Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (City of Thieves/The Witch’s Garden)

Finn and Jake come by a city they’ve never been to before, and a Hag appears to warn them that this is the City of Thieves. If you set foot in the city, it will eventually get to you and turn you into a thief. Finn spots a little girl, named Penny, outside the city crying because some thieves stole her basket. Finn offers to get it back for her, confident that the city won’t be able to corrupt him.

When they enter the city, getting Penny’s basket back proves to be more difficult than they had thought, as the basket keeps getting stolen again and again. Penny tells Finn about the king thief who steals from people and brings all of it to his tower, which is protected by a barrier that you can only get through if you’re not a thief. This makes me wonder how the king thief is able to get inside his own tower. Does the barrier keep out all thieves except for himself? Anyway, they decide to check inside the tower to see if Penny’s basket may have ended up there, but Jake can’t enter the tower because the city got to him and he couldn’t resist stealing something, so Finn has to go in by himself. When he enters the tower, he finds that the king thief must have died long ago, since he’s now just a skeleton. The chest where he keeps all of his stolen goods are hidden in the skeleton’s chest. Get it? It’s punny. But how did the king thief put the chest in his chest before he died? And how would the basket end up in there if the king thief is dead? Finn doesn’t think of these questions, he just grabs the chest and goes back outside to meet Penny and Jake.

When Finn reaches them, Penny grabs the chest (which is filled with jewels) from him and reveals that she tricked him into getting the chest for her. She couldn’t enter the tower herself because she’s a thief. Plot twist! Except not really because I saw it coming from the moment we met Penny. It’s still a pretty cool twist though, and really clever of Penny. That little girl is going places. Even better is the fact that Finn can’t even return the chest, which he immediately tries to do after finding out about Penny’s plan. Finn can’t enter the tower anymore. He stole the chest, and that makes him a thief, so he can’t pass the barrier. Ha! It probably seems weird for me to be enjoying Finn being tricked this much, but Penny’s trick was just so clever, and I’ve always loved sly, cunning characters like Penny.

Penny runs off with the chest, and Finn is traumatized that his purity has been corrupted. Has it, though? Finn’s overreaction to this is mostly played for laughs, but of course I can’t help over-analyzing things. Finn didn’t steal the chest with corrupt motives. He wasn’t stealing it for himself, he was stealing it to help someone else (it’s kind of reminiscent of Robin Hood, actually). His intentions were good, pure and selfless, so is he really corrupted? Of course, intent doesn’t erase effect. Just because someone’s intentions are good it doesn’t mean that what they’re doing is acceptable. I don’t even know where I’m going with this train of thought anymore. Why do I always over-think everything in this show?!

Anyway, after having a meltdown about how he’s been corrupted, Finn decides to embrace his “dark side” and vows to get revenge on Penny. He and Jake begin stealing objects from around the city and find Penny’s tent. Well. I guess Finn is corrupted. They confront Penny in her tent and use a bar of soap they stole to wash her clean, which apparently makes her “clean” on the inside as well, and she no longer wants to be a thief. So, Finn isn’t corrupted? He didn’t get revenge on Penny, he rehabilitated her, and the soap apparently worked on him and Jake as well, so was he corrupted or not? But wait, the episode ends with Penny stealing Finn’s clothes and running away again, so she wasn’t actually rehabilitated. What.

Okay, it’s a little strange, but I actually really like the ending of this episode. I like that Penny hasn’t changed (because really, a bath being the answer to rehabilitation sounds like the stupidest plot device ever and I’m glad they didn’t go that route), and that Finn hasn’t changed either, despite his fears. One bad choice doesn’t automatically make you a bad person, Finn was overreacting to being “corrupted” and I think this ending is supposed to reflect that.

I like how everyone is effected by the city in different ways. Finn was determined to hang on to his purity and to not let the city corrupt him. Even after it seemed like his purity was threatened, his desire to do good was strong enough to beat out his “dark side”. He realized that he still had a choice in the matter. Jake is benevolent, but he doesn’t quite have Finn’s conviction to doing good. He was more susceptible to the city’s influence because, ultimately, he has more self-interest than Finn. Essentially, Jake is a True Neutral while Finn is more of a Lawful Good. Penny seems like a Neutral Evil. She is either unable or unwilling to fight the city’s influence. She does whatever is best for herself and doesn’t care about who she hurts in the process. She has no qualms about tricking Finn, but it isn’t until he confronts her in her tent and threatens her that she outright attacks him (“I’m sorry, Finn. Let me give you some uh, gems, or some gold, or uh, have some [pulls out knife] knife in your neck!”). The city has varying degrees of influence on all three characters because of their chosen philosophies

Of course, Penny seems to have spent more time in the city and might even have been born there, so this could also have influenced her. I wonder what would happen if someone who was in the city for a long time left and never went back. Would they still be a thief? Would fighting the urge to steal get easier? Would they eventually lose the urge completely? And does your age upon entering the city make any difference? Penny is really young and seems to have grown up in the city. She would never have known anything different, so is it more difficult to leave that lifestyle behind?

I really do read too much into these episodes, don’t I? At least I haven’t started sorting characters into Hogwarts houses yet.

Whatever, it’s fun to think about these things.

Rating: 9/10

Finn and Jake stumble upon a garden filled with pastries growing on bushes. The witch who owns the garden appears and accuses Jake of eating one of her doughnuts. Jake denies that he did, but he’s eating one of the doughnuts as he’s saying it (funny how both this episode and City of Thieves have Jake steal something without realizing it). As punishment, she takes away Jake’s powers. And for some reason this makes him look like a chubby man in underwear from the neck down? Um, okay then. The witch refuses to give Jake his powers back (and return him to his normal appearance) until he apologizes to her, but Jake is too stubborn and too prideful to do so.

Finn and Jake return to their tree fort and try to figure out another way for Jake to get his powers back. Finn asks Jake how he got his powers to begin with, and Jake explains that one day, back when he was a puppy, he was rolling in a mud puddle and I guess the mud was magical because he’s had powers since then. I… I thought Jake was born with his powers? If dogs in this world are born with the ability to speak, why can’t they also be born with shape-shifting powers? It makes more sense than getting powers from a mud puddle. Is this supposed to be a joke about the cliche of super heroes getting their powers from radioactive waste? Well, anyway, Finn suggests that they roll in mud puddles all around the Land of Ooo until they find one that gives Jake his powers back.

The problem is, Jake has been relying on his powers for so long that he’s gotten extremely lazy without them, more so than ever. He can’t even bother to try that hard to get them back, which frustrates Finn. During their quest to find every mud puddle in the Land of Ooo (how), they encounter a mermaid.  At least, she calls herself a mermaid. Her design is pretty cool, but she’s definitely no Ariel. Anyway, she attacks Finn, knocks him out, and takes him to her nest, where she leaves him as food for her hatchlings. Pretty sure that’s not a mermaid thing. Jake tries to rescue Finn, but he’s useless without his powers.

Left with no other options, Jake is forced to go back to the witch’s garden and apologize to her. The witch is annoyed that Jake took so long to apologize, so she forces him to do humiliating tasks before giving him back his powers. Once she thinks Jake has learned his lesson, she gives him his powers back and he immediately knocks over her cane, steals another one of her donuts, and leaves the garden before she can retaliate. So he learned nothing. When he rescues Finn, he tells Finn that he found the right mud puddle. So he really learned nothing.

I think this episode is supposed to have a moral, but I don’t know what it’s supposed to be. Actually, I think they were trying to do one of those things where the moral should be obvious but the “wacky” characters miss the point completely. Except I still don’t know what the moral they missed  even is.

I’ve talked and joked about how weird this show is many times, but no matter how weird things got I can’t recall not understanding any of the episodes I’ve seen so far. I may have joked about how confused I was, but, well, those were jokes, I never really meant it. This show is incredibly weird but it’s not hard to follow each episode’s story and understand its purpose.

That said, I don’t get The Witch’s Garden. I… I just don’t get it. I don’t even know what to say about it because I’m not entirely sure what I watched. The story’s actually simpler than most episodes, but I don’t understand its purpose.

I guess not every episode needs a purpose, they just need to be entertaining, but what bothers me is I think this episode is supposed to have a purpose and I don’t know what that purpose is.

What am I supposed to take away from this? What have I learned about Jake? What was Jake supposed to have learned? I really don’t know.

Rating: 5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (Wizard/Evicted!)

Finn and Jake are walking when they meet Reaper (a skeletal creature in a robe), who offers free magic powers for them in a scene that sort of resembles a drug-dealing. They agree, and Reaper leads them through a portal to a wizard training facility. Oh, come on. Now they’re begging for me to make Harry Potter references. Anyway, they meet a wizard frog named Bufo (actually, the real wizards are the tadpoles in his mouth). Bufo gives them wizard’s robes to wear, though Finn thinks the robe looks too much like a dress so he stuffs it into his pants so that he can protect his precious masculinity. Good for Jake for not caring.

Bufo gives Finn and Jake a series of tests, all of which they pass, and then it’s time for them to face the ultimate test. Jake decides not to take the test, since he already has all of the powers he needs, but Finn is determined the pass the last test, whatever it is. The test isn’t really a test, it’s a pledge. The Pledge of Ultimate Responsibility. Finn agrees to it quickly, and rather irresponsibly, and afterwards blacks out. When he wakes up, he finds that he is being suspended from the ceiling where three old men are also hanging, the oldest of the Old Wizards. Bufo tells Finn that he needs to add his magic to that of the other three wizards, who are using it to keep a meteor (which has been coming toward their village for 847 years) at bay. Bufo then dismisses the oldest of the Old Wizards, since Finn can now take his place. Finn will be stuck there for the rest of his life. Haha, oh man, that’s so fucked up.

Anrgy that Bufo tricked him, Finn leaves his post and tries to move the village out of the meteor’s way instead, but his magic isn’t strong enough to do it alone. The two other Old Wizards join him, and together the three of them move the village just before the meteor crashes into the ground. Then they move the village back on top of where the meteor hit. Let’s just pretend that makes any kind of sense.

This is a fun episode. There isn’t that much to say about it, it’s just really fun. There are too many good quotes to count, my personal favorite is probably “Whoo, yeah! Force that enthusiasm!”

I liked that one really morbid bit where after Finn abandons his post, he sees Bufo burying the wizard that was just dismissed. Thing is, the wizard isn’t even dead yet, he’s climbing into a coffin while Bufo prepares to bury him. How cruel is that? He just got dismissed and he doesn’t even get to enjoy whatever time he has remaining! Or is the implication that he was supposed to have died a long time ago, and that the only thing keeping him alive was his duty to keep the meteor away, and now that he’s been dismissed the magic keeping him alive has broken he can finally just die?

In fact, have the three Old Wizards been there for the entire 847 years that they’ve had to keep the comet away? Was Finn’s arrival the first time that one of them has been replaced, or have their been numerous different wizards (or witches) keeping the comet away, because there are always new replacements coming in when one gets too old? How many people have died in that village, spending their whole life keeping a comet away? And what happens if one of the Old Wizards dies before a replacement is found? Has that ever happened? Do they keep replacements handy just in case? Or does keeping the comet away also keep them alive until they’re replaced, as I theorized before? Am I reading way too much into this? Probably.

Anyway, this is a pretty typical Adventure Time episode. It’s fun, weird, creative, funny, and very enjoyable to watch, but it doesn’t particularly stand out from other episodes.

Rating: 7/10

The episode begins with Jake telling Finn a horror story about vampires. Vampires, eh? Is this the episode where I’m finally going to meet that vampire character? Why yes, yes it is. Shortly after this, a paranoid Finn thinks that he sees a vampire at the window. He runs to tell Jake, and the vampires breaks in. She introduces herself as Marceline the Vampire Queen. Wait, she’s allowed to be called a queen, but not Bubblegum? Is this because of that stupid princesses-are-good-queens-are-evil thing? I don’t know if Marceline is “evil”, but considering how this episode goes she doesn’t seem particularly benevolent. Well, “Vampire Queen” sounds more like a nickname than an actual title, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, Marceline, who has a rather mischievous and spunky personality, tells Finn and Jake about some of the adventures she’s had across the Land of Ooo. Apparently she’s a thousand years old, but she has the appearance of a young adult. Finn and Jake are clearly terrified of her, but she assures them that she only sometimes drinks blood. It’s not blood itself that vampires drink per se, it’s the color red. To demonstrate, she sucks the red color out of a strawberry. Hm. We’ll talk about that later. After chatting with Finn and Jake for a bit, she tells them that the tree fort they’re in belonged to her years ago (she shows them an M carved into the wall to prove it), and that she now wants it back. She kicks Finn and Jake out, and though Finn is more than willing to fight Marceline to get their home back, Jake tells him it isn’t worth the risk because vampires will literally not hesitate to kill you. So, Finn and Jake begin searching for a new home.

After a long and pretty amusing montage, Finn and Jake finally find a cave that they fix up to feel like a home. To celebrate, they throw a party… which Marceline crashes. She informs them that she also owns the cave, showing them another M carved into the wall. This time, Finn isn’t ready to give up. He attacks Marceline (who transforms into a giant bat) and the two begin to fight. Finn isn’t much of a match for Marceline, and when Jake tries to help, Marceline SUCKS HIS BLOOD AND THROWS HIS DEFLATED BODY TO THE SIDE LIKE IT’S NOTHING. Jesus. Jake was right, Marceline didn’t even hesitate! I mean, obviously Jake isn’t really dead, but Marceline doesn’t know that, and neither does Finn, who flies into a rage upon seeing his friend (supposedly) dying and punches Marceline in the face. Marceline returns to her regular form, kisses Finn on the cheek for some reason, and tells him that the fight was fun. Jake reveals that he survived by moving his guts into his thumb (?!?! Ew?), and Marceline decides to let Finn and Jake have their tree fort back.

Oh my God, I’m so glad to have finally met Marceline, I was so looking forward to her debut, whenever it would be. She’s a vampire. I love vampires! Better yet, she’s a female vampire. Those are rare enough as it is, and even more rare is when they’re not just sexy henchmen to some other male vampire. Marceline is described as “sexy” in the montage song (to be honest she is pretty hot), but it’s not what defines her character, and she’s definitely not subservient to anyone. She has an actual personality, and a pretty interesting one at that. She’s not exactly a nice character, in fact she’s a downright bully in this episode, but I like that because, well, she’s a vampire! Vampires should be intimidating! Plus, it differentiates her from the more sweet and traditionally feminine characters on the show like Bubblegum, Lady Rainicorn, and Tree Trunks.

Now, about that weird detail that she sucks anything that’s the color red. Just… why? One of the reasons I was so looking forward to meeting Marceline is that I’d heard that, unlike most “kid-friendly” vampires, she wasn’t too watered-down. Blood-drinking is usually the first thing to go when writers need to make a vampire character for kids, which is silly because drinking blood is the whole point of vampires. Yeah, they have other well-known characteristics like turning into bats and burning in sunlight and stuff, but blood-drinking is the main thing that identifies them as vampires. Anyway, as I was saying, when making kid-friendly vampires, blood-drinking is usually either ignored entirely or they give some reason why the vampire doesn’t drink blood, like they’re on a diet (why would vampires need to diet what) or they just don’t like the taste of blood (what). It’s pretty stupid. I’d heard that Marceline actually does drink blood and is supposed to be intimidating even after befriending Finn and Jake, so I got excited because it seemed like there was finally a vampire for kids who wasn’t watered-down. And she does indeed drink blood, but it’s not really the blood that she likes. It’s the color red. I’m guessing this was their way of making sure Marceline wasn’t too scary for kids while not being too removed from her vampire roots and still scary to the other characters. Whatever, I don’t mind too much since at least she does still drink blood, but I can’t help wondering what the point of this detail is when we still see her kill Jake (as far as she knows) at the end of the episode.

When it comes to fantasy creatures, I’m a traditionalist. I like my vampires and werewolves and such to be as close to their roots as possible. Of course I understand that if you’re going to use a fantasy creature in a story, certain liberties need to be taken in order to make your story stand out. I’m fine with that as long as the iconic characteristics of the creature are still present and things don’t get altered too much. The fact that Marceline drinks any shade of red is a little odd to me, it seems like a pointless change. I guess I shouldn’t complain because at least blood-drinking wasn’t taken away from her and she still has other vampire traits, like the ability to turn into a bat and levitation. And she isn’t made too kid-friendly, she’s still meant to be a little bit frightening. She didn’t even hesitate to kill Jake and she’s not exactly going out of her way to be nice to anyone. Basically, she’s still a vampire, and that’s all I’m asking for.

Again, I’m a little disappointed that Marceline isn’t in much of the episode as most of it is focused on Finn and Jake, but I really liked what we did get of her. She’s intriguing, and I can’t wait to see more of her.

Rating: 8.5/10

 

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (My Two Favorite People/Memories of Boom Boom Mountain)

Well, I just learned something new about Jake. He has a girlfriend. It’s Lady Rainicorn, the rainbow-unicorn thing. And she and Jake both speak Korean.

Tired of having to choose between his best friend and his girlfriend to hang out with, Jake suggests that the three of them hang out more together. Things don’t go so well at first, because Finn can’t understand Korean, but Jake remembers that he used to have a translator for Lady, and that he dropped it in Lake Szelezon. So, the three go on an adventure to retrieve it.

Initially Finn was concerned that Lady would be “too sweet” to be of use in a fight, but I was pleased to see that Lady is a good fighter, and even saved Finn when he was surrounded by Lake Knights. How nice, a character who’s sweet and feminine and bad ass. After making it out of the lake with the translator, Finn even comments on how well the three of them work together and suggests that they go on adventures together more often. Man, I hope so. I like Lady already. Anyway, they get the translator out and put it on Lady. The translator only has three voice options: nerdy alien, nightmare, and old man. They can’t understand her on the first two, so they have no choice but to leave the translator on old man, much to Jake’s disappointment.

Throughout the rest of the episode, Lady and Finn become closer friends while Jake ends up being the third wheel. I sympathize with Jake here. Feeling like the unimportant friend sucks. However, Jake’s jealousy does get out of hand, and that’s when he started to lose my sympathy. I understand the jealousy, but trying to make Finn and Lady jealous by calling his friend Tiffany to hang out with and rubbing it in their face is pretty immature. Obviously the best way to deal with jealousy and inferiority issues is to bottle them up and occasionally unleash them through passive-aggressive behavior, like I do. Anyway, Finn and Tiffany start to fight, and Lady asks Jake what’s going on. Jake admits that he was jealous and apologizes, and then I guess he and Lady decide to go back to just hanging out alone because they talk off the translator so her voice goes back to normal.

Well, I like this episode for the fact that it has a third character involved. I like Lady, even though I can’t understand her because I don’t speak Korean (not that it really matters, a lot of what she’s saying is easy to guess and when I looked it up later, it was mostly what I thought she was saying). She’s cute and fun and bad ass. And she’s a rainbow unicorn, so she’s automatically amazing anyway. Unfortunately the episode isn’t really about her, but it was still nice to have her around. At least it’s a little bit of variety, right?

This episode is noteworthy because it’s the first episode where Jake, not Finn, is the focus. Every episode before now has been about Finn, with Jake being there more for support and comic relief. This time Jake is the star. I don’t find Jake particularly interesting (yet), but I am glad to see him getting a little attention and development.

I find it pretty cool that Jake is in a relationship. There’s no build-up to it or anything, he’s just… in a relationship. I’m so used to shows dragging out their romances, so I like that Jake and Lady are just already there. Normally I like the build-up to a relationship more than I like the relationship itself, but that can also lead to a lot uninteresting drama, so I kind of like it when characters just start in a relationship right away. Their relationship is pretty cute. I like how they bond over playing viola, and how they seem to enjoy being together without even having to do much. It’s nice.

But, um, okay, remember when I said I looked up Lady’s lines? Here’s something she apparently says: “Do you remember when we got completely naked, and frantically ran around in the farmer’s cabbage patch? That farmer got crazy mad!” First of all, aren’t they always naked? Second of all, is this supposed to have dirty implications? I can’t help wondering how sex between Jake and Lady would even work. Yeah, apparently the sex life of characters from a children’s cartoon is something that deeply concerns me. Seriously though, how would it work? Lady’s body is so long and Jake looks so small next to her. Maybe Lady doesn’t care about size. Wink wink.

Rating: 7/10

The episode begins with Finn and Jake hanging out with some people called the Marauders. And no, unfortunately they are not hanging out with Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. These Marauders look like the offspring of smurfs and Vikings. And they like roughhousing. A lot. Finn is sparring with one of the Marauders when he hears someone crying. Finn wants to find the source of the crying, but the Marauders make fun of him for it. So Finn tells them a story.

Apparently when Finn was a baby, he went “boom boom” on a leaf in the woods. In other words, he defecated on it. He then fell on the leaf and started crying. Plenty of people passed by, but no one would help a poor crying baby on a forest floor. They just left him there. Jeez, even I’m not that heartless. Anyway, this story is significant for two reasons. One, it tells us that Finn’s parents have not been around since he was a baby. Either they died or they abandoned him, I’m not sure. I wonder how long Finn was by himself. Two, it explains something about Finn’s character that I wasn’t really expecting to get an explanation. I’ve known for a while that Finn has what Hermione would call a “saving people thing” (okay, I promise I’ll stop with the Harry Potter references, but this show has been making it so easy). If someone needs help, he has to help. It’s almost pathological (though I do wonder if Finn’s need to help people would extend even to people he doesn’t like, as Harry’s does). I thought this was just who’s Finn character was, I hadn’t really thought about there being a reason for him to be like this. Now I know that there is one: he didn’t get help when he needed it as a baby, and since then he’s decided not to let that happen to anyone else. Interesting. This could have easily gone another way, with Finn deciding that because he wasn’t helped nobody else deserves his help.

Anyway, Finn and Jake leave the Marauders to find whoever it is that’s crying. The sound appears to be coming from the top of a mountain, but it turns out it is the mountain. The mountain (apparently just called “Mountain Man”… this show isn’t very creative with names, is it?) is a sentient being, and it’s crying because of the Marauders and their roughhousing. Mountain Man doesn’t like roughhousing. The violence upsets him. Finn promises to find a solution to his problem, but his “solution” only upsets Mountain Man more. That’s when Jake says that Mountain Man seems like a “nut job” and that Finn shouldn’t get sucked into his hangups. Jake, shut up. I’m glad Finn doesn’t agree. He still wants to help Mountain Man, because of his vow to himself to help anyone in need, no matter how small their problem. Good for you, Finn. Well, kind of.

Unfortunately Finn’s vow is noble but impractical. He can’t find a way to please both the Marauders and Mountain Man, and more and more people keep coming to him with their problems. Finn nearly has a breakdown trying to make everyone happy, so Jake advises him to stop thinking for a minute about what everyone else wants, and ask himself what he wants. Good advice, Jake. This prompts a flashback, where we find out that eventually baby Finn was found by two dogs who look very much like Jake. Obviously Jake’s parents. They actually bother to help Finn, and we can guess that they adopt him. So, Finn and Jake are basically brothers? Interesting. Um, I don’t entirely understand what happens next. The flashback inspires Finn to find a way to help everyone out with their problems at the same time, sort of like a domino effect, but I don’t know what in the flashback inspired this. I suppose remembering the help Jake’s parents gave him reinforced his desire to help everyone else, but his desire to help was never exactly weakened, he just had no idea how to do it. So why the sudden stroke of genius? It seems a little bit too convenient.

So, this is the first backstory episode. I’m saying “first” because I assume there will be more. I liked this one, it’s pretty silly but it’s a good explanation for why Finn is the way he is. I like that his “saving people thing” is both a virtue and a flaw. It’s noble and selfless for him to always go out of his way to help people, but it’s unrealistic and sometimes, as in this episode, it just makes Finn miserable to put this much pressure on himself. It’s an interesting contrast to Jake, who also likes to help people, but only when it’s within his power to do so. It goes back to how Finn is an idealist and Jake is a realist.

Speaking of Jake, there’s something I want to bring up that I’m not entirely sure how to talk about. Jake has two lines in this episode, one of them I already mentioned briefly, that really didn’t sit right with me. There’s one where he tells Finn not to involve himself in Mountain Man’s problems because he’s a “nut job” and one where he tells the Marauders to just promise Mountain Man anything because he’s “out of his gourd”. That’s ableist, isn’t it?

I’m really not very qualified to talk about ableism, it’s still fairly new to me and though I’ve been trying hard to drop ableist language from my vocabulary and sensitize myself to the subject more, I still have a long, long way to go. But I felt like the way that Jake is so dismissive of Mountain Man for being “crazy” needed to be pointed out. Apparently, Mountain Man doesn’t deserve to be treated with compassion and it’s okay to lie to him. Because Jake thinks he’s crazy. At least Finn doesn’t agree with him, but he doesn’t exactly contradict what Jake’s saying either. And given the context of the episode, it’s not even clear if we’re supposed to agree with Finn over Jake anyway. Again, I don’t feel qualified to talk about this much, but I’m just wondering, was anyone else bothered by this?

Rating: 7/10

 

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (Ricardio the Heart Guy/Business Time)

Ooh, my favorite title card yet! The roses, the lighting, it’s beautiful! Although it’s also disturbing because Ricardio’s face is insanely creepy to me and I’d be happy if I never had to look at it again.

The episode begins with Finn and Jake rescuing Princess Bubblegum from the Ice king. Yep, he’s still looking for a princess to marry. Give it up, dude. Anyway, to thank Finn and Jake, Bubblegum invites them over for a party at her castle. Finn is excited about the party, and hopeful for what it might bring. Up until now it’s only been hinted at, but this episode makes it clear that Finn has a crush on Bubblegum. He himself won’t admit it, but everyone else can see it. Even Bubblegum seems aware of it.

When they get to the party, they meet Ricardio, a heart-shaped… thing. His name is a brilliant pun, but his face creeps me the hell out. I don’t what it is about his face, it’s just so EW. Anyway, Ricardio charms everyone at the party, and even catches the attention of Princess Bubblegum. Finn becomes jealous and tries to win Bubblegum’s attention back, but is unsuccessful because, unlike Ricardio, he can’t carry on a conversation about science with her, and science is what interests Bubblegum more than anything.

Finn suspects that Ricardio is up to something, and of course everyone thinks that Finn’s mistrust for Ricardio stems from jealousy. To be fair, it obviously is because of Finn’s jealousy, but it’s pretty easy to predict that Finn will be proven right at the end. Plus, just look at Ricardio’s face. How can you trust a face like that? Anyway, Finn convinces Jake to spy on Ricardio with him, hoping that they’ll catch Ricardio doing something wrong, but they don’t have any luck. That is, until they find a weakened Ice King on the streets, calling out for Ricardio.

Finn demands that the Ice King tell them what he knows about Ricardio, and the Ice King obliges. He tells them about how he’d been trying to cast a spell to win over Bubblegum’s heart, but he cast it wrong. Instead, his own heart came out of his chest, leaving him severely weakened, and ran off to steal Bubblegum’s heart (literally) itself. That’s what Ricardio is. He’s the Ice King’s heart. I love this. I’ve always been so enamored with the idea of… of… crap, I never had a reason to name this type of thing specifically so I don’t even know what to call it now. Um. Okay. You know the concept of Horcruxes in Harry Potter, where a wizard/witch can split their soul into more than one piece and encapsulate those pieces in objects, separate from themselves, but still live? Or, if you’ve ever watched Once Upon a Time, how people can have their hearts ripped out without it killing them, but they’ll be under the control of whoever possesses their heart? I like that, the idea of people being separated from metaphysical parts of themselves like their souls or their hearts (hearts aren’t metaphysical, but the idea of them being attached to our emotions or our sense of self sort of is, and they’re very romanticized/idealized) and still living, but it having an effect on their humanity or, as in the case of the Ice King, their health. What is that called? There must be a name for this trope/concept, it’s pretty common in fantasy. Whatever, I’m enamored with this concept.

Anyway, Finn and Jake rush to Bubblegum’s rescue, finding her being held hostage by Ricardio. The fight begins… and ends quickly. It’s not that hard to beat up a heart. The Ice King comes staggering in before they can do too much damage to Ricardio, and tells them to let him put Ricardio back into his chest before he dies. Finn is unsure of whether they should let the Ice King save himself, but Jake doesn’t like the idea of letting the Ice King die, so they allow him to take back Ricardio. I really liked this detail, because I was just wondering in my last review whether or not Finn would be willing to have the Ice King die if it came to it. Here was his chance, and he didn’t let it happen. I find it interesting that Finn did hesitate, though, and it seemed as though he only abstained because Jake thought that they should. By the expression on his face, you can tell Finn isn’t totally convinced that it was the right thing to do. It’s too bad this moment is so short, but I’m surprised a moment like this came so soon, if at all. More please.

So, Bubblegum is saved and the Ice King gets his heart back, and he’s apparently ready to go back to trying to win over/kidnap Bubblegum. Good to know he learned something from this.

Let’s talk about romance for a moment, shall we?

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a fan of romance, that it bores me and that I hate when there’s too much focus on it. I’m infamous for it among my friends, who are all diehard romantics. As much as I say that I hate romance, though, it’s not entirely true. Or at least, I may exaggerate just how much I dislike it.

Thing is, my whole “ROMANCE IS ICKY DO NOT WANT” spiel is contradicted by the fact that I can name plenty of ships I like. When it comes to fiction, my interest is mostly in the characters themselves, and how they interact and what their relationships with each other are. Like it or not, romance is a big part of that, and even if I find platonic relationships more interesting than romantic ones, it’s not like I can’t ever enjoy a romance. I don’t like it when the romances take over, when they’re only used to cause drama, when it becomes the only thing of importance in the story, but I don’t mind at all if it’s more of a secondary thing, or when it’s used to develop characters. That’s what I’m looking for: character development. I don’t want to see grandiose declarations of ~love~ or mushy dialogue, I want to see two characters growing to care for each other in a way that’s natural and believable. And not in the foreground. Maybe that’s why, when I do ship, I’m often really into the idea of the couple but then lose interest when/if the couple actually gets together.

With that out of the way, I’ll say this: Finn’s crush on Bubblegum is absolutely adorable. I’m enjoying all of the hints about it (can you call them hints when they’re that obvious?) and I hope they continue. It’s nice to see this kind of vulnerability and awkwardness from Finn, who’s usually so aggressive.  I don’t know if I’d say I ship Finn and Bubblegum, but I like the whole “puppy love” thing Finn has going. It’s cute. And I’m glad that they don’t make Bubblegum oblivious to Finn’s crush, she’s aware of it but it’s unclear whether she reciprocates it. I do find it a bit odd that she would tease Finn about it at the end of the episode, though. I guess it was meant to be playful, but it came off kind of mean. I don’t know, Bubblegum seems really nice, so seeing her do something like this is odd to me.

It’s good to see the Ice King again, even if he’s not in the episode for long. I wonder if we’ll ever see Ricardio again, and what that will mean for the Ice King. This show actually has some continuity, doesn’t it? So it’s totally possible that Ricardio will return.

Let’s wrap this up. I liked this episode. It’s funny, it’s cute, and it has some interesting stuff in it. I like it almost as much as I like The Enchiridion.

Rating: 8/10

Finn and Jake find some business men frozen in an ice burg (who look and act rather like zombies), and hire them to help make their adventures more efficient? I’m not totally sure how that works. And I’m a little confused about the frozen business men. Where and when does this show take place exactly? I thought it was in some fantasy realm or whatever, so what’s with the frozen business men?

Okay, I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently Adventure Time takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth.

WHAT

HOW

WHAT KIND OF APOCALYPSE PRODUCES CANDY PEOPLE AND SUCH

OR IS IT STILL IN A FANTASY WORLD BUT THERE HAPPENED TO BE AN APOCALYPSE THERE

JUST WHEN I THINK THIS IS SHOW IS STARTING TO MAKE SENSE TO ME

EXPLANATION, PLEASE

Okay. So. Um. Okay. The business men. At first they help Finn and Jake by polishing their weapons, and monitoring any evil activities that might be going on in the POST-APOCALYPTIC LAND OF OOO. Sorry, not over that yet. After a while, the business men start to take over too many of Finn and Jake’s responsibilities, and the two of them get lazier and fatter as time goes on until the business men are doing all of their adventures for them.

It turns out business men don’t make very good adventurers, though. They’re all about efficiency, and don’t think much about how their ideas affect the people they’re rescuing. When Finn realizes this, he takes action again and fires them, which sends the business men in a rage. After managing to calm them down, Finn and Jake apparently decide to put them back in their ice burg and send them drifting away. Ooh ~moral ambiguity~ or something.

I don’t like this episode.

That was probably obvious by the fact that the synopsis is so short and not very detailed, I didn’t really want to talk about the episode that much. It’s the first Adventure Time episode that I don’t like, which I guess was bound to happen sooner or later. I kind of wish it had happened later though.

Not that Business Time is terrible. I’d probably find it watchable. Really, I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t like this one, I just didn’t.

I think one of the reasons might be how out of character Finn seems. This might be a bit unfair, I’m only eight episodes into the show, so isn’t it kind of early for me to think I know these characters well enough to know when they’re being out of character? Well, because I’m watching this show so slowly instead of binge-watching it like I normally would do for a new show, combined with the fact that I spend so much time writing and thinking about it afterwards, it feels like I’ve seen more episodes than I actually have. And I guess I’ve built up an idea of what Finn is like in my mind, and Business Time doesn’t fit. I don’t know, I just can’t imagine feisty, active Finn being willing to let someone else take control while he does nothing. And I really can’t imagine him being willing to let it happen for as long as he did here. It doesn’t feel right. Jake I can kind of see doing that, he is a lot more laidback than Finn and from other episodes he seems fine with hanging back while someone else takes action. Finn, though? I guess I need to remember that, for all his courage, he’s still twelve, and what twelve-year doesn’t like to slack-off every now and then? Maybe that’s what this episode is for (besides confirming the post-apocalypse thing), it’s a reminder that Finn is a kid? Eh, still don’t like.

Another reason I might dislike this episode is one that is completely unfair, or at least it’s unfair to blame this episode in particular for it because it’s not the sole offender, it’s just I had this thought while watching it so now I associate the two. The thought was that I’m getting tired of Finn and Jake.

Wait, let me explain.

I like Finn, and Jake is okay, but we haven’t gotten much variety when it comes to characters, have we? Again, I’m only eight episodes in, so its early for complaints like this, but, again, due to how I’m watching this show it feels like I’ve seen more episodes than I have. So far every episode has centered on Finn and Jake, which makes sense since they’re the main characters, but it does get a bit tiring to always see the same dynamic, and I still know next to nothing about most of the other characters. All I know about Princess Bubblegum is that she’s nice, smart, and she likes science, and all I know about the Ice King is that he… likes princesses? I’m sure I’d like both of them if I knew more about them, but I haven’t had much opportunity to learn about them. And I still haven’t met this vampire character that I’ve heard so much about. Aren’t she, Bubblegum and the Ice King supposed to be main characters? Why do I still know so little about them?

Bubblegum has appeared in a decent number of episodes so far, but always as more of a catalyst to the plot than a participant. Trouble in Lumpy Space and Tree Trunks had other characters involved in their plots, but the focus was still mostly on Finn and Jake. I don’t know, maybe because I’m not particularly attached to anyone in this show yet, I feel a need for more variety just to keep me interested.

But of course I need to keep in mind that, no matter what it feels like, I’m EIGHT EPISODES INTO THE SHOW so I should probably be patient or something.

So, um, Business Time. Wasn’t feeling this episode. However, I do want to point out one thing that I liked:

• Jake: Your gut’s so huge and moldable.
• Finn: Hey!
• Jake: Hold on a sec!
• Finn: [Laughs] Man, that tickles.
• [Jake manipulates Finn’s gut to look like the Ice King]
• Jake: [Impersonating Ice King’s voice] I’m the Ice King, and I’ll never find a bride because I’m such a tool.
• Finn: [Laughs] Alright, let me try.
• [Finn manipulates his gut to look like Princess Bubblegum]
• Finn: [Impersonating Princess Bubblegum’s voice] I’m Princess Bubblegum and I’m a dork, because I like science! I’ve also got a really annoying voice that Finn thinks is attractive!
• Jake: [Laughs] That’s a- Hey, what’d you say?

Oh, Finn. You’ve got it bad.

Rating: 4/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (The Enchiridion!/The Jiggler)

Why is Finn about to stab Jake with a loaf of bread? And why do they both look so happy about it? I love how half the title cards so far have nothing to do with the episode they pertain to, and the other half do relate to the episode but are, like, ten times more nightmarish.

This episode… this is the weirdest episode so far, and that’s saying something! But it’s also my favorite episode so far.

It begins in the Candy Kingdom, where there’s a party going on. One of the Candy people tries to impress everyone at the party by doing a flip, but he crashes into the tower Princess Bubblegum is dancing in and causes it to crumble apart. If one person crashing into your tower is enough to make it crumble, it’s probably a really unsafe tower to begin with. Bubblegum falls from the tower, but luckily Finn rescues her before she hits the ground. This heroic act inspires Bubblegum to take Finn through a secret entrance to a hidden chamber, where she tells him about a book called The Enchiridion.

The Enchiridion is a book that only a true hero can obtain, and Bubblegum thinks Finn is ready to undertake the quest to find it. So, he and Jake begin their journey to Mount Cragdor (Lord of the Rings reference?). The first obstacle they come to is the Gate Key-per (great pun). Finn figures out quickly that the hat the Key-per wears, which is shaped like a key, is also the key to the gate. After passing through the gate, they find three gnomes trapped in a lava pit. And then this scene happens:

• Red Gnome: Thank you for saving us. [Voice becomes menacing] Now we can destroy this old lady!
• [The gnomes fly towards an old lady who is tied to a stake]
• Old Lady: La la la-la!
• Finn: What?!
• [The gnomes zap the old lady with magic and she disappears]
• Red Gnome: Every time you say “what” we’ll destroy an old lady.
• Finn: [Shocked] What?!
• [The gnomes zap another old lady and she disappears]
• Red Gnome: Every time you say “no” we’ll destroy an old lady.
• Finn: [Panicked] No! Wai –
• [The gnomes zap three more old ladies]
• Finn: Please –
• [The Red Gnome zaps an old lady]
• Finn: Don’t destroy –
• [The Orange Gnome zaps an old lady]
• Finn: Anymore –
• [The Blue Gnome zaps an old lady]
• Finn: Old women.
• Red Gnome: Every time you look sad we’ll destroy a big old woman!
• Big Old Woman: Well… Ever since I got the… [Zapping sounds] Ahhhh!
• Red Gnome: [To other gnomes] Hey, guys. Every time he’s a big wuss, let’s destroy an old lady.
• Other Gnomes: [Laughing] Yeah!

Is it bad that I found this scene hilarious?

Well, Finn doesn’t find it hilarious, he finds it upsetting, and though I found his traumatized expressions funny earlier, I did feel bad when he ran away in distress. And then I laughed again when Jake threw the gnomes back into the lava pit. And then I felt bad again when Jake went to find Finn and he was clearly upset about what happened. And then I laughed at this: “Don’t let those gnomes and their illusions get you down. They’re just gnomes and illusions.” How can my emotions go back and forth so much in one minute?

Jake explains to Jake that Mount Cragdor is designed to mess with you, that the old ladies being destroyed weren’t real, just illusions to torment Finn and test his resilience. That’s great! I love stories like this, where the obstacles/threats are psychological and illusionary rather than physical and real. I also like this scene because it’s a genuinely nice moment between Finn and Jake, and it’s good to see that their friendship has elements of trust, comfort and understanding. I’m starting to notice that while Finn tends to let his emotions get the best of him and act without thinking, Jake is more level-headed and relaxed.

The threat that shows up immediately after this scene is a very real and physical threat: a giant ogre grabs Jake and swallows him. Finn manages to take a dollar out of the ogre’s wallet and use it as a hang-glider to kick the ogre in the stomach, forcing it to regurgitate Jake. Ew. Finn returns the dollar to the ogre and then he and Jake continue their journey to the top of Mount Cragdor.

Once they reach the tower where The Enchiridion is held, they meet the Dark Magician. The Dark Magician (who looks like a Dementor) transports Finn to a dream world and this is where we get what, in my opinion, is the most interesting scene of the show so far:

• Dark Magician: [Disembodied voice] For your final trial, slay the beast!
• [The Heart Beast, a giant heart with a glowing skeleton-arm, lands on the ground]
• Finn: Why? Is it an evil beast?
• Dark Magician: Yeeeeessss. It’s completely evil. Will you slay it?
• Finn: Shoot, yeah. I’ll slay anything that’s evil. That’s my deal.
• [The beast attacks Finn, but Finn dodges and jumps on top of the beast]
• [Finn punches the beast until it bursts, gushes blood, and its body falls the ground]
• Dark Magician: Yeeeeessss! You’ve done well, hero.
• Finn: Thank you.
• Dark Magician: Now! As one last, last trial… Slay this ant!
• Finn: Is it evil?
• Dark Magician: No! But it’s not good either. It’s, uh, neutral. Will you slay it?
• [Finn looks at the ant and raises his fist]
• Finn: [Slamming his fist down next to the ant] No!
• Dark Magician: If you want the heroes’ Enchiridion, then slay this unaligned ant!
• Finn: Never. Never. Never!

I’m used to heroes, particularly one’s in children’s stories, being reluctant or completely unwilling to kill anyone. Usually the villain is killed in an indirect way, or through some fault of their own, so that the hero isn’t directly responsible for their death and you can avoid all of those pesky morality issues. When the villain is killed by the hero directly, they have to be completely dehumanized first and usually turn into a literal monster, because monster = evil and inhuman = do not want, so again there are no morality issues presented.

So far we’ve only seen Finn kill monsters who were an obvious threat to him or his friends. What I find interesting about the exchange with the Dark Magician is that Finn happily and readily proclaims, “I’ll slay anything that’s evil. That’s my deal.” Note that he doesn’t say “any monster”, or even “any monster that’s evil”, he says anything that’s evil. I guess the fact that he says anything and not anyone serves to dehumanize whatever it is that he’s killing, but it makes me wonder, what constitutes “evil” for Finn? There are some ambiguous lines between “antagonist”, “villain” and “evil”, a character can be one of those or it can be all three, but does Finn differentiate between the three? And if so, how? We can assume that not all monsters in this world are inherently evil, because I think characters like LSP can count as “monsters” in a literal sense, due to their appearance/species, but they have very human personalities and minds so they aren’t monsters in a metaphorical sense. Plus, the ogre is a monster, yet Finn didn’t kill it, and he even returned the ogre’s dollar despite the fact that it ate his friend. Was it simply because he couldn’t kill the ogre even if he tried? Fair enough, but why show it an act of kindness by returning its dollar? Does the ogre somehow not count as evil? How does Finn decide who/what is evil and therefore, in his eyes, deserving of death? And where does that put characters like the Ice King, who is a clear antagonist and possible villain, but has not been defined as completely evil yet. The Ice King is humanoid in appearance and, though his personality could be described as monstrous is some ways, he does still have the personality and mindset of a human. He’s still a person, just not a good person. Would Finn be willing to kill the Ice King, if it came to that? The Ice King was definitely a threat in Prisoners of Love. If given the opportunity, would Finn have killed him? It’s made clear in the scene with the Dark Magician that Finn will refuse to kill anything/anyone that isn’t explicitly “evil”, but what does that mean to him? And what if he’s in the middle of a fight and needs to make a decision like this quickly, if he doesn’t have time to think about what constitutes good, evil, or neutral, if it’s kill or be killed and he has to choose now? Would he consider his decision justified? Would he feel guilt? And what if one of his friends became “evil”? Would he hesitate to kill them?

Finn’s willingness to kill is really intriguing and slightly disturbing to me. Thing is, it’s not just that he’s willing to kill, it’s that he seems to think nothing of it. To him, it’s just common sense. Completely natural. If it’s evil, it needs to die. Simple as that. This is so shocking to me, because I can’t think of other intended children’s stories that feature a main character that nonchalant about killing. I guess there’s The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins, but those are insanely dark for children’s books and the main character isn’t exactly nonchalant about it, he’s understandably angsty about it and by the end of the series he suffers from serious PTSD at the age of twelve (I think Collins just likes giving her characters PTSD). There’s also Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, but Percy only kills literal, soulless monsters, so there’s no need for him to angst about it, and even then the monsters don’t really die, they vanish for a time and then reincarnate. Finn doesn’t seem to have any moral dilemmas about killing and as far as I know the things he kills stay dead,  and even if he only kills what/who he believes is evil, it’s a bit unsettling. Especially since as of now, I have no idea what qualifies as “evil” to Finn and how distinguishes it.

Furthermore, when he kills the Heart Beast in his dream, he blindly trusts the Dark Magician when he says the Beast is evil and kills it without further questions. I know it’s only an illusion, but isn’t it a bit creepy that Finn will just kill something because he’s told it’s evil, without discovering for himself first?

I got all of this out of one thirty-second scene. Perhaps I’m over-thinking it. I don’t care, I love thinking about this kind of stuff, and it only makes me like Finn as a character more. I love heroes who aren’t entirely wholesome, and I really hope this kind of moral dilemma comes up in a later episode.

Oh right, I haven’t even gotten to the end of this episode yet.

Okay, so after Finn refuses to kill the ant, he breaks out of the illusion and kicks the Magician in the crotch which causes him to disappear… I… I don’t know. This show is really weird. After this, the Key-per and a Minotaur, who they call “Mannish Man” in case we haven’t figured out that he’s totez manly bruh, congratulate Finn on reaching The Enchiridion. They give him the book, and that’s pretty much the end of it.

I’ll be honest, I only love this episode for two scenes, the one with the Magician and the one with the gnomes. And the short talk with Jake that followed, so I guess three scenes. The other scenes aren’t bad, but they do feel kind of, I don’t know? Disjointed? Unfitting? I don’t know, illusions and psychological torment just don’t seem to go hand-in-hand with giant ogres and admittedly awesome puns like “Key-pers”.

But those other scenes I mentioned are kind of enough for me. I liked that they developed Finn’s characters more (I’m really starting to like him) and I liked the focus on emotion and psychology, which I always find more interesting. Part of me wishes that more time had been spent on these scenes, everything in this show is so fast-paced that it rarely spends more than a few seconds on anything. But I’m growing used to that. This kind of no-time-to-explain-must-move-on-to-the-next-weird-thing that the show has going for it oddly works well for how surreal it is. And despite the short amount of time spent on plot elements and character development, it doesn’t feel incomplete or lacking. They make it work somehow.

Rating: 8.5/10

Finn and Jake find a creature called a Jiggler, which is a weird-looking thing that’s basically two spheres joined together and lots of holes on its body that its noodle-like limbs can come out of. It’s cuter than it sounds. The Jiggler appears to like music, so Finn and Jake take it home so that they can have dance parties with it 24/7. Anyone else reminded of the SpongeBob episode Jellyfish Jam? Ugh, for someone who’s supposed to be taking a break from reviewing SpongeBob I sure am finding TONS OF REASONS TO REFERENCE IT.

Anyway.

The following morning, the Jiggler is looking ill and doesn’t want to move from the couch. Finn thinks that the Jiggler is just hungry, and tries to feed it. They discover that the Jiggler eats drawings. Like, if you draw something, it will suck the drawing out of the paper (or whatever surface you drew the picture on) and eat it. I… no comment. Apparently eating the drawings doesn’t help, because the Jiggler starts leaking pink fluid from its holes. Weirdest thing I’ve ever typed? Probably. Jake is convinced that they should take the Jiggler back to where they found it, that its sickness is a result of being torn from its habitat, but Finn is resistant. He keeps trying to find some way to cure the Jiggler, but eventually he’s forced to realize that there’s nothing they can do and the Jiggler will die if he isn’t brought back.

They find the Jiggler’s mother, sitting in a crater full of the pink fluid the Jiggler was spewing earlier with a bunch of other baby Jigglers. When they try to reunite the Jiggler with its mother, though, the mother lashes out and attacks. Finn, quick to anger as usual, yells at the mother for rejecting her baby and tries to attack. Really, Finn? You think this will help? Jake, who’s much better at keeping his shit together than Finn, realizes that the mother probably doesn’t recognize her baby because it doesn’t smell like one of hers after spending so much time at Finn and Jake’s tree fort. The throw the Jiggler in the pink fluid, which not only cures it but causes its mother to accept it.

This episode was kind of boring? I didn’t think “boring” would ever be a word I’d use to describe this show, but… yeah, this was kind of boring.

It’s just that I’ve seen this kind of story done so many times, and it’s always done the same way. Character adopts some weird animal, at first it’s all fun and games, the animal starts to suffer because it’s not in its habitat and the character has no idea how to take care of it, character is in denial about animal’s suffering, eventually character comes to their senses, character releases animal, the end. It’s so predictable.

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit harsher than necessary. It’s not a bad episode, and part of my disappoint might stem from the fact that this episode immediately followed The Enchiridion!, which is a hard act to follow. It does have its funny moments here and there, the baby Jiggler is kind of cute, and the episode did confirm to me that Jake is the chilled-out realist and Finn is the hotheaded idealist. Good. I’m glad I’m starting to get a sense of Jake’s personality and his dynamic with Finn.

Not too much to say about this one. It’s forgettable, but not bad.

Rating: 6/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (Prisoners of Love/Tree Trunks)

I’m really glad that people have responded with such enthusiasm to my Adventure Time reviews. I was kind of worried that it wouldn’t catch on. Thanks, everyone!

Oh man, my pun about the Ice King being cool is even more hilarious to me now because he spends most of the episode trying to prove that he can be fun and cool.

Well, the episode starts off with Finn and Jake sledding in the Ice Kingdom (Jake can shape-shift and change size apparently?) when they run into the Ice King. Angered that they’re trespassing on his domain, the Ice King freezes Finn and Jake and brings them to his castle where they’re thrown into a prison cell. There, they discover that various princesses (Bubblegum isn’t one of them, oddly, but there are more sentient foods) from across the Land of Ooo are being held captive.

The princesses tell Finn and Jake that they’ve been in the cell for weeks, and that the Ice King has been asking them questions about their interests and personalities. The Ice King plans to marry one of the princesses, but he captured a bunch of them to make sure he picks the right one. That’s really skeevy, Ice King. Abducting people is generally not a good way to find a date.

LSP, bless her heart, is the only princess who doesn’t seem that worried about her situation. She’s just bored. The other princesses admit to being bored too, and the Ice King isn’t happy about that. It’s clear that he has no idea how to entertain the princesses, but it’s not for lack of trying. He spends most of the remaining time in the episode trying to show the princesses how fun he can be without success.

Eventually, Finn devises a plan to get himself, Jake and the princesses out of the cell. He tells the princesses to pretend that they’re having a good time, so that the Ice King will open the cell and try to join them, and then Finn can knock him out. It works, miraculously. While the Ice King is knocked out, the prisoners all escape, and the Ice King wakes up to find himself alone.

There’s a weird part where, while knocked out, the Ice King has a dream where he laments on how lonely he is and asks why no one likes him, and I was kind of uncomfortable for a minute because I thought the episode was trying to get me to sympathize with the guy who holds women hostage so he can force one of them to marry him. Luckily an owl (?) tells him that he’s a sociopath, which made me feel better.

This episode is more “normal” than the first two. Or as normal as I’m sure this show will ever be, anyway. It moves at a slower, more natural pace, and has a much more simplistic story. Most of it is just the characters sitting in a cage and Finn yelling at the Ice King to let them out. It’s not super memorable, but it did entertain me.

I want to like the Ice King, since I always like a good comedic villain, and I think there’s more to him than what we see here, but I don’t think this was a great introduction for him. The episode doesn’t leave much of an impression and because of that neither did the Ice King.

Oh, and there’s a part where the Ice King laughs and you can totally tell it’s the voice of SpongeBob.

I liked Finn in this episode. It turns out he’s quite the bad ass. In the first two episodes we mostly saw a sillier side of him, here we get to see how brave he is, and that he’s a pretty good fighter. I’m hoping Finn will turn out to be sort of like Aang from Avatar, playful and childlike and silly, but an utter bad ass when he needs to be.

So, this episode is kind of lackadaisical compared to the first two, which were so vibrant and in-your-face, but it’s not bad. Anyway, I never expect much from first seasons, they’re almost always awkward and lacking because the writers haven’t yet found their footing and properly developed their tone, characters and world. I was really impressed by the first two episodes, but this one reminded me that this is still their first season, so I can’t expect every episode to click with me.

Rating: 6/10

Tree Trunks, would you like me to paint you like one of my French girls?

Um, can I just say that I hate it when the name of an episode is also the name of a character in the show? It makes it really confusing to talk about.

The episode starts with Finn and Jake being invited to Tree Trunks’ house for some pie. While they’re eating, the three talk about what adventures they would go on if they could do anything, and Tree Trunks mentions that she would like to pick an apple known as the Crystal Gem Apple. It’s exactly what it sounds like, an apple made of crystal, hanging from a crystal tree. Unfortunately it’s in the Forbidden Evil Forest, which is littered with monsters. Tree Trunks doesn’t think she has it in her to make the journey, but Finn and Jake insist that she can and offer to go with her.

My God, Tree Trunks is the most adorable thing! I can’t even get annoyed by how oblivious she is, it’s just so cute! She’s so innocent that she tries to serve tea to monsters! And she speaks with a slight Southern drawl! And she’s like a sweet old grandmother! And she’s tiny! And she looks like an elephant (which are some of the most adorable animals ever, don’t fight me on this)! She just epitomizes cuteness!

Anyway, Tree Trunks’ naivete continuously puts herself, Finn and Jake in danger, and eventually Finn loses his temper on her: “You’re not an adventurer! You nearly got yourself killed again! Do you wanna die, Tree Trunks?! Is that what you think adventurers do?! Die and make all their friends feel terrible ’cause they couldn’t save them?!” Ouch! Finn has a bad temper, doesn’t he? This is the second time in four episodes that he’s lost his temper on one of his friends and upset them. That’s not a complaint, flawed characters are good! And I actually like how harsh Finn is with Tree Trunks, I like that the writers didn’t hold back, nor did they sugarcoat Finn’s actions. It’s clear that he’s only lashing out at Tree Trunks because he cares about her safety, but it was still too harsh and now he has to deal with the consequences of his actions. This is also good!

Although, it is heartbreaking to see Tree Trunks cry. She’s too cute.

When Tree Trunks walks away in tears, she finds the tree with the Crystal Gem Apple. You go, Tree Trunks! Finn and Jake catch up to her, and Finn apologizes for yelling at her. Tree Trunks accepts the apology, and I was kind of surprised by how quickly this conflict was wrapped up, but then a Crystal Guardian shows up to defend the tree and it turns out Finn and Jake have to take a page from Tree Trunks’ book. They can’t fight the Crystal Guardian head-on, because it mimics all of their movements and blocks all attempts at attacking it, so they do what Tree Trunks would do: they ask it politely, and trick it into letting them eat the apple.

It’s that easy! I like how, in the end, Tree Trunks’ approach to dealing with danger is the one they need to use to complete their quest. So, Tree Trunks takes a bite of the apple, and then she explodes. She… she just explodes. I wasn’t sure whether I should be horrified or find it funny. Or both. The last thing we see before the episode ends is Tree Trunks walking around in some crystal space. Is she dead? I hope she’s not dead! She’s too cute! Is this going to explained at any point?

I was joking about it before, but it actually wouldn’t surprise me if the writers were just walking Deal With It gifs.

Well, I liked this episode more than I like Prisoners of Love, mostly because of Tree Trunks (the character, I mean, see why this is confusing?). I really hope we’ll see her again. She’s so sweet, and kind of a bad ass in her own way. I like how she wasn’t scared of the monsters at all, and I know it’s more because of ignorance than bravery, but still, you have to admire someone who can come face-to-face a hoard of monsters and offer them tea.

I also liked the more action-y parts of the episode, those were fun, and I have to give this show credit for being creative with their monsters. I mean, sign post monsters? Weird, but a cool idea. Even the things that are supposed to help you out want to attack you. And like the other three episodes, this one is funny. It might be the funniest one so far, actually. My favorite line is this one from Jake, after Tree Trunks asks if they should be helping Finn fight one of the monsters: “Finn can handle it. He’s twelve.” Why is the hero always a twelve-year old? I was definitely not that cool when I was twelve.

Finn is starting to become more interesting. At least, I’m starting to get a better handle on his personality. Jake is weird because even though he gets a lot of the funnier lines (so far), I still don’t know much about his personality. I’ll credit this to First Season Syndrome (and the fact that I’m only four episode into the show) for now, but I do hope he gets more development soon.

I also hope we find out what happened to Tree Trunks soon.

Rating: 7/10

 

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (Slumber Party Panic/Trouble in Lumpy Space)

WOW SO LIKE WHAT DID I EVEN JUST WATCH. It was the weirdest thing but it was also kind of good? It’s so confusing because they don’t really explain anything about this world or the characters in it they just kind of plop you into it an it’s just… what.

Oh, wait, apparently there was a short that aired before Slumber Party Panic? I should probably watch that first.

[Watching short, please hold]

Yeah, forget the short.

Okay, let’s take this slow.

I was kind of impressed by how much they were able to pack into eleven-minute episodes, but I also think that because of this my usual format won’t really work, so I’m just going to go through the episodes slowly and talk about things as they happen.

However, I want to talk about the theme song first. Was that even a theme song? It just pans over the Land of Ooo (according to Wikipedia this is what this universe is called, but I don’t believe it was mentioned in these first episodes?) and we see quick glimpses of some of the characters, and then someone sings a few lines, something about adventure and that’s it. It’s kind of comical how quick and brief it is. I don’t know what I was expecting, though. Maybe I was hoping that the opening would be more like the opening of Avatar: The Last Airbender, you know, where they tell you right off the bat what the fuck you’re watching. But I guess this isn’t really an Avatar-like show, so it was stupid of me to hope for that.

These first two episodes seemed to move at a lightning-quick pace. I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all, I enjoyed how energetic they were and it suits the quirky humor and general weirdness of the show, but it is a bit jarring. It’ll take some getting used to, I guess.

Okay, so let’s talk about these episodes now.

I’m not sure what this title card has to do with the episode. Does it have anything to do with the episode? Is it supposed to look like three girls having a slumber party? … On a beach for some reason? what even

I do like the art for the title cards, though.

Okay, so it begins with Finn the Human (that’s really what they call him, I’m guessing he’s the only human in this world?) and Princess Bubblegum standing in a graveyard. Bubblegum is the ruler of the Candy Kingdom, where all of the citizens are some type of candy or pastry. Except Bubblegum, who appears to be humanoid. And since she also seems to be the only ruler of the kingdom, I guess she’s also technically a queen and not a princess. Are we calling her “princess” because it’s more marketable, or is there some other explanation?

Anyway, Bubblegum is working on an experiment (with Finn watching excitedly) to create a serum that will bring dead Candy people back to life. So she’s doing necromancy. Funny how necromancy is usually taboo in magical realms, but they make it seem so benevolent here. At least until they test the serum and it turns out Bubblegum made it wrong, so all of the dead Candy people come back as zombies. The first episode of this show has zombies in it. I don’t want to declare love for this show too early, but having zombies in your pilot is a good way to start.

To keep the citizens of the Candy Kingdom safe, Bubblegum summons them all to the palace, but instead of telling them about the zombies, she tells them they’re all having a slumber party. Apparently, Candy people explode when they’re frightened, which means the citizens can’t know about the zombies. Bubblegum makes Finn give a royal promise that he won’t let anyone know about the zombies, and then she leaves him to distract the citizens while she tries to fix the serum in her lab.

So, it’s easy to guess where this goes. There’s a lot of question dodging, improbable excuses, and attempts at passing off strange behavior as normal. It’s all very chaotic and pretty funny, if a bit predictable. Jake the Dog, Finn’s best friend, is the only one who suspects something is up, and keeps trying to find out from Finn what he and Bubblegum are up to (by the way, you can definitely hear Bender in Jake’s voice). He gets pretty close to finding out a couple of times, and I was kind of surprised by how nervous it made me that he might figure it out. Kudos to the writers for making me this invested in something this early. Anyway, to keep Jake from finding out, Finn insists that he play Seven Minutes in Heaven with Lady Rainicorn, who is like half a rainbow and half unicorn? what even

That’s when the zombies show up, so Finn comes up with a plan. He blindfolds all of the Candy people and tells them they’ll be smashing pinatas, when really they’re smashing zombies. There was one thing I found slightly disturbing in this scene. When the zombies are smashed open, sugar and candy fall out of them. I don’t think it was too big a leap for me to assume this basically represents their blood and guts. And the blindfolded Candy people eat the candy that came out of the zombies. They don’t know what they’ve just smashed open, of course, but aren’t they essentially eating the innards of dead citizens? I don’t know if this was supposed to be disturbing or not, we don’t see Finn react to this and it’s presented in a pretty light-hearted way, but isn’t it a little creepy? It raised a whole bunch of questions for me, like whether or not it’s okay for Candy people to eat each other, whether or not they can eat non-sentient candy, if there’s even such a thing as non-sentient candy for them or candy that isn’t a biological part of them, if other people have ever eaten Candy people and if it’s considered morally wrong to do so etc. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but these are the questions that come up when you have sentient food in your show. And when you show those sentient foods feasting on their fallen brethren.

(Oh, and pinatas are sentient too, so isn’t it a bit strange that they can beat pinatas for fun? Is that like a hate crime?)

Anyway, Jake comes out of the closet (immediately after typing this I realized what it sounds like, but I’m not going to rephrase it because it made me giggle) and sees the smashed-up zombies. Since the danger is now over, Finn thinks it’s safe to tell him about what happened. Then the world freezes. Everyone except him and Bubblegum. Apparently breaking a royal promise is a big no-no in the Candy Kingdom (and possibly in the Land of Ooo in general? I’m not clear on that). I felt like this part of the episode was a bit out of place. It would have been easy to have an episode that was just about zombies, was it necessary to throw in this royal promise stuff? I’m not too bothered by it, I guess, because before now the episode was really fast-paced and that actually worked in its favor, so I suppose they can get away with throwing more plot elements in. Also, I’m guessing that this “royal promise” idea will come into play in other episodes, so they probably wanted to use this episode as an excuse to introduce the idea. Fair enough, they’re obviously going to need a few episodes that are sort of introductory (at least they’re bothering to introduce something in their pilot). Still, I can’t escape the feeling that this whole sequence is really random and just doesn’t quite fit in the episode.

Right, well, two Guardians of the Royal Promise arrive (they’re giant gumball machines) and grab Finn and Bubblegum. The Guardians want to punish Finn for breaking a royal promise, but Bubblegum stops them. Seeing that Bubblegum cares for Finn despite him breaking the promise, they decide to give him a chance. If he can correctly solve a mathematical equation, they’ll let him go. Oh God, I would so fail that test. Bubblegum is worried for Finn because apparently his math skills are as terrible as mine are, but luckily he gets an easy one: 2 + 2. He gives the correct answer and the Guardians let him and Bubblegum go, unfreezing everyone as well. Bubblegum realizes that 4 is also the number she was missing in her equation to perfect the serum (honestly I kind of forgot that was still an issue because after the zombies were destroyed I thought that would be the end of it, and the Guardians showing up seemed to confirm that). The answer was so simple that she was too smart to see it. I was right, Bubblegum is so Hermione. Anyway, she uses the serum on all of the smashed up zombies, and they’re brought back to life for real this time. Conveniently, the serum also puts them back together, though I wonder if some of the ones who got their innards eaten are now missing kidneys or something.

And then the episode ends with a fart joke. Classy.

Man, this show is weird. “Weird” doesn’t even feel like a strong enough word to describe it. It’s like it was written by Luna Lovegood and Phoebe Buffay while they were both inebriated. No, that’s not even strong enough to describe it either. Nothing can describe it. It’s unreal.

It doesn’t help that right from the first episode they plop you into this world and explain nothing to you. In a way, I think that’s kind of cool. They just slap you in the face with their weird ideas and don’t care if you understand it or not. I imagine that the writers are living versions of Deal With It gifs. But I do wish that at least a few things were explained. I’m not asking for them to explain their entire mythos to me or anything, but it would be nice if I had at least some idea of what I’m getting into.

I did enjoy Slumber Party Panic, though. The fast pace is a bit hard to get used to but it works for how bizarre this show is, and a lot of it is funny. I still don’t like how the characters are drawn, but the animation itself has a nice fluidity and some of the settings and backgrounds have good designs. I have a feeling I’ll grow to like this show, but right now I’m not sure what to do with it because I don’t understand it.

I like Princess Bubblegum so far, she seems sweet (pun not intended) and she’s obviously intelligent, which is something I always like in characters. And people. Finn and Jake seem like okay characters. I’m not completely sold on them yet only because so far they don’t seem to have very definitive personalities. So far. I’m sure that will change. As of now, they’re funny and likable enough.

Now, about my rating system. I actually debated with myself whether I should even give ratings for this show. When I reviewed RWBY, my format was slightly different from when I was reviewing SpongeBob because of how different the two shows were. RWBY episodes were extremely short most of the time and they were all part of a continuing storyline, so giving each one an individual rating felt pointless because they weren’t really individual, more like bits of a movie broken up and aired once a week. On top of this, I was familiar with SpongeBob already and therefore had something to base my ratings on. I had a set of standards for the show already and so had something to judge against. With RWBY, I didn’t have anything to go off of because it was all new (unless I compared it to Rooster Teeth’s other productions, but I didn’t think this was fair). Also, since there’s currently only one season of RWBY, I didn’t bother giving it a season overview because, again, it felt pointless. Adventure Time does have more than one season which means I’ll be doing an overview for each one I review, but I’m also unsure whether this show is serial like RWBY is or if it’s continuity-free like SpongeBob. And I’m not familiar with Adventure Time so I’m not sure what to base my judgments. Maybe that’s a bit stupid, because in the end I should be judging it based on how much I enjoyed it, but giving it an actual rating feels weird because I don’t know what my standards for this show are yet. Maybe Slumber Party Panic is the best episode in the series, or maybe it’s one of the worst, how would I know? I think I’ll give episodes ratings for now, but they’ll be very arbitrary ones. More arbitrary than my ratings for SpongeBob, that is.

Rating: 7.5/10 (for a pilot, this is pretty great)

This episode begins with Finn, Jake, Princess Bubble Gum, and Lumpy Space Princess (who is just a lumpy purple blob) participating in a Mallow Tea Ceremony. The ceremony involves jumping on marshmallows and trying not to spill your tea. This is the least efficient way to drink tea ever and I’m not sure why anyone would want to do this. Bubblegum even says that it takes years to master. How does one master it and who would want to? Anyway, an accident occurs when both Jake and LSP fall off the marshmallows and LSP accidentally bites him. Apparently being bitten by a Lumpy Space Person makes you turn into one yourself, and if you don’t get cured by sunset, you stay one forever. Obviously Jake doesn’t want to become one, so LSP takes him and Finn to Lumpy Space to get the cure.

Lumpy Space is really cool. It’s in space, as the name suggests, and cloud-like, and is various shades of purple and blue. I really like the design of this place. Anyway, they need a car to get around Lumpy Space, but LSP isn’t allowed to use her parents’ car. Instead, her friend Melissa drives them to Makeout Point, which is where the cure is. Melissa also reminds LSP that promcoming is that night, and LSP becomes a bit preoccupied with that. Additionally, Jake is becoming more and more like a Lumpy Space Person, which also causes them a few problems.

About these Lumpy Space People. They’re like the sort of people who would listen to Threw It On The Ground by The Lonely Island and not realize it’s a joke and they’re the ones being made fun of. They’re all snobby, apathetic, shallow, rude and completely self-centered. They’re really annoying, but I don’t dislike them. I think they’re funny. They’re so over-the-top but in all the right ways, and the show at least seems to be aware of how annoying they are and portrays them as such. It’s still early to form an opinion on them, so I might change my mind later, but right now I find the Lumpy Space People pretty amusing. That can probably also be credited to the how good the humor is so far in this show.

So, they reach Makeout Point and find a trio of Lumpy Space People who are using the antidote to temporarily become smooth. The antidote is a sphere that you need to sit on to become non-lumpy. The trio is about to give the antidote to Finn and Jake, but LSP insults them by calling them all “posers”, which causes them to change their mind. Finn blows up at LSP, yelling at her for messing things up. Offended, LSP storms off to promcoming. Jake’s lumpiness has gotten so bad that he doesn’t even care about being cured, so he follows LSP to promcoming.

Finn needs to fine a way to promcoming, but because he isn’t Lumpy he would fall into the Lumpy Abyss if he left Makeout Point. He gets the poser trio to bite him (they have accepted him after seeing his hatred for lumpiness and given him the sphere), accelerating the effects of lumpiness, and jumps from Makeout Point, landing more or less safely at promcoming thanks to his new lumpiness. Now the challenge is to get Jake to sit on the sphere before Finn himself becomes a Lumpy Space Person. Jake keeps refusing to sit on it because HE’S AN ADUUUUUULT his new Lumpy attitude makes him too stubborn to do so. Eventually both Finn and Jake end up sitting on the antidote accidentally, returning both of them to normal, and Finn apologizes to LSP for yelling at her. LSP accepts the apology and they dance. That’s it.

Okay, so, this has a more solid storyline than Slumber Party Panic. At least, there were no weirdly out-of-place scenes with gumball guardians or anything like that. It’s as funny as Slumber Party Panic too, and just as weird. There isn’t that much to say about it, though. Lumpy Space is cool-looking and I hope we get to see more of it, and the Lumpy Space People are funny in how irritating they are.

I like LSP as a character so far, but I think she’s the sort of character who needs to be used in moderation, like Zapp Brannigan in Futurama. Her unlikable qualities are extreme and silly enough to be funny (plus these qualities are correctly framed in a negative way) and she’ll probably make a really amusing pseudo-antagonist, but her novelty could wear off quickly, so having her appear too frequently is probably not a good idea. Of course I’m only on the second episode so I might be completely wrong, but that’s how LSP comes across to me right now. I kind of wish she had an actual name, though.

I’m enjoying this show so far. I like the humor, visually it reminds me of pre-movie SpongeBob (particularly the quickness and strangeness of the facial expressions) and the dialogue is reminiscent of Futurama’s sense of humor. (I really need to stop referencing the same shows over and over again and find some new examples. I swear I’ve seen more than three shows ever.)

Rating: 7.5/10

What Time Is It?

I could not have picked a worse title for this post because that question can be answered in so many different ways.

I’ve decided on a show. It’s this one:

So, like I did before starting my SpongeBob reviews, I think I should talk about my experience with this show.

I don’t have any experience with this show.

I’ve never watched this. Not a single episode. Not a single clip. Well, maybe I’ve seen one or two clips? I can’t remember if they were clips or gifs. The point is, I know next to nothing about this show, which is really funny because holy shit it’s everywhere. Memes, gifs, and macros for this freaking show are all over the internet. Nearly all of my friends watch it and so do most of my acquaintances. Merchandise for it can be found in most stores where I live. I’ve seen people dressed as characters from it at conventions. I always hear people talking about it at school, in stores, on the street, in restaurants, and basically anywhere that I go. When did this show become so big? I swear it didn’t even exist until, like, last year. But apparently is has five seasons? What.

And yet despite all of this exposure, I still remain mostly clueless about what this show is. Seriously, here’s a short list of the very few things I know about Adventure Time, and I’m not even sure if all of it is correct.

• The dog thing is named Jake.
• The main character is named Finn. With two N’s. Right? I always see it written that way.
• There’s a character named Princess Bubblegum and she’s like the Hermione Granger of the show or something.
• There’s a character who’s a vampire and apparently she’s punk rock.
• There’s an ice king. He sounds cool. Get it? Cool? Because ice is cold? Screw all of you, I’m hilarious.
• There are penguins and they’re all named Gunther.
• It has adventures. Probably at a certain time. I don’t know, I’m grasping at straws here.
• Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) and John DiMaggio (the voice of Bender from Futurama) are in it. Be still, my heart!

Everyone I know who watches it tells me that I would like Adventure Time, apparently because it’s known for pushing boundaries when it comes to what a children’s show can get away with in terms of “adult” humor and dark imagery. That does sound like the kind of thing I’d usually like, but I was still never that interested in watching it. Part of this is because of my hipster-like tendency to stay away from things that get too much exposure. I’m not sure why I have this tendency because it’s not like everything I like is really “underground” or anything, I like a lot of stuff that’s “mainstream”. I guess it’s just that having everyone talk about it all the time and being surrounded by it makes me grow tired of the thing before I even have a chance to experience it myself, if that makes sense. But the main reason I didn’t want to watch it is because I didn’t like the artwork. Especially on the characters. I just don’t like the way they’re drawn. And maybe that sounds like a dumb reason to avoid the show, but it is important for a show I watch to be aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. You know, watching involves a lot of looking. I need to like what I’m looking at.

Now feels like a good time to start watching Adventure Time, though. Or at least just the first season, and then I’ll decide from there if I want to keep watching. And I might as well make a project out of it, right? I think Adventure Time would be a good transition from SpongeBob, and since I know so little about it reviewing it should be entertaining.

I should probably also mention that I don’t know much about the Adventure Time fandom. I made a point of keeping up with the SpongeBob fandom when I was reviewing it because I liked knowing the thoughts and opinions of fans and comparing them to mine. I’m clueless about the Adventure Time fandom, though. I don’t know what episodes, characters, opinions, or theories are popular/unpopular in this fandom. I don’t know what shipping is like for it. I don’t know if “character abuse” is something that concerns this fandom. I don’t know if anything in particular concerns this fandom. I think I’ll try to keep it that way for now, just to make my reviews even more “fresh” for myself.

(Also, I’m aware of the fact that Doug Walker is reviewing Adventure Time as well. I haven’t watched any of his reviews for it, I’m wondering if I should just to make sure I don’t accidentally steal any comments/jokes from him.)

So, reviews will begin as soon as possible. I’d like to try to post reviews more often, because if I continue this once-a-week schedule it will take forever to get through this show. However, final exams are coming up and after that (hopefully) I’ll be working, so that’s easier said than done. I want to shoot for at least twice a week, but we’ll see how things go.