User blog:ScribbledEggs/A Guy's Thoughts: "The Rival" and "The Lady" - Season Six's Solid Start?

Season Six's Solid Start? Trying saying that fast ten times.

With the Season 6 premiering recently, I figured I would take the time to share my thoughts about the premiere in the typical "over-analytical" fashion. I do not intend to make reviewing Season 6 a regular occurrence, but may as well make an exception for such an occasion, right?

Without further ado, welcome to a dump of some random guy's thoughts about a television series.

"The Rival"
"The Rival" was a highly anticipated episode among the community, and for very good reason— the episode promised an exploration of a newborn Anais and how the family learned to adapt with the newest addition. Despite the great excitement surrounding the episode, "The Rival" proved to be one of the series's more controversial episodes. Opinions ranged from "great episode" to "one of the worst in the series yet." Needless to say, it was an icy start for the season.

Personally, I enjoyed the episode quite a bit. The episode is not as strong as the other flashback episodes, namely "The Origins: Part One and Two" and "The Choices," but it still managed to captivate me for eleven minutes and bring me promise of what was to come this season. Anais and her seemingly jarring characterization seems to be one of the main criticisms toward the episode; Anais being a blood-lust killer is cited as being a betrayal to her character. As somebody who cares  too much  about character integrity, I found "The Rival" to be one of the show's smarter implementations of her character yet. My stance may come across a bizarre perspective, but I think there is a certain logic to Anais behaving the way she does in the episode.

For starters, the episode takes place four years before the bulk if the show, a time period in which Anais is just a baby. Although babies are incredibly adorable and absolutely precious, they do not have a solid understanding of the concept of empathy. While saying babies lack empathy completely is an exaggeration, it is commonly accepted by most psychologists that infants lack the same understanding of emotions a that older people would and for a lack of a better term, are somewhat irrational. Heck, the episode acknowledges this perspective in-universe twice. One instance is before the climax of the episode, in which Gumball himself states, "She may be terrifyingly intelligent for her age, but she's still her age." The second instance of this perspective being showcased is far more subtle, being the nature documentary the Watterson brothers catch glimpse of earlier in the episode. Scientific inaccuracies of the content itself aside, the documentary is not pointless filler and serves to affirm the idea that babies lack the self-awareness to recognize needlessly aggressive behavior. Furthermore, Anais is no stranger to violent behavior based on some other instances in the series. Now, I am not trying to suggest that Anais's current characterization has her as some intelligent vitriolic sociopath because that is simply not the case; Anais is a docile socially-awkward little kid who happens to have a high IQ. However, whether it be through quick one-off gags such as her brutal suggestion to get rid of Zach in "The Name" and her potential usage of tools to make Darwin in "The Detective" or crucial plot points such as her reaction to Billy in "The Pest" and her plot to get rid of the Miracle Star cast in "The Copycats," Anais has always had a somewhat repressed aggressive nature to her character. Casting Anais as a mere infant is the only sensible way to fully explore these more sadistic tendencies without going against what the character stands for. Since Anais lacks the maturity and empathy she has in her current characterization, there is more of a freedom to have Anais behave in a more unhinged manner.

These two factors combined with her abnormally high intelligence makes a constantly scheming violent Anais a brilliant choice among the writers. Anais has the analytical mindset to plot complex schemes to anaihlate her older brothers, but lacks the maturity and empathy to realize that what she is doing is morally heinous. Anais's character aside, another problem many have with the episode is its plot archetype. The "evil baby tortures older siblings" is not a likable plot for many, and it is a sentiment I understand. Often, these plots are executed poorly and present an unfunny plot in which everyone is against the eldest sibling(s) without said sibling(s) standing a fair chance. "The Rival" executed this plot in such a way as to minimize this prat. Because Gumball has such a strong emphasis on dark comedy, the episode's narrative is structured around the sheer morbidity of Anais's actions rather than the hopeless despair of seemingly everyone being out to get Gumball and Darwin. The episode feels fresh and hilarious with how dark the situation gets rather than frustrating. Even when Nicole and Richard do confront the boys the first time, they have a heart-to-heart talk with the boys as opposed to mindless agitation toward them. Besides, who doesn't want to see Gumball lament about how he almost went to hell?

If there is one complaint I have regarding the episode, it is the ending. I have always been of the mindset that when applicable, it is better to end an episode with a legitimate character-based heartfelt moment as opposed to cheapening the moment by going for that last-minute joke that tends to not be all that humorous, especially compared to the rest of the episode. This is something that the series has done before, namely "The Boss" and "The Nest." The endings to those episodes by no mean dampens how amazing the rest of the content is, but it does make the ending look relatively weak (especially "The Nest" with how amazing it was). Likewise, the ending to "The Rival" lacks any real satisfying punch because it took this route. To spoil such a sweet moment after the siblings shared a nice bonding moment does not bode all too well. Another small complaint about the episode would have to be a slight over-abundance facial humor. Facial humor is nothing new for the series, as Seasons 3 and 4 took indulgence in the occasional goofy face. However, it feels as if "The Rival" relies on these faces on a frequent enough basis that it is distracting as opposed to humorous. The silly faces are comical because they are a drastic difference from the norm, but when they are done on such a regular basis within an episode, that effect is lost. It is not a bi deal, but noticeable nonetheless.

"The Rival" may not an instant classic in the same way episodes such as "The Origins" and "The Choices" are, but "The Rival" still manages to impress me and indicate that the show is ready for a strong final season.

"The Lady"
"The Lady" left many apprehensive. With a synopsis as weird as "The boys find out that Dad has been dressing as a woman to make friends," many were left confused and a bit worried as to what direction the episode would take. However, "The Lady" aired and was met with lavish praise, and I myself will be contributing to such praise because I found this episode to be great.

Enough formalities, "The Lady" was a reason of so many was the fact it was delving into a topical issue— cross-dressing. With episodes such as "The Stars" and "The Worst" still in mind, some believed that the episode would drop much of the show's sensibilities in favor of delivering some mediocre commentary on society. This is not to say that the show wanting to tackle social issues is a bad thing; "The Money" and "The Blame" are both excellent pieces about consumerism and twenty-first century parenting respectively, but the recent track record at the time left room for doubt. Luckily, "The Lady" avoids this issue all together by not focusing on social satire. Cross-dressing is still a huge part of the narrative in "The Lady," but rather than trying to make a huge statement, "The Lady" is about Richard and the circle of misunderstandings he finds himself in. The comedy is derived from the awkward misunderstanding rather than stabs at society. It makes for a refreshing watch. Speaking of misunderstandings, the episode's main conflict is comical because of it. The show is no stranger to embedding misunderstandings into its plot; some may argue it has been done to the point it is not as effective anymore. One aspect that makes this episode utilization of a misunderstanding so humorous is that the episode does not try to play it up as some big mystery with a genuinely shocking twist. Rather, the episode is blatant as to what is the root of the debacle, and much of the episode is driven from the characters' misinterpretation of the situation rather than the viewers' supposed obliviousness. Coupled by the fact the brothers think their father is having a literal cheating affair with not one, but three older women as opposed to some innocent fun, and the episode is brimmed with material to work with. The culmination of everybody's oblivion in the episode's final scene only escalates the hilarity, and really helps to sweeten the deal when Violet and Angela reveal they are Marvin and George only to quickly revert back to their disguises. A pointless solution to a pointless problem if you will. It would be criminal to neglect the fact this episode is a loving homage to The Golden Girls, so I will say that this episode is one of the show's best parodies yet. "The Lady" is very similar to "The Console" in the regard that the episode feels as if it was built by those who have a passion and an understanding of the source material but know to acknowledge it in such a way that a person unfamiliar with it will not feel alienated. Everything from the voices to the small visual nuances such as the CRT lines on the character designs will be sure to evoke nostalgia out of The Golden Girl fans, but the humor is not solely dependent of left-and-right references to the property. It is a sort of magical middle ground only this cartoon has managed to capture, and as a person whose experience with The Golden Girls was a handful of episodes from years ago, I never feel as if the episode is over-saturated with THe Golden Girl references. "The Lady" shows that it is not always wise to judge a book by its cover, and that every episode deserves fair chance before scrutiny. "The Lady" is a solid episode and is a nice companion to "The Rival" in welcoming Season 6.

The Closing Notes
Thank you for taking the time to read all of this. As always, comments are appreciated, whether you agree or disagree.

With not much else to say, I will leave you to your day while I continue to delay a disappointing article about Nicole.

Until next time, take care! :D (I'm weakening, I know.)