“When Miss Simian realizes that the only trophy she is lacking for her collection is the one for best teacher – which requires a student nomination – she decides to become Gumball’s friend in order to get him to write the letter in question. However, not all of the Wattersons believe that she has truly changed.”
Miss Simian is the closest thing that this show has to an antagonist. While there are other characters who serve to make life miserable for Gumball, such as Tina and her gang, no other character is in the position to act as harshly against him. Despite that, Miss Simian hasn’t had very many notable roles this season, but this episode did a lot to help rectify that and cement her place as a truly awful person. Not only is she actively ruining Gumball’s life, but strove to ruin Nicole’s life as well, contributing greatly to her mental instability with years of taunting and teasing. I welcomed that revelation. I fervently believe that Nicole is the best character in the show, as in addition to being funny, she arguably has the most depth out of any character and this episode added greatly to that. The brief flashback was rather sad and really set up the climax.
I’ve always given the show credit for its epic climaxes – when it chooses to have them. This episode certainly delivered in that regard. After learning that Miss Simian deceived them – and called them “losers” to boot – Nicole orders her family into the car and conducts a dangerous, high-speed chase in order to get revenge against her. A lot of crazy things happened in that chase and it kept building up, making you want to see what happens next. It’s also interesting in that Nicole, who would normally do anything to protect her family, was so furious that she actually ordered them to do a variety of dangerous things in an effort to stop Miss Simian. What’s more interesting is the fact that she fails. Miss Simian gets her comeuppance, to be sure, but she still delivers the letter and actually wins the trophy that she sought to obtain. I didn’t quite like that move, but it’s a bold one and does add to Miss Simian’s credentials as the show’s primary antagonist. All in all, I really enjoyed this episode and I hope that Nicole and Miss Simian’s feud will resume in season two.
