“When Gumball has the worst day of his life, he believes himself to be cursed and must rely on his siblings in order to get his luck back and make it through the day in one piece.”
I've never been particularly happy with one of the core concepts of the series: Things will never go well for Gumball. This little blue cat is abused on a regular basis, either by the other characters or by the world itself. This episode pushes that concept into maximum overdrive, and it's surprisingly enjoyable. I've never thought it was fair when characters suffer through no fault of their own, but the writers handled this situation well and the climax was one of the more interesting ones to date. I would have liked to see Anais have some bad luck of her own considering how her attempts to be scientific merely made things worse for Gumball, but at least she didn't get to go to Daisy Land at the end.
The climax works largely due to how well the production staff built up the tension, starting with the detention scene. It's difficult to portray a battle between a character and an intangible force, but Gumball's battle with bad luck was one of the more epic things that the show has done. There's a reason Cartoon Network used this material to promote the show last May. Moments like these really showcase the fluidity of the animation and how well the live-action backgrounds blend with it. We also got to see what Rachel's father looked like during the funny
ending. It's still unclear if Rachel will show up in season two or not
since there was apparently some disagreement over her among the
production staff, but I liked her in "The Party" so I hope this isn't
the last time we see her.
