Thread:Gumball2/@comment-30953185-20171226202550/@comment-4618045-20171229043013

The guilt wasn’t nothing (I’ll admit), but for me, it’s too little too late in the episode. What he did is very bad in my eyes. All he had to do was grow a spine and lay down the law to his daughter. Talk to her, tell her right from wrong, punish her for going too far, or if none of that worked, seek outside help. Cowing to his own daughter is pretty pathetic on its own. But then he deceived his family, knowingly lured them into danger, and then allowed them to suffer one by one without stopping to help (as a Leni fan, I could imagine watching her get catapulted wasn’t easy to watch). That is a big offense and a little guilt doesn’t do much to knock down that edifice.

I don’t think his plan at the end was the right thing. Good parents don’t exact revenge on their children because it doesn’t set a good example. Parents are supposed to have the moral high ground, above pulling absurd pranks on their children. Otherwise, children would have no reason to respect their parents as authority figures. Rather than do what I think is the right thing (I.e. confront Luan through conversation), he indulges in a visceral pool of resentment to pull a prank that a clear mind would know couldn’t possibly teach Luan why going overboard on pranking is bad. All it does is convince Luan that pranks are okay and that the only response to pranking is more pranking. She learns nothing. Lynn Sr is able to hide behind her beleaguered children (who he doesn’t tell about his involvement in this whole disaster) to avoid taking responsibility for the mess of a daughter he’s created (though she is fine in other episodes). To me, this is just another instance of cowardice. Lynn Sr doesn’t try to rise above the rampant animosity and instead rewards his daughter’s disgusting behavior by lowering his own moral and parenting standards to justify the base emotions (selfishness, cowardice, submission, and violence enabling) found in other bad cartoon parents.