"Oh my gosh... He’s got a spoon!"
It's Nicole's birthday and Richard freaks out over not getting a present for his wife, so, in his infinite wisdom, Richard sends Gumball and Darwin to the gas station at night to get Nicole a present, and the duo end up the unwitting accomplices to a robbery done by Sal Left Thumb (a living thumb print and Elmore's resident career criminal).
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: Most of the episode seems to be leading up to Gumball and Darwin being arrested, as them taking things and opening the store's safe are caught on camera while the actual thief managed to stay unseen. When Donut Cop finally shows up, he indeed misses the actual culprit, but Nicole is the one wrongfully arrested.
- Battle Discretion Shot: The episode ends right as Sal is locked in a cell with Nicole.Donut Cop: Give me five minutes to do the paperwork and you’ll be outta here.
Nicole: Five minutes is all I'll need.
(Nicole punches her fist, Sal looks worried) - Bigger on the Inside: The gas station has the interior of a supermarket.
- Bland-Name Product: Averted by the photographic backgrounds of the store. Though the logos on the brand name products are obscured, British viewers should recognize some of the brands.
- Bottle Episode: The majority of the episode takes place in a gas station. Though the station is actually quite expansive, so it's hardly a bottle.
- Bound and Gagged: Sal ties up Larry, then Richard, Nicole, and Anais. Nicole gets out by putting food on her ropes so Richard would chew through them.
- Bowdlerise: This episode is said to be the most heavily-edited in Cartoon Network Asia and Australia, editing out all use of the word "suckers" (which happens quite frequently in this episode) by cutting or muting it and the ending where it's implied that Nicole is going to spend the five minutes waiting for Donut Cop to fill out the paperwork for her release on beating up Sal Left Thumb (who framed her for robbery and assault).
- Carnivore Confusion: Donut Cop tries to eat a burrito, but it literally passes right through him.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Richard needs to buy Nicole a birthday present, but he has to stay home and watch the kids. So, he decides that since his kids don't have to watch the kids, they can go and buy something on their own instead.
- Gumball and Darwin considered numerous random things the bald would want: Sunglasses? Yes. Makeup? Yes. Wigs? Nope. Shampoo? "Perfect for bald people."
- Subverted by two when they're in front of a safe:
Gumball: What do bald people need more of?
Darwin: Friends?
Gumball: Yes. And what do you buy friends with?
Darwin: Uhhhhh...
Gumball: With money! - Convenience Store Gift Shopping: Richard sends Gumball and Darwin to the gas stations to get him a present for Nicole's birthday. They get her a holographic picture of a woman that changes between her standing in a garden, wearing a sundress, and standing on a skull in a Chainmail Bikini, surrounded by fire.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Sal Left Thumb.
- Easily Condemned: Donut Cop looks at a knocked out Darwin and Gumball, then Nicole holding a bag of money, then a sausage and assumes she robbed the store and hurt them. Things clear up pretty quickly after the arrest though, as the real culprit was caught trying to rob another store later that night.
- Faux Horrific: Sal holds up the convenience store with, you guessed it, a spoon. Until the end of the cartoon, everyone reacts as though it's a deadly weapon.
- Interrogation by Vandalism: Sal tries to get Larry to tell him where the store's safe is by breaking things which Larry, for some reason, will have to pay for. Larry refuses, getting incredibly upset despite the pathetically low cost of everything available to break.You heartless monster, that was twenty-five cents!
- MacGyvering: Gumball and Darwin fashion a rocket out of a helium tank and funnel, making sure to grab some baseball helmets.
- Out of Focus: Anais has a total of three lines and doesn't have a lot of focus.
- Politeness Judo: Darwin and Gumball try to break open the safe, but it fails. The safe then tells them that they only had to ask nicely, and it opens.
- Produce Pelting: Gumball and Darwin throw random objects of small food at Sal. He laughs it off and tells them it's not gonna work, but then they throw a frozen sausage in his face.
- Skewed Priorities: Richard and his family are tied up or being chased by a criminal, so he crawls over the floor to eat a sausage.
- Sticky Situation: Gumball puts a bunch of maple syrup on the floor to slow Sal down, but Darwin surrounded Gumball with even more, forcing them both to into a Low-Speed Chase.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Sal Left Thumb has one that he claims is evidence of his "charity work". Despite multiple robberies, helping catch him only gives a $25 reward.
- Women Are Wiser: Nicole and indubitably Anais Are the only ones to not be scared by Sal's spoon.
