The Amazing World of Gumball

(i posted this last year but it just recently got deleted for some reason, so i'm republishing)

I know my story is long but please bear with me. There just isn't a short way to say it, so here it is. The Amazing World of Gumball was never my favorite. It was mildly entertaining to me personally but I couldn't stand it for more than an episode or two, but I had too, for I worked at Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe. My wife and three kids on the other hand absolutely loved it. They were younger so I expected it. Every day when they came home from school, I made sure I had the show cued up for them to watch, along with an afternoon snack, as I usually only worked the morning shift. One day they had to stay after school for a while so I was left to watch the house. I had already prepared the show for them so I figured I might as well watch it.

The episode playing was "The Puppy". This particular episode was actually one I enjoyed as well so I went ahead and recorded it for my kids. About halfway through the episode, my TV went static for about 15 seconds before abruptly changing to a title card reading "The Amazing World of Gumball". The usual rainbow was a tad lower quality but other than that, it was normal. It then quickly changed to the title, "The End" before changing to "The Finale" and then, "The Truth". I was a little confused because the screen was all black, with the title being written in the most plain white text, as opposed to the usual galaxy background.

Just then, I received a call from my boss at Cartoon Network, ordering me to come in right away. Upon arriving, I had realized I had a meeting there that day and had forgotten about it. Once the meeting was over I remembered the episode I had recording at my house. I asked my boss about the episode and he said that he didn't remember clearing an episode called "The Truth". He then ordered for the staff to meet at my house to watch the episode. Once we got to my house, my wife and kids were still not home, so we all sat around the TV and I turned on the episode. Everyone was just as thrown off as I was with the episode's name, but we pressed on.

The episode opened in a house, in a large empty room that resembled a living room. After about a minute, "Gumball" entered the room. Only it wasn't him. It was a young boy, who looked around 12, spray painted blue and dressed and painted to represent the blue animated cat. "Darwin" entered a short time after, also a young 12ish year old boy painted orange to represent a fish. After looking closer, the boy only had green shoes and orange underwear on, nothing else. After "Anais" entered, well I say entered, it was more like pushed onto the screen, one of the staff members paused it and asked if she could leave. My boss declared that no one could leave until we figured this out. He also asked that if anyone was responsible for this, they should speak up now. No one moved, so we resumed watching.

"Anais" was a little girl who looked around 5 years old who was painted pink, in a little pink dress with bunny ears. All three kids sat next to each other in complete silence, as if they were waiting for something to happen. For about 30 seconds, nothing really happened except some fidgeting here and there from "Darwin". Finally, Nicole and Richard Watterson entered the room. They looked absolutely horrible. "Nicole" was a woman who looked to be around 32. Her hair was frizzled and messily cut, and she too was painted and dressed to resemble the animated mother of Gumball.

"Richard" on the other hand had to be the worst of them all. A middle-aged man, who was morbidly obese, dressed in a very tight and uncomfortably fitting shirt and pair of khaki dress pants. He was painted pink but very messily, as there were several bare spots on his arms and face. They both also had visible cuts and bruises on their faces, and they appeared to be on the verge of tears.

Just then the screen violently twitched for a second before returning to the scene. However, the room now has a couch in it. My boss suggested I rewound to see what the twitch was, so I did. What we saw shocked us. We saw a single frame displaying the shadows of 2 people, one large and one smaller, on the back wall of the room, hanging from the ceiling. With hesitation, my boss suggested we carry on, so we did.

The kids then sat on the couch as the two parents went off screen to what sounded like a kitchen based on the clanging of pots and pans. "Nicole" then asked, "Are you kids hungry," with a hint of fright in her voice. "Yes please Mrs. Mom," "Darwin" promptly responded. This reassured everyone, for this was one of Darwin's signature lines in the show so it gave us hope that the episode would get better. After a few minutes of the kids talking quietly to each other, a massive crash was heard off screen. "Nicole" and "Richard" began violently yelling at each other. Just then a very heavy thud was heard and "Richard" cried, "Please. Please help me." "Nicole" responded with "I... I can't do this, please." "Wait! Rewind it," one of our staff members cried. I did and he told us to listen closely.

Right after "Nicole" pleaded that she couldn't "do this" we heard a voice that said, "Do it. Or everyone dies," in a very deep, stern voice. Then "Nicole" screamed and we heard another thud, followed by a grunt from "Richard". "I--I killed him," declared "Nicole". The kids were seemingly aware of this as well, for they began to tear up and move much more fearfully. "Darwin" was then pulled off the screen by some unknown force and then pushed back on with something in his hand. It was a crowbar. He walked over to "Gumball" and began to whisper something in his ear. "Gumball" just nodded grimly and looked as if he was about to cry. Just then, the audio cut out and the screen began to shake violently. We tried pausing and rewinding but it did no good. After about 20 seconds, the screen went black and... a commercial break started.

Well, I say "break" it was one 30 second ad. You would think a break would reassure us, but the ad was for a brand-new crowbar. A man was standing in what looked to be a garage or basement. He began smashing different things and yelling about how strong and durable it was. The ad ended with the man walking up to the camera saying "For a VERY limited time only." The screen then went black again for about 30 seconds.

Suddenly the show returned and "Gumball" lied motionless on the floor in a small puddle of blood, a large gash in the side of his head. "Darwin" just sat on the couch sobbing softly, the crowbar now stained with blood at his side. We noticed that "Anais" wasn't in the room with him and we could only hope she was in the kitchen with "Nicole". The TV screen then twitched violently again for a split second before returning to the scene. We immediately rewound the episode and found that the twitch was another replaced frame. This frame displayed two shadows on the wall of the room. One large figure handing a small figure what looked to be a piece of paper.

The episode had obviously been heavily edited because when the frame was over, the couch and "Darwin" were gone while "Nicole" was standing, facing the camera. She looked even worse than before, fresh cuts and bruises appeared along her face as well as more non-painted spots on her arms and legs. She appeared to be looking in the direction of the kitchen, looking more fidgety than before. She didn't look sad, or hurt like before, she just appeared very nervous. "Darwin" then reentered the room alone, crowbar in hand, with a sorrowful look on his face. Everyone in the room with me had a terrible thought but we were somewhat put at ease when "Anais" entered the room shortly after. She was holding a crumbled-up piece of paper.

The "family" just sat together and began talking very vaguely, muttering things like "you have to understand" and "it's better this way". None of us liked the sound of where this was going. All of a sudden, "Anais" exited the room, presumably to go to the kitchen, while "Nicole" got on her knees and bowed her head. There was then an off-camera yell shouting, "Darwin, DO IT!" "Darwin", without hesitation, then took hold of his crowbar and with one swift, fluid motion, struck "Nicole" in her temple. She laid on the ground, convulsing as "Darwin" struck her once more in the chest. She stopped moving.

There was then a jump in the scene, another edited frame, and "Nicole" had been taken away. "Darwin" just sat there, a glazed look on his face, while "Anais" entered the room, the crumbled piece of paper in her hand. She simply stared at "Darwin", who looked confused, and handed him the piece of paper. Upon reading it, his face reduced to one of complete shock and disbelief. He threw the paper down and ran off the screen to the right, presumably out the front door, screaming. We then heard loud, pounding footsteps of someone off-camera, running after "Darwin".

We assumed the door was wide open because we heard the sound of someone hitting the pavement roughly, followed by brutal beating and shouting. We couldn't make out most of what was said but we kept on hearing "I TOLD YOU TO TRUST ME!" After a very high-pitched scream, all was dead silent. Just then, someone took hold of the camera and walked it outside. This is where I, along with my boss and two co-workers, lost it. We vomited at the sight of "Darwin", beaten to a bloody pulp on what looked to be a driveway. He went back inside into the kitchen, and we were introduced to "Richard", dead on the kitchen floor. He wasn't as badly beaten as "Darwin", for he only showed damage in his stomach and chest, but still. The man holding the camera then remounted it so that it faced the room before the screen cut to static. This break allowed for a brief discussion amongst my coworkers and me.

People began pointing fingers at who they had thought would have created such an episode. My boss then shouted for everyone to be quiet. He suggested we take the episode into our studios to further analyze it. We were about to head out when the static ended and the episode resumed. The screen once again displayed the title card reading "The Truth". The screen then shifted to display the room again, this time, two shadows appeared on the back wall. Two people, one large and one small, were hanging from the ceiling, presumably behind where the camera was set up, and little "Anais" just stood there looking at the camera with the piece of paper once again in her hand. We once again heard the deep voice off camera that said, "Go on sweetheart. Read the note."

She simply nodded and began to read it. One thing we noticed throughout the episode was that she was much too young to understand just about anything that went on in any of this. She began reading the note which read, "Now, we are free. With the extermination of the human race, we are purifying what God made for us, and that is the truth. And this? Well this is me doing my part and I encourage everyone watching to do theirs as well." How a five-year-old girl could read that was beyond me, but then again, the real Anais was a child genius. All of a sudden the man behind the camera once again spoke, "Good girl. Now close your eyes." Before we knew it, the screen went black and there were two gunshots, and the episode ended.

No one moved. So many questions filled our minds. "Did he kill the girl?" "Did he kill himself?" "Why would he send this type of message through a kid show?" No one knew what to think; we were so shocked. All my coworkers began to leave, except for my boss. He looked horrible, sick to his stomach. Kinda hard to blame him as I wasn't doing too well either. But we needed answers. So, we chose to re-watch the episode to see if we missed anything that may lead us to an explanation. We were sorry we did. We didn't really notice anything different until the scene where "Darwin's" mutilated body was discovered, but what we did discover, well you'll see in a second.

It took a lot of pausing and rewinding to make sure we weren't crazy, but we definitely saw it. Once the man took his camera off of "Darwin", he pointed it upwards towards a house across the street for no more than a split second. We paused on the house and looked closely; we couldn't believe it. Upon looking closer, we saw that the house the camera was pointed at was mine. We looked even closer and saw ourselves and all my coworkers gathered around my TV.

The only explanation that we could come up with was that the man somehow found a way to directly air something he had recorded. He tried to play it earlier for me but when he saw me leave for the studios, he stopped which allowed him more time to prepare the episode before finally showing it to all of us. We turned on the news and a man had been reportedly arrested and surrounded by police. We looked in horror from my window across the street at all the police cars and ambulances. I had completely zoned out but I could've sworn I heard the news man say that this man had also killed a woman in her 30s and two children in addition to the "Watterson" family. Then I remembered, my wife and kids still aren't home...