Adventure Time Reviews: Season 4 (Sons of Mars/Burning Low)

Well, Magic Man is back. That’s a pleasant surprise. The episode begins with him running from a four-faced being from Mars named, I shit you now, Grob Gob Glob Grod. That’s a mouthful, so I’ll be referring to him as G from here on out. By the way, when characters say “Glob” are they talking about G? Anyway, G activates a device that drains Magic Man’s powers, just as Magic Man bumps into Finn and Jake. Magic Man uses what little remains of his powers to switch forms with Jake, and then knocks out Finn. When G reaches them, he takes Jake, thinking he’s Magic Man, and takes him to Mars for a trial. When Finn comes around and realizes what Magic Man has done, he’s of course pissed. He demands that Magic Man help him save Jake, but Magic Man says that it would be impossible for him to do so. He had used the last of his magic to make the switch and now his powers will remain drained until Jake is executed on Mars, and he’s sure that Jake will in fact be executed because “[a]in’t nobody gonna pardon these crimes on [his] head.” I kind of love Magic Man. Though I don’t really understand why his powers are tied to Jake’s execution, but whatever. Finn attacks Magic Man, so the latter decides that he’ll do what he can to help… sort of.

Magic Man takes Finn to his house, which is a disgusting mess (but there is a picture of Magic Man with a woman in there… hm). Magic Man shows Finn a device that’s supposed to get him to Mars, but he says the device has never worked. Apparently, to get it to work, you need to “think stuff about people”. Kay then. Finn thinks about saving Jake and the device teleports him to Mars. Somehow Finn in still able to breathe on Mars. He starts trying to get into the dome where Jake’s trial is taking place.

• Abe Lincoln: What happened, Magic? Why did you go crazy? If you had just learned to care about living things again, you could have come back whenever you wanted!
• Jake: [as Magic Man] Well, you guys are missing some important details. I’m Jake the Dog! Listen! [gets on all fours] Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf!
• Abe Lincoln: You sad Magic Man. Instead, you bummed around Ooo, acting like a jerk for 200 years.
• Jake: Yeah, that’s true, except I’m not Magic Man!
• Abe Lincoln: Now! Ready the Wand of Disbursement!
• Grob Gob Glob Grod: Ready.
• Abe Lincoln: Space Dome, open!
• [the dome splits open with Finn on it]
• Finn: Oh snap. [falls off]

Oh, by the way, the king of Mars is Abe Lincoln. I’m not even surprised anymore. So, Abe starts to explain Jake’s punishment and Jake talks about how much he would miss Finn. Abe is surprised to find out that “Magic Man” would miss someone, and that someone would miss “Magic Man”. That’s when Finn shows up and attacks G and makes him drop the Wand, which falls on Jake and immediately kills him (it also returns him and Magic Man to their usual forms). Finn is devastated and berates Abe for not listening to Jake earlier. Abe feels guilty, so he decides to bring Jake back from the Dead World. He contacts Death and strikes a deal with him. To save Jake, Abe is forced to give up his immortality. Once Jake is resurrected, Abe turns into a statue (the Lincoln Memorial, to be exact), which saddens G. Finn and Jake offer to bring Magic Man to Mars, but G says, ” No. I lost a friend. I cannot lose my brother, as well.” So Finn and Jake leave Mars to attack Magic Man, and then set free the tiny manticore that Magic Man has trapped in a bottle for some reason.

• Finn: Go! Get out of here, tiny manticore!
• Tiny Manticore: Whatevs. I didn’t need your pity help!
• Finn: Jeez. What?
• Tiny Manticore: I am the true coward. Hiding from sincere expressions like a vampire in the nude who hides from the light. Thank you, brave hero. I was freed from bottle jail, but my new prison…is shame. MY NEW PRISON IS SHAAAAME!!!
• Finn: What’s he saying?
• Jake: [stretches his ear back through the door] He said his new prison is shame.

What a weird way to end the episode. I like it.

This is the strangest episode we’ve had in a while, but it also has some interesting stuff in here, and a lot of it is actually kind of subtle.

I really like Magic Man. He’s so unapologetic about what a jerk he is, it’s great. I think he’s also one of the most threatening antagonists this show has. With other antagonists, even the Lich, you at least sort of know what you can expect. Magic Man is just pure chaos. He’s zany, but he’s also powerful and uncaring and sadistic, and it seems like everything he does is just “for the lulz”. He’s like Adventure Time’s version of the Joker. I’m really interested in that picture Magic Man has in his house, though. I noticed that he only told Finn where the transporter was after seeing the picture, and he sounded more subdued than usual. Obviously the woman in the picture is someone he cared about, but what’s the story? (That’s rhetorical, by the way, don’t answer unless you can do so without spoilers.)

I’m also interested in Magic Man’s brother/sister, G (yes still calling it that). I suppose G is some kind of deity, so would that make Magic Man a deity of sorts as well? Anyway, G’s design is pretty cool-looking, but I think the main reason I liked G was his voice. I love that voice. I kept expecting him to tell Magic Man/Jake that he must construct additional pylons. (Points to anyone who gets that reference. The points will be useless but still.)

That scene between Abe and Death is really interesting, too. At first, Abe offers Death a penny in exchange for Jake’s life, and Death says he won’t accept that “this time”. So, what did Abe get for a penny last time? Did he use it to save someone else’s life, or did he use it to gain immortality? When he offers up his immortality, the scene fades and we hear strange noises, including a gunshot. Obviously, this is a reference to Abe’s assassination, but what if Death was taking Abe back to when he was assassinated? As in, giving up his immortality not only caused him to die, it caused his life as an immortal to be erased entirely, and instead he died when he was supposed to? Okay, fine, I guess it didn’t happen that way because then Finn, Jake and G shouldn’t have been able to remember Abe and they clearly did. But, you know, it would have been cool.

So yeah, weird episode that surprisingly adds a bit to the mythology.

Rating: 7.5/10

Hm, a role-reversal of the Incendium title card?

We open with Finn building a new home for Flame Princess. The last time we saw Flame Princess, she and Finn were coming to terms with the fact that being in a relationship with each other meant that they would always be physically hurting each other. Now we find out that they’ve actually gone on a few dates since then? Their relationship in this episode is a complete 180 from what it was like the last time we saw it. A transition episode would have been nice. Oh well, it is good to see Flame Princess again at any rate. She thanks Finn for making her a new home and then the two are about to hug, but are interrupted by Jake. He wraps Finn in tinfoil so that he can touch Flame Princess without burning. Finn and Flame Princess hug and say goodbye, and as their walking home Finn asks Jake for some advice about dating.

Well. I think we all know what Tier 15 is. It’s obviously holding hands.

Finn is hoping to get to Tier 2 the next time he sees Flame Princess. Is he going to wrap his lips in tin foil to kiss her? When they reach home, they discover that Bubblegum has broken into their Tree Fort to collect taxes. Do they need to pay Bubblegum taxes? While Finn goes off to take a shower, Jake reveals to Bubblegum that Finn has been dating Flame Princess. Bubblegum is upset by this and runs off. We next see her running into her room and flopping onto her bed. She pulls out a diary and writes “Finn + Love + Flame Princess”, whispering to herself that she thought she would be ready for this. Uh… you okay, Bubblegum?

The next day, Finn is about to leave to meet Flame Princess when he’s stopped by Bubblegum standing in the doorway.  Bubblegum tries to explain to Finn why he can’t see Flame Princess, but he leaves in the middle of her explanation. That’s rude.  When Bubblegum realizes that Finn wasn’t listening to her explanation, she asks Jake to tell Finn when he gets home. Jake wasn’t listening to Bubblegum’s explanation either, as he had fallen asleep, but he assumes that Bubblegum is jealous, and that’s what he tells Finn.

The following day, Finn is watching the sun rise, using it as inspiration for a poem he’s writing about Flame Princess. Bubblegum shows up and… well…

• Princess Bubblegum: Whatcha doin’?
• Finn: Oh, uh, hi, Princess. I’m, uh, writing something for Jake.
• Princess Bubblegum: Oh, well, speaking of Jake. Did he explain everything to you?
• Finn: Yeah.
• Princess Bubblegum: And you understand?
• Finn: [Turns around] Yeah, I understand.
• Princess Bubblegum: Finn, sometimes you want someone and you [puts hand on Finn’s left knee] want to kiss them, and be with them. But you can’t, because responsibility demands sacrifice.
• Finn: [Finn is angered, blushing and he retaliates] What are you trying to say?
• Princess Bubblegum: I’m trying to say that you’re a hero, Finn. You’re my hero. So, I’m glad you understand why you can’t be with Flame Princess.
• Finn: [Still angered, stands up for himself and Flame Princess] Grr… Bubblegum! I can’t do this anymore!
• Princess Bubblegum: What?
• Finn: Now you like me!?
• Princess Bubblegum: Finn, what are you talking about?
• Finn: What am I talking about!? [Sighs and assumes] PB, I was…. geh…eh.. [Blushes] I was in love with you! Okay?! And you didn’t love me back! Now I’m ready to move on, and it’s like…rrmph!! You’re gonna build me up all over again! Well, I’m done! I’m done. [Leaves Princess Bubblegum for herself]

Even though Bubblegum didn’t really deserve that vitriol because she isn’t doing this for the reason that Finn thinks she is, I am glad he said this to her. I’m glad he acknowledged that yes, he did have feelings for her, but he was only hurting himself because Bubblegum didn’t reciprocate those feelings. Now he’s finally ready to move on, and the last thing he needs is for Bubblegum to get his hopes up again. I mean, this isn’t Bubblegum’s fault. She never meant to lead Finn on, she has always made it quite clear that she didn’t feel for Finn the way he did about her, and she still doesn’t. Finn got some wrong information, though, and the way Bubblegum behaves toward him in this scene doesn’t exactly dispute what Finn has heard. Again, it’s not Bubblegum’s fault, she doesn’t realize how her behavior might be interpreted by Finn, especially since her behavior here is really no different from how she usually is with people, but when Finn already has certain ideas planted in his head, of course that’s going to affect how he interprets Bubblegum’s behavior. Anyway, as I was saying, even if it was harsher than what Bubblegum deserved, I’m really glad Finn said something like this to her or to anyone, really. He’s loved Bubblegum for so long, he needed some closure before he could move on with Flame Princess.

Bubblegum goes to see Jake and asks him if Finn is still with Flame Princess. Jake tells her to stay out of Finn’s business, and when she asks more forcefully he yells at her “You heartless monster! Do you have any idea how much he’s cried over you?! Finn deserves to be happy, even if his bloopin’ face gets burned off! You should be ashamed! You’re sick!” Bubblegum is angered and retaliates with this:

“What are you..? This isn’t about some petty love triangle! Flame Princess is physically unstable! Her elemental matrix can’t handle extreme romance! Glob, if Finn tries to kiss her, she’ll burn so hot, she’ll melt right through the planet’s crust, down through the molten core, then she’ll be thrown back and forth by gravity until she burns out the world from the inside! Why do you think I had her father keep her locked up?!”

Whoa. Okay, a couple of things here.

1. That line about petty love triangles? I love that line. I have a burning hatred for love triangles.
2. I’m happy that Bubblegum stood up for herself here because she already got some unnecessarily harsh (albeit cathartic) words from Finn earlier and Jake’s vitriol was even more harsh and even less deserved, and it was starting to make me uncomfortable.
3. How does Bubblegum know that Flame Princess is so dangerous?
4. BUBBLEGUM IS THE REASON FLAME PRINCES WAS LOCKED UP?!

That last one certainly makes things a bit more interesting. Bubblegum was only doing what she thought she had to keep the world from burning from the inside out, “needs of the many” and all that, but I can’t help feeling sorry for Flame Princess. It’s not her fault she was unstable, and it does seem cruel for her to have been locked up because of something that might happen. Flame Princess may never have fallen in love or been kissed by someone she loved romantically, in which case she wouldn’t have been dangerous. Or at least, no more dangerous than your average fire being with violent tendencies. Still, she was locked away on the chance that it could happen. I don’t blame Bubblegum per se, she was doing what she thought was right, but something like this is a perfect example of how Bubblegum can sometimes be cold and cruel for the greater good.

Quick question, if the Flame King knew why Flame Princess had to be locked up, why did he allow her to go free and date Finn?

Anyway, Bubblegum and Jake rush over to Flame Princess’ new home, where she and Finn are about to kiss. Bubblegum and Jake are too late to stop them, and when Finn and Flame Princess kiss, Flame Princess begins to burn brightly, creating a hole in the Earth’s crust that she then falls into. Finn (whose lips are burned, as well as parts of his face) ties one of Jake’s arms to himself and jumps in after her. Jake struggles with the weight and ends up falling on the hole, sealing it shut. Bubblegum tells him to stay this way, explaining that if Flame Princess is deprived of oxygen long enough, she’ll go out. Jake asks what that would mean for Finn, but we don’t hear Bubblegum’s answer. We see Finn at the bottom of the hole, where Flame Princess has passed out. Finn revives her and Jake pulls both of them back up. Bubblegum says that Flame Princess is stabilized, meaning that they’re safe… for now. She watches Finn and Flame Princess with a sad look for a while, prompting Jake to ask her if she’s jealous.

Well, this is a good episode for Bubblegum. I really liked her in this one. I mean, I always like her, but you know. I think it’s a great episode for her because it really exemplifies the kind of character that Bubblegum is. Smart and sweet, but more of an “ends justify means” kind of person than an outright hero. She kept Flame Princess locked up for years, but she was doing it because she knew Flame Princess had the potential to destroy the world just by kissing someone. It seemed like she was prepared to let Finn die at the end, but  only because it was the best way to remove the threat that Flame Princess had become. Her decisions may seem cruel, but they’re for the greater good.

I actually have a lot of sympathy for Bubblegum. It can’t be easy to be in her position. She’s the sole leader of a kingdom where most of the citizens are childlike at best and idiotic at worst. She’s the smartest person in Ooo (that we’ve seen) and a lot of the time seems to be the only one who can think logically. She’s trying to keep everyone safe, and that’s not an easy job, especially in a place like Ooo where there never seems to be a day that isn’t wild. Finn might be more heroic and the one who actively does the fighting and saving and all that, but Bubblegum has a responsibility to protect people in a different way. She has to make a lot of tough decisions and she has to make them quickly, she can’t worry about whether every action she does is “right” like Finn would, she has to think about whether the result of those actions will keep people safe in the long run, whether the action itself is “right” or not. Of course not everyone is going to appreciate what she does, not everyone is going to agree with her decisions, but those decisions keep people safe. They might make her unpopular, they might make her seem like an asshole, she probably won’t get so much as a “thank you”, but she’s doing what she thinks is best, and if anyone else was in her position I don’t think they would do any better than her.

In a way, this episode is a bit uncomfortable to watch, because I think Bubblegum is treated rather unfairly throughout most of it, but it was also a lot of fun for me because Bubblegum herself is pretty awesome in it.

Rating: 8/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 4 (Princess Cookie/Card Wars)

This episode starts with a hostage crisis in the Candy Kingdom. No, really. Princess Bubblegum, Finn and Jake are outside a store with some Banana Guards, trying to negotiate with the hostage taker, a cookie. Bubblegum is offering him a cowboy hat in exchange for the hostages, but the cookie refuses, telling her he’ll settle for nothing less than her crown. Bubblegum is about to order her Banana Guards to arrest the cookie, but Finn and Jake offer to stop the cookie instead. Jake wants to disguise himself as a mailman to sneak in, but Bubblegum makes him dress as a milkman instead, to Jake’s disappointment. Finn dresses in all black, and the two of them go into the store.

The cookie asks who Jake is, and Jake tells him he’s a milkman who has been tasked with delivering milk to all of the hostages. Somehow the cookie buys this and allows Jake inside, allowing Finn to follow. The two soon discover that the cookie has backup. His backups are chocolate chips, which came off his body and apparently have a life of their own. That’s mildly disturbing, but okay. Finn sneaks away to take out the chips while Jake stays with the cookie. Jake talks to the cookie and tries to find out why he wants Bubblegum’s crown, so the cookie tells him.

• Cookie [voiceover]: I was the new guy at the Candy Orphanage. They called me Baby Snaps. I tried to make friends with the other kids…
• Baby Snaps: [dancing] C’mon, guys, let’s dance it up!
• Cookie: They were always too depressed to play.
• Candy Child: No, no. We’re too depressed.
• [Baby Snaps stops dancing and sits on the couch, depressed.]
• Cookie: Things went on like that for a while, then… one day… [Peppermint Butler opens the door to the orphanage for Princess Bubblegum] she showed up. [The candy orphans laugh and dance around the chair in which Princess Bubblegum is sitting and reading “Baby Whoozlefut & the Wuttlebugs” aloud.] Everything was different.
• Princess Bubblegum: …a thunderous cheer [turns page] as Baby Whoozlefut…
• Cookie: Everything was-was better with her around. And something inside me changed that day, too. And then later she told me I could be anything I wanted.
• Princess Bubblegum: Anything your sweet heart desires!
• Cookie: And I told her I wanted to be a princess like her, so I could make all the children happy.
• Baby Snaps: [on Princess Bubblegum’s lap] I wanna be a princess like you!
• Princess Bubblegum: [stifles a giggle]
• [Baby Snaps’ smile changes to a shocked frown.]
• Cookie: And she laughed in my face, man! It really messed me up.

Okay, but all Bubblegum did was giggle, dude. It’s not like she threw her head back and laughed and pointed at you and said, “Wow, check out this loser who wants to be a princess, like that will ever happen!” All she did was giggle because she thought it was cute. If a kid told me they wanted to be a princess, I’d probably react the same way she did. Chill out. I get that you sort of need to be careful about what you say or do around kids because they can be really sensitive about weird stuff, and since cookie obviously looked up to Bubblegum and saw as her as the one bright spot in his life, of course he’d be extra sensitive when she’s involved. I do sympathize with the cookie, but he still needs to chill out.

As a side note, I think it’s super cute that Bubblegum takes the time to visit orphans and make their days better.

Anyway, Jake sympathizes with the cookie, and suggests that he leave the Candy Kingdom to start his own kingdom that he can rule. The cookie likes this idea, so Jake asks Bubblegum to give cookie a horse so that he can leave the kingdom, promising that the cookie won’t return. Bubblegum refuses, though, and says that because the cookie is a dangerous criminal, he needs to be thrown in the dungeon. So, when the cookie comes out, Jake turns himself into a horse and runs off with the cookie on his back. Bubblegum send her guards after them (Finn follows as well), but as Jake and the cookie near a gorge, the cookie tells Jake to stop.

• Jake: Princess Cookie! Are you all right?
• Cookie: I’m done for, Jake.
• [The banana guards get closer.]
• Jake: No, everything’s gonna be fine. I won’t let them put you in the dungeon. Just let me talk to them. [runs off]
• Cookie: No, Jake.
• [Jake stops and turns back.]
• Cookie: Thank you for your help, but it’s too late for me. [stands up]
• [The banana guards are shown crossing the river.]
• Cookie: I’ll never be a princess. At least for a moment, you helped me feel like a princess. It was wonderful. [sheds a tear] Thank you, Jake.
• [Cookie takes a step back and a piece of dirt crumbles under his foot and falls into the ravine.]
• Jake: Careful, Princess!
• Cookie: You know what? It’s funny, but you sort of remind me of a mailman I used to know.
• Jake: [softly] I do?
• Cookie: Yep. [lets himself fall backwards into the ravine]
• Jake: [looks over the ledge] Princess!

Well.

The cookie doesn’t die, he’s just smashed to pieces. I don’t know if that’s more or less disturbing. We next see the cookie in an institution, put back together and wearing a straitjacket. Jake comes in and gives the cookie a crown while Bubblegum and Finn watch on. The episode ends with everyone bowing down to the overjoyed Princess Cookie.

That was a weirdly dark episode. We have a mentally unstable cookie taking hostages and threatening violence over a crown, and then later trying to commit suicide. I like how they put him in an institution, where he can actually get help, instead of in the dungeon, though. And the ending with Jake bringing him the crown was kind of sweet. I suppose it makes sense that Jake would be the one to sympathize with the cookie, since he apparently has a past as a criminal as well. Their interactions were surprisingly cute.

By the way, I noticed Goliad and Stormo in the background. That was awesome.

Rating: 7.5/10

This episode encapsulates many of the different ways that gaming with friends can go horribly wrong.

The episode begins with Jake sighing sadly over a box in his hands. Finn asks him what’s in the box, and Jake tells him that it contains the cards to a favorite game of Jake’s, Card Wars. Jake is upset because Lady Rainicorn doesn’t want to play with him anymore because he always beats her, leaving him with no one to play with. I actually really sympathized with Jake here, because this is exactly what happened with me and my friends when it comes to fighting games. I always beat them, so they never want to play with me anymore. It sucks, because I really love fighting games and they’re much more fun when you have someone to play with. So, I know how Jake must feel. Finn says that he would like to play the game even though it’s not really his thing, just to make make Jake happy, so the two set up snacks and prepare to play. Jake asks BMO if he wants to play too, but BMO says rather ominously, “I do not play such games… with Jake.”

Finn and Jake decide on the stakes of the game. Jake takes two cups and writes “cool guy” on one and “dweeb” on the other. He fills the “cool guy” cup with soda and the “dweeb” cup with a disgusting concoction of soda, coffee grounds, beetle butter, grape jelly, kimchi, and Ham Chunk Juice to one. The loser has to drink from the “dweeb” cup. Oh goodness, I remember doing something like this with my friends once. We were playing a game and, when one of us lost, the other players would take three ingredients to make a disgusting mix that the loser had to eat a spoonful of. One of my friends threw up. We don’t play games this way anymore. Anyway, Jake starts to explain the rules to Finn and Finn falls asleep. When Jake realizes that Finn fell asleep and missed most of his explanation, he says that he’ll have to start over, but Finn insists on playing the game anyway, and so they begin.

Okay, so, I thought I knew where this was going. I figured that because Finn wasn’t paying attention, he would lose and then hate Jake and the game, just like Jake suspected. But that’s not what happens. Finn wins the first couple of rounds. He’s kind of kicking Jake’s ass, actually.

Oh man, has something like that ever happened to you? Introducing someone to something you think you’re good at, only to have them be much better than you at it, whether it’s just “beginner’s luck” or a natural talent or who knows what? That’s a terrible feeling, isn’t it? You know, I’m a really competitive person. Like, really. But not in the sense that I’m a sore loser or a bad winner, just in the sense that I love competition and challenging myself. I don’t gloat when I win (or if I do, I make sure the other person knows it’s entirely in good fun) and I don’t get too upset when I lose. I just like to compete, that’s all. There’s only one situation that really makes me a sore loser, and it’s the one I described earlier. That’s a crappy feeling, being beaten by someone who barely knows what they’re doing at something you’re supposed to be good at. What’s worse is that you know it’s not the other person’s fault and you really shouldn’t be mad at them, but you can’t help it. Sympathizing with Jake here is pretty easy, but it’s also really easy to sympathize with Finn, because I’ve been on his side of the situation too. It’s not fun to have someone be mad at you because you’re beating them at something they insisted on showing you to begin with. Basically, both sides of this situation sucks. It’s a sucky situation.

Anyway, as the game goes on Jake gets angrier and more aggressive, which starts to worry Finn. He excuses himself to go to the bathroom so he can get away from Jake and find BMO.

• Finn: BMO! Jake’s acting banununununus!
• BMO: Oh, no! Are you winning the game of Card Wars?
• Finn: Yeah!
• BMO: That’s terrible! If Jake loses the game, he gets super depressed! When I beat him, he wouldn’t talk to me for a month!
• Finn: What?! I only played so he wouldn’t be bummed!
• BMO: Finn, you must take a dive.
• Finn: Okay, I’ll try. But… I’m a Card Wars super Amadeus!

Oh. Oooooh. So, this episode is actually just about Jake being an incredibly sore loser. Yeah, I have lots of experience with people like that. I never take a dive, because… integrity or something? I don’t know, but I never take a dive no matter how sore the other person gets. Then again, it’s not like I have to live with the sore loser, so Finn’s probably better off taking a dive. Jake pulls Finn back to the table and demands that he play his turn, and Finn takes BMO’s advice and loses intentionally. Finn congratulates Jake on winning even though Jake isn’t exactly a gracious winner. Jake gleefully hands him the “dweeb” cup, but his enthusiasm quickly dies when he realizes that the drink might be too gross for Finn. Finn drinks from the cup anyway and claims that it’s actually good. This prompts Jake to take a sip of it as well, but he spits it out because it’s disgusting. Finn jokingly calls Jake a dweeb, and the two take turns sipping from the dweeb cup.

Right, so, I really loved this one.

I’m note sure if everyone would love this episode as much as I do, but I loved it because it’s so relatable for me. It’s a great parody of trading card games like this, and how overly competitive some people can get, and how playing games (no matter which type of game it is) with friends can be both wonderful and a complete nightmare.

Thing is, there’s overly competitive in the fun way and there’s overly competitive in the oh-Glob-I-hope-this-doesn’t-wreck-our-friendship way. The funny thing is, when my friends and I are screaming insults at each other and threatening each other and gloating and being completely obnoxious… that’s when I know we’re okay. That’s when I know that none of us are taking this seriously and it’s all in good fun. The louder we get, the safer we are. It’s when we’re quiet that I know there’s a problem, and that at least one of us is going to walk away from the game pissed. And not the funny, over-the-top pissed that’s obviously meant as a joke, I mean like actually pissed.

When this episode started, I think Finn expected them to be overly competitive in the fun way, and that is what it looks like at first. But it doesn’t take long for it to turn into the bad kind of competitive. Jake seems to not be interested in teaching Finn to play the game slowly, he seems to be interested in winning and being able to gloat about it. He also seem to not actually be that good at the game himself, if he’s getting beaten by Finn and BMO, and I think it’s a safe bet that Lady Rainicorn was losing on purpose too. People like Jake are not good people to game with. Finn just wants to have fun and doesn’t really care about winning or losing, which is why it’s so upsetting for him when Jake starts to get too angry.

On the other hand, I can understand why Jake would react this way to Card Wars in particular. The game is obviously really important to him, whereas Finn doesn’t care much about the game either way. I think we all have a tendency to be weirdly protective and competitive when it comes to the things we love. We want to be as knowledgeable as we can be on the the things we love and we don’t take kindly to being made to feel like maybe we don’t know as much as we thought we did. Jake loves Card Wars, so he feels it’s important for him to be good at it, which is why it hurts when he loses.

There’s a lot of ways to read into this episode and relate to it, either in good ways or in bad ways, but I like the way this episode ends, with Finn and Jake sharing the dweeb cup. That was a really nice gesture. When it comes to gaming, not everyone can be a winner, but we can at least bond over the fact that we’re all losers.

Rating: 10/10 (Yeah, maybe this score is a bit too high, but who cares? I love this episode.)

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 4 (Beyond this Earthly Realm/Gotcha!)

This episode begins with Finn and Jake descending into an underground tunnel. When they reach the bottom, an opening brings them into a larger chamber, at the end of which sits a porcelain lamb with a red jewel in its forehead on an altar. Curious, Finn approaches it despite Jake’s warning, and this is sort of reminding of that scene in Aladdin where Abu touches the red jewel and nearly gets all of them killed, which means Finn probably shouldn’t touch the lamb. Of course he does, though, and immediately he becomes trapped inside it. Finn’s face can be seen on the lamb, having replaced the red jewel. While Jake tries to figure out what to do, we see what has happened to Finn. He appears to still be in the cavern and can still see and hear everything around him, but no one can see or hear him and his surroundings have taken on a red glow. Oh, and he’s surrounded by spirits/demons that no one else can see or hear either. Jake wraps the lamb up to avoid touching it and takes it back to the Tree Fort, vowing to find a way to break Finn out. Finn follows him home but still can’t be seen or heard by anyone, nor can he touch anything apart from the strange creatures around him. Then, as he’s sitting outside the Tree Fort, Ice King flies by chasing a leaf.

• Ice King: Leaf Princess! [Normal view] Come to me, my arboreal beauty! Gotcha!
• [Spirit World view]
• Finn: [Scoffs] It’s just a dumb old leaf, ya dumb old Ice King.
• [Normal view]
• Ice King: [To Finn] I know, but it’s mine.
• [Spirit World view]
• Finn: Wait! What?! Ice King! You can hear me?
• Ice King: Yes… Why? Are you makin’ fun of me or something?

Turns out Ice King can see and communicate with the Spirit World thanks to his Wizard Eyes, making him the only person in Ooo that can help Finn (at least as far as they know). Finn explains his predicament to Ice King and asks for his help. Ice King takes Finn to his castle and tells him a bit more about the Spirits.

• Finn: Anyways… Where do all these spirits come from?
• Ice King: Oh, there are portals all over the universe. I have one in my basement! Every once in a while, a real cutie pie drifts through. Ooh! [Whispering] Oh, gosh, there she is. [To himself] Mm, oh, yeah… [Chuckles perversely]
• Finn: Sick.
• Ice King: What? I swear I never touch ’em! I can’t! [Wafting through Spirits] Can’t touch this, can’t touch this… [Puts his hand through Finn.] Can’t touch this, either. [Laughs] Yep, I can’t kill any of them. [Looks down at a Spirit which secretes a liquid then flies away.] [Grave voice] I hate them… Okay, alright! ‘Nuff messin’ around. Let’s getcha free from the Spirit Plane.

Okay, when Ice King said that he can’t kill the spirits, I thought for a minute that he was still talking specifically about the spirits he finds attractive. So I thought that he was disappointed that he can’t kill spirits he’s attracted to and I was really worried about what that implied about his obsession with princesses and if he was like really into snuff or what and I was really creeped out and then I realized that he’s probably just talking about spirits in general and that this is a kid’s show and I should really calm down and think about Jesus or something. In my defense they really should have made that more clear.

Anyway.

Ice King tells Finn that to leave the Spirit World, he needs to get rid of all of the spirits in Ice King’s castle by putting all of them in the spirit hole in his basement and then plugging it up. So, Finn gets rid of all of the spirits and then goes looking for Ice King. He finds Ice King jumping on his bed and singing joyfully about how he’ll never set Finn free, so that Finn will be forced to be friends with Ice King if he wants any friends at all. Yeah, stuff like this is why I can’t feel too sorry for Ice King. Ice King’s plan doesn’t come as a surprise, but I like how Finn just puts a stop to it right away. He threatens to release all of the spirits again if Ice King doesn’t free him, so Ice King says that he will. I find it really comical that this supposed “twist” was stopped so easily. Anyway, they go to the Tree Fort and Ice King tries to smash the porcelain lamb, which will set Finn free, but Jake puts up a fight. Ice King ends up accidentally touching the lamb and becomes trapped inside it too. Finn and Ice King soon discover that they do have some small effect on the material plane and are able to manipulate small objects. They use this influence to shift the lamb off the table on which it rests, smashing it on the floor and freeing them both.

Well, this episode is interesting for one reason: we get to find out more about Ice King’s “Wizard Eyes” and the effects the crown had on his mind. This is probably the most telling Ice King episode besides Holly Jolly Secrets. It must be horrible, being surrounded by these creatures that no one else can see all the time, having them stare at you and crawl all over you but not being able to touch them or fight back in any way. No wonder Ice King has such a hard time telling what’s real and what isn’t. It also adds something to the story of how he lost Betty. What if whatever he said to frighten her was actually supposed to be directed at the creatures he was seeing, but of course since Betty couldn’t see them she didn’t know what to think?

I liked this episode, despite there not being that much to say about it. It’s an interesting look into Ice King’s life and mind, and I did kind of like seeing Finn and Ice King interact in a way that wasn’t just fighting or arguing. I liked how Finn called Ice King by his real name, Simon, at one point. That was a nice touch.

Rating: 8/10

The episode begins with Finn, Jake and BMO playing some game, while a short distance away LSP appears to be camping in the woods again. I thought she went back home? LSP is fending off advances from boys (who are actually just fleas and various bugs) and complaining about how her lumps make her impossible to resist. Turtle Princess stops by for a visit and LSP tells her about this problem, leading Turtle Princess to tell LSP about her own problems, which are the exact opposite. Turtle Princess doesn’t know how to attract boys. LSP decides that she’ll write a book to help Turtle Princess, saying that she’s always wanted to write “trashy books for ladies”. Hey, as long as it’s not 50 Shades of Grey, I’ll read it.

LSP decides to use Finn as her test subject, so the next day she goes over to their Tree Fort wearing a plastic bag as a dress. She notes in a tape recorder that she looks “fresh to death with [her] new dress and purse”. We should all aim to have LSP’s confidence. I’m not even kidding about that. Anyway, she tells Finn and Jake that she’s there to be their secretary, giving them a fake ad for proof. Finn and Jake never made the ad, but Finn doesn’t want to disappoint LSP, so he lets her come in. LSP sets up her desk and immediately starts demanding food, then tries to “seduce” Finn when she’s unsatisfied with what he offers her. Finn seems oblivious to LSP’s seduction, but happens to come across some leftover spaghetti that pleases LSP more, and she takes this as a success. The next day, Finn and Jake leave on an adventure and LSP insists on accompanying them even though she’s not really the adventuring type. Finn even tells her that she can wait for them back at the Tree Fort, but LSP won’t be left behind. Throughout the adventure, LSP continues her attempts to seduce Finn, but he’s so focused on the adventure that he doesn’t notice, which confuses and upsets LSP. Later on in the adventure, she finds herself trapped behind some cursed mirrors and needs to be rescued by Finn. LSP tells Finn that she had to look in the mirror because she looked so good, and Finn tells her that she doesn’t need a mirror to know she looks good because she’s beautiful on the inside, “like her brains and stuff”. LSP is touched and thanks Finn.

As LSP tries to complete her book later, she comes to a realization about Finn: he has the hottest lumps, but his are on the inside. That’s her strange way of saying Finn’s great personality is what makes him attractive, not his physical appearance. So she writes a book about that instead, Turtle Princess loves it despite it not being what she expected, and LSP becomes a published author. Then LSP goes to have a talk with Finn.

• Lumpy Space Princess: Finn! You’ve probably been wondering where I’ve been for the last few hours!
• Finn: Oh. Yeah! Yeah, I have.
• Lumpy Space Princess: Finn… I was never really your secretary, Finn. I was writing a book about how you were a slave to my lumps because I’m so hot, Finn!!
• Finn: [Not seeing anything wrong with this] Oh. Okay.
• Lumpy Space Princess: But you’re the one who’s hot, Finn!!
• Finn: Wow. Uh, thanks!
• Lumpy Space Princess: No… thank you.

So… another LSP episode. Didn’t we learn from the last one that LSP can’t carry an episode? LSP is hilarious, but she works best in small doses. That, or there needs to be a lot of other characters or situations for her to work off of. She’s too one-note to be a main character.

That being said, I actually did like this episode more than the last LSP episode. It’s by no means great, but I guess there was enough going on and enough of other characters to make it more tolerable, and the jokes were funnier in this one in general. Plus, I like the way this one ends, particularly how Finn just rolls with everything LSP says even though she’s saying it in a slightly confusing way. It’s a nice message, too, even if it as a cheesy one.

But, you know, I feel like there’s something messages like this always kind of miss. They say that outer beauty isn’t as important as inner beauty, and they’re absolutely right, but I think it should also be pointed out that it’s still okay to care about your appearance. Just as long as you realize that it’s not the most important quality one can have, you can care about it all you want. I mean, there are plenty of things that I value about myself above my appearance, but I still like to look good, and I still like to admire myself in a mirror because I think I look fresh to death pretty much always. If that makes people think I’m vain or shallow, I don’t care. It took me a while to love how I look this much, I think I’ve earned the right to be a bit vain sometimes. Point is, you can care about your appearance and be proud of it, just remember it’s not what’s most important.

While we’re on the subject, I also thinks it’s totally fine to care about another person’s physical appearance too. I don’t think it’s shallow to want to date people you find physically attractive. I think it’s shallow if that ends up being the only thing that keeps you interested, but if you just want someone you think is hot as well as having other qualities you like, I don’t see anything wrong with it.

Anyway, I did enjoy this episode, it’s actually a really cute one. I don’t what it is about it that’s so cute, maybe it’s just the message and how that message comes about, maybe it’s Finn being even more adorable than he usually is, maybe it’s something about the overall tone of the episode. I don’t know, but this was cute, and definitely more enjoyable than the last LSP episode.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 4 (Princess Monster Wife/Goliad)

This episode begins with a bunch of the princesses in Ooo waking up to find various parts of their body missing and seeming mildly upset about this. If it were me I’d probably be screaming and crying in horror, but whatever. I’d also probably be bleeding. Or, depending on what body part was taken, dead. Seriously, Hot Dog Princess is missing half of her body. Princess Bubblegum is missing half of her head. Oh wait, this is Bubblegum we’re talking about, so I guess she’s just younger, not dead. That’s how it works with her, right? Anyway, the princesses ask Finn and Jake for help and they promise to get their parts back. Of course they suspect Ice King, so they go confront him. Ice King denies having stolen the parts at first, but then reveals that he did in fact steal them, so that he could create Princess Monster Wife.

ICE KING WENT DR. FRANKENSTEIN ON US. Except the body parts he stole came from people who are still alive. And unlike Frankenstein, Ice King isn’t disgusted by the monster he created. He actually treats her quite nicely throughout the episode. But still, what the hell, man? Finn and Jake faint at the sight of her, so Ice King and Princess Monster Wife continue about their day as usual. I have to admit, if you can ignore the fact that she’s sewed together from stolen body parts, her relationship with Ice King is pretty cute. Whenever PMW doubts her normality, Ice King is quick to tell her that he thinks she’s beautiful, but since everyone else either faints at the sight of her and gets sick at the sight of her, PMW has a hard time believing this. Even when Finn and Jake pull a Perseus and try looking at her through a mirror instead of directly at her, they still faint. This makes PMW cry and lock herself in her room. Ice King tries to cheer her up by telling her that he made her with his favorite parts of all of his favorite princesses. It doesn’t help, PMW is just disturbed by this. Finn and Jake then show up with blindfolds, so that PMW won’t make them faint again, and they quickly take down Ice King. However, PMW leaves during the fight to return her body parts to their respective owners. Her cape, the only thing left of her, floats back to Ice King’s castle, and PMW’s disembodied voice echoes from… somewhere, telling Ice King that she’ll always be his wife. Ice King is just upset that she gave away all of his stuff. Classy guy.

Well, obvious Frankenstein parody is obvious. If “parody” is the right word, because this episode isn’t exactly full of laughs. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but Frankenstein is basically my favorite book that isn’t part of a series. If you haven’t read the book, you should know that it’s actually quite different from most of its adaptations. For one thing, that famous scene where the monster comes to life and Frankenstein joyfully shouts “IT’S ALIVE”? Yeah, that doesn’t happen in the book. You know what does happen? Frankenstein, because he’s a pathetic, selfish, juvenile brat, is horrified by his creation when it awakens. Because it’s ugly, and apparently the fact that it was ugly didn’t occur to him when he was sewing together parts he’d collected from dead bodies, he only noticed when it actually woke up. So he abandons the monster, just runs away from it and refuses to deal with the responsibility of having created a living thing. When the monster finds him again months later, having learned to speak and having had a horrible, lonely existence since his creation, it asks Frankenstein for another chance. Despite the fact that the monster monologues his entire backstory and proves that he’s not only capable of eloquent speech but very compassionate and desperate for affection, Frankenstein still thinks the monster is gross and incapable of human emotion and he tells it to get lost. So the monster instead asks him to create another lady monster, so he can at least have some company. Frankenstein agrees, only to rip apart the half-completed lady monster right in front of the original monster when he changes his mind later. So then the monster takes revenge on Frankenstein by killing everyone he loves. It’s a great book, really.

The point is that the monster is actually much more sympathetic than Frankenstein, at least up until it starts murdering innocent people, but that’s still more than you can say for Frankenstein because that guy was never sympathetic. This episode kind of follows that. Ice King isn’t quite as bad as Frankenstein, at least he treats his creation nicely, but his motives are just as selfish as Frankenstein’s, really. It was selfish of him to steal parts from living princesses to begin with, and it was selfish of him to create PMW with no thoughts about how she’s going to perceive herself and how the rest of the world is going to perceive her. Yeah it’s nice that he always assures her that she’s beautiful, but it’s not going to mean much if she doesn’t believe it, and how can she believe when everyone besides Ice King is treating her like a monster? Ice King made her so that he wouldn’t be lonely, he didn’t think at all about the other princesses or about his creation and how all of this would affect them. It was only about what he wanted. Like Frankenstein’s monster, PMW never got to be her own person. She just got to be Ice King’s wife. Even her body isn’t really hers, she’s made from stolen parts, and learning this horrifies her. She felt like she didn’t have a right to exist at all because of this, hence her decision to return all of her parts back to their owner’s, even though it meant giving up her own life.

This episode would have gone over well with me anyway just because of how much it makes me think of Frankenstein, but even putting that aside, this is just a really good episode. It’s just the right mix of sweet and creepy to create something surprisingly tragic, and we all know how much I love tragedy. In fiction, I mean, not… you know.

Rating: 9/10

Princess Bubblegum brings Finn and Jake to her castle for some important news. She tells them, “As princess of Candy Kingdom, I’m in charge of a lot of candy people. They rely on me. I can’t imagine what might happen to them if I was gone. And after my brush with death at the hands of the Lich,  I realized something. I’m not gonna live forever.” Yeah, I just quoted most of her speech because I really like what she says here. The way Bubblegum takes her role as a leader so seriously and cares so much for her subjects is one of my favorite things about her. Also, I find it interesting that she mentions her encounter with the Lich again. I just realized we never really got to hear her talk about how it affected her. Anyway, she tells Finn and Jake that she wishes she could live forever, but modern science hasn’t gone that far yet. What about magic? Can you achieve immortality with magic? Bubblegum doesn’t like magic though, right? I seem to remember her saying she doesn’t like magic, but I might be mistaken. ANYWAY, since Bubblegum can’t make herself live forever, she created a replacement who can live forever. Wait, how does that… oh, whatever. Her replacement is Goliad, a pink Sphinx that she created using one of her baby teeth, so that it would have her DNA. Finn notes how exhausted Bubblegum is, and she says that she’s been awake for 83 hours. This made me laugh because right before she said that, I had been thinking that she was acting like I do when I’ve been awake too long. Bubblegum says that she’s been awake for so long because she’s had to teach Goliad how to be a good leader, and there’s a lot to learn. Finn and Jake offer to take over for her so that she can get some rest, and Bubblegum agrees.

Finn and Jake take Goliad to a preschool, where Finn gets to work on an obstacle course. Jake introduces Goliad to the children, who are all out-of-control brats. Goliad is intimidated by them, and as Jake tries to get them to calm down, he eventually loses his cool and shouts at them. Then he realizes that Goliad is watching him, fascinated, and is afraid that she may get the wrong idea from this. When Finn is done his obstacle course, they get Goliad to practice her leadership skills by making the children go through the course. Goliad imitates Jake, yelling at the children the same way he did. Finn tells her that this isn’t the right way to lead, that she needs to use her mind, not intimidation. So Goliad does use her mind, but not the way Finn meant. She uses her psychic abilities to control Finn and force him to complete the obstacle course. He tells her that this isn’t the right way to lead either, but there’s no reasoning with Goliad anymore. She believes that having complete physical control over all of her subjects is indeed the best way to lead. Concerned, Finn and Jake take her back to Bubblegum, hoping that the princess will be able to talk some sense into Goliad.

Bubblegum does her best to explain to Goliad what a good leader should be. “Goliad, [Gets a bee on her finger] let me tell you about leadership. You see this fat bee? It’s gentle [Picks up a flower] and makes the flower happy, and pollinated. They both get what they need …[Bee gets some pollen from the flower] … and that’s how leaders should be. ” I really love Bubblegum, y’all. Goliad, however, isn’t impressed.

• Goliad: No, Princess. Bee cares not for flower. If getting pollen hurts or kills flower, bee would not care. [Kills the bee] Bee is stronger than flower.
• [Goliad’s third eye appears from the top of her head and starts controlling the bee herself.]
• Goliad: Goliad is stronger than bee. [Controls bee to hurt and annoy Finn and Jake] Goliad is stronger than all.
• Princess Bubblegum: [Gasps and starts speaking in her mind] Oh, no. She’s too far gone, too corrupted. If we’re not careful, she can throw an ultra-tantrum and wind the castle apart. I will have to disassemble her and try again.
• [Being a psionic candy sphinx, Goliad reads all of her thoughts and knows her plan]
• Goliad: No, Princess. [Bubblegum gasps] [Spinning her head towards Princess Bubblegum] This is my castle now.

Well.

Bubblegum knows that Goliad is too powerful for them to fight, so she says she must go make another Sphinx in her lab and tells Finn and Jake to keep Goliad busy until she does. She warns them not to think about the plan because Goliad can read minds, but you know, it’s kind of hard not to think of the plan when you’re actively participating in said plan. Finn and Jake just barely manage to hold Goliad off long enough for Bubblegum to finish her new Sphinx. Did Bubblegum just make a whole new Sphinx in under two minutes? This is why Bubblegum is a bad ass. The new Sphinx is named Stormo, and Goliad tries to convince him to work with her, but when Stormo refuses the two start a psychic showdown. Their power is equal to each other, so they’re locked in an eternal mental stalemate. Bubblegum explains to Finn how Stormo sacrificed himself to keep Goliad in check forever, and Finn asks why Stormo didn’t become corrupted like Goliad did. Because Stormo didn’t have you and Jake to screw up his teachings? No, actually, Bubblegum says it’s because she used some of Finn’s heroic DNA (she had plucked some of his hair at the beginning of the episode) to create Stormo.

Okay so this episode was awesome.

I really like the way this episode ends, with Goliad and Stormo locked in an eternal stalemate. That’s a pretty common motif in mythology, beings or deities getting stuck doing something for eternity, and there’s something really poetic and tragic about it, especially in cases like Stormo, who sacrificed himself so that he could keep his counterpart in check. I hope that the show keeps Goliad and Stormo around in the background. They don’t have to do anything with them, I don’t think I’d even want them to, but I’d like to know that they’re always there, always in their stalemate.

The ending also raises some great questions, like what would happen if Goliad and Stormo broke their connection. Are they still receptive to the world around them, or has everything apart from each other been shut out from their minds? What would happen if someone tried to get between them? Would that even be possible? Would anyone ever be able to break their connection, and what if they did? THIS IS SO COOL TO THINK ABOUT.

The issue with the DNA used to create Goliad and Stormo is interesting to think about too. Stormo got Finn’s DNA so that he would be heroic and selfless, whereas Goliad got Bubblegum’s DNA, so she’s intelligent but she doesn’t have Finn’s inherently good nature. It seems that Goliad is only able to see direct results and can’t see the bigger picture. Going back to that metaphor with the bee, Goliad is right in a way, the bee doesn’t necessarily care about that flower in particular, but the bee would still care about flowers in general, because if all of the flowers die out the bees would be in trouble too. Goliad doesn’t see things that way, she only sees immediate results and can’t expand too far into the future. Similarly, when she saw what resulted from Jake yelling at the children, or from controlling Finn with her mind, she knew that those methods worked. Whether they were ethical didn’t matter, they worked, so why would she do things any other way? Goliad was a blank slate, and unfortunately the first things she learned were enough to corrupt her. If Finn and Jake’s lessons hadn’t turned out to be so disastrous, maybe she would have been different. Stormo is another story. Bubblegum isn’t a bad person, but her morals are more ambiguous than Finn’s and she’s not afraid to fight dirty if it means getting the results she wants. Finn doesn’t always do the right thing, but he always wants to do the right thing, because that’s just who he is. He’s the sort of person who would make himself miserable in his efforts to make everyone else happy. Stormo takes after him in this way, but I also wonder what would have happened if Stormo had been able to actually have a life before locking himself in his stalemate with Goliad. Stormo was created for a specific purpose. He was meant to stop Goliad, that was all he knew and so that was all he did. If it hadn’t been for Goliad, what would Stormo have been like? Could he have been corrupted in any way? He would be a blank slate like Goliad, and we know that because of Finn’s DNA he would have tried to be heroic, but if he was taught the wrong morals, what would have happened? THIS IS SO COOL TO THINK ABOUT.

Yeah so this episode is tied with Fionna and Cake as my favorite now.

Rating: 11/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 4 (In Your Footsteps/Hug Wolf)

During a party with the Candy People, a wild bear appears to take a liking to Finn. After the party, the bear follows them home and Finn is glad to let the bear stay with them, as he’s amused that the bear imitates everything he does. Jake thinks the whole thing is creepy. He doesn’t like the bear, and the bear doesn’t like him, but whenever Jake tries to ask Finn if he finds the bear at all disturbing (which he should), Finn brushes him off. That night, Jake sees the bear still pretending to be Finn after Finn goes to sleep, but even after being told about this Finn has no problems with the bear. The next day, Finn leaves Jake and the bear alone for a few minutes so he can pick BMO up from soccer, and he warns Jake not to eat his “Finn cakes”. Apparently Finn tells him this every time he makes Finn cakes. Jake doesn’t eat them, but of course the bear does. Jake tapes it so that he can show Finn later, and when Finn comes back… well.

• Finn: OH, MY GLOB, WHAT?! JAKE! YOU ATE ALL MY FINN CAKES! WHAT THE STINK?
• Jake: Uh, nope. The bear did it, and I’ve got proof. I taped the whole thing.
• Finn: [His face turns very red with rage] The bear ate all my cakes, and you just sat there and watched him do it?! What’s wrong with you?!

Okay, I’m mostly on Jake’s side for this episode, that bear creeps me out too, but Finn has a point here. Why didn’t Jake at least try to stop the bear from eating the Finn cakes? Whether or not he could have is another story, but he didn’t even try. He just takes out the video camera right away and lets the bear get on with it. That was stupid, Jake. Anyway, as they’re arguing, they discover a note saying something about a party going on that night supposedly hosted by Finn, but Finn says he didn’t make the flyers. They realize that it must have been the bear, so they go to investigate.

They find the bear partying with the Candy People, wearing a bad Finn disguise. Finn takes the costume off the bear and scolds him for stealing his identity, causing the bear to start crying and leave. Princess Bubblegum tells Finn that nobody actually thought the bear was Finn, they were just having some fun. Finn feels bad, so he finds the bear and apologizes to it. The bear says he just wanted to be a hero like Finn, so Finn gives him the Enchiridion, because it has everything that a hero needs to know. Dude, why would you ever want to give that away? The bear leaves with it, bringing it all the way up to a cave in the mountain. There, he presents it to the snail. The one who’s still possessed by the Lich. Shit.

Well, I thought this was just going to be another silly, forgettable episode. And I was right. But those last couple of seconds are not forgettable. What the hell is going to happen next with that Lich-possessed snail who now has the Enchiridion? Let me guess, we’ll be saving it for the finale?

So, up until that ending, I was finding this episode pretty boring, but there are some little things I liked about it, which I’ll be listing:

• BMO being picked up from soccer. I don’t know why I like this so much. The idea of BMO playing soccer is really adorable to me, I guess. Plus, it’s interesting that soccer even still exists in Ooo.
• Everyone at the party knowing the bear wasn’t Finn. I’m glad it wasn’t a shock to anyone because that would have been stupidity beyond believability, perhaps not for the Candy People but definitely for Princess Bubblegum. So thank goodness.
• The bear saying he wants to be a hero like Finn and Finn finding this cute. It was cute.
• Finn’s ego.

Right, that last one requires more of an explanation.

Apparently I’m in the minority here, but I really, really love arrogant characters. Like, half of my favorite characters have egos so big they practically count as another person. When it’s being used for comedy, I think it’s hilarious, when it’s being used as a character flaw I think it’s really interesting and can lead to some great situations and stories, when it’s being used to make a character threatening I think it works surprisingly well. When it’s being used for all of these things and more, I think it’s magical. I like it when arrogant characters fail and need to deal with a bruised ego, I like it when arrogant characters succeed and then won’t shut up about it for ages, I like it when arrogant characters annoy other characters around them, I like it when arrogant characters reveal that they do in fact care about something other than themselves, I like it when arrogant characters couldn’t give less of a shit about anyone besides themselves, I like it when arrogant characters are actually only behaving that way to cover up insecurity, I like it when arrogant characters are entirely convinced of their own awesomeness. You get my point, right? I really, really love arrogant characters.

So, Finn’s ego becoming a problem in this episode? I love that. I love how he’s so flattered by the bear’s attention that he was blinded to the fact that the bear’s behavior was unsettling, and it let him be tricked. (Though, to be fair, I doubt anyone could have predicted a plan so convoluted… seriously, there wasn’t an easier way to get the Enchiridion?)

 Rating: 6.5/10

This episode begins Finn and Jake going to burn down the Tree of Blight, which spews out evil spores once every hundred years. Suddenly, a Hug Wolf (which resembles a giant wolf with heart-shaped paws) jumps out at them and aggressively hugs Finn. Finn tells Jake to go burn down the tree without him while he tries to fight off the Wolf. Jake does so, and one of the flaming bits of the tree hits the Wolf, causing it to drop Finn and flee. Finn doesn’t seem to be hurt by the encounter, but later at the Tree Fort he seems to be in a strange mood. He keeps hugging everything and everyone. Jake tells Finn he should get some sleep, and the next day Finn seems to feeling back to normal.

The two go to pick up litter in the Candy Kingdom and meet Cinnamon Bun, who seems afraid of Finn. He begs Finn not to hug him again, which confuses Finn because he’s sure he didn’t hug Cinnamon Bun last night. Jake starts to wonder about the Hug Wolf that attacked Finn, so they go to the library to do some research. They find out that an alpha Hug Wolf can create new Hug Wolves by hugging people under a full moon. There’s no known cure for the transformations, so that night they do everything they can to stop Finn from hugging people. However, when the transformation begins, Finn is unable to control his lust for hugs

• Finn: [Growling fiercely] I want to hug you, Jake! Close!
• [Jake ties Finn up with rope then chains him down.]
• Jake: Finn… say something to reassure me.
• Finn: I’LL HUG YOUR MOM!
• [Jake makes a frightened noise and backs away quickly.]

Haha, I love that bit. Finn breaks free from the chains and runs off to hug people in the Candy Kingdom. The next morning, Finn apologizes to the angry Candy People and asks them to lock him in the dungeon. They do so, and then Jake leads a hunting party to go after to alpha Hug Wolf, thinking that getting rid of it will cure Finn. When Finn transforms again that night, Cinnamon Bun stupidly lets him out of the cage. Jake’s hunting party finds the alpha Hug Wolf and try to confront it, when suddenly Finn appears and tackle-hugs the alpha Wolf. After a while of the two of them hugging, they suddenly regain their usual forms, apparently cured. The alpha Wolf turns out to have been a beautiful humanoid woman, prompting Jake to ask her if he can get a hug. Um, guys, if you’re ever with a girl and she’s hugging her friend or whoever, for the love of God do not ask if you can get a hug too. It’s not cute. If she wants to hug you, she’ll hug you. That line just sounds creepy and makes things really uncomfortable. To this show’s credit, though, Finn seems disgusted by Jake’s question. And the woman turns into another Tree of Blight, which scares Jake. I don’t really understand why that happened, but I wish I could do that, seems like a really useful power.

All right, so, here we have an obvious werewolf parody. I’m cool with that, I love werewolves. They’re some of my favorite supernatural creatures and they’re unfortunately utilized horribly in most mainstream media. This is a pretty amusing parody. There’s a lot of good jokes in this one, at least. I like the”I’ll hug your mom” joke, and I also liked how when the mob is leaving to kill the alpha, everyone is chanting “No more hugs!” and then someone pipes up “Without consent!”

And, okay, speaking of the consent thing,  I know some people think this whole episode is a metaphor for rape, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. There are some lines that are suggestive, so I could buy that this episode is sort of about non-consensual touching or unwanted advances and invading someone’s personal bubble. But I’d like to think that if this show was going to cover a topic as serious as rape, it would be smart enough to do so in a way that’s not so lighthearted and silly because I think that feels really trivializing.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 4 (Return to the Nightosphere/Daddy’s Little Monster)

I swear there was another episode with this title already.

Like Holly Jolly Secrets, this is a two-parter episode, Daddy’s Little Monster being the second part. The separation between the two is more stated this time, though, so I decided to review them as two episodes rather than as one long review like I did with Holly Jolly Secrets. Anyway, this one begins with Finn and Jake locked in a jail cell with a pile of bananas, and neither of them have any memory of where they are or how they got there. Jake takes out his cell phone to call BMO and realizes that he filmed a bunch of stuff on his camera phone. They watch the videos and see that they had opened a portal to somewhere, but they don’t say in the video where the portal goes. The phone then dies, so they can’t watch their other videos. A guard appears and tells them that they’re in the Nightosphere, and that they can’t get home without talking to Marceline’s father, Hunson Abadeer. The guard sets Finn and Jake free along with the other prisoners, since it’s thought that they can’t leave the Nightosphere anyway. Finn and Jake leave the prison and get their first look at the Nightosphere.

Looks like a nice place. Anyway, Finn and Jake make their way to “the Teller”, who is supposed to let them talk to Abadeer, but first they must wait in line with the thousands of other demons waiting to talk to Abadeer. The wait takes about a month. When they finally get to talk to the Teller, they’re told that they need to wait in another line to talk to Abadeer. While they’re waiting, a storm cloud appears and starts to kill all of the demons who want to ask Abadeer questions. Finn and Jake hide behind a rock until it leaves, and then follow the cloud to its castle. They fight their way through a portal back to Ooo, but they’re followed by Abadeer in his monstrous form. Finn cuts his head off with his sword, which reveals that it’s actually Marceline. When they get back to Ooo, she warns Finn and Jake not to come back to the Nightosphere, then closes the portal. Finn claims they must go back to find out what happened.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this the first time we actually see the Nightosphere, isn’t it? I have a feeling I’d remember a design that awesome. I mean seriously, just look at that place, and all of the demons inhabiting it. It all looks amazing. I suppose the Nightosphere is Adventure Time’s version of Hell. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a place people go when they die, but looking at the way the Nightosphere looks and the demons and the fact that no one can leave without Abadeer’s approval, which hardly anyone ever gets, makes it clear that this is basically Hell.

There isn’t too much to say about this episode, since it’s mostly a set-up for the following episode, but it’s a really fun one all the same. It’s an interesting scenario, Finn and Jake being stuck some place with no memory of how they got there, and the visuals are of course wonderful. On top of that, there’s a lot of good humor here, I especially liked the jokes about the ridiculously long lines because that’s a frustration I can definitely relate to.

Rating: 8/10

This episode begins shortly after where the last one ended. BMO is charging Jake’s phone so that they can watch the videos taken on it and know what happened. Once the phone is charged, Finn and Jake start to watch the videos. The first one shows Finn and Jake entering the Nightosphere, having been invited by Marceline to come and hang out with her there. The second shows a scene where Hunson Abadeer tell Marceline that he wants her to take over the family business, but Marceline says she has no interest in ruling the Nightosphere. Abadeer says he’s okay with this and gives her a purple amulet. When Marceline puts the amulet on, it turns her into a monster like her father. She punches Finn and Jake away when they try to get the amulet off her, and the injuries they receive explains why they had amnesia when they woke up in the prison. The third video shows them being put in jail, and the guard telling them they had to be put in the cage with “the stuff”, meaning the bananas, because all of the other cages were full. And, okay, there was this running joke in the previous episode where every time a demon saw Jake holding a banana that he’d brought with them from their cage, they would be disgusted. We find out from this video that the jail guard spews bananas from his ears, and later in the episode a demon pukes bananas. It’s a good thing I never liked bananas that much to begin with.

Anyway, having watched all of the videos, Finn and Jake go back to the Nightosphere disguised as demons and find the monstrous Marceline torturing the demons of the Nighthosphere. Finn and Jake convince the demons to rebel against her, providing a distraction for them to get the amulet off Marceline. They manage to get it off of her, but then are unable to get back to the portal because the demons have turned on them. Finn puts on the amulet and throws Marceline and Jake out of the Nightosphere, but is now seemingly stuck as a monster. However, Abadeer takes the amulet back and tells Marceline that he’s proud of her no matter what she does, while Finn lies on the ground totally traumatized by the whole experience. Poor kid.

Okay, so can I just say how much I love Hunson Abadeer? Because I really love him. I think the reason why I love him is because even though he’s the terrifying and cruel overlord of a demonic world, he’s also a typical dorky, embarrassing dad in some ways. I bet he even makes dad jokes.

Not to say that Abadeer is off the hook for being a terrible father. Because seriously, he’s awful. But I like the fact that even though he and Marceline seem to be getting along more after making up in the last episode about the two of them (which I just realized was called It Came From the Nightosphere and I think I may have called it Return to the Nightosphere accidentally a few times oops), there are still some issues to be worked out. Abadeer says he’s proud of Marceline and I think he’s genuine about that, but he also completely disrespected her wishes in this episode and tried to make her into something she didn’t want to be. By giving her an amulet that turns her into a vicious, mindless monster. And Marceline’s response to this at the end of the episode? “Dad, that sucks!” That sucks. Understatement of the century, girl.

We also get to see more of Finn’s strange talent for resisting mind control. Marceline became a monster immediately after putting on the amulet, both physically and mentally. Finn became a monster physically, but seemed able to resist becoming a monster mentally at least long enough to get his friends to safety, though he eventually succumbed to the amulet’s power mentally as well. I wonder if maybe Marceline was effected more quickly because of her demon heritage, or if it’s more about willpower and strength of mind.

I really liked this episode, even more so than the previous one. It’s just as funny and visually interesting, and has more story and action to go along with it.

Rating: 9/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 4 (Web Weirdos/Dream of Love)

This episode is about spiders, which both terrify and fascinate me. Finn and Jake get stuck in a web and these two giant spiders show up. The spiders are a married couple and they spend most of the episode arguing while Finn basically acts as their marriage counselor. At the end of the episode the wife tries to eat her husband in anger. So I guess she’s a black widow.

Oh, how I wish it was that Black Widow.

Anyway, suddenly her back bulb bursts, revealing an egg sac. The egg sac bursts open as well and thousands of little spiders shower down on everyone and this is literally my worst nightmare. The two spiders are happy that they’re parents and I guess their marital problems are solved? For the record, having children to save a marriage is a terrible idea.

Yeah, so, I didn’t really like this episode. To be honest, about halfway through I got really bored and started browsing Tumblr in another tab for a bit before I realized I should be paying attention to the episode. So that probably says a lot.

I did like that joke at the beginning about Finn’s fingernails. That was funny. And I also liked when the two bugs who were trapped in the web with Finn and Jake told the spiders that they should just break up for their own good. I don’t think we were supposed to agree with them, but I did agree with them. If you’re that unhappy in a relationship, just break up. It’s better for everyone involved. But I guess divorce is kind of a taboo subject on kid’s shows, or any show really, so we can’t have that even if it probably would be the better option.

Anyway, yeah, I think I’ll be skipping this episode on rewatches.

Rating: 3.5/10

Finn and Jake go to visit Tree Trunks in the hopes that she’ll make them some apple pie. When they arrive at her house, they find her with Mr. Pig, who we last saw in Apple Thief and who apparently never left Tree Trunks’ house. He confesses to Finn and Jake that he’s in love with Tree Trunks, and Finn convinces him to tell Tree Trunks that. He does, and she tells him she feels the same way. Finn and Jake decide to leave them alone for a while, but not before reminding Tree Trunks to bring some apple pie to Bubblegum’s concert later that day.

When Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig arrive for the concert empty-handed, Tree Trunks says that she was too distracted by Mr. Pig to bake any pies. Then she and Mr. Pig start making out, and everyone becomes disgusted by their PDA. Even Bubblegum says she’s too grossed out to continue her concert. For God’s sake, guys, it’s just some PDA. Grow the fuck up. I know I’m talking to sentient candy right now, but still. Finn tells Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig to keep their love private from now on and they agree to do so. Unfortunately, they’re really bad at it. It seems like everywhere Finn and Jake go, Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig are there making out. They even manage to get into a sandwich Finn was about to eat. How’d they do that? That’s kind of impressive. Anyway, Finn is fed up and tells Tree Trunks not to spend any more time with Mr. Pig unless they’re in her home. Tree Trunks argues that an unmarried couple living under the same roof is indecent (oh, please, why is everyone in Ooo such a prude? And wasn’t Mr. Pig already living with Tree Trunks anyway?). So Finn suggests that they get married, but Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig aren’t quite ready for that yet. Finn decides there’s no other option, he grabs Tree Trunks and Jake grabs Mr. Pig, and they take them far away from each other. But after seeing how miserable they are when separated, Finn and Jake decide that it’s wrong to keep them apart and they let them go. Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig reunite, and while most people are still disgusted Finn says that he thinks their relationship is nice.

I liked this one a bit more than Web Weirdos, but not much more. It has Tree Trunks in it, at least, and she’s always cute.

I liked the message of this episode, about how they shouldn’t have been forcing themselves into Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig’s business. Too many people make a big deal out of PDA, and to those people I say tough shit. If PDA makes you uncomfortable, I guess I get it, but it’s not your business to tell people how they should or shouldn’t show affection for each other. And while we’re on the subject, I also hate the “old people kissing is gross” mentality, which was probably the mentality that the characters in this episode had. If you’re disgusted by the idea of old people being affectionate or having sexuality, then I’m disgusted by you.

Now that that’s out of the way, this episode didn’t really work for me because it’s just kind of boring. There aren’t that many jokes and the attempt at the end to make me think Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig really need each other didn’t work because their relationship doesn’t do anything for me, at least not on that level. It’s a romance that works better played for laughs than trying to be genuine.

Rating: 5/10