Gumball: The darkness, it's calling me.
Nicole, Richard, Darwin, and Anais try to cheer up Gumball, who is in an inexplicably bad mood — and things get worse when Gumball finds himself the only person left in the world and his misery comes to life and consumes everything in Elmore.
Tropes:
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Gumball concludes the giant mass of black chasing after him is nothing to be afraid of, confronts it, and immediately changes his mind.Gumball: Hold on—I'm not scared of the dark! Why should I be afraid of you!
(an inky tendril grabs Gumball's face and he tears it off)
Gumball: Oh yeah. That's why.
(Gumball Screams Like a Little Girl and runs away) - Bottle Episode: The vast majority of the episode doesn't feature any character except Gumball and only has him appear in the house for most of the episode and outside for some of it.
- Bowdlerise: In Cartoon Network Latin America, the shot of the TV showing the hideously Photoshopped woman in a shampoo commercial was replaced with a frozen shot of Gumball looking mad before Gumball chucks the remote control at the TV. Gumball groping Richard's chest in the flashbacks to what he was really doing was also cut.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Gumball's bad mood turns Joyful Burger into Misery Burger, a Captain Crunch billboard into Captain Crud, and causes the economy to fall. However, to Gumball, that last one is the unsurprising one.
- Caught Up in the Rapture: When trying to figure out where everyone else went, one of Gumball's ideas seems to be that The Rapture has come, but it's worded as ambiguously as possible so as not to directly reference it.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Richard gives advice on being in a bad mood before he "disappears" (pretend that you're happy until you actually are), and Gumball uses it to escape his bad mood at the end.
- Comfort Food:Richard: You know what I do when I'm feeling down? I pretend to be happy until I find that I am!
Nicole: I though you just ate chili-dogs.
Richard: The chili-dog is an important stage. - Continuity Nod: Anais wants Gumball to teach her the "Heart-Disintegrating" move he saw Clayton use in "The Move".
- Cutting Back to Reality: After it’s revealed that Gumball was imagining everyone being gone, it cuts to what everyone else was experiencing while he was in his fantasy.
- Deer in the Headlights:Gumball: Darkness is calling me. I feel like I should run, but my legs won't.
(camera pans down to show Gumball is already running)
Gumball: Ah, what do ya know? Good job, legs! - Epic Fail: Trying to set off some Disaster Dominoes, Gumball knocks a lamp over but the series of objects that fell in sequence all bounce back upright, except the lamp itself, which bounces back into his face.
- "Everyone Is Gone" Episode: Everyone in town except Gumball is missing for the bulk of the episode.
- Flashback-Montage Realization: An aversion: Anais questions whether Gumball should be told that he had been hallucinating being alone through most of the episode, followed by a montage of events from earlier in the episode that reveal someone else was in Gumball's range. Nicole decides against it.
- Four-Fingered Hands: Gumball points out in his musical number that he only has six fingers, not counting his thumbs.
- Friction Burn: Playing a video game for too long causes Gumball's thumbs to catch fire.
- Ignored Epiphany:Gumball: I made a terrible wish! And now my whole family have disappeared!... Good!
- Loophole Abuse: Gumball looks around his house while carrying his mattress along on his back so he didn't technically get out of bed, and thus his family didn't "win".
- Musical Pastiche: Gumball's impromptu musical number, "Life can make you smile", sounds a lot like Pharrell Williams' "Happy".
- Narrative Shapeshifting: When Gumball's family disappears, he imitates their appearance and voices and responds in-character to the terrible meal Gumball made.
- Random Events Plot: Aside from the beginning and climax, most of the episode has Gumball trying a variety of ways to be happy again by himself.
- Rewatch Bonus: Gumball's attempt at causing Disaster Dominoes initially looks like it was an Epic Fail after the vase bounced back for no reason. On rewatch however, it's easy to see that Nicole more than likely caught the vase and tried to reverse the dominos, but accidentally hit Gumball with the lamp in the process, Gumball not realizing it due to being in a bad mood.
- Right Behind Me: Gumball retracts his pleas for other people when it comes to Alan, since he wouldn't want him to be the only other person. Alan is right behind him but imperceptible to him.Alan: Cold...
- Shifting Voice of Madness: Whenever Gumball feels particularly bitter, he spits out his word in a very harsh tone while making a creepy face.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Nicole wanted to test make-up on Gumball to see how it would look on her.
- Suddenly Obvious Fakery: Happens at the end of the episode when it's revealed that Gumball was hallucinating the whole time.
- Talking to Themself: After realizing everyone in town is gone, Gumball gets in an argument with himself over whether or not that's a good thing right before the black cloud comes in.No one cares, anyway! I don't need anyone!
Wait, what am I saying?
Stupid town! I hate living here!
What the?! What am I talking about?
I hate puppies, cupcakes, and rainbows too!
What? That's not true. I love rainbows. What's going on? - Through the Eyes of Madness: Gumball was only hallucinating the entire town was empty. He was actually walking around looking to other people like he was just ignoring them. The family decides to save him the embarrassment of the truth.
- Your Television Hates You: Gumball tries to watch TV to cheer up, but finds a newscast about a poisonous lake, a nature documentary showing a rare frog getting killed, and a shampoo commercial where the model gloats about how digital enhancement makes her (and other models) beautiful in a way that's impossible to achieve in real life.Gumball: What the what?! This is the first time that TV hasn't given me the answer—or at least distracted me from the question.
