "relic" of convention (THIS IS NOT PAINTING! THIS IS NOT PAINTING! THIS! IS! NOT! PAINTING!), then sets it on fire.
- There Is No Rule Six: Mr. Small has a five-step program for Gumball and Darwin to focus their energy, but tells them they're done after only four steps.Mr. Small: The fifth step was within you all along. Just be yourselves.
Gumball: ... Weak. - Warts and All: Despite her parents' and her brothers' flaws (Nicole's workaholic habits, Richard's indolence, and Gumball and Darwin's mischief), Anais loves them all just the way they are.
