If you know anything about the actual ILOVEYOU.EXE computer worm, you would know just how easy it would have been to go the cynical route and have Bobert blow up in the end, unable to love. You already went into the bulk of that, so instead I would like to say how much I appreciate the episode's restraint in regards to Bobert. I absolutely adore the sincerity of "The Love," whether it's about how love knows no sexual orientation or how something as simple as a loving hug can legitimately do a lot for a person. It's great to finally see this out, and good on you I suppose for saving $95.
![the amazing world of gumball nicole cartoon reality the amazing world of gumball nicole cartoon reality](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/04/00/74/040074a963298368eef3b85b2154ba30--animal-illustrations-my-mom.jpg)
Hell, even the vignette showing the Robinsons’ romance, for all its silly satirical elements (mocking Up and the inescapable death coughs) feels sweet in its weirdness. (“Love is inexplicable,” the episode says.) Richard also gets his own excellent sequence where he finds himself in increasingly greater trouble due to innocent hugs, but the bit ends sweetly enough that the cynical nature of it is undercut entirely in a legitimately surprising, yet honest way. Perhaps no scene embodies that better than the one where Nicole tries to think of things to say about Richard, but repeatedly fails to think of anything, only for the two to end up hugging it out there’s not really a massive joke at the end so much as fantastically minimalistic character work, and it, well, works. Sure, there are some vignettes that exist to deliver the sort of straightforward laughs you’d expect from the simple premise, but a large portion have an underlying sweetness that really lands because of how true it feels to the characters involved and their understanding of what love means.