Adventure Time Reviews: Season 2 (It Came From the Nightosphere/The Eyes)

Oh hey, the first episode of Season  2 is a Marceline episode!

It begins with Finn helping Marceline record a song, one that she says is really personal and so asks Finn not to laugh at it. The song is about one time where her father ate fries that she had bought herself, and it’s surprising how she manages to make something so silly sound so heartbreaking. I mean, obviously the fries are a metaphor for her father never having any consideration for her, but come on, she’s singing about fries. That’s pretty silly. Finn asks Marceline about her dad, but Marceline doesn’t want to talk about him or to him for that matter. Too bad for her, because Finn summons her father from the “Nightosphere”. Her father is the “Lord of all Evil”, also named Hunson Abadeer, and he’s some kind of demon. Not a vampire. I expected a vampire, which in hindsight doesn’t make much sense because (most) vampires can’t breed. I guess Marceline is at least half-demon because of her father, and then was bitten by a vampire at some point. Anyway, Marceline isn’t happy about her father showing up due to her complicated relationship with him, and Finn quickly becomes unhappy too when he realizes Hunson Abadeer is a soul-sucking monster who plans on stealing the souls of everyone in Ooo. After pushing Finn aside and taking Marceline’s bass (which is actually a family heirloom axe that she turned into a bass), he leaves to go on his rampage. Marceline is determined to get her bass back and Finn is determined to stop him from sucking all of the souls in Ooo, so they follow him.

They eventually corner Hunson Abadeer in Red Rock Pass, and Marceline charges at her father to get her bass back. After a short fight, Marceline is defeated and Hunson Abadeer escapes. Finn is angry with Marceline didn’t stick to their plan, but finds it hard to stay angry when Marceline says sadly that all she wants is for her father to care for her. Finn and Marceline continue chasing her dad and eventually find him again, but he has become gigantic from all of the souls he’s eaten. Finn is determined to fight, but Marceline tells him that Finn is like an ant to her father, to which Finn replies that “this ant’s about to get in his pants”.

God, I love it when children’s shows have dirty jokes. Anyway, the souls of Ooo’s residents are trapped in green sacks attached to Hunson Abadeer’s head, and Lumpy Space Princess is one of them, although she’s there voluntarily. She saw another princess have her soul sucked out and decided to “crash the party”. Bless her. Finn promises to save her and the rest of the souls, but he needs something to distract Marceline’s father, and Marceline isn’t eager to do so. Finn plays the recording he and Marceline made earlier, which successfully distracts Hunson Abadeer. While he and Marceline talk about their feelings and reconcile, Finn stabs the sacks holding the souls and releases them. Then using the same method he used to summon Marceline’s father, he sends him back to the Nightosphere.

This episode is a good mix of funny and melancholy, with a tiny bit of creepiness thrown in what with all of the soul-sucking. Again, I’m surprised by what this show is allowed to get away with it. Some of designs in this episode, particularly on Hunson, seem really… intense for a children’s show. Not to mention that “this ant’s about to get in his pants” line. How is this even a show for children?

I do really like the designs and animation in this episode, though. It’s funny to think that one of the things that stopped me from watching this show sooner was that I didn’t like the look of the animation. Honestly the animation is pretty amazing, especially the backgrounds and the designs of monsters, I just love how they look. To be fair it was mostly the designs of the main characters that I didn’t care for, the eyes that were nothing but dots and the noodle-like limbs didn’t do much for me, but even that has grown on me. They’re actually pretty expressive for such simplistic designs.

Speaking of designs, has anyone noticed that Marceline seems to be the only character who changes her outfit? Every time we’ve seen her so far, she’s been wearing something different. This shouldn’t be such a big deal, but considering most cartoons feature characters that seem to only own one outfit, it sticks out to me that Marceline seems to always be wearing something new.

Hunson Abadeer is an enjoyable villain, I hope he comes back. I like how cold and sophisticated he is, and how he manages to be both intimidating and funny. I also hope we get to see the Nightosphere at some point. I’d like to explore Marceline and Hunson’s relationship more, it obviously goes much deeper than fries. I found it noteworthy that Hunson mentions Marceline’s bass is a family heirloom, I like the idea of Marceline taking something with a painful connection to her complicated family life and making it into something she can use for her art. That’s kind of poetic.

I also like that Jake doesn’t show up at all in this episode, except for a tiny cameo at the end in which he doesn’t say anything. It’s just nice to see different character interactions. I guess Finn can never be completely left out of an episode since he’s the main character, but it’s good to see that episodes without Jake are possible, and I’m sort of hoping there will be a few episodes where Finn only plays a minor role. Nothing against Finn and Jake, of course (I’ve made it pretty clear so far that I love Finn), but it’s a good change of pace.

And one more thing, because I can’t not bring this up:

I laughed way too hard at this line. LSP should be crowned Queen of Ooo.

Rating: 9.5/10

Well. This episode. Um, Finn and Jake are trying to sleep, but they’re being watched by this thing:

They call it a horse. That does not look like a horse. Anyway, they can’t sleep with it watching and so try to make it go away, but the horse won’t leave. They try asking it politely, then yelling at it, then threatening it, then pushing it, and even contemplate killing it (well, Jake does, Finn stops him). At the end of the episode, they find out the horse is the Ice King in disguise. He was spying on them because he wanted to find out how to be happy.

Uh, can I just skip talking about this episode? I just… there’s nothing much to say about it. At least I know what this picture is about now:

I liked the reveal at the end with the Ice King. I especially like how casual he is about having been spying on Finn and Jake, and how when they ask him why he was doing it he says it’s none of their business. I also like how at the beginning of the episode when Finn and Jake are reminiscing about all of the adventures they had over the last week, there’s a short flashback of them rescuing a princess from Ice King and Ice King yelling after them “I just want to be happy!” I thought it was just a throwaway joke, but I like that it actually turns out be have some importance in the episode. Ice King is such an odd character, it’s so easy to feel sorry for him because he’s clearly so unhappy and lonely, but he’s really despicable at the same time. I think that, similar to Marceline, he’s been alone for so long that he really doesn’t know how to interact with people. Meanwhile, Finn and Jake are always happy and have so much enthusiasm for everything, of course Ice King would want to know how they do it.

Aside from that, there’s isn’t much to say about this episode. It’s amusing, but I can’t see myself ever wanting to revisit it. It’s pretty uninteresting until the end.

Rating: 6/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 Overview

I can’t tell if Adventure Time got less weird with each episode, or if I just got used to the weirdness of it. It’s funny to look back on my first review and see how confused I was. I actually remember being really worried in the beginning, I had no idea how I was going to make interesting reviews out of something that was so surreal, how would I even talk about it? I thought I might regret choosing this show to review, not because I disliked it but because I just didn’t know what to say about it, but by the time I got about halfway through Season 1 I started to feel like I’d made the right choice. There’s a method to this show’s madness, it’s a lot smarter than I expected it to be. I mean, people said it was smart, but people say a lot of things. I kind of thought this show would be fun but disposable, not worth putting that much thought into.

Not that Adventure Time is amazing, at least not yet. It has potential to be, but its not there yet. It’s good, though, and I do like it. It’s funny and creative, it takes risks, it doesn’t dumb itself down or sugarcoat itself too much, and its world and characters could be really interesting with some more development. And this is only the first season! The fact that it only gets better from here is pretty exciting, because already this is much better than I expected.

I guess I should talk a bit about the characters, though there isn’t much I can say without repeating myself, so I’ll keep it short. Let’s start with Finn. I like Finn. His enthusiasm is infectious, and I like how determined he is to do good and to prove himself. He’s really endearing. I’m having a hard time getting into Jake, though. I don’t know if that’s a popular opinion or not, all I’ve been able to gather when it comes to general opinions on characters is that Marceline and Ice King seem quite well-liked and Princess Bubblegum seems rather disliked, but I have no idea what the general opinion on Jake is. Personally, he’s the only main character that I’m not really fond of. I don’t dislike him at all, I just feel kind of “meh” about him. I guess he is kind of interesting, though, in that I’m pretty sure if Finn didn’t keep him in check he’d be a lot less heroic, and he is pretty cute.

As I said, I’ve gathered that Princess Bubblegum isn’t very well-liked among fans, though so far I can’t see a reason why and I’ve never really seen/heard a good explanation for why she might be hated, people just insist that she’s an asshole. Well, she is ruthless, but I think that’s what makes her interesting. Of course I haven’t seen much of Bubblegum yet, but for now I like her. Marceline and Ice King seem well-liked, kind of funny since I’d call them assholes before I’d call Bubblegum one. I like them too, though. They’re both really fun and intriguing characters, and I really want to see more of them. I’m hoping for a few episodes with interaction between Marceline and Bubblegum.

Who do we have for minor characters? The only ones I can think of are Lumpy Space Princess and Lady Rainicorn. Oh, and I guess there’s Tree Trunks too, who apparently does come back (yay!). I’m excited at the prospect of seeing more of Tree Trunks’ adorableness, and I also hope we’ll see more of LSP and Lady, particularly LSP. I love LSP. Nearly everything that comes out of her mouth has me laughing and clapping my hands like a drunk seal. I think it’s just her voice and her delivery, I don’t know, but she’s hilarious.

Okay, I’ll wrap this up now because there isn’t really too much to say about this first season. I enjoyed it, and I look forward to Season 2.

 Best Episode: Ocean of Fear and City of Thieves

Worst Episode: Business Time

Season Rating: 7.2/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (His Hero/Gut Grinder)

Finn and Jake find a sword that belonged to their idol, the legendary hero Billy. Picking up the sword reveals the entrance to Billy’s cave, where a now much older Billy is secluding himself. Finn and Jake’s fanboying upon meeting Billy is adorable, but unfortunately for them Billy isn’t so excited to meet fans. When Finn and Jake ask if he’ll take them on as apprentices, Billy refuses. He says that fighting monsters is pointless. He’s done it his whole life, but new evil always pops up, and trying to fight all of it is a hopeless effort. He suggests that Finn and Jake find ways to help people without violence. Still enchanted by Billy, they agree.

The rest of the episode is mostly dedicated to Finn and Jake’s failed attempts at helping people in non-violent ways. They neglect to help someone being chased by a dragon, make food for poor people but put too much stone-skin potion in it (Finn thought if their skin was tougher they could defend themselves), and botch Lumpy Space Princess’ plastic surgery by turning her into a cyborg. They realize that they suck at being nonviolent heroes, and so revert back to their violent (but effective) ways. They tell Billy that he was wrong, and that nonviolence didn’t work out for them, and that they were born to kick butts. After seeing that Finn and Jake’s methods do in fact produce better results for them, he concedes that they may be right.

Wow, how often do you see a kid’s show encouraging you to be more violent? Okay fine, that’s not exactly what they’re doing, it’s more about how violence is sometimes necessary, which, well, it is sometimes necessary. Especially when you live in a place crawling with monsters like Ooo. I think violence is okay when it’s being used for defense, and Finn and Jake are clearly more effective when they’re fighting physically. They’re not sadistic or bloodthirsty or anything like that, Finn has avoided using violence in past episodes so he clearly has boundaries on when it’s okay to use it, they just know that using force tends to work out better for them.

Billy’s advice to Finn and Jake about finding nonviolent solutions is odd to me, because what the hell is Billy doing to help anyone? He’s just hanging out in his cave. It seems more like he’s given up, and this whole thing about finding peaceful solutions to people’s problems is a cover up. What’s interesting is the episode drew some parallels between Finn and Billy. Billy says that he was a lot like Finn when he was young, he says that he also had a magic dog, he was enemies with the Fire Count similarly to how Finn is enemies with Ice King, and he was friends with Cotton Candy Princess similarly to how Finn is friends with Princess Bubblegum (the fact that there’s a Cotton Candy Princess is odd, shouldn’t Cotton Candy People just be part of the Candy Kingdom? Or was Cotton Candy Princess a previous ruler of the Candy Kingdom?). Since Billy and Finn are so similar, you kind of wonder if Finn might just grow tired like Billy one day.

I think this episode also has a decent message about hero worship. People have a tendency to want to emulate the people they idolize, adopting all of their habits, beliefs, interests and personality traits, and that’s not always a good thing. Having a role model is one thing, but doing something you’re uncomfortable with (or that you simply can’t do) to be like you role model is something else. Finn can idolize Billy all he wants, but if the pacifist route isn’t for him, he shouldn’t take it. That’s a pretty good moral.

Rating: 7.5/10

The episode begins with Finn looking for Jake and stumbling across his viola. When he picks it up and tries to play it (very badly), Jake appears and takes it from him, telling Finn that he’s terrible at the viola. I really liked this bit because it reminds me of how scandalized I feel when one of my friends tries to play my violin and somehow make my beautiful instrument sound like a dying cat. Anyway, they hear a cry for help coming from the village of Soft People, which they immediately head to. The Soft People are afraid of a creature they call the Gut Grinder, who attacked their village and ate their gold. For a moment they think Jake is the Gut Grinder, but Jake assures them that it isn’t him. Finn promises to catch the Gut Grinder, and he and Jake leave the village.

Later, another cry for help leads them to another village, this one home to Cube People. The Cube People have had their gold eaten by the Gut Grinder as well, and again they mistake Jake for the Gut Grinder. After assuring them that Jake isn’t the Gut Grinder, they move on from the village in the direction that the Gut Grinder had gone. Jake is now worried that he might actually be the Gut Grinder, but Finn tells him that it’s impossible. They arrive at the village of Spiky People, who have also had problems with the Gut Grinder. Jake is mistaken for him once again, and this time they show a picture of the Gut Grinder, who does indeed look like Jake. They lock Jake in a jail cell while Finn tries to convince them all that Jake isn’t the Gut Grinder, something that Jake isn’t convinced of himself.

Finn gets the idea to lure the real Gut Grinder to the village with some gold (he pulls out the gold tooth of one of the other prisoners). The Gut Grinder comes out of a sewer to take the tooth, but when Jake sees the tooth he turns as vicious as the Gut Grinder. He breaks out of jail and starts to fight the Gut Grinder for the tooth. He wins the fight, and then turns on Finn. Finn starts to play Jake’s viola badly, which brings Jake back to his senses. Oh yeah, and the Gut Grinder turns out to be the Spiky Mayor’s wife in disguise? Kay.

When the Gut Grinder was first revealed to be a dog very much like Jake, and when Jake went savage upon seeing the gold tooth, I thought that maybe this was something that happened to all dogs in Ooo. I thought that maybe they all became vicious monsters who aren’t in control of themselves when they’re in the vicinity of gold, like how werewolves turn at the full moon and Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk when he’s angry. I would have liked this twist, but the reveal at the end left me confused. The Gut Grinder isn’t a dog, so what does that mean? Did Jake become like the Gut Grinder because that actually is something that happens to dogs, or was he so convinced that he was the Gut Grinder that it was a self-fulfilling prophecy? I also like this twist, and I guess it makes more sense since this can’t possibly be the first time Jake has seen something gold, so why would he only be effected by it now?

That part where Jake says he worried that he becomes the Gut Grinder in his sleep, and Finn tells him it’s impossible because he watches Jake sleep all the time? That was disturbing. I have a dog, and she does look super adorable when she sleeps, but since Jake is more human-like than he is dog-like, it comes off as stalker-ish. Well, maybe Jake is dog-like enough that I can let it slide.

Actually, that’s something I really liked in this episode, how dog-like Jake acts. As much as tries to deny that he’s “cute”, he still enjoys being patted and having his belly rubbed. His response to that kind of treatment is adorable, all that was missing was for him to start shaking his leg. As a dog owner, I always like it when they make reference to little habits Jake has that are like a dog, it makes him so much more endearing to me.

Unfortunately there’s not much else to like about the episode. It’s kind of a dull one, and a rather disappointing season finale. His Hero probably would have made a better one. Gut Grinder isn’t bad, it did have a few things I liked, but it doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Why is the creature called the “Gut Grinder”, by the way?

Rating: 6/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (Rainy Day Daydream/What Have You Done?)

When a rainy day forces Finn and Jake to stay indoors (it’s raining knives what), Jake suggests that they use their imagination to pass the time. Finn says that “[i]magination is for turbo nerds who can’t handle how kick-butt reality is” a statement I and most people would disagree with, but it does make sense coming from Finn. He’s already living in a magical land, fighting monsters alongside a talking dog with powers. That… that was literally what I used to imagine as a kid. Like, spot on. I’m just now realizing this. Finn is living my childhood fantasy. What the hell. ANYWAY, Finn doesn’t want to play along with Jake, but Jake proceeds anyway. He starts to pretend that the floor is made of lava and Finn gets annoyed with Jake’s persistence, but when puts his foot on the floor it catches fire.

Finn and Jake discover that everything Jake imagines becomes real, but is invisible to everyone but Jake. His imagination proves to be dangerous, so Finn tells him to turn it off, but Jake says he can’t. The only thing he can do is imagine a switch that will shut off his imagination. He imagines one in their bedroom, but also imagines obstacles, traps, and monsters. They make it to the bedroom and turn off Jake’s imagination, which also heals them of all of the injuries they got during the journey, but turning off Jake’s imagination takes away his “bombastic” (Finn’s word, not mine) personality, leaving him an emotionless robot. Realizing how important imagination is, Finn reaches into his own imagination to imagine a switch to turn on Jake’s imagination again. He manages to give Jake his imagination back and also keep it under control.

When this episode began, I thought it was going to be the typical story where one character says imagination is stupid but then they get sucked into the imagination games of another character and find themselves having a good time. I should have learned by now that Adventure Time is anything but “typical”. This episode is still a story about learning the value of imagination, but the way it’s done is pretty unique.

You’d think that an entire episode about imagination would be one of the most visually interesting ones, but it’s actually one of the least interesting ones. You don’t see anything. Everything Jake imagines is invisible. It’s kind of an amusing gimmick at first, seeing Finn and Jake dodge and fight things that don’t appear to be there, but after a few minutes you realize that you’re just watching Finn and Jake dodge and fight things that don’t appear to be there. There isn’t much excitement because you can’t see anything. Just Finn and Jake and the Tree Fort.

The raining knives is actually a pretty cool image though. Cool and terrifying. What if you get caught outside with no shelter nearby? You’re dead, that’s what if. And what happens to all of the knives on the ground after it stops raining? How could you walk anywhere? God, Ooo is so metal.

I wish I liked this episode more, because the way it’s executed is interesting. But it’s just not that fun to watch.

Rating: 6/10

Finn and Jake capture the Ice King under Princess Bubblegum’s orders, but without knowing what she wants with him. They bring him to the Candy Kingdom where Bubblegum shows them the dungeon to put the Ice King in, but before she can explain why he’s being locked up, she gets called into the Grand Hall. She tells Finn and Jake to guard Ice King until she returns, and to prepare “to make him howl with pain”.

Finn and Jake lock Ice King in a cell (he can’t break out because he doesn’t have his crown, which is what gives him his magic), and Ice King begins trying to manipulate them into letting him out. Nothing works until Ice King asks what exactly he’s being charged with.

• Ice King: So what am I being charged with?
• Finn: Umm…
• Jake: Five counts of jerkateering. Ha!
• Finn: Yeah, what does it matter?
• Ice King: Gah! Of course it matters! The way things work is first, I transgress your meaningless rules and then you maliciously persecute me!
• Finn: That makes sense. You do bad stuff, we punish you.

This sounds like one of the rules of the rather arbitrary concept of “character abuse”, doesn’t it? I was wondering if that would ever come up in my Adventure Time reviews, considering it made up the majority of my complaints during my SpongeBob reviews. “Character abuse” is usually defined as when something bad happens to a character that they didn’t deserve, but that’s a very simplified definition. It’s really not that simple. There are plenty of examples where bad things happen to a character that did nothing to deserve it, but no one calls it character abuse, they call it comedy, or they call it a good story. So, what’s the difference? I don’t know exactly, it just depends on how it’s written and how it’s represented, it depends on context, execution and framing, and it’s hard to say what the “right” way to do it is. Character abuse is one of those things that can’t really be defined, but I know it when I see it. The reason that I’m bringing this up is that Ice King says that he hasn’t done anything bad recently, which means Finn and Jake are the bad guys here for locking him up without a reason. But this is the guy that regularly tries to kidnap princesses (including Bubblegum herself, presumably) and tried to trick one into marrying him. Is that not enough of a reason to lock him up? Even if he hasn’t done anything bad recently, he’s clearly not done being a bad guy. Well, apparently Finn doesn’t agree, because he decides to let Ice King go. You’d think that he’d have a hard time trusting Ice King after everything, or that he would at least wait for Bubblegum’s explanation.

Bubblegum comes back immediately after Ice King’s escape, and is angered to find out that Finn and Jake let him go. She takes them to the Grand Hall and shows them the Candy People lying in beds, sick and covered in ice. Apparently a few days ago, Ice King had tried to give Bubblegum a pleasant surprise by making it snow on the Candy Kingdom, but the flakes from his beard infected everyone with Freezer Burn Flu. When Bubblegum researched a cure, she learned that the only cure was the Ice King’s howls of pain. That’s why she wanted him kidnapped, and why she planned on torturing him. She knew that he hadn’t actually meant to cause harm, but when she went to Ice King herself and begged him to help, he thought she was hitting on him, so her only choice was to get his howls of pain by force.

Since Bubblegum actually did have a good reason to kidnap Ice King, Finn promises to get howls of pain from him. He and Jake go to the Ice Kingdom, where they are welcomed since Ice King believes they’re his friends for letting him go. Finn manages to get him to howl with pain by pretending to be dead, and the screams reach the Candy Kingdom and cure everyone. Immediately after this, Ice King drops Finn’s supposedly lifeless body and walks away without a care, leaving Finn upset that Ice King would get over his death so quickly.

Ice King reminds me of Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Not because the characters are similar in any way (they’re not), but just in how both can somehow go from being pathetic to tragic to comical to sinister in the blink of an eye. Gollum’s ability to do this is what makes him one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, so the fact that Ice King can do this as well definitely raises my opinion of him as a character. I’m not completely sold on him yet, but I’m getting more and more intrigued by him.

I’m also getting more and more intrigued by Bubblegum, though. I like her dedication to caring for the people in her kingdom, it’s nice to know that that’s where her priorities lie. I like how her morality is a bit more selective than Finn’s. Finn has a really strong sense of morality, but also a very simplistic one, Bubblegum is more complicated, and not as naive. She’s starting to get really interesting.

 Rating: 8/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (The Duke/Donny)

At first glance, this totally looks like someone lying in a pool of blood.

Outside of Princess Bubblegum’s castle, Finn and Jake are throwing bottles filled with magic for amusement. They see Bubblegum angrily kicking out the Duke of Nuts from her castle and decide not to get involved. Finn finds a bottle shaped like a boomerang and throws it only to have it fly the other way and into Bubblegum’s room. The bottle hits Bubblegum and whatever magic was inside it causes her skin to turn green and for her to lose most of her hair. She blames the Duke (who can still be seen running away from the castle) for this.

Finn and Jake go up to Bubblegum’s room to find her speaking to a doctor. The doctor puts her in a suit filled with medicinal milk, and tells her that within five days she’ll be returned to normal. Bubblegum is supposed to attend the Grand Meeting of Ooo Royalty that night and says she can’t wait five days to return to her normal appearance. She goes into a rant about how much she hates the Duke, saying that she would never forgive anyone who did this to her. This scares Finn out of telling her the truth, and when Bubblegum asks him to catch the Duke for her he accepts.

When Finn finds the Duke, he realizes that the Duke is actually a really nice guy, and he can’t bring himself to turn him in. Instead, they come up with a plan to get Bubblegum to forgive the Duke for turning her green and bald. They try to show her that it was actually a good thing, as changing her appearance makes her less susceptible to assassination attempts. No really, they try to convince her of this. Obviously it doesn’t work, so Finn confesses that he was the one who turned Bubblegum green and bald. She reassures Finn that she couldn’t stay mad at him forever, but that she still hates the Duke for always eating her entire supply of pudding. They explain to Bubblegum that the Duke has a pudding deficiency, and she says he’s forgiven, though she whispers in Finn’s ear that she still doesn’t trust him. To make up for what he did to her, Bubblegum sends Finn and Jake to the meeting in her place.

Well, this episode certainly shows us a… different side of Bubblegum. She’s usually so sweet and composed, but it turns out she’s completely ruthless when she’s angry. It’s an interesting flaw for her to have, though perhaps this episode showed it in a way that was too extreme too soon. I’m fine with Bubblegum’s flaws going to extremes, but doing it this early when we’ve had little to no set-up for this flaw is really jarring. Maybe it’s a bit more realistic this way, as people can surprise you with their, um, “quirks” sometimes, but it’s such a contrast to how Bubblegum is usually presented that it’s hard to reconcile these two sides of Bubblegum at first.

I was surprised at how quickly Bubblegum forgave Finn after he confessed. I mean, I expected her to forgive him, obviously, but considering how much they played up her rage before it’s kind of weird that she just brushed it off so quickly. I do like that she still hasn’t forgiven the Duke of Nuts, though. It shows that forgiving people isn’t that easy, especially when you’ve hated them for so long.

I’m really interested in this more ruthless side of Bubblegum, I look forward to seeing where it goes.

Rating: 7/10

Finn and Jake come across a city of House People, which are boxed-shape creatures that wear little houses like shells. That is so strange and adorable. Anyway, the House People are being bullied by a grass ogre named Donny. Think every bully stereotype rolled into one being. That’s Donny. After fighting him off and having a fun time doing so, Finn starts to think that maybe Donny isn’t so bad and could learn not to be such a jerk. He invites Donny back to the Tree Fort and tries to teach him to be less of a jerk without much success. When he hears screams from the city of House people, Finn decides to go see what’s going on, leaving Jake in charge of Donny.

When Finn gets to the House People, he sees some werewolves attacking them. Oh awesome, does this show have werewolves too? Wait, no, they’re not werewolves. They explain to Finn that they’re Why-Wolves. Get it? Because werewolf sounds like where-wolf, so these guys are Why-Wolves, creatures possessed by the spirit of inquiry… and bloodlust. Oh my God, this is simultaneously the worst joke in the world and my favorite joke ever. Anyway, the Why-Wolves tell Finn that Donny’s presence normally deters them away from the House People because his jerkiness is so powerful that he exudes a gas called “obnoxygen”, which is a deadly poison to them. With Donny gone, the Why-Wolves are free to devour the House People.

Horrified by this information, Finn runs back to the Tree Fort to get Donny to come back, but when he comes back he finds that Jake has succeeded in making Donny stop being a jerk. Finn and Jake drag Donny back to the House People and try to convince him to become a jerk again. Donny refuses, saying that he’s happier the way he is now, but Finn eventually gets Donny to revert back to his old self, which causes him to release obnoxygen which chases the Why-Wolves away. The House People are saved, but Donny is furious with Finn.

The ending of this episode is weirdly depressing. Donny was so much happier when he was kinder, but Finn had no choice but to make him a jerk again. Finn feels bad about it, but sometimes there’s no way out of a dilemma like this. Sometimes the only thing to do is the thing that feels wrong. There was no way to make everyone happy, so Finn had to make a choice, save the larger group or save the one? In the end, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. I really like this ending, I’m glad that Finn was presented with a problem like this.

I also find it interesting that removing Donny from the city of House People proved to be so disastrous. It’s like how removing a predator from an ecosystem often does more damage than good, since it throws everything out of balance.

The odd thing about this episode is that while I really like certain individual aspects of it (like the adorable House People, the Why-Wolves, and the ending), I don’t think much of the episode as a whole. Maybe it’s because most of the interesting stuff only started happening when the Why-Wolves showed up during the second half of it, while everything before that was kind of “meh”. I don’t think this episode is one that will stick with me, but there are certain things about it that I really enjoyed.

Rating: 6.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (Henchman/Dungeon)

Okay, again, the order of these episodes confused me. whyyyyy

Damn, Marceline looks hot in this title card.

Finn and Jake spot Marceline arguing with her henchman, a very old man desperate to be free from her. Not wanting the old man to suffer anymore, Finn replaces him as Marceline’s henchman. Marceline flies off with Finn, leaving a frightened Jake behind.

As his first task, Marceline orders Finn to help her feed by pinning down her victim for her. Finn refuses, but Marceline reminds him that because he promised to be her henchman, he has no choice but to listen. Her victim is some weird creature named Eberhardt who looks like a penis. I’m sorry, but he does. Finn is horrified as Marceline sinks her teeth into her victim, but when she lifts her head he realizes she was sucking the color out of Eberhardt’s red bowtie. Marceline reminds Finn that she drinks the color red, not just blood. Eberhardt is thrilled about his new white bowtie, and Finn is left confused about Marceline. After this, they go to a graveyard. Marceline revives the skeletons to form an undead army, then sends them marching to the Duke and Duchess of Nuts’ castle. Finn runs ahead to warn the Nuts that, in his words, Marceline is coming to “sack” their castle. And then everyone wonders out loud why someone would want to sack the Nut castle. Sack the Nut castle. Sack. Nuts.

That had to be on purpose, right? Anyway, when Marceline gets to the castle, it turns out that she’s performing for the Duke and Duchess’ son’s birthday (she plays the bass and sings). Finn starts to feel even more confused, as he realizes that Marceline makes their tasks sound bad, but then they turn out to be innocent and even helpful. This is proven further when she orders him to murder a seemingly cute and harmless plant that turns into a vicious monster.

The next day, Finn and Marceline are walking through a strawberry field in the sun, Marceline carrying a parasol. Finn asks if the sun can destroy her, and she replies, “Yeah, it hurts, but I kinda like it. Reminds me of when I’d scrape up my knee as a kid and my mom patching me up afterwards.” That’s a really interesting response. For one thing, it lets us know that Marceline still has memories of her life as a human. But it’s a little odd that pain brings positive memories for her, isn’t it? Marceline then asks Finn if he wants to go strangle some pixies, and Finn agrees. Marceline is surprised that he agreed so quickly and easily, but Finn says that he’s figured out that Marcelin’s ideas always sound evil, but turn out not to be. Marceline jokes about how she didn’t think he’d ever catch on, and the two of them laugh and this whole scene is really cute. Then Jake, who throughout the episode has been trying to kill Marceline but kept chickening out, shows up ready to stake Marceline. Finn tries to tell him that Marceline isn’t as bad as she seems, but Jake thinks that Finn is under some sort of spell. Jake causes Marceline to drop her parasol, and she starts to melt under the sun. Rather gruesomely, I should add. Finn tries to keep Jake from staking Marceline as she crawls back under her parasol, but Jake still won’t listen. He stakes the parasol, but when he lifts it Marceline is nowhere to be found. Finn tells him that the spell has been lifted and that Jake has saved him, so Jake skips away happily. Marceline then comes out of Finn’s backpack as a bat, where she had hidden from Jake. She fires Finn from his job as her henchman, and the two promise to meet each other for pixie-strangling the next day as Marceline flies away.

I would have liked this episode anyway just for being a Marceline episode, but that scene in the strawberry field made it even better. Finn and Marceline’s bonding is so cute, and their newfound friendship feels so natural. I kind of like that Finn and Marceline are friends without Jake even being aware of it. I’m guessing that Jake will eventually come around to liking Marceline too, but I like that, for now, Finn and Marceline have something special just between the two of them. Judging from Marceline’s behavior in this episode, it seems like she’s been cut off from people for a while. It’s like she wants friends, but doesn’t know how to make them. For years she’s been the “Vampire Queen”. Everyone was afraid of her and she probably doesn’t know how to interact with people without using fear now. I think she did genuinely like Finn and want to be his friend, but she doesn’t know the “proper” way of going about it. It took a while, but Finn eventually realized that Marceline isn’t as bad as she seems. She’s volatile, but not bad.

I like Marceline. I like how she’s out for herself and she does whatever she wants with little regard for anyone else, but she isn’t heartless. She can be a villain just as easily as she can be a hero, she can be vicious just as easily as she can be kind, and she can be a hindrance just as easily as she can be helpful. She’s unpredictable, and I like that.

Since Jake believes that he killed Marceline, I wonder how he’s going to react when she pops up again.

Rating: 8.5/10

Finn and Jake (under Princess Bubblegum’s orders) are putting up warning signs around a well that holds the entrance to a dangerous dungeon. In the dungeon, guarded by various monsters, is a jewel knows as the Crystal Eye. Eager to go on an adventure, Finn want to enter the dungeon and retrieve the Crystal Eye, but Jake, who doesn’t want to go, taunts Finn about being useless without him. Finn bets that he can get the Crystal Eye in under eleven minutes (a reference to the length of an episode) by himself and jumps in the well.

From there, the episode sort of plays out like a video game. Finn encounters various monsters and traps throughout the dungeon, and he finds that he has a hard time getting past them without Jake’s powers. One of the monsters he runs into is the Demon Cat, who has the coolest design of any monster seen on the show so far. It also brings us my favorite exchange on the show so far:

• Demon Cat: Greetings, Frank the Human Boy.
• Finn: How did you almost know my name?!
• Demon Cat: I have approximate knowledge of many things.

Demon Cat also has the best threat: “I’m going to unzip your skin and wear you like a little coat.” I must remember that one.

There’s also a scene where Finn tries to get a key out of a gelatinous cube, which proves to be much easier said than done, and he says this: “Don’t flaunt it if you’re not gonna give it up!” Yeah, that line rubbed me the wrong way, it’s obvious what it’s referencing and it’s really skeevy. I hope you don’t apply that logic to anything else, Finn.

Anyway, I won’t mention every encounter Finn has, but they’re all pretty exciting and creepy and awesome. While running away from one monster that Finn is unable to fight, an angelic figure who claims to be his guardian angel picks him up, heals him, and carries him to a place she says will be safe. It turns out she’s bringing him to a cage, and as her appearance becomes more demonic than angelic she tells Finn that she’s going to eat him. Feeling defeated, Finn admits that he needs Jake. It’s then revealed that Jake is in the cage as well. He had jumped into the well shortly after Finn, but had difficulty with the dungeon too as he was presented with challenges that Finn would have had no problem overcoming. The two develop a newfound respect for each other, realizing that they work best as a team because they balance out each other’s weaknesses. Together, they break out of the cage and head to the chamber that holds the Crystal Eye. When they lift it, they discover that it was there for a very good reason. Lifting it unleashes hundreds of demons, which Finn and Jake are an unable to fight off. Luckily, Bubblegum suddenly appears, riding a laser-shooting swan that she uses to destroy the demons and get Finn and Jake’s sorry asses out of the dungeon and to safety.

I don’t care if Bubblegum’s appearance is rather convenient, it was awesome. She’s just so done with Finn and Jake’s shit and it’s beautiful.

Anyway, I like how this episode really lays out why Finn and Jake make a good team. Finn is driven, courageous, and resourceful, but he doesn’t have the raw power that Jake does. As heroic as he is, he has limitations. There are some things he just doesn’t have the power or ability to overcome. Jake is the opposite. He has tons of power, but he doesn’t have Finn’s drive or ingenuity. His power allows him to be lazy, so in certain situations where his powers won’t be helpful, he’s useless. Together, Finn and Jake balance each other out. Finn keeps Jake focused and is the driving force of the duo. Jake can make up for Finn’s limitations and his chilled-out demeanor keeps Finn’s energy from reaching points of insanity, which can happen easily. They keep each other in check and make up for each other’s weaknesses, which is why they’re most effective when working together.

Aside from that, this episode is a lot of fun. The monsters and obstacles Finn encounters are creative, and even what little we see of Jake’s adventures seemed funny (I like how one monster made him chase a laser pointer).

Rating: 8.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (When Wedding Bells Thaw/Freak City)

This episode pair gave me a lot of trouble, because some sites say that the partner to When Wedding Bells Thaw is Dungeon and some say that it’s Freak City. I decided to go with Freak City in the end, I hope that’s the right one.

I feel so conflicted about what I said in my last review.

The Ice King pays a visit to Finn and Jake to tell them that he’s getting married to a princess who actually wants to marry him. Apparently, she fell in love with him the moment he slipped the engagement ring on her finger. Finn and Jake are surprised, but also pleased because they think this means that the Ice King won’t be kidnapping princesses anymore. They reluctantly agree to give the Ice King a “manlorette” party, and we get a short and amusing montage where Finn and Jake try to take Ice King some place fun and then Ice King ends up getting into a fight with someone, so Finn and Jake have to slap him. When that’s over, Ice King is suddenly worried about getting married so soon, and he isn’t sure if he’s ready to stop kidnapping princesses. Finn and Jake try to convince him that marriage is wonderful, using two swans they spot in a pond as an example. As they watch the swans, the male suddenly swallows the female, which convinces Ice King that “marriage is something that allows [him] to kidnap a princess forever and let her live inside [him].”

Creepiest description of marriage I’ve ever heard.

A few days after this, Finn and Jake attend Ice King’s wedding and find him tying up his bride. Finn asks if the bride is okay with that, and Ice King tells him that its a traditional wedding ceremony in the Ice Kingdom. Apparently the bride must be hoisted up and then lowered slowly, and when she touches Ice King’s beard from above she’ll officially be his queen. Kay then. When the bride lifts her veil, Finn notices that she has extremely large eyes. He takes a closer look at them and notices a smaller version of the princess is trapped in the eyes of the larger princess. This smaller one is the real princess, she was cursed when Ice King put the ring on her finger and forced to marry him, she says she would rather die than marry him. Yeah, I saw something like this coming as soon as Ice King mentioned that she fell in love with him after putting the ring on her. Still, it’s a neat twist, and the idea of the cursed princess being trapped behind the eyes of her doppleganger is awesome in a creepy way. Then this exchange happens:

• Finn: That’s what cursed her! Don’t worry, princess. I’ll remove this ring and save your life. [tries to pull off ring]
• Ice King: No! She’s my love boat! [zaps at them with ice magic but misses]
• Finn: No, man. You cursed her. She hates you!
• Ice King: Okay, that’s your opinion! [gets ready to zap again]
• Jake: Wait a minute! [sighs] So you knew she was cursed all along, which means you knew she wasn’t trying to steal your Demonic Eye Junk or whatever, and you knew you had total control of her!
• Ice King: Yeah, yes, that’s right.
• Jake: So then why did you make us go through all that junk about why marriage is worth stuff?!
• Ice King: Oh, I don’t know… I’m complicated—and spontaneous! [laughs] That’s probably why she wants to marry me!
• Jake: She wants to marry you because you brainwashed her!
• Ice King: Silence! [shoots ice at them]

Yikes! Ice King’s views on consent are more skewed than Robin Thicke’s! What a creep. Anyway, a fight ensues and Jake manages to get the ring off the bride’s finger without Ice King noticing, but it doesn’t matter since the bride is being forced to touch Ice King’s beard anyway. Jake stretches out his hand to touch Ice King’s beard before the bride does, so he ends up married to Ice King instead of her, thus saving her. It’s implied that Jake and Ice King got divorced soon after this. There goes any chance of Jake/Ice King shipping.

This episode is pretty straightforward, so there isn’t that much to say about it. As usual, it’s funny and entertaining, but there isn’t much substance to it. The manlorette party and the scene where they need to convince Ice King to get married seem like filler by the end of the episode. Ice King even admits how pointless they were. They were amusing, though, so I don’t mind that much.

I was really disturbed by Ice King in this episode. I guess I stand by what I said in my last review, Ice King does seem like a tragic figure in a way, and from what I’ve heard he apparently does have a tragic backstory. But that doesn’t make him any less despicable. I’m fine with that, by the way, this isn’t a criticism about Ice King’s character. Anyway, what disturbs me about Ice King in this episode is that he doesn’t realize that there’s something wrong with what he’s doing. It reminds me of his first appearance in Prisoners of Love, and how at the end of that episode he wondered why none of the princesses liked him. He doesn’t even know that what he’s doing is wrong, he sees himself as a victim. That’s creepy.

Rating: 7.5/10

Finn and Jake encounter a beggar in the woods, who asks them for food. Finn is reluctant to give the beggar the only sugar cube he has with him, but decides to do it because he thinks it’s the right thing to do, and because the beggar may be a magical being in disguise who will reward him for doing good. Finn gives him the sugar cube, and the beggar removes his cloak to reveal that he’s a magician named Magic Man. As repayment, Magic Man turns Finn into a giant foot. Just a giant foot. He says he won’t return Finn to normal until Finn appreciates what a jerk he is, and then he disappears.

Of course, Finn wants to track down Magic Man and get himself turned back to normal, but Jake apparently likes his new form and convinces him to keep it for a little while. Finn doesn’t have much choice, since he can’t move well without Jake’s help. Jake gets Finn to keep trying to do heroic deeds (much to Finn’s discomfort), but after a failed attempt at saving a village on fire, the village people call him a freak and throw him under the bridge with the “other freaks”.

These other freaks introduce themselves to Finn and Jake and tell them that their appearances are also due to encounters with Magic Man. Jake is happy to spend the rest of his life with Finn under the bridge and the other freaks think it’s hopeless to try to find Magic Man again, but Finn isn’t willing to accept being a foot forever. He convinces the others to help him find Magic Man again and they agree. Magic Man appears in front of them again as a beggar, but soon takes off his disguise because the group recognizes him. After a short battle they manage to pin him down, and Finn start to question why Magic Man punished them this way. Finn thinks that perhaps Magic Man was trying to teach him a lesson about how you should help people because it’s right, not because you expect something in return. That’s a good lesson, but apparently it’s not the one Magic Man was trying to teach. Frustrated, Finn yells that he never should have given his sugar cube to a jerk like Magic Man. That’s what Magic Man was waiting for, he just wanted Finn to admit that he was a jerk. He turns Finn and the others back to normal and disappears again. Finn then gets angry at Jake for not helping him get his body back. Jake explains that the reason he didn’t help Finn was that he always wanted to be a foot himself. I… I can’t even… what?

I’m really surprised by how much this show is able to get away with. When people used to tell me about all of the “adult” humor in Adventure Time, I’d always brush it off because people say the same thing about nearly every children’s show and usually exaggerate it. But Adventure Time really does seem get away with a lot. Characters regularly use words like “freaking” or “crotch” (particularly in this episode), which aren’t exactly curse or dirty words but they aren’t the sort of thing you want your kids hearing and repeating. Plus, some of the imagery used in this show is rather dark, more than I was expecting, and in this episode we see something really gruesome. To prove he’s a magician, Magic Man turns a bird inside out, so all of its fat, organs, muscles and flesh are on the outside. He then sets the bird free as if he just did something totally innocent and even helpful, while the bird struggles to fly away. This deeply disturbed Finn and Jake, and I don’t blame them. It’s a pretty disgusting thing to see, not to mention morbid. I actually liked this scene, but jeez, how is this in a children’s show? I think it’s a good thing, as a kid I always liked things that challenged me and that weren’t sugarcoated, so I’m glad kids today have a show like this. I wonder, how much can this show get away with, and is there a point where it may go too far?

I enjoyed Magic Man’s character. I love how he’s so unapologetic about being a jerk and actually seems to revel in it. He’s like the Joker in a way, his motivation seems to be sadism and cynicism. I don’t even mind that his “lesson” at the end was pointless, because I think the pointlessness of it is the point. Some people are just jerks, and it doesn’t matter how much you try to reason with them or be nice to them. They’re just jerks, and there’s not much to be done about it.

Jake’s unwillingness to help Finn annoyed me a little in this episode, especially since they just brushed it off at the end. Finn was suffering and he couldn’t be bothered to help because he has some weird foot fetish or something? I guess I kind of get it, when somebody gets something that you really want and they don’t seem to appreciate it, it does make it hard to sympathize with them. But still, the thing Jake wants is to become a foot. Which he can totally do since he can shape-shift. Seriously, Jake?

Rating: 7/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 1 (What is Life?/Ocean of Fear)

Jake throws butter on Finn as a prank (which isn’t much of a prank) and Finn decides to get back at Jake. He decides to do so by building a robot that will throw pies at Jake. The robot doesn’t seem to work at first, but after getting hit by a bolt of lightning, it suddenly comes to life. The robot introduces itself as Neptr (short for Never-Ending Pie-Throwing Robot) and tells Finn that he still has a bunch of technical problems that need to be fixed before he can be of any use for pranking. Finn decides to take him to the Ice King’s castle so that they can use the Ice King’s weird ice-lightning bolts (that just sounds so odd) on Neptr.

Finn and Neptr get to the Ice Kingdom with the help of some talking balloons. They sneak into the Ice King’s castle (this is also where we meet one of the Ice King’s penguins, named Gunter) and try their best to remain hidden. They don’t do so well and end up triggering the alarms, causing them to be attacked by beasts made of ice, and later the Ice King himself. The whole sequence is pretty cool, and I’m not just making a bad pun about ice being cold. The Ice King throws one of his bolts at Neptr, making him able to run at full capacity, and he and Finn manage to escape shortly after. Neptr is behaving strangely, though, he seems to be more sadistic than necessary. Could it be that he’s been infected by the Ice King’s ~totez evil magick~? Obviously, but Finn doesn’t figure it out.

When they get back to the tree fort, Neptr starts telling Finn about his new desire to kidnap princesses, which concerns Finn but he still doesn’t figure out what’s going on. The Ice King shows up, freezes Finn, and tells him that he’s taking Neptr back to the Ice Kingdom to raise him as his son. He also reveals that his bolt gave Neptr some of his personality (duh) and because of this, the Ice King feels entitled to him. The Ice King tries to tempt Neptr by telling him about all of the beautiful princesses they can kidnap if Neptr goes with him while Finn tries to convince Neptr to stay with him. It’s like a custody battle. They give Neptr a choice, to go with the Ice King or stay with Finn, and Neptr chooses Finn. The episode ends with the Ice King dreaming of himself and Neptr watching a sunset together, acting like father and son, and… uh… it’s pretty sad? And kind of cute? I don’t know why these are questions?

When I first started watching this show, I was positive that either the Ice King or Princess Bubblegum would be my favorite character. Everything I heard about them made them sound like the sort of characters I normally latch on to. I do like them both, but neither is my favorite yet, simply because I don’t know them well enough. If I had to pick a favorite character right now, it would probably be either Finn (because he’s gotten the most development so far) or Lumpy Space Princess (because she’s freaking hilarious and I quote her so often I’m surprised no one has punched me in the face yet). I always get a bit excited when the Ice King or Bubblegum appear in an episode, like every time they show up I expect them to do something that will win me over. That hasn’t quite happened yet, obviously, but the Ice King got closer in this episode than he did in any other.

I really love villains. Any kind of villain. I love them. A lot. Like, probably way more than I should. And if you give a villain a tragic backstory, I’m pretty much a sucker for it. I bring this up because the Ice King is actually really… sad in this episode, particularly in the ending. From previous episodes, I got the impression that the Ice King was kind of a pathetic loser, a bit like Plankton but without the computer wife (though I’m sure that’s not from lack of trying). He’s still pathetic in this episode, probably more so than in any other, but I also found it easier to feel genuinely sorry for him. I wasn’t expecting him to actually want Neptr as a son, I thought he just wanted him to help with his schemes. Now that I think about it, the Ice King must be really lonely. All he has for company are some (admittedly adorable) penguins and some (admittedly awesome) ice monsters. And who knows how long he’s been alone? Not that that makes holding people hostage okay, but it is kind of sad. I guess I was right to think there’s more to the Ice King?

Anyway, since Neptr chose Finn at the end, I wonder if that means we’ll be seeing him in more episodes. And if he still has random desires to kidnap princesses. I like Neptr, so I might like to see more of him. I also like that this is the first episode where Jake doesn’t have a major role. In fact, he’s barely in it. Nothing against Jake, but it is a nice change of pace. Maybe having Neptr around will give more opportunities for different plots and character interactions, assuming he sticks around.

I really liked this one line from one of the talking balloons, when Finn releases them and they float up to the mesosphere, and one of them says, “Finally, we can die!” lol children’s show.

So yeah, I liked this one a lot. It’s funny, it’s interesting, the action was pretty fun, and I liked the designs of Neptr and the ice monsters.

Rating: 8/10

“In the dark recesses of the mind, a disease known as FEAR feasts upon the souls of those who cannot overcome its power…” That’s the quote this episode starts with.

In this episode, Finn discovers that he’s afraid of the ocean. He’s not afraid of lakes or rivers or other bodies of water, but he’s terrified of the ocean. He panics if he has to get anywhere near it. Finn will jump at the opportunity to fight any monster, but if a single drop of ocean water gets on him, he’s inconsolable. Phobias are weird, aren’t they? Finn’s fear is personified by a dark cloud-like figure that comes out his bellybutton called Fear Feaster. I’m not even surprised at this point. Fear Feaster belittles Finn for being afraid, telling him that he’ll never be a true hero if he’s afraid of the ocean. This makes Finn determined to get over his fear. Jake tries to help, but all attempts go poorly. As his last attempt, Jake takes Finn into a submarine and the two go down into the ocean. Finn keeps his eyes closed for most of the journey, but when Jake convinces him to open his eyes, he’s amazed at how beautiful the ocean is. They come to a deep, pitch-black trench and Jake starts to steer them into it. This sends Finn into a panic once again, as he tries desperately to get the submarine back to the surface. In his desperation, he accidentally causes a leak in the submarine, so he and Jake are forced to put on diving suits to get to the surface. Finn makes it, but Jake was knocked out during Finn’s fit and has sunk to the bottom of the trench.

Finn feels horrible for putting his friend in danger, but he’s still too afraid to swim down to rescue Jake himself. Fear Feaster’s reappearance doesn’t help, as he continues to mock Finn for being afraid. So, Finn knocks himself out so that he’ll sink to the bottom too. That’s a terrible idea. What if Finn didn’t wake up on time? What if he didn’t sink to the same spot Jake did? Well, luckily he does wake up on time and he conveniently wakes up very close to where Jake was. After waking Jake up, the two return to the surface again (Jake is responsible for this, since Finn started to panic shortly after waking up Jake). Fear Feaster shows up again to remind Finn that because he still hasn’t gotten over his fear, he’s still not a true hero. Then, three more entities come out of Finn bellybutton and tell him that he is a true hero, and that the mark of a great hero is his flaw. Reassured, Finn banishes Fear Feaster to his bellybutton again (this has to be the best thing I’ve ever typed).

“And so fear is forced deep within the soul of a hero. Conquered… at least, for now…” That’s the quote the episode ends with.

Finn’s fear of the ocean is really adorable to me. Seeing him so terrified like that just makes me want to squeal and pinch his cheeks. Is that bad? That’s probably bad. It’s just… well… come on! It’s cute!

I really love how this episode ends. I like that it’s made clear that being brave or heroic doesn’t mean that you can never be afraid of anything, which is something I think a lot of people forget. I’m glad that Finn isn’t completely over his fear at the end, he’s still terrified. Most shows would have the character conquer their fear, but honestly that isn’t very realistic. Phobias are complicated and weird and often irrational, it’s hard to get rid of them and very unlikely that it will happen in a short span of time, if at all. So I like that Finn is still afraid at the end, and that it’s okay for him to be afraid. It doesn’t make him weak or a coward, it makes him human.

I also like that they mention that heroes always have some great flaw, which is obviously a reference to hamartia, a staple in Greek tragedies. I wouldn’t expect a kid to pick up on that, but as a pretentious humanities student I appreciate the reference. Although, I don’t think I’d count a fear of the ocean as a tragic flaw. Would it really cause problems for Finn that often?

I find it a little creepy that when Finn and Jake go to the bottom of the ocean, we see a destroyed city at the bottom, complete with skeletons. What’s creepy about it is that Finn doesn’t seem to realize what he’s looking at. He thinks it’s beautiful, and in a way the scenery is nice, but he’s looking at the remains of a city. This is further evidence that Ooo is post-apocalyptic, but the fact that Finn doesn’t even seem to know what he’s looking at is a bit creepy to me. If he’d understood, wouldn’t it have made him more afraid of the ocean than ever?

Anyway, I loved this episode. I like things that deal with fears and phobias, and this episode dealt with it really well, especially for something that’s supposed to be a children’s show. On top of that, it still manages to be hilarious.

Rating: 9/10