"I don't want to hear your excuses. I just want you guys back."Here's a fun fact for everybody out there: in my entire time writing for the show, I haven't covered a single episode that I would describe as "monumental." In fact, the first episode I wrote about was "The Code," coming directly after "The Choices" very intentionally. At the time I was ill-equipped to try to discuss the episode and decided the best option would be to dodge it altogether, but now, a little over a season later, I have to write about a heavy episode. And it won't be the most fun thing ever.
There's a lot of issues with "The Parents." And sure, while it ultimately remains likeable, something entirely by design for what it is, it's marred by its own unique set of issues that prevent it from being what it should theoretically be. I mean... this is Nicole reuniting with her parents. That's a big deal! But marred with emotional contrivances and a self-congratulatory amount of self-awareness, "The Parents" finds itself significantly damaged.
But before we dive into that, it's important to address what the episode did right. Despite using a fair amount of comic exaggeration—this is Gumball after all—I appreciated how raw the relationship was between Nicole and her parents. The show, naturally, explores this to very silly degrees in how they demonstrate their refusal to reconcile, but that which they verbally express registers perfectly. It's a grudge that feels realized and engraved with trauma and heartbreak, and that the show is able to handle concepts with that level of maturity without compromising its humor is one of the show's greatest strengths. (The back-and-forth between Nicole and her parents trying to trace the root of their feuding was a particular highlight.)At the same time, though... that's where the episode stumbles around the most, with the ending demonstrating one of the show's greatest challenges—sometimes, the show, in embracing its cynicism and being winkingly self-aware, ends up hurting itself. That "The Parents" is so obsessed with trying to both convey emotion and refute that emotion as manufactured causes the entire piece to end up feeling severely conflicted.
And here's the thing: I'll usually defend the show playing dirty. "The Promise" is one of the bleakest episodes in the series, and one that paints Gumball and Darwin as unfavorably as possible, and that's why I love it. But while "The Promise" is upfront about itself coyfully pulling on the audience's heartstrings, using Banana Joe as a means of conducting sympathy to trample on, the tension between Nicole and her parents is too deeply cut to be played with in the same manner. Even if Gumball, granted, can be an exploitative little buttwipe, that he'd repeat that pattern of behavior over a situation he can recognize the tenseness of—and the suggestion that he's much more invested in reaping the material benefits of having grandparents than rekindling his family—reflects on his character horrifically.
I can see why people writing for the show would dig the idea; they know that the emotions are fake, and having Gumball point it out should be self-aware hilarity. But the issue is that we, as an audience, want to be under the spell of disbelief, and it's the show's obligation to be receptive to that, and slamming Gumball's head against the window isn't functional catharsis enough to mend the degree that the show disillusions the viewer. Self-awareness is a difficult creature to balance, but while the show has generally found ways to use it and rise to great success, here, it sunk.If there's a silver lining, though, it's this: the way I see it, "The Parents" is less focused on burying the hatchet with Nicole's parents so much as reintroducing the characters into the series. While Nicole ultimately forgives them, the wound is still very much open on both ends, and I'd be interested in future episodes exploring their relationship further down the line. (That the voice actors for the characters have begun regularly appearing in the show's credits seems to affirm that as well.) As such, I can't evaluate the episode on the basis of its finality.
Either way, though, "The Parents" wound up causing a whole lot of unnecessary destruction to itself.
Quotes and Notes:
-While watching the episodes through the CN website, I was bombarded with a series of ads and general means of stalling the show. One of them was of Craig of the Creek, with Craig picking up the CN logo out of a dump yard and saying, "It's perfect!" Aside from the admittedly on-point location usage, CN, if this episode schedule has come to reflect anything at all, you shouldn't lie to yourself.
-"This can can be opened by women of reasonable intelligence with limited male supervision."
-I appreciate how almost precisely seven years later, Gumball is still very much obsessed with the idea of lump presents. (See: "The End.")
-"I like my coffee the way I like jokes about the way I like my coffee: I don't." I'm sure one of the writers was really proud of that one.
-"My first name is Doctor. It's all very funny until someone shouts, 'Is there a doctor in the house,' and your parents say yes. Turns out people choking on a chicken wing rarely stay conscious long enough to enjoy the punchline!"
FINAL GRADE: B. Listen, show. You do great things. You've given me a heck of a lot of appreciation for everything that you do right, and I dream of being able to do what you've been able to do so many times over. But it's because of that that I feel the need to say this: don't let your head go too far up your own ass. What happened here led to an episode that was shot down by a series of unnecessarily smug affectations that didn't need to exist at all. "The Parents," ultimately, while not a bomb outright, drags itself down so knowingly that it leaves a lot to be desired.For the last Gumball review of "The Brain," CLICK HERE.
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