A deer is causing a panic in the Candy Kingdom by licking all of the citizens (no really) and Finn and Jake are trying to catch it. During a struggle, the deer kicks Jake in the head and stomps on Finn’s legs, breaking them, and then knocks him out. Yeesh, the cracking sounds when his legs broke sounded painful. He wakes up in the Candy Kingdom hospital, his legs in casts, and calls for Dr. Ice Cream. However, the hospital appears to be deserted, 28 Days Later style. There’s a wheelchair next to Finn’s bed, so he drags himself into it and goes outside to explore. The rest of the Candy Kingdom is just as deserted as the hospital was, but eventually Finn finds Jake digging around in some trash.
Jake has a bandage around his head and seems to still be in some pain. He tells Finn that everyone is just hiding because they have a surprise birthday party planned, and that he and Finn need to pretend not to suspect anything or they won’t come out. Jake takes Finn to his makeshift house that he has for some reason built in the Candy Kingdom, and Finn seems to accept this readily. However, he does start to get suspicious again when a day passes and still the Candy People are not reappearing. He voices his concern to Jake but is brushed off. Finn then hears whispering voices from the sewer and realizes that it must be the Candy People. Jake insists that Finn not go in there, and lets it slip that he’s been waiting for six months for the Candy People to come out. Six months?! Finn couldn’t have survived for six days without anyone to take care of him in the hospital. Anyway, Finn realizes that Jake has gone insane and tries to make a break for the sewer, but Jake catches him and ties him to a post. Now seriously freaked out, Finn escapes and manages to get into the sewer (his leg casts break off while he runs à la Forrest Gump) with Jake pursuing him.
In the sewer, Finn discovers the Candy People stuck to the walls and ceiling with some sort of orange paste. He thinks that Jake was the one who did this out of some twisted birthday fantasy. He knocks some sense into Jake (literally, he just hits him until Jake snaps back to himself) and then shows Jake what he’s done. Jake is full of remorse and takes Peppermint Butler down from the wall, apologizing to him, However, Peppermint Butler says that Jake wasn’t the one who did this. It was the deer. And then –
THIS IS WHAT THIS FUCKING GIF IS FROM. OMG. I HAVE SEEN THIS GIF SO MANY TIMES AND I NEVER REALIZED IT WAS FROM ADVENTURE TIME, THOUGH OF COURSE NOW IT SEEMS SO OBVIOUS.
Anyway.
Finn fights the deer while Jake frees the Candy People. When the deer has been knocked out, Finn and Bubblegum pushes it into a sewer drain, where it gets washed away. So I guess the deer is dead. Finn, Jake and the Candy People escape the sewer, and Finn reveals that his legs haven’t healed. They’re still broken.
So, Finn has been running and fighting on broken legs? He would fit right in with the Mortal Kombat cast, who can apparently get right back up after having their bones shattered like it’s nothing.
What do you mean this game isn’t realistic?
Again, this episode is more focused on atmosphere than it is on jokes, and it succeeds. It’s probably the most unsettling episode yet, which at this point is saying something.
I like the 28 Days Later style set-up for this episode. The idea of waking up to find that you missed some big, catastrophic event is really scary, so it’s a good start for stories like this. And Finn was out for six months. Ignoring the fact that he wouldn’t have been able to survive that long for six months without someone to take care of him, a lot can happen in six months. So what exactly did happen? List time!
We know that Jake got knocked out but woke more quickly than Finn since he’s apparently aware of how much time went by.
However, we don’t know how long it took Jake to wake up. He’s been awake for six months, but who’s to say how long he was out? He could have been out for months before waking up, which means Finn was out even longer than six months.
Even so, how can we trust Jake’s judgement? He’s not in his right mind. He might think six months have gone by, but what if it was longer than that? What if it was shorter than that?
Where did Jake get the idea that everyone was just hiding for his birthday party? Did he wake up thinking that or was it a slow descent into madness? My theory is that he felt guilty for not having been able to save everyone, so he came up with the birthday scenario to cope.
What the fuck is up with that deer?
So, creepy episode, I like the atmosphere, not many jokes but the few it does have are funny. That about wraps it up.
Rating: 8/10
The episode begins with Wildberry Princess making meat-filled pies for Finn and Jake, when she tells them that someone is trying to kill her. Finn asks her for details so that he can help her, and Wildberry Princess shows him a note from the Guild of Assassins that she found stabbed into her doorman. It says “Princess Wildberry, we’re going to assassinate you. G.O.A.” Subtle. While Finn and WP go outside to talk more, Jake stays inside to finish off the pies. In one of them, he finds a tiny cat. The cat jumps out and threatens to kill Jake with a poison syringe if he reveals her. Jake realizes that this is the assassin, and the tiny cat introduces herself as Me-Mow. She’s a second-class assassin, but if she kills a princes she’ll be upgraded to full membership. Since Jake has blown her cover (actually I’m pretty sure he didn’t, Me-Mow, since he hasn’t said anything yet, but whatever), Me-Mow says that he has to kill WP for her. Me-Mow then climbs into Jake nostril, and threatens that if Jake doesn’t kill WP she’ll poison him. I’m sure there were better ways of doing this, Me-Mow. Like, just poison Jake now, and then poison WP. Or do you not have enough poison? In that case, you didn’t need to tell Jake who you were. Tiny cats hiding in pies probably isn’t the weirdest thing he’s seen in Ooo. If Jake doesn’t know who you are, he can’t out you, so you can go on with your assassination in peace. Well, um, so to speak. Why am I giving someone advice on how to be a competent assassin? Why am I giving advice to a cartoon character she’s not real Sophie snap out of it.
Anyway.
When WP and Finn return, Jake tries to tell her that perhaps being assassinated wouldn’t be so bad, which scares WP and makes Finn suspicious. Jake decides to try a different tactic. He spots a bag of meat and puts WP’s crown on it. He then punches the bag of meat and Me-Mow, unable to see clearly from inside his nostril, thinks he’s punching the real WP. Jake throws the bag of meat out the window and it splatters on the ground, and Jake exclaims that WP is dead. Impressed, Me-Mow is about to leave Jake’s nostril, when suddenly WP’s guards come in. Upon seeing WP alive and well, they start to cry about how relieved they are to see that she isn’t dead. Me-Mow realizes that Jake lied to her and injects half of her poison into him, saying that he’ll die in thirty minutes unless he kills WP, in which case Me-Mow will give him the antidote. Really, Me-Mow, there must be better ways of getting this assassination done. Jake tries to tell Finn about Me-Mow, but Me-Mow threatens to inject the poison directly into his brain if he says anything more.
Jake next idea is to put everyone, including Me-Mow, to sleep by having Finn sings their mother’s lullaby. Once everyone is asleep, Jake tries to again to tell Finn about Me-Mow, but Finn misunderstands him. Finn ends up making so much noise that Jake has to throw him out the window (lol) so he doesn’t wake Me-Mow. Jake then tries to take Me-Mow’s poison from her. Why don’t you just get Me-Mow out of your nose, idiot? An angry Finn comes back and wants to know what the hell Jake’s problem is, and Me-Mow wakes up and injects Jake with another shot of poison. Jake suggests that they take WP outside in an attempt to diffuse the situation, which they do.
They arrive at a cliff side. Finn stands guard facing away from the cliff while Jake stays with WP near the cliff side. Jake, who can barely stand at this point, tries to convince himself to push WP off the cliff. Suddenly a bird collides with his head, which cause Me-Mow to tumble out of his nose and in front of Finn’s feet. Finn realizes what’s been happening and a fight between him and Me-Mow ensues. Me-Mow smashes the antidote and tells Finn that she had given Jake enough poison to kill a dog fifty times his size. Finn and Jake realize that Jake can stretch his liver to fifty-one times its size to detoxify his body, which he does and his health is restored. Furious, Me-Mow lunges at WP, and the latter pops her berries, causing Me-Mow to miss and go over the side of the cliff. Don’t worry, she survives.
This episode is definitely more centered on humor, and for the most part it’s pretty funny. I like how surprisingly threatening Me-Mow is despite her size and cuteness. She’s there to get shit done and she doesn’t care who stands in her way. Too bad she’s not actually that good at her job. She should at least get a poison that acts faster.
Apparently Me-Mow was a fan-made character. A kid drew her and showed her to the show’s creator, and he thought it was cute so he put her in the show. That’s a cool thing for him to do. I always like it when creators or writers utilize fan creations or theories, I guess because it’s nice to know that they actually do pay attention to their fans and appreciate them. Knowing that makes me like the episode and Me-Mow even more.
Me-Mow really is the best thing about this episode. Her voice, her dialogue, the way her fight with Finn was animated (I like the shots of her running around Finn). She’s a really fun character. I mean, as fun as a vicious assassin can be. Which is really fun.
Remember way back in the pilot, when there was a zombie epidemic in the Candy Kingdom? Well, this episode starts with another zombie epidemic! I guess this is a Halloween special too. Anyway, the zombies came about again because Bubblegum was studying a piece of zombie flesh from the first attack, and Cinnamon Bun ate it without her knowing. He was contaminated and turned into a zombie, and Bubblegum didn’t manage to stop him from escaping her lab. Next thing you know, the Candy Kingdom is full of zombies. Finn, Jake, Lady Rainicorn and LSP are all in the Candy Kingdom for some reason, hiding in Bubblegum’s castle. She tells them that she’s working on a cure to return the zombies to their normal selves, but before she can explain further zombies reach through the window and grab her from behind, pulling her down and biting her. Oh, Bubblegum, don’t you know anything about zombie stories? Don’t stand close to windows and don’t stand with your back to them, zombies can and will break through windows eventually. She tells Finn not to worry, that they just need to figure out the formula for the cure that she wrote down, and to “just let science do the work”. Then the infection spreads and she becomes a zombie too. It’s a good thing the infection spreads so quickly and that the zombies won’t eat other zombies, because otherwise Bubblegum would have been torn to pieces by now.
Finn is still holding onto Bubblegum’s hands when she turns (OMG DUDE LET GO WHAT ARE YOU DOING), so LSP pushes him aside and hits Bubblegum over the head with a wooden board. Not going to lie, that was pretty bad ass. Then she boards up the window. The gang heads down to the lab, where they all try to follow Bubblegum’s formula and create their own zombie cure, but none of them knows what they’re doing. When they’ve all finished their concoctions, they go back to the boarded up window to give the cures a try. Finn tries his first, and it goes horrifically wrong. His “cure” gives the zombies wings. So now the zombies can fly. That’s great. The zombies also break through the boarded window, which forces the gang to run up to the tower. Then LSP tries her formula, and it gives the zombies full, “luscious” lips. LSP decides she wants lips like that, and runs outside to drink the formula that spilled onto the ground, which of course means the zombies catch her and infect her. Jake and Lady then test their formula, and it makes the zombies really buff, just what they needed.
Finn, Jake and Lady are forced to retreat to the lab when the buff, flying zombies make it into the tower, and Jake receives a bite from a zombie that was hiding in the lab. He manages to trap the zombie and barricade the doors so others can’t get in, but the infection is spreading quickly. He stretches out his body, which apparently slows down the infection, but he’s soon forced to lock himself in the sealed decontamination shower as he starts to turn into a zombie completely. Finn starts working on a cure while Lady worries about Jake. Feeling sorry for him, Lady OPENS THE SHOWER AND HUGS JAKE AND HE BITES HER OH GOD LADY WHAT ARE YOU DOING. So Lady gets infected, and Finn is stuck trying to come up with a cure himself. And the other zombies make it through the barricade, so Finn needs to hide in the shower along with Bubblegum’s science equipment and her adorable Candy Corn Rat. Finn realizes that the rat’s name is Science, and remembers Bubblegum’s last words before she turned into a zombie. Science is the only one aside from Bubblegum capable of making the cure. Finn takes Science out of her cage and lets her get to work, and soon she has a cure ready. Finn sprinkles a few drops onto Jake over the edge of the shower, and Jake is immediately cured… only to be bitten and turned again. So Finn comes up with the idea of dousing himself in the formula and letting the zombies bite him, which is both incredibly brave and incredibly stupid. The next scene shows Bubblegum standing in front of the Candy citizens, all of them cured, as she presents the Royal Medal for Heroic Bravery to Science the Rat.
Funny how both Halloween episodes are followups to previous episodes. The Creeps was followup to Mystery Train, and now we have a followup to Slumber Party Panic. I like that this this episode puts a lot more focus on the zombies, since Slumber Party Panic was more about Finn trying to distract everyone and the zombies themselves aren’t actually seen that much. From Bad to Worse actually is about the zombies, and it basically covers every zombie cliche:
Character being bitten in the middle of a speech because they were standing to close to a window with their back turned.
Character holding onto their loved one as they turn and continuing to hold on until someone else has to either kill the zombie or force it back.
Character being bitten because they insist on going back for something.
Character’s loved one being turned into a zombie and character stupidly thinking that A) it’s still the person they loved and there’s no way they could be hurt by them or B) they want to be zombies along with their loved one because fuck logic. (Since Lady says at the end that she wanted Jake to bite her it’s probably B, but she may also have said that only for double entendre purposes.)
Everyone gets picked off one by one.
Emotional moment with the last person left where they’re surrounded by zombies and they apologize to all of the people they couldn’t save.
I guess it makes sense, since zombies have been inexplicably popular these last couple of years.
This episode isn’t big on jokes, but there’s plenty of creepy imagery and atmosphere. It was especially creepy for me because to be perfectly honest, zombies freak me the fuck out. Something about the image of them slowly surrounding you or tirelessly clawing at windows to try and get to you, the fact that since they can’t think or speak there’s no chance of reasoning with them at all and they’re just going to mercilessly tear you apart no matter what, the fact that they were people once and now that’s suddenly gone, or you know, just the fact that they’re decaying corpses that have been reanimated. There are monsters that I find more interesting than zombies (which is why, though I do like zombies, I’ve always been slightly confused about their popularity), but I don’t think there are any that creep me out as much. (Mind you, I mean that in a good way.)
Obviously the creepy imagery couldn’t go too far in this episode, though. For one thing, the zombies seem more interested in infecting as many people as possible than they do in eating people, and people turn so quickly after being bitten that the zombies wouldn’t even have time to eat them anyway unless they didn’t mind eating zombie flesh, which of course they won’t do. I figured this was to avoid having to show any characters actually being torn apart or eaten, which would have been too gruesome and you couldn’t exactly bring a character back from that. But they did still manage to have some creepy stuff in there. Just seeing the zombies gathered around the window and clawing through the boards was creepy for me, but I don’t know if that’s something that would be creepy for everyone. Seeing characters swarmed by zombies was creepy, because even if it the attacks aren’t gruesome they’re still vicious. But I think my favorite creepy image in the episode is when Jake has locked himself in the shower, with his infected arm spiraled around him so it hides him. Then you see the arm unravel and slowly reveal him, and even though you know Jake is a zombie it’s still an effectively creepy reveal.
The ending of the episode was rather predictable, I knew the Rat was going to be the one to make the cure as soon as soon as the gang first saw her, but to be fair that’s part of the joke, that the characters don’t realize she can help even though she keeps trying to leap out of her cage. Overall it’s an entertaining episode, like The Creeps it’s more about atmosphere and imagery than it is about story or humor, but that’s fine with me.
Rating: 8/10
Remember Susan Strong, from the episode she shares a name with? She’s back, and she apparently needs help from Finn. Jake doesn’t trust Susan, and I can’t say I blame him. I mean, he could have made his point without calling her crazy, but his reservations about Susan make sense. The last time they saw her, she was trying to eat Peppermint Butler and attack the Candy Kingdom. Jake also reminds Finn that she’s a mutated fish person, but Finn points out that they don’t know that for sure, which is perfectly true since they never saw her take off her hat but it’s more likely that Finn still really wants to believe he might not be the last human left. Finn agrees to help Susan and Jake decides to go along too, but only to be “disruptive and obnoxious”. So, no change then?
Anyway, Susan takes Finn and Jake to the underground home of the Hyooman tribe and explains to the duo how she and her tribe used to live in Beautopia but were driven out by Lub Glubs, whatever those are. She wants Finn and Jake to help her reclaim Beautopia. They come to a river and Susan says they’ll need to swim across to get to Beautopia. Then she grabs Finn’s head and forces it under the water. Is Finn still afraid of water? Shouldn’t he be freaking out much more than this? I mean, he is freaking out about Susan almost drowning him, but the last time I saw Finn around water he was terrified about a single drop getting on him!
Hey, if he’s this afraid, how does he ever shower? Oh God, does he ever shower?!
So, I guess he’s over it now, or at least less afraid than he used to be? Anyway, Jake pulls Susan off Finn and Finn comes up spluttering. Susan realizes that Finn doesn’t have gills like the Hyoomans, so she says they can take the boat instead. On the journey to Beautopia, they see one of the Lub Glubs Susan was talking about, and it appears to just be a pool floaty. When they reach Beautopia, Susan says there will be more Lub Glubs for them to get past. Jake laughs when he realizes that the things Susan is so afraid of are just more pool floaties and, to prove to her that they aren’t dangerous, he tries to pop one. As soon as he tries it, out comes a gigantic shadow beast with fangs that remind me of this guy:
Fire drives the Lub Glubs away, so they need to light a fire in the City Heart. While Finn and Susan (who has become much braver, apparently) fight the Lub Glubs, Jake goes to the City Heart and lights it. When he does, the Lub Glubs melt away. The Hyoomans are all able to come back to Beautopia, and Susan tells Finn that he should stay. Finn says he can’t because he isn’t like them, so Susan takes his hand and puts it under her hat, allowing Finn to feel her neck. Whatever Finn feels, it surprises him, but Jake pulls him away before he can say anything more to Susan. As he and Jake leave, Finn waves goodbye to Susan, looking wistful.
I thought this episode was a little boring at first. It was cool seeing Susan again and I like that she’s braver in this one, but her slow, poorly constructed sentences got on my nerves quickly.
What makes this episode worth it is the ending. I like how they don’t show or tell you what Finn felt under the hat, so whether or not Susan is Human still isn’t confirmed, but judging by Finn’s reaction it’s probable that she is. Why would she make Finn feel under hat otherwise? Finn told Susan he couldn’t stay in Beautopia because he isn’t a fish person, Susan’s gesture seems to say, “Neither am I.” And Finn’s reaction is very telling too. So the ending is kind of bittersweet, since we can assume that Finn has finally found another Human, and he’s being separated from her.
I also wonder whether or not Finn and Susan could be related. It’s possible, and they do have the same blonde hair. What if Susan was Finn’s sister? Or even his mother? Of course this would raise questions about how they got separated and how Susan’s English deteriorated so much, but it’s an interesting theory to think about.
And since we’re on the subject of family, why do the Lub Glubs remind Jake of his parents? I know it’s a reference to the Rorschach test (or the ink blot test), but I wonder if it’s something that will ever come back. We haven’t learned much about Jake’s parents so far, what were they like? And why would the Lub Glubs remind Jake of his parents? Unless maybe he was raised by her:
Is it bad that I’ve always wanted Mileena’s teeth?
Anyway, as I said, I found this episode pretty dull, but it does have some good moments, particularly the ending, so it was worth watching at least once.
Poor Jake, I’m sure his Korean food would have been delicious.
Oh hey, isn’t this the first Tree Trunks episode since Crystals Have Power? And, like, the third one overall? Cool.
Tree Trunks is as adorable as ever. And she’s still the sexiest adventurer in the world.
I love Finn’s shocked reaction to Jake saying he used to steal people’s purses, and how Jake calmly responds that he didn’t know it was wrong at the time.
I also love how they just leave Raggedy Princess in the ditch. Thanks a lot, jerks.
Does Bubblegum know about Candy Tavern? The idea of a seedy bard in the Candy Kingdom is really funny to me because the Candy People always seem so innocent and not very bright. How do you take a criminal that’s just a giant ice cream cone or a giant cookie seriously?
Okay so I realize I wrote “seedy bard” instead of “bar” but I don’t want to correct that typo because it made me picture a sleazy-looking medieval poet sneaking around alley ways and threatening people with bad poetry and it made me giggle.
Anyway.
“Where’s my dang apples?” I love you, Tree Trunks.
“Seen any apples?” Y’all ask a lot of dumb-butt questions… almost like you’re trying to solve somethin’.” Literally all they did was ask if you’ve seen any apples.
“You know where a guy might maybe score some apples?” This is the only way I will ask for apples from now on. Not that I ask for apples often.
I don’t know why but I love Smudge, the gingerbread man.
Jake also used to steal bikes, but it’s okay because he didn’t know it was wrong.
Mr. Pig has to be a reference to Hannibal.
I would watch a spin-off series about the rival gangs in the Candy Kingdom.
Aaaaw, Tree Trunks, don’t cry! You’re so cute that seeing you cry is painful!
Mr. Pig can… hear apples?
I like how in Tree Trunks’ closet there’s a picture of a muscly guy. I love how she’s such a horndog.
Tree Trunks, I don’t think you need to turn yourself in for stealing your own stuff. Then again this is Ooo so what do I know.
So, does Tree Trunks’ closet have a hole in it too or what?
Tree Trunks is everything I hope to be when I’m old.
Yep, it’s one of those reviews again. Not much of a review, I know, but I wasn’t really sure how to go about writing about Apple Thief since it felt like a bit of a pointless episode. Not a bad episode, just one that’s hard to talk about because there isn’t really much to say. So there we go.
Rating: 7/10
I like the Clue references in this title card.
The episode begins with Finn and Jake going to a party they were invited to by an unknown host. The party is in an old, spooky-looking mansion, and everyone must go in costume and a mask. Bubblegum, Lumpy Space Princess, Cinnamon Bun and BMO are all already at the mansion (wouldn’t BMO have gone with Finn and Jake? Weird), and none of them knows who the host is either. Though LSP suggests that it might be “a steaming hot babe with huge money”. LSP has her priorities straight. They discover a note on Cinnamon Bun’s back that says the host is a ghost that will possess one of them and kill the others. Cinnamon Bun tries to escape but when he reaches the door the lights flicker. When they turn back on, all that’s left of him is a skeleton.
This reminds me of Mystery Train, and it apparently reminds Jake of that episode too, since he references it. Jake thinks Finn is playing a prank on him to get back at him, but Finn insists that he has nothing planned. Jake is still skeptical, but everyone else seems to take the situation seriously. Jake suggests that they all get candles just in case the lights go out again and they all do so. They then separate into two groups to search for clues, Jake and BMO going to the basement while Finn, Bubblegum and LSP go upstairs. In the basement, BMO gets caught and dragged away by a ghost, so Jake runs back upstairs to tell everyone. The fact that BMO disappeared while alone with Jake arouses Finn’s suspicion, until they hear LSP screaming from the bathroom. She comes out of the bathroom unharmed and immediately goes to the dining room for something to eat. She’s followed by Finn, Jake and Bubblegum, where they all start to point fingers at each other. Finn asks Jake something only the real Jake would know, Jake answers the question correctly, and then they turn to LSP to ask her something only she would know, which is how she broke up with her boyfriend. And this happens:
I want “What does that lumping mean?” on a T-shirt.
I also made a weird sound that was somewhere between laughter and a sympathetic “aaawww” at this exchange:
Finn: [After another pause; to Princess Bubblegum] What did I write to you on your Happy Birthday card two years ago? Word for word.
Princess Bubblegum: [flatly] Finn, there’s no way I would remember that…
Finn: [hurt] I remember that. [Pulls down mask]
Oh, Finn.
You won’t be needing this!
By the way it’s my goal to use a Mortal Kombat gif in every post until MKX comes out because I am nothing if not a rabid fangirl.
Anyway, the ghost suddenly appears and passes through Bubblegum, causing her to melt. Finn is horrified and says that wasn’t supposed to happen, and Jake realizes that this was a prank all along. Finn confirms that it was originally supposed to be a prank, but Bubblegum melting wasn’t part of the plan, so there must really be a ghost. He then checks the closet, where Cinnamon Bun and BMO were supposed to be hiding and finds Cinnamon Bun’s melted remains smeared on the wall and BMO smashed to pieces. It’s a pretty gruesome image. I mean, it’s not gory, but still. Cinnamon Bun’s remains are splattered on the wall. Jesus. LSP decides that she’s had enough and tries to call her parents, but the light go off again and the ghost reappears, grabbing LSP. When the lights come back on, LSP is trapped in a painting. Finn and Jake try to find a way to escape the mansion, and the ghost grabs Jake, leaving Finn all alone. A ghostly woman appears and moves toward Fiin, who backs away. He hides in another room, and crows from a painting on the wall come to life and fly at him. Then a crack in the floor begins to open wider, and moves like a mouth biting. He runs out of the room and into an observatory. A ghostly figure appears again and he screams… and it’s just Jake and Lady Rainicorn, covered in a white sheet. Bubblegum, LSP, BMO, and Cinnamon Bun are all with them, completely unscathed. Yep, it was another prank. Jake found out about the prank Finn had planned, and pranked him back. My God, Jake, are you trying to mentally scar this kid? I mean, even more than he’s already been scarred? Oh, and that ghost lady that Finn saw? Wasn’t part of the prank. She was real and Finn is the only who saw it. So he sends that memory to his “vault”, which I guess means he repressed it? I don’t blame him.
So, this episode is a kind of Halloween special, which are always fun, and it’s an Adventure Time Halloween special, so that should be even better. And it’s a Whodunit-style murder mystery, which are also fun. I mean, murder mysteries are fun for the people watching, not the people being murdered. Except that I’m really bad at mysteries, I can never figure them out, so I mostly just like the creepy atmosphere and deaths and don’t actually care that much about who the murderer is. I swear I’m not a sadist.
Anyway, I really liked this episode’s atmosphere and imagery. I liked how they play with your expectations, when Finn admits that it was all supposed to be a prank you assume that the house really is haunted, and then it turns out to be an even more elaborate prank by Jake. And the house really is haunted, but no one knows that except Finn. I wonder if Finn will ever get to prank Jake back. I kind of hope he doesn’t, I think it would be funny if every time Finn tried to prank Jake, Jake just flips it around on Finn.
And I also like this line from Lady Rainicorn, when Finn notes that she can phase people into her body. This is what her reply apparently translates to: “Of course. Jake and I merge our bodies all the time.”
I bet you do, Lady.
Well, there isn’t that much else to say about the episode. I like the imagery and the eerie feel of the episode, I like how they seemed to take inspiration and references from old horror stories, it has some funny moments, and it’s a really fun episode to watch.
Ah yes, the episode where everyone’s gender is swapped. And Jake/Cake is a cat, because everyone knows that dogs are always male and cats are always female. It’s biology.
Even the intro has the gender-swapped characters.
I like how there’s no explanation for why everyone is gender-swapped (and species-swapped, in Jake/Cake’s case) for this one episode at first, it just is the way it is. That is so like this show, just throwing odd stuff in your face and expecting you to deal with it. We open with Fionna (Finn) and Cake helping Prince Gumball (Princess Bubblegum) decorate for the Biennial Gumball Ball. Prince Gumball asks Fionna to come to the Ball with him as his “pal”, which disappoints Fionna. Suddenly, in comes the Ice Queen (take a guess who this is) to kidnap Gumball. Fionna and Cake fight her, and when the snow clears it seems as though Ice Queen has fled and Gumball is safe. Gumball is grateful to Fiona for saving his life, and he asks her to go out with him. Fionna says yes but is unsure of whether or not he means for it to be a date, though Cake insists that it is.
The next day, Fionna and Cake meet Gumball and Lord Monochromicorn (Lady Rainicorn) at the Castle Gardens, where Gumball gives Fionna a bouquet of flowers and a retractable crystal sword, and then the four of them leave for their “date”. They spend the day exploring Ooo and playing games together, and Gumball even sings a romantic song for Fionna. Eventually, Lord Monochromicorn and Cake leave Gumball and Fionna alone together. Fionna asks Gumball if this was really suppose to be a date, which amuses Gumball. He asks Fionna to come to the Ball with him as his girfriend, so I guess there’s your answer, Fionna.
When she gets back to the Tree Fort, Fionna excitedly tells Cake about Gumball asking her to the Ball as his girlfriend. Cake is pleased for Fionna and helps her get ready for the Ball, dressing her up in a white ball gown. I find it funny and kind of cute that Fionna’s confused about where she’s supposed to put her weapons since her purse is so small. She decides to take along the retractable crystal sword Gumball gave her since it can fit in her purse, and then she and Cake head to the Ball.
Once there, Gumball leads Fionna away to a bedroom. A softly lit bedroom with rose petals and candles. And he locks the door. And he says they have a lot to discuss and starts removing his shirt while Fionna blushes and looks flustered. It looks every bit as suggestive as it sounds. KID’S SHOW. But don’t worry, all that happens is that Gumball turns out to be Ice Queen in disguise, while the real Gumball is frozen on the ceiling. Fionna pulls out her crystal sword to fight Ice Queen, but the sword was another one of Ice Queen’s tricks, as it freezes Fionna’s hands. This doesn’t stop Fionna, who uses the block of ice around her hands to beat Ice Queen over the head. Ice Queen pushes her off with a blast off snow, which allows Fionna to be able to reach Gumball’s icy prison, and she smashes it open. Gumball and Fionna are both freed from their restraints, while Ice Queen is covered by the falling icicles. Just then, Cake, who had heard noises downstairs, comes into the room. She see Fionna and Gumball standing together, Fionna in a torn dress, and jumps to the wrong conclusion and attacks Gumball. Fionna pulls her off and explains what happened, just as Ice Queen begins to recover. Fionna and Cake manage to knock her tiara off, then Cake dons the tiara and buries Ice Queen in snow. Gumball is impressed and asks Fionna on a date, but Fionna rejects him.
I really like this little speech, and I think it’s a great thing for kids to hear, especially girls. Except then Fionna goes on…
Fionna: But there is one guy I would do anything to date. [In a smitten voice] The Ice King!
Prince Gumball: What?!
Cake: Me, too. Ice King’s the real deal!
[Lord Monochromicorn pops out from under the floor and says “ISE” in Morse Code].
It’s actually not that shocking because I already knew that this was a fan fiction of Ice King’s, but I just really wanted an excuse to use that picture. So yeah, as Fionna goes about what a “hottie” Ice King is (to each their own), we discover that this whole episode was just Ice King’s fan fiction that he wrote about Finn and Jake, who are frozen in place in his castle while he reads out loud to them.
I really, really enjoyed this episode. I think the reason why is that I really love it when writers acknowledge their fan base and tease them, not in a malicious way but in an affectionate way, and this episode very affectionately parodies two of my favorite aspects of fandom culture: Rule 63 and fan fiction.
Let’s start with Rule 63, which is the idea that any given male character can have a female version and vice versa. It’s pretty common to see people gender-bending popular characters in fan art and such, and for some reason I’ve always been enamored with the concept. I love looking at Rule 63 fan art, seeing my favorite characters reimagined as a different gender. So, the idea of an entire episode with gender-bent versions of the characters, and apparently more gender-bent episodes to follow? Yeah, that got me pretty excited.
And what I love about this episode is that while their genders are changed, their roles are not. Fionna is still adventurous and violent. Ice Queen is still a creep who tries to kidnap princes. Gumball still needs to be saved by Fionna, apparently pretty often. I’m so glad that they didn’t feel the need to switch up their roles or even change their personalities that much. There seems to be this idea that there are huge differences between how you can write a female character and how you can write a male character, which I don’t get. I mean, yeah, there are a few differences, but I don’t think they’re nearly as pronounced or as numerous as peoples think. Whatever would make a male character interesting can also make a female character interesting, and vice versa. There’s no reason that a female character can’t love fighting, there’s no reason that a male character can’t need to be saved by a female character. No reason except sexist tropes that people refuse to give up. So thanks, Adventure Time writers, for realizing that there doesn’t need to be that big of a difference.
That’s not to say that there aren’t minor differences in these gender-bent characters, but they really are minor. In this version, Gumball openly likes Fionna, but this makes sense because from their appearances, I got the impression that Fionna and Gumball are closer in age than Finn and Bubblegum. I have a feeling that Bubblegum would be more forward with someone her age. Ice Queen also appears smarter and more threatening than Ice King, but she’s ultimately still a loser and a creep.
Now, fan fiction. This is a huge part of fandom, and one that I think is often misunderstood. I’ll admit that, for a long time, fan fiction was basically just a joke to me. All of the ones I’d read were horribly written ones that my friends and I would laugh at and make fun of, and the whole idea seemed ridiculous to me. Then I started to come across fan fics that I actually liked. I mean genuinely liked, not just in a so-bad-it’s-good way. And I started to realize that I was being pretty unfair to fan fic in general, that just because there’s a lot of crap out there (and I mean a lot) it doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything good, and that fan fiction does have a purpose. It’s a good way for fans to explore the characters that they love, or even the characters they hate. It’s a good way for fans to be creative and perhaps open other fans up to a different way of thinking. But, of course, fan fiction is mostly about wish-fulfillment. It’s about fans saying, “I want to see this happen in this fictional universe and it didn’t happen, so I’ll make it happen for myself and for anyone else who may be interested” or “I didn’t like the way this happened, so I’m going to rewrite it my way for myself and for anyone else who may be interested”. I think that’s the part that throws people off about fan fiction, because people think it’s just about butthurt fans who couldn’t handle things not going their way, or who just wanted to live out some weird fantasy by inserting themselves into the story as a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. But there’s nothing wrong with wish-fulfillment, there’s nothing wrong with self-indulgence. There’s nothing wrong with me wanting to read a Spideypool fan fic because I desperately love that ship and I know it’s unlikely to become canon. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to put yourself into the story because you love this universe and these characters so much. Yeah, chances are that the fan fic won’t be technically good, but if it’s just a bit of harmless fun and fantasy, who gives a shit? Unless the fan fic is doing something obviously gross or wrong, like incest, pedophilia, glorified rape/abuse, spreading bigoted beliefs or things like that, I don’t care what people want to write about. I do still make jokes about fan fic, but it’s mostly done with affection now. I really do have a great, unironic love for fan fiction.
So, all of this to say that I love the writers for acknowledging the existence of fan fiction, and it makes perfect sense for Ice King to be a fan fic writer. I could totally see him writing one of those bad fan fics with an obvious Mary Sue/Gary Stu, where the characters the author likes are perfect angels and the characters they don’t like are irredeemable monsters, where what little plot there is makes no sense because this is obviously just the author playing out a fantasy. And I bet Ice King would be one of those authors who would argue with commenters who give their fan fics bad reviews and come back at them with things like “OMG I WROTE THIS FOR SCHOOL OKAY I DON’T CARE IF YOU LIKE IT” or the ever popular “IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT DON’T READ IT”. (Hey, just because I have a soft spot for fan fiction as a whole doesn’t mean I can’t make fun of immature people online who can’t take criticism.)
But the weird thing is, Ice King’s fan fic doesn’t become that until the last few seconds of the episode. Ice Queen would presumably have been Ice King’s Stu/Sue, and she’s more intimidating and powerful than Ice King is (and hotter… just saying), but she still fails, and Gumball, the counterpart of Ice King’s favorite princess, doesn’t like her. Doesn’t exactly fit with the whole wish-fulfillment idea behind fan fic.
It’s only at the very end, when Fionna randomly mentions Ice King (so Ice Queen isn’t his counterpart?) that wish-fulfillment comes into play, as Fionna talks about how much she loves him and the story ends with them getting married. Which is really weird because Fionna is Finn’s counterpart. Finn’s. The fact that Ice King’s fan fic involves him living happily ever after with a female Finn seriously raises some eyebrows. Does this mean Finn/Ice King is canon now?
This post is already way too long so let’s wrap this up. I really loved this episode. I love the reference to Rule 63 and fan fiction, I love it when writers acknowledge their fandom, and I just love this episode. I love Fionna and Ice Queen and the whole gender-swapped gang as much as I love their usual forms.
Rating: 11/10
The episode begins with Finn pulling out a wad of Bubblegum’s hair (presumably the one he got from her in To Cut a Woman’s Hair) and, thinking he’s alone, cuddling with it until Jake and BMO appear from behind the couch. The sight of Finn cuddling with a wad of hair doesn’t surprise Jake, who already knows about the “private time he spends with the wad of Princess Bubblegum’s hair”. I wonder how much Jake has seen Finn do with the hair. Puberty is a weird time for all of us, and it’s probably even weirder going through puberty in Ooo. Anyway, Finn is embarrassed, but Jake reassures him that they all have beloved keepsakes, and he shows Finn his favorite blanket. Just then a door appears out of thin air and a Door Lord (a being that can open door-like portals… or portal-like doors?) hops out of it. The Door Lord snatches Finn’s wad of hair, Jake’s blanket and BMO’s controller, then disappears through another door. Finn, Jake and BMO follow the Door Lord through a few doors, eventually finding him in the Candy Castle, where they see Bubblegum chasing him, though they can’t see what he stole from her. The Door Lord escapes through another door and Bubblegum joins Finn, Jake and BMO in chasing after him. They end up in Marceline’s house, where Marceline is fighting off the Door Lord. Another door is opened and sun shines through it, which forces Marceline to fall back while the Door Lord jumps through it. This door brings them all (Marceline dons a hat and gloves to protect her from the sun) to Red Rock Pass, where the Door Lord has disappeared behind a giant gateway that the others can’t get through.
Finn reads an inscription on the gateway that says, “This door shall yield to no command save for a song from a genuine bande.” Finn wonders what this means, and Bubblegum has this to say, “It’s the door of the Door Lord, Finn. We used to lock them up, but they kept breaking out. ‘Cause they’re Door Lords.” No shit, Bubblegum. Marceline points out that they escaped because Bubblegum let them live, which angers Bubblegum but, well, maybe Marceline has a point. Finn thinks that they’re supposed to open the door with music, so the five of them attempt to form a quintet, but with Bubblegum and Marceline constantly taking jabs at one another it’s not exactly going according to plan. At one point, Marceline sings about wanting to “drink the red from your pretty pink face” (now that’s shipping fodder if I ever heard it), and Bubblegum comments that the lyrics are distasteful. Marceline angrily continues her song with some pointed lyrics toward Bubblegum:
Sorry I don’t treat you like a goddess, Is that what you want me to do? Sorry I don’t treat you like you’re perfect, Like all your little loyal subjects do,
Sorry I’m not made of sugar, Am I not sweet enough for you? Is that why you always avoid me? That must be such an inconvenience to you
Well… I’m just your problem, I’m just your problem, It’s like I’m not even a person, am I? I’m just your problem
Actual footage of Marceline hitting Bubblegum with a truth bomb. No that is not a Mortal Kombat gif what are you talking about.
Okay, to be fair to Bubblegum, I have no idea what exactly happened in Marceline and Bubblegum’s past to make them so bitter toward one another. There was obviously something, but I don’t know what exactly, so I don’t know if the blame is all on Bubblegum as Marceline makes it seem with this song. But Marceline does say something interesting here: she’s the only character we’ve seen so far who doesn’t treat Bubblegum like she’s perfect. Bubblegum’s subjects adore her and don’t seem smart enough to think for themselves, Finn is usually blind to Bubblegum’s faults due to his crush on her, Jake probably isn’t as blind but he never says or thinks anything negative about Bubblegum either, she’s Ice King’s favorite princess (not a good thing but still), everyone in Ooo thinks she’s beautiful and intelligent and she’s one of the most liked and respected people there. Marceline is the only one who doesn’t heap praise on Bubblegum. She treats Bubblegum the same way she treats everyone, which is not very nicely, but it bothers Bubblegum more than it bothers anyone else. Marceline is rude a lot of the time, and Bubblegum isn’t the type to take crap from anyone, but I wonder if, like Marceline suggests, part of Bubblegum’s distaste for Marceline is because Marceline is the only one who doesn’t treat Bubblegum like she’s perfect.
Anyway, the gateway seems to respond to Marceline’s song, and as she sings the lyrics become more and more personal. She sings about how she’s forgotten exactly what landed her in Bubblegum’s bad books, and that she wants to make up with Bubblegum but doesn’t want to make the first move, so I guess she and Bubblegum didn’t always dislike each other. Eventually Marceline seems to realize that she’s giving away too much, so she breaks off the song and yells at Bubblegum for distracting her… by looking at her? Kay then. As soon as Marceline’s song ends, the gateway becomes unresponsive again. Bubblegum then tries to take the lead, bringing a more scientific approach to music that fails due to her “miscalculations”. If it makes you feel any better, Bubblegum, I thought your blend of science and music was amusing. Tensions between Bubblegum and Marceline continue to rise, and after Marceline spits on Bubblegum (!!!! Dude! Not cool!), they leave the gate way. Jake leaves too because of reasons. Upset, Finn starts to sing about his friends, which lures all of them back and gets the gateway to respond again. The gateway opens, and inside they find the Door Lord. They get their possessions back from him, but they also realize that friendship is the real treasure. There’s really no way to say that without it sounding cheesy. We also discover what the Door Lord had stolen from Bubblegum: a T-shirt. One that was given to her by Marceline and that she apparently wears as pajamas all the time. Marceline didn’t have any items stolen, it turns out. She just wanted to spend time with them all.
So, I’ve mentioned before that I get really uncomfortable and apprehensive with fights between female characters because of how often it turns into a big misogynistic mess, but I think I should explain it a bit more clearly. It’s not that female characters fighting is automatically bad and misogynistic. I love a good rivalry and I love seeing female characters who are well-written and interesting, so in theory I would love a rivalry between female characters. But we don’t live in theory, we live in reality, and the reality is that while I can think of a few female character rivalries that I enjoy, the majority of them make me want to set myself on fire. Because here’s what most of them are like:
They’re fighting over a man.
They’re fighting over who’s prettier/more popular.
Lots and lots of sexist slurs.
They’re reinforcing the stereotype that women can’t be friends without being catty to each other.
“lol wimminz r crazy amirite” jokes.
If they do make up, they can’t do so without sobbing all over each other. And then we get more jokes about how women are fickle, emotional train wrecks.
Yeah.
Luckily, Bubblegum and Marceline, so far, have not fallen into any of those traps. Their dislike for each other seems to be simply a clash of personality, which makes sense. Bubblegum’s rigidity and supposed perfection annoys the fun-loving and rebellious Marceline. Marceline’s lack of social etiquette and snarky attitude annoys the proud and comparatively serious Bubblegum. It works, and it’s interesting. And we know that Bubblegum and Marceline didn’t always dislike each other, and there seems to be some affection still lingering between them, but something happened to cause a riff between them. I’m a really big fan of stories about friendships being torn apart by opposing ideologies, like Dumbledore and Grindelwald, Professor X and Magneto, Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin, or even Mr. Krabs and Plankton. So, whatever the story behind Bubblegum and Marceline is, I think I’ll like it.
Oh yeah, and I’m definitely on board the Bubblegum/Marceline ship now. It could be that they were just friends, but there’s a lot to suggest that they were more than friends, and we all know there’s a very thin line between love and hate.
Anyway, I thought this episode was great. I always love the more character focused episodes of shows, and since this one gave a lot of attention to two characters I’ve been wanting to know more about, it was pretty satisfying. Plus, it gave me my first official ship for this show: Bubbleline! I feel closer to the AT fandom already!
The episode begins with Finn and Jake waking up to discover they can’t move at all. Why? Because Ice King sprayed them with a freezing potion. He did this because he wants to bond with Finn and Jake, who he considers friends, but they seem to hate him. When they say this is because Ice King has tried to kill them “like, four times” (yet he couldn’t let them be killed in Hitman? That still confuses me), Ice King suddenly gets angry and says that he only tries to kill them because they’re always cock-blocking him. Well, he actually says “princess-blocking” but we all know what he meant. Immediately after this outburst Ice King calms himself down and wants to get right to bonding. Yess… we loves Finn and Jake, we loves them… no! No, we hates them! We hates the nasty Finnses! Okay, sorry, it was just too easy.
Ice King says he won’t unfreeze Finn and Jake (he has an unfreezing potion) until they’ve bonded, but Finn and Jake don’t want to go along with Ice King’s twisted ideas. Finn decides he’s going to mentally summon an Astral Beast to help them, and is effectively asleep for most of the episode. Okay then. Jake is left alone with Ice King, who tries various methods of bonding with him and the unconscious Finn. Eventually, Finn wakes up after having summoned the Astral Beast. Which turns out to be a flock of butterflies. Though disappointed at first, Finn and Jake soon discover that they can control the butterflies with their thoughts, so they use them to force Ice King to unfreeze them. Instead, Ice King accidentally freezes himself. And then Gunter breaks the bottle of unfreezing potion.
This is mostly just another episode about how Ice King has no social skills whatsoever and is incredibly lonely, nothing that new, but it does take Ice King’s creepiness to another level. It’s not even just about kidnapping princesses to find a wife anymore, he’s now holding Finn and Jake hostage so that he can make friends. Why do they keep letting Ice King run loose again?
I guess the episode does shed a bit more light on how Ice King sees Finn and Jake. Sort of. It’s still very confusing to me. He says here that he loves them and considers them friends, but then we’re also told that he’s tried to kill them more than once. What would have happened if he had managed to kill them? Would he have felt bad about it later? This is all so weird.
Anyway, this episode is pretty dull. It has some funny moments, but I was ready for it to be over about five minutes before it ended.
Rating: 5/10
Finn and Jake are attending a Wizard Battle, a competition where wizards and witches from across Ooo battle for supremacy. Or for a kiss from Princess Bubblegum. Whatevs. Ice King is entering the battle and plans on cheating his way to Bubblegum’s lips. Finn wants to stop Ice King from kissing her, for Bubblegum’s protection. That’s what he tells Jake, anyway. But Jake (and viewers) knows what’s up. Finn and Jake disguise themselves as a wizard and enter the battle, where they meet a wizard named Abracadaniel, who tells them that he only entered the competition because he hoped that the prize would be money and is disgusted at the idea of kissing Bubblegum. Abracadaniel has a weirdly phallic design, and wields rainbow magic, and really doesn’t want to kiss a princess…
Just saying, I’d be surprised if that wasn’t the intention.
Anyway, Finn decides to help Abracadaniel win the contest instead, so that he can still make sure no one else kisses Bubblegum. That’s really possessive of you, Finn. Eventually, Finn and Jake, Abracadaniel, and Ice King are the only ones left. They manage to defeat Ice King and then Finn forfeits, leaving Abracadaniel as the victor. Abracadaniel is more creepy confident after having won and says that he is now a real man who “deserves a kiss from a princess”. Finn doesn’t take this well and shrieks into Abracadaniel’s ear, causing him to faint. Finn is declared the winner and sent to the locker room to prepare for his kiss with Bubblegum. Though Finn is unhappy about winning the contest with the what is regarded as the most shameful form of magic, a “power shriek”.
Shameful.
He also (finally) admits to Jake that he likes Bubblegum, and that it’s exhausting keeping those feelings hidden all the time. When Finn leaves the locker room to get his kiss from Bubblegum, he trips and loses his disguise. Bubblegum demands an explanation, so he tells her about how he wanted to spare her from having to kiss Ice King. Bubblegum kisses Finn for being sweet, but also slaps him for entering Wizard Battle.
You know what’s missing from this episode? Wizard battles. I know they had to have a story and whatever but still. They could have shown us more of the wizard fights. It would have made the episode a bit more exciting.
Finn is kind of a jerk in this episode. He says that he’s saving Bubblegum from having to kiss Ice King (which would be doing her a favor), but really he just wants to save her for his own selfish reasons. He wants to make sure no one else kisses Bubblegum but him, hence why he turned on Abracadaniel the moment he expressed a desire to kiss Bubblegum. I mean, I guess you could argue that he attacked Abracadaniel because he turned out to be selfish and creepy just like Ice King, but I think we all know Finn was just being possessive. I don’t mind Finn’s jerkiness too much for two reasons:
It’s not out of character. We’ve already seen that Finn can be jealous and possessive where Bubblegum is concerned (which is probably another reason that they shouldn’t get together), so his behavior in this episode isn’t surprising. It’s not a good quality, but I love flawed characters (as long as those flaws are the writers’ intent), so I’m not bothered by it per se.
I don’t think the episode exactly wants us to be on Finn’s side. I think it knows what a jerk he’s being.
The only problem is, at the end, Finn still gets his kiss from Bubblegum. Sure, he gets slapped too, but that slap was for entering Wizard Battle, not for his jerky behavior. Although, Finn wasn’t totally honest with Bubblegum at the end. He told her he entered because Ice King was cheating and he wanted to spare Bubblegum from having to kiss him, not that he wanted to stop Bubblegum from kissing anyone but him.
And you know, Bubblegum offered her kiss as a prize willingly. She’s smart, she must have guessed that Ice King would enter the competition, and that there was at least a chance that she’d have to kiss him. It’s just a kiss, maybe she’s okay with it and doesn’t need to be saved.
Aside from these conflicting thoughts, this episode is okay. Like Still, it’s not particularly interesting, but it has its moments.
The first episode we get with thirteen-year old Princess Bubblegum… and apparently the last one, too.
It begins with Finn and Bubblegum hanging out at the Candy Kingdom, and Finn is nervous because he’s hoping to further his relationship with Bubblegum now that she’s his age. Bubblegum is showing Finn a serum she created that makes the consumer sweat cleaning agents, but it turns out to be insanely spicy. Finn and Bubblegum’s “date” is interrupted by the arrival of the Earl of Lemongrab. I was wondering when this character was going to show up. He’s talked about a lot. And my God he is unbearably annoying. I don’t know if people like Lemongrab, I’ve heard a lot about him but I’ve never picked up on whether or not he’s liked. Either way, I don’t like him. I get that he’s supposed to be annoying, and normally I would find intentionally annoying characters funny when they’re done right (like LSP), but Lemongrab is a case of Gone Horribly Right, right up there with Dolores Umbridge. Anyway, Lemongrab says the condition of the Candy Kingdom is unacceptable, and that he will be taking control of the Kingdom until Bubblegum is eighteen again, since at thirteen she’s too young to rule. Though Finn tries to argue, Bubblegum says that Lemongrab does in fact have this right. Apparently, Lemongrab is Bubblegum’s own creation, meant to take her place as ruler of the Kingdom if anything happened to her. And since Bubblegum can’t rule until she’s eighteen, Lemongrab must be given the job.
Say what you want about Bubblegum, but she at least has the Candy People’s best interests at heart. The same can not be said for Lemongrab. He’s overly strict and cruel and will throw Candy People into the dungeon for the most ridiculous transgression. And he’s loud. Very loud. I think that’s what makes him so irritating to me. He never says anything in a normal volume or tone, he only screeches them. Finn and Bubblegum decide that they must get rid of Lemongrab somehow, and so begin trying to drive him out of the Kingdom with a series of pranks. The first of which is… well.
I love how intricate the whole set-up is and then the end result is just to inform Lemongrab that he “really smells like dog buns”, which might just be my new favorite insult. I also love Lemongrab’s cry of distress, it’s so exaggerated. I still can’t stand Lemongrab, though. Anyway, Lemongrab gathers everyone in the Castle and demands to know “who did the thing” (which also made me laugh but I’m not entirely sure why). He ends up sending Peppermint Butler (who had tried to say the prank was only for laughs) to the dungeon for twelve years and everyone else for seven years. Finn and Bubblegum try another prank, where they dress as ghosts and punch Lemongrab in the gut (not much of a prank but whatevs), but this fails as well. Next, they try another pranks using the spicy serum Bubblegum showed to Finn earlier. They plan to drip the serum onto Lemongrab’s food, and then onto whatever he tries to soothe his burning mouth with afterwards. Their first attempt doesn’t go quite as planned, as they accidentally drip the serum into the eye of Peppermint Butler, who was released from the dungeon early because Lemongrab has no knowledge of where food comes from. Peppermint Butler pretends nothing is wrong so as to not give Bubblegum and Finn away, and the next drop of serum drops onto Lemongrab’s plate. After taking one bite, Lemongrab turns red and vomits in Peppermint Butler’s face. This is really not Peppermint Butler’s day. Lemongrab then falls out the window and, when he reaches the ground, tries to soothe his mouth with dirt. Bubblegum drips serum straight into his mouth, so he runs to the forest to get an apple, but Finn, Bubblegum, and Peppermint Butler already there in a tree, trying to drip more serum onto him. During the struggle, Peppermint Butler falls from the tree and, because this is really not his day, he falls right into Lemongrab’s mouth and cools it. Poor Peppermint Butler. He came out to have a good time and honestly he’s feeling so attacked right now. (Someone please make a meme of this with Peppermint Butler if it hasn’t been done already.)
So, after seeing who was responsible for the serum prank, Lemongrab throws Bubblegum, Finn and Peppermint Butler into the dungeon for one million years. Finn wants to keep thinking of pranks, but Bubblegum realizes that the only way to be rid of Lemongrab is to become eighteen again. Finn doesn’t like the idea and nor does Bubblegum, she had liked being a kid again because apparently she’d never gotten much of a chance to be one before, but the Candy People must come first and they need her to be ruler again. All Bubblegum needs to become eighteen again is more candy flesh to increase her biomass to that of an eighteen-year old. The Candy People begin offering her bits of their own flesh, which should probably disturb me at least a little but honestly I find this whole scene really touching. It’s always been clear that the most important thing to Bubblegum is the well-being of her Kingdom and People, she has a big responsibility toward them and she takes it seriously, enough so that she’s willing to give up her second chance at childhood for them. And now we see how much the Candy People love and need her, how much they appreciate having her as a ruler (and considering the other rulers we’ve seen in Ooo, the Candy People are pretty lucky to have someone like Bubblegum), and they’re literally giving her parts of themselves so that they can truly have her back.
To complete the process, Bubblegum needs a “whopping love-hug” (of course), which Finn gives to her. She tells Finn she wishes she could stay as a thirteen-year old with him and they kiss. Bubblegum is transformed back into an eighteen-year old, and then this happens:
Easily my favorite non-LSP moment of this show so far. Why isn’t this a meme? It should be a meme. This whole episode is ripe for meme-making.
Bubblegum being eighteen again puts a stop to whatever relationship was building between her and Finn, but after hearing some advice from Jake he remains hopeful.
Okay, so, I was under the impression that Bubblegum was fifteen before the end of Mortal Recoil, older than Finn but not too much older. Turns out she was actually eighteen, which sort of puts Finn’s crush on Bubblegum in a different light. It isn’t wrong to crush on someone who’s older than you, and when you’re Finn’s age it’s pretty common. What would be wrong is if Bubblegum liked him back, because no matter how much some people might say that age is just a number, that’s not what matters in this case. If Finn was twenty-three and Bubblegum was twenty-eight, then no, the age difference wouldn’t matter. But at thirteen and eighteen, they’re at different stages of development not just physically but emotionally and mentally, so the idea of them dating is squicky. Oh, I still think Finn’s crush on her is adorable as hell, but the two of them dating? No thanks. Bubblegum seems aware of Finn’s crush on her, she’d have to be blind not to see it, and obviously she cares about Finn, but it’s not the way Finn cares for her, and it’s clear that the age difference between the two is the reason why. I think it’s safe for me to bet that the age difference will be what sinks the Finn/Bubblegum ship once and for all.
But there’s something odd about thirteen-year old Bubblegum in this episode. At thirteen, she’s at the same physical stage as Finn, but she apparently still has all of her memories from being eighteen. Despite this, she appears to be slightly less mature in this episode, definitely more like a child than an older teen. Does changing her age also change her level of maturity, or did being younger give her an excuse to act childishly again? If it’s the latter, it would still be kind of squicky for her to like Finn romantically, because even if she’s physically thirteen she’s not that age mentally. I’m going to say it’s the former so that it’s less squicky.
By the way, why isn’t Bubblegum a queen? If her parents aren’t around and she’s ruling an entire kingdom, she should be Queen Bubblegum. But of course, “queen” isn’t as marketable as “princess”. Sigh.
Anyway, I like this episode a lot, and Bubblegum is quickly becoming one of the most interesting characters on the show to me. And she actually has an active role in this one! Usually when she appears it’s to give Finn and Jake something to do, and then she’s off screen for the rest of the episode. Here she has a much bigger role, and in the end she’s the one who saves her kingdom and herself. So yay for that.
As for Lemongrab, maybe he’ll grow on me, but right now I find him unacceptable.
Rating: 9/10
Oh mah glob, an LSP episode! Good idea or no? Let’s take a look.
The episode begins with Finn and Jake receiving a message from the king and queen of Lumpy Space, who beg them to find their daughter and return her to them. Finn and Jake accept the task, and since they already know Lumpy Space Princess is in the woods they think finding her will be easy. In fact, Finn says that finding her will be “as easy as childbirth”. HAHAHA, AS EASY AS CHILDBIRTH. Oh, Finn. Sweetie. No. Just no. Of course, this is the same guy who thought plutonium was “lady stuff”. Not that he was wrong about that. Anyway, they search for LSP in the woods, carrying a basket full of sandwiches from her parents. In the woods, they meet some Fat Villagers who have a problem with a monster eating their crops. They decide to help the Fat Villagers with the monster before continuing their search for LSP, and head into the windmill where the monster supposedly resides. And in a twist that everyone saw coming, LSP turns out to be the monster. Gasp! Finn and Jake ask her how she came to be in the windmill, so LSP tells them her story.
It begins with an argument between LSP and her parents, where I think her parents implied that she couldn’t take of herself without them? I don’t know, I’m not entirely sure what happened here, but LSP was angry enough to leave Lumpy Space forever. And then, well, I think LSP can tell this next part of the story better than I can.
“No, Jessica! Don’t cheat on Tony with me!” is the most flawless line ever. Anyway, after the incident with the wolves, LSP comes across the Fat Village and begins to eat their crops. The Villagers think she’s a monster and run from her, so LSP takes to living in the windmill and pretending to be a monster whenever she gets hungry and needs more crops. Finn and Jake tell her she should apologize to the Villagers, but LSP isn’t very good at apologies. She says to the Villagers, “I’m sorry that you’re starving because I ate all of your crops, even though you’re all still really fat, and I probably helped you lose some weight.” Bruh. The Villagers are offended and try to attack LSP with pitchforks and torches, and LSP suggests that they make their parents buy them more crops, and the Villagers tell her that they are parents, and those crops were for their children. This makes LSP think of her own parents and, touched, she gives the Villagers the sandwiches her parents brought her, and then returns to Lumpy Space.
I love LSP, I think she’s hilarious and she improves every episode that she’s in. The thing about her, though, is that she’s the kind of character that’s best in small doses, like Zapp Brannigan or Butters. She’s fantastic when she’s making a short cameo, or as part of an ensemble, but an entire episode focusing on her? Less fantastic. At least it’s not so bad here because the episode is only eleven minutes long.
I’ve been wondering why LSP was living in the woods for a while, and given that we know she’s been very spoiled most of her life I figured it would be something about her wanting independence. I’m glad we finally got some backstory on why she was in the woods, but this is the most rushed backstory in the history of backstories. Okay, no it isn’t. That would be Zelena’s backstory in Once Upon a Time, a show that I really should review some day so I can explain why I think it’s both the best and worst show ever. Some day. Anyway, the whole story about why LSP ran away from home is really rushed. Her parents say something that she takes as them saying she can’t make it on her own, so she leaves. This happens in the span of about ten seconds. The part with the wolves isn’t rushed but it’s also pointless (even if it is funny). And the ending? I don’t get it. The Villagers mention that they’re parents, LSP thinks of her own parents, and she decides to go back home. Why? I don’t know about you, but I don’t start to cry and reminisce about my parents just because someone mentions that parents exist. Mind you LSP hasn’t seen her parents in a while, but still. It’s pretty random. And it doesn’t seem like whatever problems she had with her parents have been resolved, it’s more like she’s decided to forget about them because of sandwiches or something. I don’t know. I’m disappointed because there was potential for an interesting story here and instead we get a rushed set-up with an even more rushed ending, and three minutes of LSP hanging out with wolves in between.
The thing that’s funny about the part with the wolves is how LSP is making up drama surrounding wolves who are really just acting like wolves. She’s basically trying to act like she’s back in Lumpy Space, and these wolves are Lumpy Space People, and she can gossip with them the way she would with her friends back home. It might have been an interesting if the episode put more focus on this aspect, on how LSP doesn’t really fit anywhere other than Lumpy Space. She can have friends from other kingdoms, but Lumpy Space has its own… culture, I guess one could call it. Lumpy Space is basically a kingdom populated with people who are either obnoxious teenagers or adults who never grew out of their obnoxious teenager phase. In the really early Season 1 episodes, Finn and Jake didn’t even seem to like LSP. I guess they like her now, but I doubt she’s one of their favorite people to be around. I doubt she’s anyone’s favorite person to be except among other Lumpy Space People. If that was the purpose of this episode, LSP realizing Lumpy Space is her home, that could have been something. Although it still would have clashed with the whole “LSP wants to prove to her parents that she can make it on her own” thing.
So yeah, I wasn’t impressed with the story this episode gave us, but I think the most problematic part is just that LSP isn’t the kind of character who can carry her own episode. She’s wonderful and I love her to death, but she works best in little bursts.
The episode begins with Finn and Jake running to Marceline’s house with an armless wizard who told them Marceline is in danger. Apparently, she has accidentally cast a sleep curse on herself, and the wizard can’t do anything to help her without arms. He tells Finn and Jake that they need to get into Marceline’s head, go to her Memory Core, and find a certain memory to bring back to the wizard. The wizard touches Finn’s forehead with his foot and says that Finn’s forehead will start to glow as they near the memory. Then, after showing them how to get into Marceline’s head and warning them of the consequences of their failure (Marceline will stay asleep forever), it’s into Marceline’s head we go.
We see a few of Marceline’s memories, one from when she was a little girl playing with her very beat-up teddy bear, one where we see her father eating her fries (ha! I love that show us that), one where she moves into the Tree Fort with her boyfriend Ash, and one where Ash turns out to be a terrible boyfriend who sells Marceline’s favorite teddy bear (she breaks up with him for this). Eventually Finn and Jake find the Memory Core, take the memory that the wizard wanted, and get out of Marceline’s head. When they give the memory to the wizard, he reveals himself to be Ash, who tricked Finn and Jake into taking Marceline’s memory of their breakup. He awakens Marceline, who greets her “boyfriend” happily, not being able to remember breaking up with him. Ash then takes Marceline’s back to his house, and it’s up to Finn and Jake to remind Marceline of what an abusive shitbag her boyfriend is.
While Jake provides a distraction, Finn sneaks into Ash’s house to speak to Marceline. Marceline tells him he should go because Ash doesn’t like her hanging out with mortals, but Finn brings Marceline into his memories and hows her the memory of her memory that he has. After seeing it, Marceline and Finn exit his memories. Ash shows up and spouts the oldest sexist cliche in the book, demanding that Marceline get back in the kitchen and make him a sandwich, and Marceline kicks him in the crotch. Repeatedly. I definitely approve of Marceline’s method.
This episode has a really interesting concept, going into Marceline’s memories. Sort of like the Pensieve from Harry Potter except you can actually interact with people in the memories. Which makes me wonder if Marceline’s memories were affected by this and if Finn and Jake are now part of them. Anyway, it’s a cool idea, but I wish they had shown us a bit more.
The bits and pieces of her memories that we do get are interesting, though. I found the one of her as a little girl repairing her teddy bear particularly disturbing. When she says to the bear that she she hurts it because she loves it, it sounds like something that may have been said to her by her parents. Most likely from her father. Plus, the fact that she’s all alone in a dark, post-apocalyptic wasteland (it looks like this memory takes place soon after the Mushroom War) with a teddy bear that look like it’s been through hell raises some questions too. Why is she alone in a place that looks so dangerous? Did she try to run away, or are her parents just neglectful? Actually, where is her mom? We already know that her father is the worst father who ever fathered, but have we ever heard anything about her mother?
The conflict with Ash was interesting too, because it’s not often you see a portrayal of an abusive relationship in a children’s show, but again I think more could have been done with it. That probably sounds weird, like I want to see Marceline being abused, but that’s not what I mean. I just mean that if you’re going to make an episode about this, it’s not something you can leave as a side note. Compare this episode to Mad Love, that episode of Batman: The Animated Series, which was about the abusive relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn. It’s disturbing to watch, but in the right way, because its point was to show the psychology of an abuse victim and how awful the whole thing is, it’s supposed to disturb you and it was done well.
I guess I shouldn’t expect this episode to delve into the topic as much as Mad Love did, but the fact that it’s little more than a side note doesn’t feel right.
Or maybe it was going into the memories that was the side note.
Actually both of these plots feel like side notes and I’m not sure what the episode is really supposed to be about. So it’s kind of a wasted opportunity for both.
But still, this episode has some interesting, if underdeveloped, parts. I really liked the scene where Finn and Jake reach the Memory Core and it’s designed like a white silhouette. That was a cool visual.
Oh yeah, and I can’t not mention this:
Baby Finn is too adorable.
Rating: 7.5/10
Ice King is a really weird villain, and his relationship with Finn and Jake is even weirder.
Apparently, Finn and Jake can ground Ice King. Even though Ice King is older than them. He’s like this bratty child that Finn and Jake can’t take their eyes off of for more than minute because if they do he’ll run off and capture a princess. That’s what bratty children do, right? Anyway, after being grounded for four whole weeks, Ice King paces his Ice Castle, wishing he could hit Finn and Jake and lamenting that he can’t while he’s grounded. So he hires a hitman named Scorcher, a strange being who somewhat resembles a mummy and can turn into smoke and throw fireballs. Ice King tells Scorcher to hit Finn and Jake and signs a contract to make it official. Here’s the thing, though: HE THINKS SCORCHER IS LITERALLY JUST GOING TO HIT FINN AND JAKE, AS IN SLAP THEM OR PUNCH THEM. HE DOESN’T KNOW THAT SCORCHER’S JOB IS TO KILL PEOPLE. ICE KING IS THE MOST INNOCENT VILLAIN EVER.
Scorcher sets fire to Finn and Jake’s Tree Fort, forcing Ice King to save them. Ice King then explains to Scorcher that he only wants Scorcher to hit Finn and Jake, not kill them. When Scorcher realizes that Ice King put out the fire, he returns to Finn and Jake’s room while they’re sleeping and fills the room with smoke to suffocate them, but again Ice King saves them. After this, Ice King attempts to bribe Scorcher to get him to stop going after Finn and Jake, and even tries to switch Scorcher’s target to his least favorite princesses, Lumpy Space Princes (how dare you, Ice King) and Ghost Princess, but Scorcher refuses to leave his mission incomplete. Ice King even tries to hire a hitman-hitman, but apparently Scorcher is such a bad ass that even hitmen who specifically kill other hitmen can’t beat him. Ice King is left with no other choice but to freeze Scorcher (which won’t last long) and warn Finn and Jake of the danger they’re in.
After Ice King tells Finn and Jake what he has done, Scorcher comes to finish them off. The three of them are forced to flee, but there’s no way to escape Scorcher. Ice King comes up with a plan to lower Finn and Jake’s body temperature enough to convince Scorcher that they’re dead. Finn and Jake are against this plan because they don’t trust Ice King, but Ice King goes ahead and does it anyway. The plan works. Scorcher, thinking his job is done, leaves Ice King with a note that reads “Echos of past events nudge the tiller on my present course, I await it’s [WRONG IT’S/ITS SLAKDJSAL] reflection in the future”. This sounds like it might have significance later but maybe not.
You know what I don’t get about this episode? Why does Ice King care so much about Finn and Jake being killed? Wouldn’t he want them gone? Then he’d be free to do whatever he wanted without anyone butting in (I mean I’m sure someone besides Finn and Jake could stop Ice King too but you know). And he’s apparently okay with Lumpy Space Princess and Ghost Princess being killed even though they can be easily avoided by just not kidnapping them, a thought that I don’t think has ever crossed Ice King’s mind. Not kidnapping anyone with “princess” in their name? IMPOSSIBLE. Seriously though, it’s okay to kill princesses that he doesn’t like, but it’s not okay to kill Finn and Jake?
I guess it’s because of the weird relationship Ice King has with with Finn and Jake. They annoy him, but he also has a strange respect for them, which he has certainly never shown for any of the princesses. Think back to Mortal Folly, when he asked for their blessing when he wanted to marry Bubblegum without even bothering to see if Bubblegum actually wanted to marry him (which she clearly didn’t), because their blessing holds more weight to him than Bubblegum saying yes. Which is really horrible and fucked up. And there’s also the fact that at times, Ice King seems to think of Finn and Jake as his friends, even though they show nothing but contempt for him.
But even then, Finn and Jake’s feelings for Ice King baffle me too. Like in that episode I can’t remember the name of, where Bubblegum has them kidnap Ice King but they let him go when they realize he hasn’t done anything wrong recently. Because even if he’s done tons of awful things in the past and there’s no reason to think he won’t do more awful things in the future, the fact that he hasn’t done anything wrong recently means it’s okay to let him go. They’ll just go beat him up when he has done something wrong. Does anyone else think this is really weird? Imagine if at the end of The Avengers everyone was just like, “Okay, Loki, we stopped your weird alien army. Just don’t do anything like this again, all right?” instead of locking Loki up some place where they won’t need to worry about him until Thor 2. Or imagine if in the X-Men movies… um, okay never mind that because the way the X-Men handle Magneto isn’t much better.
Basically that. But you get my point.
Okay, enough about Ice King and his weird relationships. Let’s talk about Scorcher. I really love Scorcher. I love his dedication to completing the job he’s given even after it turns out it’s not what Ice King wanted. The fact that he’s so relentless makes him more intimidating. The design is pretty cool too, and the fact that he never speaks. His scenes with Ice King were hilarious. Interesting that a character who never speaks can be so funny. I’m guessing Scorcher won’t be a character we see again, but I loved him here.
Overall, this episode is pretty good. It’s jokes are funny and the concept itself is funny, but I don’t think I’ll ever understand Ice King’s relationship with Finn and Jake.
Don’t you just love villains who are tiny and cute and preferably green and one-eyed?
When the Cuties show up at Finn and Jake’s Tree Fort, threatening to kill them, of course Finn doesn’t take them seriously. How can he, when they’re so small and cute-looking? But this displeases the Cute King, who continues to threaten them. Jake seems to take the Cuties more seriously than Finn does. Really, Jake, you could just step on them if they get out of line. That night, Finn sees how scared Jake is and offers to confront the Cuties in the morning, but it turns out they’ll have to deal with the Cuties sooner than they thought, as the Cuties spend the night trying to scare Finn and Jake. This forces Finn, in his words, to “man-handle those guys’s banandles!” This is almost as good as when he said he would get into Hunson Abadeer’s pants.
It quickly becomes apparent that the Cuties are only harmful to themselves, but they’re desperate to conquer something. Taking pity on them, Finn comes up with a plan to make the Cuties happy. He gathers Jake, Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, Cinnamon Bun and a duck (????) and tells them his plan to fake their deaths to the Cuties, so that they’ll be satisfied. And of course LSP must take it even further:
Someone give LSP an Oscar.
They go through with the plan, faking their deaths and spraying themselves with ketchup so that the Cuties will think they’ve won. When the Cute King does his victory dance on Jake’s stomach, Jake laughs, revealing that he and the others are actually alive and that the “blood” is just ketchup. Which should have been obvious because the ketchup bottle was in plain sight when they were spraying themselves. These Cuties aren’t very bright, are they? The Cuties are even more upset after finding out about the trick, so Finn comes up with another idea: show them how to use their cuteness for manipulation.
This episode follows the same style as most of the episodes from Season 1 and 2. Well. I guess I shouldn’t have expected Season 3 to be more dramatic from the get-go.
Since there’s not that much to say about this episode, I’ll just make a list of what I liked and what I didn’t like.
What I liked:
I like that Finn didn’t make fun of Jake’s fear even though it is pretty silly. Finn is a better friend than I am.
“Awww, no! It’s a dead goat, man! Its guts are all over the place! It’s all chopped up and spread around and… [Looks closer] Ah, no, wait, it’s just a blanket. I think I left it here this morning. ” Wtf Jake.
“Jaaaake! Fiiiinn! This is the voice of your moooom! I’ve come back to tell you how dumb you always aaaare!” Well, that’s one way to do a “your mom” joke.
That exchange where Jake tells Finn to shake the Cutie. I don’t know I found that so funny.
“How will we ever splash around in the brains of our enemies if you guys can’t take two steps without exploding?!” That cute little voice saying this makes it sound so funny. Also, why don’t they try exploding near their enemy’s head and hope that it gets blown up too? It’s worth a try.
Finn’s reasoning that by helping the Cuties win it’s technically still a win for him and Jake.
LSP.
What I didn’t like:
The Cuties could have been cuter? They’re cute enough, but they’re not as cute as they could have been.
That’s it, I guess.
There really isn’t much to dislike about this episode in particular. But there isn’t really anything to love about it either. It’s good, but that’s all it is.
Rating: 7/10
When you find a coliseum overseen by a Fight King with the appearance of a decaying corpse who gives off some major Shang Tsung vibes (he even yells “Finish him!” at one point, for God’s sake), the best course of action is to step in and agree to compete, right? According to Finn and Jake, it is. You know, boys, there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and you two walk that line every day. So, this Fight King tells them that if they manage to beat all of his Gladiator Ghosts, they’ll get eternal glory or something. After defeating two of them, Finn and Jake are ready to leave. It’s not that simple, unfortunately. The Fight King gives them a palm branch as a prize and then sends them to a cavern beneath the arena to rest before they’ll be forced to fight again.
Finn plans to earn their freedom by defeating all of the Gladiator Ghosts, who seem to be pretty easy to defeat. Jake has another idea. He’ll send a dummy of himself up with Finn while he stays below to dig for lava and forge a molten hula hoop to increase morale. Add that sentence to the ever-growing list of things I never thought I would type before I started watching Adventure Time. So Finn does battle on his own, and he does it well enough to impress the Fight King, who decides to give Finn his favor by knighting him with his sword. The touch of the Fight King’s sword causes Finn to become even more violent than usual. After all of the Gladiator Ghosts have been defeated, Fight King says that Finn must now face Jake. Unfortunately Jake chooses this moment to resurface, and he’s forced to run as Finn’s bloodlust seemingly makes him willing to kill even Jake. Well, Jake doesn’t exactly run, he just stretches his body around the arena, trying to avoid being decapitated by Finn. You know, if Finn really wanted to kill Jake he wouldn’t need to go for his head. I know it’s more dramatic to go for the head, but since Jake’s body is stretched out and vulnerable Finn could easily cut him in half and let him suffer. And then go for his head. Just saying. With that twisted thought aside, let’s move on. Finn asks Fight King for a bigger sword so he can reach Jake’s head, so Fight King tosses his own sword at Finn. Finn then throws the sword to the ground and shatters it (either the ground in this arena is really hard or that sword is really fragile), which kills the Fight King. Finn reveals to Jake that this was his plan all along, but he didn’t tell Jake because Jake always screws up his plans. The two leave the arena together, followed by the Gladiator Ghosts. Finn and Jake notice that the Gladiators are all in pairs, and they wonder if they were friends forced to battle each other in the arena, just like Finn and Jake.
This episode has some interesting stuff going on.
I think what’s most interesting to me is the Gladiator Ghosts. At the end of the episode, it’s thought that the Gladiators were friends who were forced to do battle in the arena. This makes sense, since they’re all in pairs as they leave the arena, and they fought Finn in pairs too. But here’s another thing. When Finn defeats the Gladiators, they shout things that seem out of place and that don’t have anything to do with Finn or even with the Fight King. Actually… most of them shout apologies to someone. “I’m sorry, Hyperion!” “Forgive me, Priscus!” “Amazonia, I’m sorry!” I figured it must be some reference that I just couldn’t place. It wasn’t until the end of the episode that I realized they’re begging their partners for forgiveness. They were forced to kill each other and they’re still trying to apologize for it! Holy fuck.
Also, pretty cool that there was a pair of female Gladiators.
This episode is really violent. It’s not gory, of course. Everyone Finn fights in this episode is a ghost, so obviously we’re not seeing any blood or guts or anything like that. But still, I’m guessing the fact that they were ghosts was the only way they were able to let this slide, because Finn decapitates and dismembers the Gladiator Ghosts without the slightest hesitation. It’s a bit unsettling. What if the Gladiators weren’t ghosts?
About Finn in this episode. Finn is really aggressive, so it’s cool that they’re able to make clear in this episode that the aggression supposedly bestowed on him by the Fight King is more sinister. I guess it’s because while Finn enjoys fighting, he’s not violent for the sake of violence, and he only kills when necessary (which I guess could still be considered dark considering most heroes have a “no killing ever for any reason” rule that never really makes sense to me but whatever). But in this episode, it looked like Finn’s aggression was completely uncontrolled. It wasn’t actually that way, since he was faking it, but it looked that way, and we knew it was wrong.
And as for Finn faking it, is Finn’s resistance to mind control a thing now? In Mortal Folly, it was implied that Bubblegum’s sweater gave him the power to fight the Lich’s mind control, but he’s able to resist the Fight King’s mind control here and there’s no sweater involved. So, is it just a natural ability of Finn’s?
Overall, I thought this episode was pretty awesome. I like the darker elements of it and the general idea behind the episode.
Last thing, I really love the title of this episode. Morituri te Salutamus roughly translates to “We who are about to die, salute you” and it was actually a phrase associated with gladiators.
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