Adventure Time Reviews: Season 2 (The Pods/The Silent King)

Finn and Jake are walking while Jake eats a bowl of ice cream and talks about how excited he is for the Ice Cream Marathon. They stumble upon a frog in a Gnome Knight costume. No, wait, it’s a Gnome Knight that was turned into a frog. Kay. The Knight is dying and needs someone to take over his task of guarding a chest with three beans inside. Two of the beans are good and one is evil, but the Knight doesn’t know which is which so he guards all three to keep any from being planted. Finn offers to take up the task for the Knight (much to Jake’s disappointment). The Knight gives Finn the chest and promptly dies.

Jake wants to take the beans to the Ice Cream Marathon, but Finn insists that they can’t move them and must stay where they are. It makes much more sense to just take the beans with them, but Finn’s the boss, I guess. After a while, Jake suggests that they plant all three beans and then just kill the evil one when it grows. Finn likes this idea, so they plant the beans and then fall asleep. The next morning, one of the bean stalks has already grown. A pod lowers from the top of the stalk and opens, revealing adorable piglets dressed in silly costumes. Finn still has his guard up and gives the piglets personality tests to see if they’re evil, but it seems that the piglets are nothing but cute. Finn decides that they must be good, though he notes that one of them drew ice cream under the question “Do you have any allergies?” The second beanstalk grows and once again a pod appears, this one filled with magic wands, which are assumed to be good. The third beanstalk and the third pod doesn’t appear until the next morning, by which time the piglets and the wands have disappeared. The third pod looks like this:

The pod is leaking chocolate ice cream. It’s filled with ice cream. I mean, that’s obvious, right? It definitely doesn’t look like anything else. Nope. Nothing at all Freudian about that shot. So, after discovering that this pod is filled with ice cream, they realize that it can’t be the evil one, meaning they must have been mistaken about one of the other two. They start to look for the piglets and the wands and discover the piglets using the wands to terrorize Mushroom Village. Remembering that the piglets were allergic to ice cream, Finn uses the third pod to defeat the piglets (they explode when hit by ice cream). After cleaning up the ice cream now covering the village by eating it, Jake departs to the Ice Cream Marathon.

I really like the plot of this episode, how it seems to take inspiration from fairy tales. The beans obviously are a nod to Jack and the Beanstalk, the piglets could be a nod to The Three Little Pigs (they did show them staying in a little house made of sticks in one scene), and the Gnome Knight that was turned into a frog could be a nod to The Frog Prince. Plus, just the set-up of having three items, two good and one evil and having to figure out which is which, is very fairy tale-esque. I like it.

It was pretty easy to guess that the piglets would end up being bad, but it’s more interesting if you think about the fact that the piglets were using the wands in their destruction, so it’s unclear if the piglets were the evil ones or the wands. What if the wands corrupted the piglets, making the wands the evil ones and the piglets victims? I mean, we’re supposed to see the piglets as the evil ones, but it’s fun to think about.

And I like that the piglets are still cute even after we see all of the destruction they’re causing. They don’t turn into horrific monsters once it’s revealed that they’re bad, they stay adorable. I think it’s much funnier that way.

Overall, it’s a good episode. The set-up is cool and the execution of it is pretty decent. I think maybe something more could have been done with it, though. I don’t know, I just feel like something was missing, but I can’t put my finger on my what that thing was.

Rating: 7/10

The episode begins with Finn and Jake fighting Xergiok, the tyrant king of the Goblins who for some reason has a thing for spanking his subjects. After defeating Xergiok and forcing him to flee, Finn and Jake are taken to the palace of the Goblin Kingdom where they meet Gummy, the royal Goblin chief of staff. Gummy thanks Finn for saving them and offers him a position as king. Finn refuses at first, but then is shown how without a king, anarchy erupts among the Goblins. So, Finn agrees to give up being an adventurer to be their king, and Jake decides that he’ll be queen (bless you, Jake).

It turns out that the Goblin Kingdom has a lot of rules for their kings, most of them restricting the kings from doing anything themselves. They’re not allowed to brush their own teeth. They’re not allowed to cut or chew their own food. They’re not allowed help people who are being attacked, all they can do is give a speech to the attacker, and even the speech has to be given by someone else. Finn hates these rules, but whenever he tries to break one the Goblins become scared and confused, so he doesn’t seem to have a choice. Meanwhile, Xergiok has returned with an army of Earclopses, giants with a huge, single ear instead of heads. Finn thinks this is a perfect opportunity to show the Goblins that an active king can be a good king, so after leaving a decoy to hide the fact that he’s left, he and Jake run to meet Xergiok’s army. They easily defeat the Earclopses by creating sound waves (“Dude, no one uses Earclopses in battle without earplugs!”) and then defeat Xergiok himself. When Finn and Jake return to the Goblin Kingdom afterward, they find that the decoy they left is still working, no one has noticed that it isn’t Finn, and the decoy seems to be exactly what the Goblins are looking for in a king anyway, as he allows everyone to do everything for him. So, Finn and Jake leave the Goblin Kingdom as it is.

These Goblins remind me so much of house-elves from Harry Potter. I’m sorry, I know I’m so predictable when it comes to comparisons, but seriously these Goblins are so much like them. They even look rather like Dobby in design. The fact that they’re all so meek and subservient, the way they expect punishment whenever a rule is broken, the way they can’t imagine not having someone to serve… it’s all very reminiscent of house-elves. (Although, the fact that they’re born from mud is reminiscent of orcs from Lord of the Rings, which are about as far from house-elves as you can get.)

In the case of house-elves, their behavior is the result of centuries of oppression and slavery, and it seems to be a similar situation for the Goblins. As Gummy says, they have “not known a friendly touch for some time”. They were mistreated under Xergiok and are now constantly afraid of receiving that kind of treatment from all of their rulers. They even expect that kind of treatment from Finn, who’s made it clear that he has no desire to harm the Goblins and who was the one who opposed Xergiok’s tyranny. The odd thing is, when Finn tries to go against one of the rules, the Goblins are the ones who expect punishment because they think they’ve displeased him, and the only way for Finn to fix it is to conform to their rules. It makes no sense to Finn, but it’s how things have always been for the Goblins. Or at least, it’s been that way for a long time. And there’s very little Finn can do about it since the Goblins are afraid of the very idea of change. It’s all really sad, even though a lot of it is played for laughs.

I was kind of surprised that Finn decided to just leave the Goblins as they are at the end, happily serving his decoy. I mean, I wasn’t exactly expecting Finn to go all Hermione on us and start campaigning for Goblin rights or anything, but it seemed like a weird way to end things. I guess Finn realized that the best he could do for them at the moment was leave them with the kind of king they’re looking for, one that will follow their customs without complaint as well as treat them nicely. As long as they’re happy, I suppose.

Overall I thought this episode was pretty interesting, I enjoyed the slightly more serious route they took with the Goblins but I also enjoyed the sillier elements of the episode. Xergiok’s scenes were funny and I loved the Earclopses, particularly the way they’re defeated with sound waves.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 2 (The Chamber of Frozen Blades/Her Parents)

The episode begins with Finn spying on the Ice King, having received a tip from Flambo (a strange flame creature) that Ice King was going to try to kidnap a princess that day, while Jake reads a manual on how to be a ninja (Finn and Jake both have a fascination with ninjas). Suddenly Finn sees Ice King leaving his castle with a bag and his penguin, Gunter. Finn thinks Ice King looks pleased with himself, and comes to the conclusion that he must have stolen a princess, so they sneak into Ice King’s castle to find and rescue her, whoever she may be.

Most of the rest of the episode alternates between scenes of Finn and Jake looking around Ice King’s castle for a princess that isn’t there and scenes with Ice King and Gunter at a hospital. While in Ice King’s castle, Finn and Jake discover that Ice King has a hidden chamber filled with ninja weapons made from ice and start playing with them. At the hospital, Ice King and Gunter meet Doctor Princess, who Ice King takes interest in immediately.

Later, Ice King returns to his castle, where Finn and Jake jump out at him to rescue whatever princess he’s just kidnapped. However, Ice King only seems to have Gunter and his bag with him, as well as an egg that Gunter laid at the hospital. Realizing that they were in the wrong, not Ice King, Finn and Jake decide that they should make it up to Ice King. They offer to take his bag for him, but when they do so they discover that Doctor Princess (who isn’t even an actual princess, it’s just her surname) is in the bag. Finn and Jake start to fight Ice King, and while they’re fighting Gunter’s egg hatches. Out of the egg comes… a pink cat? Why? And then Finn and Jake both kick Ice King in the face and that’s literally how the episode ends.

So for the last two weeks or so I’ve been obsessively watching every Mortal Kombat X video I can find and all of the ice ninja stuff we see in this episode puts me in mind of Sub-Zero. There’s probably no point in me bringing this up, but it was such a pervasive thought that I felt like I couldn’t not bring it up. Well, anything that reminds me of Mortal Kombat is probably doing something right.

Here’s something I wonder about, though: Ice King mentioned in a previous episode that he gets his ice powers from his crown, but Finn and Jake were able to able to use ice powers after reading Ice King’s manual on ice ninjas. Continuity error?

Ice King is hilarious in this episode. Even more so than usual. Just everything that comes out of his mouth is gold. The scenes in the hospital are priceless. Finn and Jake’s scenes are okay, but Ice King’s scenes in the hospital are really what make this episode worth watching.

I wasn’t very fond of the end of the episode. It ends so suddenly and without any real resolution, I didn’t even realize that was the end at first. I thought that maybe something had gone wrong with the video but… nope. That’s how it ends. I guess in a way that suddenness and randomness of it is funny, but I felt so dissatisfied with the ending when I initially saw it because I didn’t even think it was the ending, so it’s hard for me to really like it because I still associate it with that feeling of unsatisfactory confusion. Does that make sense?

It’s still a good episode overall. It’s funny, the action is pretty fun, and I like how Finn and Jake discover something they have in common with Ice King, even if it is something really small. It’s also interesting that this episode shows more of Finn’s strange moral code, as he sees himself as the bad guy for confronting Ice King and going through his possessions when Ice King seemingly hasn’t done anything wrong (though it turns out that he has, of course). I still find it strange that Finn would ever think of himself as the bad guy when Ice King is involved, but I guess it’s also kind of noble.

Rating: 7.5/10

Lady Rainicorn is nervous about introducing Jake to her parents. To spare her from worrying, Jake invites her parents to come over earlier, so that they can get to know each other and become friends before Lady gets there. Finn asks why Lady is so worried, and Jake says that it’s probably because of the Rainicorn-Dog wars. Apparently, there were terrible wars between Dogs and Rainicorns for territory in the Crystal Dimension. Seriously? I wish we could know more about these wars. Anyway, Finn says that Lady’s parents will probably be prejudiced against Dogs because of the wars and prevent Jake from seeing Lady again upon meeting him, something that Jake hadn’t thought of.

Finn and Jake decide it would be best to disguise Jake as a Rainicorn. Finn covers him in condiments while Jakes takes the form of a Rainicorn, and paints the Tree Fort’s interior in rainbow colors. Lady’s parents, Ethel and Bob, arrive, both wearing translators so they can speak English. I notice that Ethel is much longer than Bob, who’s actually really short. I didn’t know that Rainicorns had different lengths. Actually, before this episode I hadn’t even given much thought to other Rainicorns at all, but I would have guessed that they’d all be roughly the same length, kind of interesting that they’re not. Are females longer than males, or does it just go by chance? Anyway, Ethel and Bob are both partially blind and accept that Jake is a Rainicorn without question. They also think that Finn is his Human servant, which leads them to believe that Jake is extremely wealthy since Humans are so rare. I’m kind of confused about why Jake and Finn decided to go along with this idea, why can’t they just explain that Finn is Jake’s friend, not his servant? Lady is friends with Princess Bubblegum, so it’s not like Rainicorns having friends that are a different species is unheard of. I mean, Lady’s parents do know she’s friends with Bubblegum, right?

Well, anyway, Finn is forced to pretend he’s Jake’s servant, which would be humiliating enough, but he’s also forced to help Jake play Rainicorn games with Ethel and Bob, all of which cause him serious injury. One of them doesn’t even make sense, Finn needs to carry Jake so Jake can pretend he’s flying, but Jake could just make himself wings and fly on his own. Later, he has Finn make lunch for them, but a misunderstanding causes Ethel and Bob to think that Finn himself is what’s being served for lunch. When they try to eat him, Jake finally tells them to leave Finn alone, and also reveals that he’s a Dog, not a Rainicorn. To Jake’s surprise, Ethel and Bob both seem very pleased. Lady arrives and explains to Jake that her parents love Dogs because a Dog saved her father during the war. The episode ends with everyone having a lunch of soy people.

Is it me, or has every Jake episode so far had more or less the same plot? All of them involve Finn being put in danger and Jake not helping him until the last second either because of some personal hurdle of his own or because of laziness. Or sometimes the hurdle is his laziness.

So, the Crystal Dimension is home to Rainicorns? That’s what I understood, anyway. Did Dogs ever manage to get territory there? Who won the war? Did anyone win? Is it still going on? I really want to know more about these wars.

I liked that we get a few more hints about Ooo’s apocalyptic past, with Ethel and Bob mentioning that they Humans were extinct. I really like Finn’s reaction to hearing this, it’s actually very subtle (a word I never thought I’d use when talking about Adventure Time). It’s just a brief expression of disappointment and discomfort from Finn. So far it’s been made pretty obvious that Finn is the only Human in Ooo, but I wonder if he knows that, and how he feels about it if he does know.

Ethel and Bob are jerks though, aren’t they? They may not be prejudiced against Dogs like I was expecting them to be, but they seem to have a prejudice against Humans. They’re horrible to Finn for no discernible reason. Is it because he was a servant? That’s no better. If you want to know what someone’s like, take a look at how they treat their inferiors, not their equals. See? Harry Potter quotes can be applied to real life! Or children’s cartoons. Same thing. Bottom line is, Ethel and Bob are awfully cruel people (though admittedly kind of funny characters).

And that ending… it’s both funny and creepy. I’m starting to think Humans went extinct because they just got eaten. Everyone seems to think they’re delicious. They’re not actually eating Humans at the end, just soy Humans, but they say it tastes just like actual Human meat. How would they know that? I love the uncomfortable look on Finn’s face as they all talk about how delicious Humans taste, and I also love how when he tries a bite of it he smiles as though enjoying it. Funny, yet slightly disturbing.

So, pretty decent episode overall. It’s funny enough and I like getting to learn a bit more about Ooo’s past. We only seem to get little bits and pieces of it, I wonder if we’ll ever get any bigger explanations. I’m not sure what I’d prefer. It’s fun piecing it all together and speculating about it, but at the same time I kind of just want to know already.

Rating: 7/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 2 (The Other Tarts/To Cut a Woman’s Hair)

The episode opens with a narration by Princess Bubblegum, describing the Royal Tarts, which are apparently the most delicious treats in the Candy Kingdom and many would be willing to risk their lives for a bite. The only one trustworthy enough to deliver the Royal Tarts to the sacred Back-Rubbing Ceremony at which they’re eaten is, or was, the Royal Tart Toter. When the narration finishes, we see Bubblegum showing a picture of the Tart Toter to Finn and Jake, who she presumably was just explaining all of this to. She tells them that the Tart Toter is now too old and senile to fulfill his duties, so she must find a new Tart Toter. Apparently Cinnamon Bun has offered to do it, but Bubblegum thinks he’s “half-baked”. Oh gee, I wonder what that joke is supposed to be referring to. Finn and Jake offer to be the Tart Toters and Bubblegum accepts, reminding them that if they don’t deliver the tarts, she’ll be beheaded. She takes them to the Tartorium where tarts are still being made. These tarts are imperfect, however, and she gives them an anti-gravity tote chamber filled with the actual tarts. She tells them to take the safe route through the Royal Tart Path and also gives them a Holo-pendant, which can relay holographic messages, before leaving with a final reminder that her head is on the line.

Once Bubblegum is gone, Finn comes up with an idea. He takes some of the imperfect tarts, douses them in a paralyzing potion, puts them in another anti-gravity tote chamber, then gives them to Cinnamon Bun , sending him down the Royal Tart Path. Finn believes that Cinnamon Bun can serve as a distraction while he and Jake carry the real Tarts through the Desert of Doom, thinking that no thief would follow them there. Predictably, Finn’s plan goes horribly wrong, as they encounter a pack of hobos who steal some of the Tarts, run into a cave full of creatures who greatly resemble Gollum who steal more precious Tarts, and are attacked by a butterfly with a laser gun who steals the remaining Tarts. Meanwhile, Cinnamon Bun’s journey through the Royal Tart Path is easy and unencumbered, and he actually gets his tarts to where the ceremony is being held.

Finn and Jake hurry to the ceremony, thinking that even if they don’t have the Tarts they can at least save Bubblegum from being beheaded. When they arrive, they see the tarts that Cinnamon Bun brought about to be eaten. Thinking they are the poisoned ones, Finn is horrified when Bubblegum takes a bite out of one. When Bubblegum appears to be fine, they realize that Cinnamon Bun must have been carrying the real Tarts after all, while Finn and Jake had accidentally taken the poisoned ones. Finn explains his failed plan to Bubblegum and apologizes, but Bubblegum says that she lied as well since she was never going to be beheaded, she only said that so Finn and Jake would take their job seriously.

Goodness, Finn is just a spectacular fail in this episode, isn’t he? I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way, I just mean that he’s normally so good at coming up with these out-of-the-box ideas that somehow work even though it sounds like they shouldn’t. Here, his idea is terrible to begin with and of course it failed. It’s kind of weird to see him drop the ball so badly. It’s almost a bit out of character? I mean, I don’t think Finn’s plans always have to work, that could get boring fast, but Finn’s plan in this episode is so obviously flawed and the mistakes he makes are so stupid, and whatever else Finn might be he’s never come across as stupid to me. It’s just kind of odd to see him fail this much and in this way. Then again, I suppose this could have just been because of his desperation to impress Bubblegum. It’s not uncommon for him to make a fool of himself when she’s involved. Yeah, let’s just say his crush on Bubblegum is to blame here.

Speaking of Bubblegum, this episode does more to break her image as a sweet and innocent princess. Her giggle when she explains what the paralyzing potion does is oddly sinister, and lying to Finn and Jake about being beheaded is pretty messed up. And yet, I found it sort of cute how every time she contacts Finn with the Holo-pendant she doesn’t seem to realize that anything is wrong. (Also, Finn panicking and throwing her Holo-pendant away is one of the funniest things I’ve seen from this show yet.)

I didn’t love this episode because I found it rather predictable, but it’s still pretty decent. A lot of the jokes got a laugh out of me, at least.

Rating: 7/10

The episode begins with Jake teasing Finn about his crush on Princess Bubblegum and his general hopelessness when it comes to talking to women. Shortly after this, they encounter the Tree Witch. She says that she needs Finn’s help to fix her very obvious balding problem by getting her a lock of princess hair. Finn is about to agree, but Jake pulls him aside and says that it isn’t a good idea because she’s evil. And the reason why Jake thinks she’s evil is because she’s ugly. Really, Jake? Really?

Well, Finn tells the witch that he can’t help someone unless they’re in danger, so the witch sits on Jake and tells Finn is he doesn’t get her princess hair, she’ll suck Jake into her “bottomless bottom”. Kay then.

Finn talks to a few different princesses, including Lumpy Space Princess who appears to have run away from home and is living in the woods. That’s going to come back later, isn’t it? Also that one scene with LSP is the best part of the episode. Anyway, Finn can’t seem to get any princess hair due to the fact that he can’t talk to women (well, to be fair, one of the failed attempts was just because the princess was bald… and she was also dead so there wasn’t much talking involved). Finn runs back to Jake, who is still trapped under the witch, and asks for his advice. Jake has this to tell him: “Find the least terrible princess you can! Play her some music! Cook her a meal! Smooth talk her until she likes you, and then get the hair.”

Of course, the “least terrible” princess Finn can find is Princess Bubblegum. He rather forcefully takes her on a date (though Bubblegum seems unaware that it’s supposed to be a date) and asks if she likes him. She answers that of course she likes him, and I couldn’t tell if she meant it in a romantic way or in a platonic way. Not that it matters for now, because as soon as Finn hears that she likes him, he asks for some of her hair. She gives him some and he runs back to the Tree Witch to give it to her. She takes it, but then points out that the hair is actually just bubblegum. I’m surprised Finn wouldn’t have realized that himself. Since Finn failed to get her some hair, the Tree Witch is about to suck Jake up completely, when Finn suddenly makes an impassioned speech:

• Finn: If I learned anything today, it’s that I’m awesome at talking to ladies…. and lady, you are crazy ugly!
• [The Tree Witch does an almost silent gasp.]
• Jake: Duuuude!
• Finn: Having beautiful hair isn’t gonna get you anywhere because you’re ugly inside and out. So ugly I wanna throw up.
• Jake: Duuuude!
• Finn: No one will ever find you beautiful. Everrr. And it’s got nothin’ to do with the old chrome dome. It has to do with what’s in here. [Points to his heart.] Can you get off my friend now?

Well, that’s certainly a better message than “lol ugly people are evil”. The Witch admits that she knows she’s ugly and evil, but she thought that if she had beautiful hair she could learn to love herself. Feeling bad for her, Finn asks if she specifically wants princess hair, and the Witch replies that it doesn’t have to be, she just wants beautiful hair. So Finn takes off his hat…

Finn has prettier hair than I do. That’s not fair. Anyway, he gives his hair to the Witch, who he now says is beautiful inside and out. Except she’s not, because even with her beautiful hair she doesn’t change her evil ways.

This is a weird one. I guess with this show it’s always a “weird one”, but this one is weird in that I’m not sure what they were going for here. Whatever moral it was supposed to have was cancelled out at the end by the Tree Witch continuing to be evil anyway. But that’s actually something I like about the episode. I like that even with her beautiful new hair, she hasn’t changed. She’s evil, what did you want from her? It’s so not how you would expect an episode like this to end. I like how this show rarely goes for a moral, and when they do go for a moral it’s usually really out of the ordinary.

Aside from that, there isn’t too much else to say. It’s a funny episode and I have a feeling that certain things in this episode are going to come back. Like LSP running away from home and living in the woods.

And by the way, I think Jake is much worse at talking to women than Finn is.

Rating: 7.5/10

Slightly random, non-rhetorical question that I actually want answered if anyone can as long as the answer doesn’t spoil anything: is Lumpy Space actually part of Ooo, or is it another dimension? Or is it another dimension but still technically part of Ooo? And what about the Crystal Dimension?

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 2 (Power Animal/Crystals Have Power)

At a party thrown by Finn and Jake, some of the guests compliment Finn on his drive and energy while noting that Jake can’t focus on anything for more than a few seconds. Jake isn’t bothered by this, mostly because he’s barely paying attention, but a strange gnome in an overcoat is paying a bizarre amount of attention to Finn. The gnome asks Finn if his energy could power a giant machine, to which Finn replies that it probably could, and the gnome laughs and backs away. Later that night, while Finn and Jake are in bed, the gnome returns to kidnap Finn in his sleep.

The gnome brings Finn underground to what they call the “Beneathverse”, where the gnome tells him that they have been looking for an energy source powerful enough to power their machine which is supposed to flip the world upside down so that the gnomes will be on top. The gnomes force Finn (by tasing him if he refuses) to power the machine first by running on a hamster wheel, then by pole dancing (no really, God bless this show) and then by strapping him into a machine that sucks energy directly from his thoughts.

While this is going on, Jake is trying to find Finn, having realized that he’s gone missing, but he keeps getting distracted by things and forgetting what he’s supposed to be doing. And you know what? I feel bad for Jake. I know I should probably feel worse for Finn, since he’s the one being tortured, but I can’t help sympathizing with Jake. It’s not that he’s being apathetic or selfish, he really wants nothing more than to find Finn, but he just can’t. Finn is usually the one who keeps him on track, but Finn isn’t around. Jake can’t get himself to concentrate on a task even when it’s important. Jake’s predicament is like trying to focus on homework that’s due tomorrow but constantly getting distracted, which is something I think all of us can relate to, except, you know, usually the fate of our friends doesn’t depend on us finishing our homework. Where am I going with this again? Anyway, it isn’t until Jake finds himself at a party with some Nymphs (who have very pretty designs, I love how their hair looks like cascading water) and meets Party God (who is just a giant floating wolf’s head), who decides to grant Jake one wish for being such an awesome party-goer. It says a lot about this show that I barely questioned any of this. Jake wishes to be able to focus on finding Finn (why not just wish that Finn was safe?), and Party God grants his wish, but also informs him that he’ll be filled with the energy of a thousand party demons.

Back in the Beneathverse, the machine is about to be powered up completely when Jake suddenly bursts through. He then pulls a Slurms McKenzie by saving Finn… by partying! The machine destroyed and the gnomes defeated, Finn and Jake leave the Beneathverse together and head home.

It’s a miracle that they managed to make Jake not only likable but actually sympathetic in this episode. It would have been so easy to screw this up, to make Jake look like an inconsiderate jerk, but they managed to pull off playing Jake’s lack of focus both for laughs and for drama. Jake just seems so genuine, both in his attempts to search for Finn and in his interest in everything else around him.

I really liked the designs of the Nymphs, I almost hope we’ll see them again solely because of their designs. The Party God had an interesting design too, it didn’t look like anything we’d seen in this show before. The introduction of a deity makes me wonder about Ooo, though. Party God must have existed before the apocalypse, but did he ever interact with anyone before then? Seriously, I’m so curious about Ooo’s post-apocalyptic origins. Do we ever find out more? Is Ooo actually Earth, or is it just some random, made-up world where there happened to be an apocalypse?

The gnomes were pretty enjoyable, and at the risk of sounding sadistic their torturing Finn was funny. What? Torture episodes aren’t always so bad! I wonder if the gnomes will ever come back. They could be fun alternate villains to the Ice King every now and then.

Rating: 7.5/10

Holy crap. This episode. I can’t. I can’t even. Most of my thoughts would translate best as keysmashes but I’m pretty sure no one wants to read a review that’s 98% keysmashes.

Okay. Let’s just get to it.

It begins with Finn examining a crustal that was left on their doorstep, one with a kiss mark on it. Finn thinks that the crystal may have something to do with with Tree Trunks.

TREE TRUNKS.

THEY JUST MENTIONED TREE TRUNKS.

IS SHE BACK?!?!

Okay. Calm down. Jake is a buzzkill and reminds Finn that Tree Trunks disappeared after eating the Crystal Gem Apple. SHUT UP, JAKE, STOP BEING SUCH A BUZZKILL. I’m sorry. I swear I can do this. Anyway, after this Finn and Jake start play-fighting, and Jake accidentally hurts Finn, though Finn pretends otherwise. This causes Jake to have flashbacks to his childhood, where his father tried telling him it’s okay to hurt people despite Jake’s obvious discomfort with it. Jake decides that he’ll never be violent again, which is all fine and good but CAN WE TALK ABOUT TREE TRUNKS AGAIN?

The next day, the crystal suddenly opens a portal, from which come three Crystal Guardians from the Crystal Dimension. They grab Finn and pull him through, and Jake follows. In the Crystal Dimension, Finn is put into a crystal sphere, where the Crystal Guardians say he’ll be crystallized. Finn screams for Jake to help him, but Jake can’t find any non-violent ways of getting past the Crystal Guardians and he refuses to actually use violence no matter how desperate the situation is. How many times have I used the word “crystal” in this paragraph?

After Finn is fully crystallized, the Guardians allow Jake to pass, since there’s nothing he can do now anyway. As Jake is apologizing to Finn for not helping, A CRYSTALLIZED TREE TRUNKS APPEARS. She explains that after eating the Crystal Gem Apple, she was transported to the Crystal Dimension and became Quartzion the Crystal Queen, and the Crystal Men are all in love with her and devoted to her. Well, well, well. Not bad, Tree Trunks.

Oh, but then she says it’s not enough for her, and she vaporizes the three Crystal Guardians who were just bowing at her feet. And she says the reason she brought Finn to the Crystal Dimension is because she wants to make him her Crystal King.

Tree Trunks. This is creepy. Finn is twelve. He is still twelve, isn’t he? His voice has been getting deeper lately and I know he ages as the show progresses, so how old is he supposed to be now? More importantly, what’s the age of consent in Ooo? And why is Tree Trunks kidnapping people and forcing them to marry her when they clearly don’t want to? SOUND FAMILIAR, TREE TRUNKS? Okay, clearly Tree Trunks isn’t herself, the Crystal Gem Apple is still inside her and it’s affecting her behavior. Since Finn can’t move, he tells Jake that he needs to stop her. Jake has a vision of his father, who tells Jake that he should have listened to his full speech: it’s okay to harm anyone evil. This is enough for Jake, and he kicks Tree Trunks in the stomach, causing her to spit out the Apple. She returns to normal and apologizes to Finn (who is decrystallized), and the three of them return to Ooo.

Well. Tree Trunks is back. I don’t think there’s much more I can say on that subject, I think the many gifs in this review convey quite succinctly how I felt about Tree Trunks throughout this episode. I’m a little disturbed at the idea of her having a crush on Finn, though. What’s up with that? I got the impression that Tree Trunks was like a grandmother figure to Finn and Jake, now she has a crush on Finn? How should I feel about this?

Does anyone else think the animation in this episode is a bit off? I mean, as usual the designs are great, I loved the look of the Crystal Dimension and the Crystal Guardians, but something about the motion of the characters seemed, I don’t know, just a tiny bit sloppy? I don’t know how to explain it, it just didn’t seem as tight as it usually is. Is that just me?

I also found this episode sort of… oddly put together? Jake’s dilemma seemed so disconnected from what the episode is really supposed to be about, Tree Trunks’ return. Or is it the other way around, Tree Trunk’s return is disconnected from what the episode is about, which is Jake dilemma? I don’t know, did anyone else feel like these plotlines just didn’t mix that well?

I haven’t said much that’s positive about the episode yet which probably makes it sound like I didn’t like it, but I actually loved it. I loved the Crystal Guardians, they were hilarious. It’s almost a shame that they got vaporized. The Crystal Dimension seems like a really twisted place, I hope this isn’t the last time we see it. Plus, I just really liked the energy of this episode. It reminds me a little of the early Season 1 episodes, fast-paced and weird and hilarious, and leaving you totally confused about what you just watched but also with a distinct feeling that you enjoyed it.

Anyway, Tree Trunks is back, and I’m glad she is. I guess we’ll be seeing more of her ~sexy feminine wiles~. That’s so weird to say about a grandmotherly old elephant.

Rating: 8.5/10

Fun game: Count how many times I say “crystal” or some variation of the word (like “crystallized”) in this review.

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 2 (Storytelling/Slow Love)

Jake is sick and wants Finn to tell him a story, but whenever Finn starts to tell him one he complains that he wants to hear a real story, not a made up one. Jake demands a story with romance, suspense, fighting and a happy ending, and it all has to be real. So, Finn goes into a nearby forest and starts to look for a story he can tell Jake.

He sees a goose and a fox and forces them to kiss to create romance, but it upsets them both. Then he tries to pick a fight with a young bear, but its mother stops the fight. Next, Finn almost attacks a bird nest, but then decides better of it. He feels guilty for messing with the forest animals, and they aren’t exactly pleased with him either. They pin him down and knock him out, and he wakes up to find himself suspended in a cage. A Forest Wizard has locked him in there for his crimes against the animals. To give his story to Jake a happy ending (and save himself from being lowered into a magical pit where he’ll become “one with the soil”), Finn starts giving the animals advice to fix the problems he caused. They release him as thanks, and he returns to the Tree Fort to tell Jake the story. Jake recovers immediately after hearing it.

Is there some kind of illness in Ooo where you need to hear a story with certain elements in it in order to be cured? Or is Jake just a demanding little shit? Neither is surprising to me.

I liked the advice Finn gave one of the forest creatures, the one he told to move on because the girl he likes isn’t interested. I’m so glad to know this show understands that pursuing someone who isn’t interested is unhealthy and creepy, not romantic.

Yeah, um, not too much else to say about this one. I like the jokes, and it’s kind of a funny idea to have Finn have to force an adventure.

Rating: 7/10

Ha! I love this title card. The actual episode though…

I mean. It’s not terrible. I guess. But it’s definitely my least favorite episode so far.

Basically, it’s about a snail named Snorlock who’s sad because he can’t get a girlfriend, and for some reason this causes him to attempt to destroy Finn and Jake’s Tree Fort or something. I don’t know, I don’t remember and I don’t really want to rewatch it. Finn and Jake agree to help him find a girlfriend (their Tree Fort is on Snorlock’s back the whole time), and they try giving him all kinds of advice that doesn’t work. That is until Jake shows him how to beatbox, which attracts hundreds of female snails. They crowd around Snorlock and damage the Tree Fort, so they put a stop to Snorlock’s beatboxing by blowing salt in his face, which burns him. As he screams, the Tree Fort falls off of him, which reveals that he’s actually a slug and explains why he has no much trouble with female snails. One of the female snails reveals that she’s actually a slug too, and so Snorlock finds love at last.

I liked the scene where Jake and Finn are role-playing, that was pretty funny. I also liked the scenes with BMO (the little video game system that lives in Finn and Jake’s house). Although, seeing BMO reminds me of Neptr, who I’d forgotten about until now. What happened to him? Was he just a one-episode thing?

Anyway, this episode is really bland. More bland than I ever thought an Adventure Time episode could be. It’s also slower than I would have expected from this show. Maybe that’s the joke? The episode is called Slow Love, and it’s about snails and slugs, so maybe the episode’s title is a joke in itself? Too bad the joke, if it was intentional, has no real pay-off.

Boring, slow, unlikable characters (I’d be fine with never seeing Snorlock again)… this episode is pretty bad. But hey, every season has to have at least one bad episode, right? Maybe it’s good that we’re getting it out of the way early.

Rating: 3/10

I’m sorry these reviews were so short, I just couldn’t find that much to talk about with these episodes. Hopefully the next ones will have more to work with.

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 2 (Loyalty to the King/Blood Under the Skin)

After Finn and Jake rescue yet another princess from Ice King, Ice King falls into a deep depression. Thinking that a new look might give him a boost, he shaves off his beard and goes to a park to work out, where he’s approached by Slime Princess. He tells Slime Princess that he’s an Ice King, but she misunderstands him and thinks he’s a nice king. Since Slime Princess likes him as the Nice King, he decides not to correct her. Other princesses hear about the supposed Nice King and flock to him, all of them desperate to be his bride. The Nice King builds a castle out of sand and builds a makeshift cage for the princesses to keep them in while he figures out which one he wants to marry. Apparently none of the princesses find this suspicious or like something a “Nice King” wouldn’t do.

Finn and Jake hear about the Nice King and decide to become his knights. The Nice King orders them to help him sort through the princesses, getting rid of any that might be undesirable (in other words, not pretty). He even turns Lumpy Space Princess away for being too loud and lumpy. Excuse you, “Nice King”, LSP is a goddess and you would be lucky to have her. Anyway, Finn feels guilty for this and tries to talk to Nice King about this, but Nice King gives him and Jake new orders. Because his beard is starting to grow back, he asks Finn and Jake to retrieve his razor from the Ice Kingdom, claiming that it was stolen. When they get to Ice King’s castle, they discover the remains of his shaven beard and realize that the Nice King must be the Ice King. You’d think Ice King would realize that this might happen. They rush back to the “Nice King” and reveal him for who he is, and the angered princesses beat him up for lying to them.

Oh, Ice King. Every time I think you’re a sympathetic loser you show me what a creepy jerk you are.

The princesses’ desperation in this episode is a little uncomfortable. I mean, all it takes is for the Ice King to say he’s a nice king, and they throw themselves at him despite all evidence to the contrary? Although, now that I think about it, there are a lot of princesses in Ooo, but there don’t seem to be any princes. We haven’t even seen that many kings, all the ones we have seen have either already been married or they’re the Ice King. So I guess meeting a supposedly nice king would be a big deal. But still, it’s kind of awkward to see them so obsessed with someone who treats them so horribly. At least they learn better in the end maybe?

I liked that at least Finn realized how messed up the whole thing was. It’s starting to seem like Finn is the only character on the show who’s generally moralistic, everyone else on the show seems pretty selfish and cruel, even Jake. I don’t mind so much, I like it when characters are intentionally unlikable (the intentional part is very important).

Anyway, there isn’t too much to say about this one, it’s funny and enjoyable, but slightly uncomfortable.

Rating: 7.5/10

Finn gets a splinter and decides to get himself some armor to protect him from future injuries. The armor he gets is just a thimble to go over his finger, but when he meets some armor-clad knights who make fun of him for not having any armor, he decides to get something more. While looking for some armor he’s forced to endure more jokes from the knights (particular from a knight called Sir Slicer) and is thoroughly humiliated, so he asks Choose Goose (a weird talking goose who apparently sells armor) for his best armor. Choose Goose tells him about the Armor of Zeledron (must be a Legend of Zelda reference) and gives him a poem that will guide him on a quest to find it.

The theme of the quest (and this episode) seems to be embarrassment. At every turn, Finn is embarrassed by something, all the while being taunted by Sir Slicer, who apparently has nothing better to do than follow Finn around. First, Finn has to move through some sort of maze of curtains, and behind every curtain is someone taking a shower. Next he has to face a yeti who mistakes him for one of her cubs and tries to nurse him. When he finally reaches the home of the Armor of Zelderon, he meets a ghost who tells him that in order to get past him he needs to beat his high score in “Drop Ball”. Drop Ball is a game where you pick up a ball between your butt cheeks as many times as you can, the ghost’s high score is 6. Yep, definitely the most embarrassing game I’ve ever heard of. How do they even come up with this stuff? Of course Finn doesn’t want to play the game, so while the ghost is distracted they move past him to the chamber where the armor is kept. Finn gets the armor, but realizes that it’s girl armor, and so refuses to wear it. Okay, if there’s one thing I don’t like about Finn, it’s his demonization of anything he thinks is too feminine. I get it, Finn, you’re a twelve-year old boy and you want to prove how manly you are, and you think anything girly will destroy that image, but for God’s sake, this is apparently really good armor, would wearing it really be that embarrassing? Also, think about the implication of the best armor being female armor, it implies that the best knight was female, so think about that before you dismiss it, Finn. Now, if there’s one thing I like about Jake, it’s that he apparently doesn’t care about appearing feminine. When the ghost comes back, angry that Finn and Jake went past him without beating him, Jake puts on the armor and saves Finn, and he continues to wear it until the end of the episode, the last line is even him commenting on how great the armor is. Four for you, Jake the Dog! You go, Jake the Dog! Anyway, when they leave the chamber, Sir Slicer is still there and ready to insult Finn again, but Finn points out how embarrassing it is that Sir Slicer is following around a little boy. Sir Slicer tries to fight Finn, but his armor is so heavy that he can’t even get off his horse, thus the humiliator becomes the humiliated.

This episode is enjoyable, and surprisingly wasn’t as awkward as it could have been. I was expecting to feel tons of second-hand embarrassment given that the whole theme of the episode is embarrassment, but it wasn’t too bad, most of it was funny.

I do need to bring up Finn’s issue with femininity again, though, because it really does bother me and I want to try to explain why it bothers me. There’s nothing wrong with Finn wanting to appear masculine, and since he’s still quite immature it’s understandable that his version of masculinity is very narrow and stereotypical. However, I’m really bothered by how disgusted he is by the mere thought of being associated with something feminine, and you can argue that it’s because he’s a young boy and it’s normal for young boys to not like anything girly, but that’s exactly the problem. We need to stop enforcing the idea that femininity is inherently bad and embarrassing, especially in children’s media, and having Finn behave that way isn’t helping. It would be one thing if Finn’s issue with it was framed as a bad thing, but I honestly can’t tell what we’re supposed to think of it. Is it a joke? Is it satire? Is it enforcing internalized misogyny or is it trying to show how ridiculous it is?

The fact that Jake doesn’t seem to care is nice, but even then it’s hard to tell what we’re supposed to think of it. Jake is usually the comic relief character and I don’t think he’s the one that we’re generally supposed to side with. Is his accepting feminine things supposed to make him ridiculous or is it supposed to make Finn seem ridiculous by comparison?

There’s also the fact that while there are tons of female characters in Ooo, and most of them are fun and interesting characters, they don’t actually seem to do much. Bubblegum is presented as smart and capable, and she’s also feminine in a lot of ways, but she’s had to be rescued by Finn and Jake numerous times, and always seems to get them to go on quests for her instead of doing them herself. The only times we’ve seen her save anyone are in Slumber Party Panic and Dungeon, but she was absent for most of those episodes. Lady Rainicorn is another character who’s both feminine and strong, but we hardly ever see her. The other princesses seem to only exist to be saved by Finn and Jake. LSP is a caricature of a teenage girl, which of course means she’s presented as shallow, obnoxious and useless, and while I adore LSP for being so hilarious, she’s not exactly good representation. Marceline is a strong and interesting character who so far hasn’t been given the same treatment that the other female characters have (she’s not a caricature, when she’s involved in an episode she isn’t sidelined, etc.), but note that she’s the only female character who isn’t stereotypically feminine.

It’s still kind of early in the show, but already its treatment of femininity feels problematic. I’d like to see Finn’s rejection of femininity have a consequence (I’m not sure if this episode counts), and I’d like to see the female characters given more agency.

Okay, with that out of the way, this is an enjoyable episode. It’s funny and a quest that centers on embarrassing the hero is definitely a weird and creative idea. Most of Finn’s quests so far seemed to have a purpose, the one in The Enchiridion tested Finn’s courage and chivalry, and the one in Dungeon showed him how valuable Jake is to him. The quest in Blood Under the Skin, though? Embarrassment. Just embarrassment, with no clear moral. Honestly, that’s hilarious.

Rating: 7.5/10