Recap / The Amazing World of Gumball S2E40 "The Finale"

"Just do what you do best. Make things worse."

In this parody of sitcom Clip Show and Series Finale episodes, The Wattersons recount their family memories — and so does everyone else in Elmore and they decide to get rid of the family once and for all after all the mayhem they caused throughout the series.

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Tropes:

• And This Is for...: Played with when the Goblin Prisoner punches Richard through a wall, freeing everyone, so Nicole starts shaking his hand.
  Nicole: Oh thank you, thank you! This is for breaking us out of here (kisses inmate on the cheek)... and this is for punching my husband.
  (Nicole crushes his hand, he gives a shrill squeal and passes out)
• Artistic License – Law:
  • Mrs. Jötunheim giving a bill for half the damage to Elmore from Hector's rampage serves as the impetus of the main plot, with it treated as if the Wattersons have to pay for half the damages. The damage Hector caused however legally only falls under the responsibility of Mrs. Jötunheim as she is Hector's parental guardian, and therefore responsible for his actions. If she wanted to get the Watterson's to share the bill, she'd need to either sue them and have it ruled as such in a court of law, or the matter would have had to been settled out of court and agreed upon by both parties, with neither being the case as all of the Watterson's had no knowledge of the bill until Mrs. Jötunheim arrived.
  • Principal Brown states that Gumball and Darwin need to go back to Kindergarten due to only ever fighting with other students or staff at school and lacking any actual academic credit. While a School Principal can hold a student back in the case of failing grades, they aren't able to put a student in a Kindergarten class for that reason, particularly since Principal Brown's jurisdiction only falls under Elmore Junior High, not the entire school system. Such an action would more than likely draw the attention of the superintendent or school board were he to actually attempt it.
  • After Richard knocks Patrick out with a rake, Martha adds "assault" to the list of complaints and charges against the Watterson Family. Patrick however was a willing participant in trying to fake a fight with Richard, so unless he randomly decided to press charges or Richard was arrested on said charges by an actual Police Officer, then the "Assault" charge has no bearing.
• Bolivian Army Cliffhanger: The whole of Elmore swarms on the Wattersons to murder them for the damage they've done throughout the show, and Gumball proclaims that their last hope is a reality Reset Button just as the episode ends. They're fine by the next season (barring the changing voices of Gumball and Darwin), meaning that it worked.
• Bowdlerization: The part where Nicole kisses the prisoner for freeing them, then crushes his hand for tossing her husband through the wall was cut on the version shown on Cartoon Network Arabia.
• Brick Joke: In response to Mr. Small's lawsuit for giving him claustrophobia, Darwin and Gumball shove him inside an envelope and try to mail him to the smallest country in the world. At the episode's end, Mr. Small can be seen among the crowd invading the Watterson house, and his body is covered in creases, as if he was just unfolded.
• Clip Show: The start of the episode, in which the Wattersons, in amusingly forced nostalgia, reminisce on past episodes and lampshade the aesthetic changes between seasons, some of their more absurd experiences, and the Negative Continuity inherent in the show's nature.
• Continuity Cavalcade: The episode centers on a bunch of events from previous episodes coming back to bite the Wattersons:
  • Gumball is held accountable for starting Hector's rampage in "The Colossus", so the Watterson have to pay for half of the damage.
  • The cops call Richard about his reckless driving, with clips from "The Bumpkin" and "The Helmet" both shown. He also references how he's ended at least one episode ("The Tag") being arrested, without any explanation for why he isn't in jail.
  • Santa Claus is pressing charges for the Wattersons running him over in "Christmas" (even though he already forgave them).
  • Gumball, Darwin, and Richard are being held accountable for the scooters they destroyed in "The Watch". They steal another pair of them later in the episode.
  • Laurence Needlemeyer is suing for all the misfortune that happened whenever the Wattersons are around, in particular the times they scared off his girlfriend when he was trying to propose in "The Laziest" and "The Goons."
  • Mr. Small is suing over getting him stuck in a filing cabinet in "The Sock", which gave him claustrophobia, even though that was entirely HIS fault and the boys did try to get him out.
  • Richard takes Kenneth, the monster Gumball created in "The Microwave", out of the fridge and revives him with the same microwave that brought him to life.
  • The mob at the end includes the pizzas from "The Job" whose "baby" Gumball dropped, Julius from "The Lesson" that Gumball tricked into exploding, Rob, the cyclops Darwin kicked down a manhole in "The Pony", the security guard from "The Limit" that withered from Nicole's Death Glare, and Marvin, the old man from "The Watch" they fought over a valuable watch with.
• Cue Card Pause: While the family is in jail.
  Donut Cop: Wattersons, you're free—
  Wattersons: Yes!
  Donut Cop: --to remain silent! Otherwise, no dinner tonight.
• Fake a Fight: An argument between Richard and Mr. Fitzgerald results in everyone around the neighborhood egging them on to fight. Neither one wants to fight, so they agree to fake it, with Mr. Fitzgerald taking a dive. Richard hits too early though, and actually knocks him out.
• Fake-Out Fade-Out: As the whole family is in jail, the show fades to black, but then Gumball turns the light switch back on.
• Hollywood Restraining Order: Nicole lifts open the door to the store Larry is in just as Anais tells her Larry has a restraining order on the whole family. Even though she was not informed of it, both of them still go to jail for it.
• The Last Dance: As all of the Wattersons' past actions are catching up to them, they set out on a rampage to make things even worse until everything fixes itself like it's always supposed to.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: Darwin and Gumball try to get plastic surgery to disguise themselves as the two best students in school, Bobert and Alan. It's not very convincing, though they somehow managed to give Darwin a single large eye and Gumball a balloon for a head.
• Meet Your Early-Installment Weirdness: The Wattersons look at themselves in a family portrait that portrays them with their season one designs. Gumball asks if they look a bit "off".
• Never My Fault: While some of the grievances Elmore has with the Wattersons are legitimately their fault, there are quite a few that the town members either contributed towards, or are entirely at fault for yet are shifting the blame on to the Wattersons.
  • One of the complaints the Cupcake Lady, Martha, brings up to Nicole and Anais is the "willful destruction of a mobility scooter", referencing "The Watch" and Gumball, Darwin, and Richard fighting with Marvin over the titular watch. Except the mobility scooter wasn't "willfully" destroyed, it blew up after lightly tapping Marvin's scooter, the two ramming into each other after a game of chicken, meaning Marvin should be just as liable for the destruction.
    • Marvin likewise is shown part of the mob angry about the destruction of "his watch", except the entire dispute was over who actually owned the watch, a watch that Marvin had just been given by Darwin that day, and had previously claimed he would give back to the Wattersons whenever they wanted, only reneging due to learning it was worth $700, making it a legal gray area as to who actually owned it.
  • Larry's reason for suing the Wattersons is because of the fact that everytime he so much as gets near a Watterson, something terrible happens to him and he has to pay for it with his own money, mostly involving him failing to propose to his girlfriend Karen. In all of his appearances in Seasons 1 and 2, the only ones he has any legal standing on is "The Laziest" and "The Game", the former due to Gumball and Darwin indirectly ruining his life to try and make him "Lazy Larry" again, and the latter having Nicole pull a prank on him, both of which only constitute harassment claims. All other instances either constitute accidents, or the Wattersons were only tangentially related to damage occuring.
  • Mr. Small is suing the Wattersons over getting trapped in a filing cabinet during "The Sock", giving him claustrophobia in the process. However, said incident was entirely his own fault due to leaning too far back in his chair, Gumball and Darwin tried to free him, and were too traumatized by his use of the Silence Snake sock puppet to tell anyone what happened to him, meaning he too is partly to blame for their failure to tell anyone.
  • Santa Claus is shown amidst the angry mob, angry about the Wattersons running him over in "Christmas". Except not only did he forgive them for what happened, saying Richard was on the Nice List for life after saving his sleigh, but even if he wanted to sue, he was jaywalking, which could just as likely cause a "Shared Fault" case, or even be considered his fault for walking in the middle of incoming traffic.
• No Ending: The episode simply ends with the Wattersons facing an angry mob.
• Puff of Logic: The episode begins with the family pointing out how the house inexplicably fixed itself minutes after being destroyed in the end of "The Responsible". It's only moments later that the consequences of everything they've done manifest in rapid succession.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Nicole and Anais plead with Martha Miller (the municipal officer) at the Justice Department, who has a massive amount of files on the Wattersons' past misdemeanors. Mrs. Miller sarcastically suggests that "they apologize to everybody and have them drop the charges against the Wattersons." Nicole enthusiastically takes her advice without realizing her sarcasm before running off with Anais and some files. Mrs. Miller even lampshades this:
  Mrs. Miller: The problem with having a sarcastic voice is that no one can tell when you're actually being sarcastic.
• Series Fauxnale: Lampshaded, considering this is only the end of the second season and the show at the time was renewed for a third season.
• Spontaneous Crowd Formation: Tobias sees Richard and Patrick arguing, shouts out "Dad fight!", and a crowd surrounds them in an instant.
• Start X to Stop X: The overall logic behind the Wattersons' antics in this episode is that causing further destruction would cancel out the consequences of everything that happened before it. Because of course.
• This Is Reality: When presenting Richard with a bill for all the damage done to the town, Hector's mother tells him that this isn't a fairy tale, where things just magically turn out all right... just as she gets up on her Flying Broomstick.
• Your Mom: Nicole very reluctantly makes several of these to Hector to make him angry.
  Nicole: Tell your mom... that she's so short, she needs shoes for her chin.
  (Hector growls)
  Nicole: Also tell you mom she's so fat that her high school photo was a double page spread.
  (Hector growls louder)
  Nicole: And finally... tell your mom that she has so many warts... (covers face) that her face spells "ugly" in Braille.

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