Gumball acting out the plan.
Gumball: I've got a plan!
Gumball, Darwin, and Anais think a man named Daniel Lennard is out to steal Nicole. When Gumball formulates a convoluted plan to save their mother, they have to make sure the plan is absolutely flawless.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: Gumball, Darwin, and Anais made a totally elaborate plan that was unnecessary.
- Beard of Evil: Darwin insists their idea of who Daniel Lennard is needs to be even more evil than a literal slime ball with a bulldog's head, so he adds a goatee.
- Black Widow: Darwin and Anais claim this of Nicole to make Daniel Lennard lose interest.Daniel Lennard: What about your father?
Darwin: She took all his money. And then... she ate him! - Bittersweet Ending: The family was never in danger of losing Nicole to begin with, meaning that while they are safe — all the time they spent on working the plan was worthless.
- Blatant Lies: Gumball tells Nicole trash is all over the yard because they're recycling. She buys it.
- Brick Joke:
- The episode starts with the kids trying to find the weapons for a Kupock the barbarian toy. One of the terrible fates the two versions of Gumball inflict on each other through Time Travel is sticking Kupock's weapons on the other one's chair.
- Gumball ignores Anais' advise to work on the the fake e-mail subject line. It later turns out Daniel Lennard was onto them because the subject line Gumball used was "Fake e-mail to Daniel Lennard."
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Gumball comes up with the plan to trick Daniel Lennard which Anais admits is actually a good idea but at the same time Gumball is too lazy to fine-tune the minor details of the plan which are important for its success.
- Creator Cameo: In real life, "Daniel Lennard" is one of the show's executive producers and his face appears on the billboard at the end of the episode.
- Disney Death: In the last version of the plan, Gumball appears to be grievously wounded or killed by a taser to the chest, but actually blocked it by shoving a pillow under his shirt.
- Evil Brit: The kids imagine Daniel Lennard to be one.
- Face Palm: The kids all do this at the end of the episode, after finding out they spent the whole time planning revenge against someone who wasn't even real.
- Foreshadowing: A lot of the trash scattered about when the kids find the letter are clearly cosmetics, hinting at what Daniel Lennard really is.
- Furry Reminder: When Gumball pretends to attack someone while disguised as his mother, he hisses like a cat.
- I Hate Past Me: Gumball takes this position on the version of himself from about five minutes earlier.Gumball: Gosh, was I really that much of a jerk when I was young?
Anais: (off-screen) Yep! - Mistaken for Cheating: Gumball, Darwin, and Anais find what appears to be a love letter to Nicole from "Daniel Lennard," spend the whole episode drawing up an elaborate plan to stop "him," and find out in the end that "he" is actually a cosmetics brand and that the letter is a reminder to buy more cosmetics from that line. Notably, the kids seem to think Lennard wants her to be his "mom," and the subject of her fidelity to Richard is never brought up.
- Noodle Incident: Anais says they all learned that a shut door isn't a locked door after "the Granny Jojo dressing-room incident."Gumball: (shivers) Augh, what kind of weirdo gets dressed hat-first?
- The Nose Knows: Richard is theorized to be able to smell his kids sneaking past him by smelling the sauce from their lunch—even if all of that sauce had already been eaten.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Gumball, Darwin, and Anais perfect their plan to protect Nicole from Daniel Lennard, only to find that Daniel Lennard isn't real.
- Short-Distance Phone Call: Darwin's second "attempt" at calling Nicole and pretending to be her boss is foiled when she notices he's calling from the other room, forcing Gumball to change the plan to using a payphone.
- Sounding It Out: The things Gumball types on his mom's computer he says out loud because he's imagining this all, meaning Anais and Darwin can't read it. The Caps Lock was left on, so shouts out what he's saying until he turns it off.
- Stupidly Long Filler Sound: Darwin imagines calling Nicole, and every failure leads to Darwin droning "uhhhhhh...." until his head explodes.[Darwin is using a pay phone this time in town.]
Darwin: Hello, this is your boss from the place you work. We need you to come here right away or you're fired!
Nicole: [worried] Why? What's going on? Is the Kobyashi Account or is it the infrastructure problem with the throughput outflow?
Darwin: Uhhhhhhhhhh... [his head nearly explodes, but Anais puts it back together].
Anais: Turn the page! - Stylistic Self-Parody:Darwin: Why did you leave five hours to run to a park that's only three blocks away?
Gumball: Because [Anais has] no legs. They're more like feet coming out of her butt.
Anais: Why don't we take bikes?
Gumball: Because it's way funnier to watch you try to run.
(Anais frantically shuffles her legs trying to keep up with her brothers) - Twist Ending: Turns out Daniel Lennard was a brand of anti-aging products and not a swindler.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Exploited, Gumball intended to impersonate his mother since he looks almost identical to her.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The final, "successful" version of their plan involved Gumball relying on something he didn't explain beforehand (putting a pillow under his clothes to block a taser). And the plan they'd spent the whole episode thinking up turns out to be unnecessary.
- Vocal Dissonance: The imagined version of Daniel Lennard initially has a high squeaky voice, so Darwin reimagines him with an "evil voice."
- Your Head Asplode: When thinking of how to trick Nicole via phone call, Darwin's head explodes in every failed theoretical situation.
