Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 Overview

This overview isn’t going to be as detailed as I would have liked it to be. I had a really hard time writing this thing, for a couple of reasons. The beginning of this week was filled with exams, which means my time was mostly occupied by studying, and then the day my exams ended was the same day Mortal Kombat X came out, and I bought it immediately after my exam and my time lately has been mostly occupied with playing it (it’s amazing, by the way). Writing the Season 5 overview hasn’t really been on my mind very much, and even when I tried to set aside time to sit down and write it, I had a really hard time coming up with much to say because honestly I don’t remember a whole lot from this season. So, sorry if this overview seems rushed and ends up not being very good.

Hey, so, wasn’t this season supposed to have a lot of dramatic episodes? Because I don’t remember there being that many. Yeah, there were some, but people always made it sound like the majority of Season 5 was dramatic and serious and it didn’t feel that way to me? Do I just have a different definition of “dramatic and serious” than most people? I’m not necessarily saying this as a criticism nor as a good point, it’s just something I noted.

I guess there were a lot of weird and experimental episodes in this season, though. This show is pretty weird and experimental to begin with, but it did seem like they were pushing what they could do a lot more this season. Not just when it comes to drama but with their comedy and story-telling and even their animation sometimes, like in A Glitch is a Glitch. Sometimes being more experimental paid off, sometimes it didn’t, but hey, at least they were trying. We also got to learn some more about the Mushroom War and the beginnings of Ooo, which was interesting.

So, Finn was a raging ball of hormones for most of this season. Realistic for his age? Yes. Fun to watch? Eh… depends on the episode and who you’re asking. People often like characters and stories that are more “realistic”, but only in certain ways or to a certain extent. Like, it would be more realistic if in a book taking place in medieval times there was more mention of how bad everyone smells and how disgusting their teeth are, but you wouldn’t actually want to read that, would you? It’s better that those details are left out. Just like, for most people, it’s better to not have to see a character’s hormonal teenager phase. Personally, I don’t mind seeing Finn go through it, but I do understand how it would irritate people.

Another thing I’ve noticed about Finn in this season is that he seems less heroic than he used to. Part of that may just be the surprising lack of adventure episodes this season, but it feels like Finn has been becoming more selfish lately, and more apathetic about being a hero. I guess this is sort of the point, though. Finn was distracted for a while by his relationship with Flame Princess, and he may also have been trying to distance himself from his heroic duties after Billy’s death (by the way, I thought Billy’s death was going to have a way bigger impact on this season). Toward the end of the season Finn and other characters actually start acknowledging that Finn hasn’t been doing much adventuring lately.

As for everyone else, I don’t have a lot to say about them individually. They’re all more or less the same as they were in other seasons, I don’t feel like they’ve really changed much. Jake became a dad this season, but it was one episode and then his kids are all grown up. As usual most of my favorite episodes in this season are the ones where Princess Bubblegum plays a big role and her presence makes everything better. Her “dark side” is starting to come through a little more, but that only makes me love her more. I enjoyed learning more about Ice King and Marceline’s past together, but neither character has changed much in general. Marceline doesn’t appear much in this season, just like she doesn’t appear much in other seasons, and that’s a shame because she’s a great character. I also liked that we got to know Flame Princess a little more in this season. I’m really starting to love her. I enjoyed the Lemongrab episodes, I liked the darker turn they took, and I wonder what’s going to happen with him next. Assuming he’ll be coming back, that is.

All right, wrapping this up because I’m out of stuff to say. Even though I haven’t actually said that much. I think I can kind of see why this season is so polarizing. It does have a lot of good episodes, but it doesn’t leave much of an impression overall. Or at least, it didn’t for me. The good episodes are really good, but there’s also a lot of mediocrity. Also, this season is way too long.

Again, sorry this is so short and kind of crappy, but I have surprisingly little to say about this season as a whole.

Season Rating: 7.1/10

Best Episode: Sky Witch and The Vault

Worst Episode: The Box Prince

Now, about what happens next. I won’t be reviewing Season 6 of Adventure Time right away. Even with the cliffhanger. Besides, all I said was I wouldn’t be reviewing it right away, not that I wouldn’t watch it right away. I have decided on what show I’m going to review next, though. I won’t tell you what it is right now, but I’m sure everyone can guess. You’ll find out which show I’m reviewing on April 27th, when I’ll make a quick introductory post, and then reviews will officially begin again on the first of May.

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Bad Timing/Billy’s Bucket List)

Why do episodes happen to characters who can’t carry them?

The episode starts with Princess Bubblegum showing a small crowd her new invention, which is a means of time travel. The time-travel machine is orb shaped and needs to be operated with special gloves. No one seems that impressed with the invention, since, as Jake points out, they’ve already seen Ice King achieve time travel with magic. As you can imagine, this doesn’t go over well with Bubblegum. LSP bursts in and demands that Bubblegum let her use the time machine to go back to a time when her ex-boyfriend Brad loved her.

So that happened. Oh, and the borders in the video are there throughout the whole episode.

LSP goes to the Candy Tavern, depressed about Brad, and she meets a Lumpy Space Person named Johnnie. Except he’s not very lumpy and he’s also nowhere near as snobby as other Lumpy Space People. He’s someone she knew back in high school (wait, how old is LSP supposed to be?), and she used to bully him and call him “Ugly Johnnie”. But she says she can’t call him that anymore, so I guess that means she finds him good-looking now. The two hit it off and Johnnie tells LSP about the business he runs and how he has a meeting with Bubblegum. He invites LSP back to his apartment that night where they continue to get along great, and then he has LSP sleep on the couch because it’s late and he doesn’t want her going out alone. The next day, Johnnie leaves for his meeting with Bubblegum, and when he returns he tells LSP that it went really well, and that he has another meeting with Bubblegum that nigh. This doesn’t please LSP, she starts to think that Bubblegum will steal Johnnie from her. She sets fire to part of the castle to distract Bubblegum, and while she’s gone LSP sends Johnnie back in time with the time machine so they can have a second chance, whatever that means. When Bubblegum comes back, she finds Johnnie has disappeared and the time machine sitting there.

We next see LSP in the empty tavern, calling for Johnnie, when Bubblegum appears.

• Princess Bubblegum: He’s not here.
• Lumpy Space Princess: [gasps] What? But I sent him back.
• Princess Bubblegum: The sphere would have had to log his molecules before you engaged the time travel function.
• Lumpy Space Princess: Well, then where is he?
• Princess Bubblegum: I don’t know.
• [Johnnie’s head begins materializing in the border around the screen.]
• Lumpy Space Princess: [crying] Then if he’s gone, can you send me back…?
• [Johnnie’s body materializes in the border.]
• Lumpy Space Princess: To before I met him so I won’t have to remember this heartache?!
• Princess Bubblegum: If that’s what you want.
• Lumpy Space Princess: Do it. Do it!
• [Princess Bubblegum places the sphere around Lumpy Space Princess and pushes buttons on her glove, sending Lumpy Space Princess’s molecules back to when she first entered the sphere. Meanwhile, in the border, Johnnie reunites his head and body.]
• Lumpy Space Princess: You witch! Give them to—huh, wha? What? Where are we?
• [Johnnie reaches out to Lumpy Space Princess.]
• Princess Bubblegum: You asked me to use this.
• Lumpy Space Princess: Don’t touch me! [floats away] You pretty skunk! You don’t know heartache with the whole Candy Kingdom in love with your bubblegum buns…! [floats out the window]
• [Johnnie bows his head, crestfallen, as the border fades to black.]
• Princess Bubblegum: [sighs] [sits down and pours herself a drink]

Well, that ending was more emotional than I was expecting.

LSP episodes generally aren’t a good idea, because as mentioned she’s the type of character who works best in small doses, or if she has other characters she can work off of. This one did at least have a few good things in it, though.

This episode ends up being surprisingly emotional. I think LSP’s sudden attraction initially had less to do with Johnnie himself and more to do with the fact that she met him when she was heartbroken. She kind of just clung to the first decent guy who would pay attention to her, and the fact that there’s some nostalgia between her and Johnnie (even if it’s not exactly positive) doesn’t hurt. Johnnie is nice, and he and LSP do seem to have a connection, but I don’t know if LSP’s feelings were really that deep. The thing about LSP is that she really seems to value herself based on what other people think of her. We’ve seen how she takes pride in being able to attract people, and she seems to take it badly when she can’t. That’s not healthy, and it definitely doesn’t make for healthy relationships. LSP ends up freaking out when Johnnie is in proximity to another woman, even though there’s really nothing to worry about, and as a result their relationship has a very unhappy ending. Jealousy isn’t cute and it doesn’t make for a good relationship, no matter what romance novels would like you to believe.

The border around everything in this episode has a purpose, as we find out at the end. It seems to represent a different dimension, and the people in the dimension can look out but if you’re on the outside of it you can’t look in. I’ll admit, the border irritated me, and even now that I know what it was for I still think it’s annoying. I mean, it’s clever, and it certainly makes the ending even sadder when you know that Johnnie was right there trying to get to LSP, but still annoying.

Rating: 6.5/10

Finn is feeling down about the death of his hero, Billy, and he runs into Canyon, Billy’s ex-girlfriend. Canyon gives Finn Billy’s loincloth and instead of thinking it’s gross Finn thinks it’s awesome and is pleased to receive it. Okay then. Canyon and Finn decide to check out Billy’s hideout together and there they find Billy’s bucket list, which has two items that have not been crossed out yet. One of them is “Tell Finn that thing”, but neither of them is sure what that thing is. The other is “Take Canyon on one last ride”. Finn and Canyon go for a ride on Billy’s motorcycle together, therefore fulfilling at least one of the items on the list. Once Canyon leaves, though, Finn discovers another item that they hadn’t noticed before. This one says “Lie on my back in the ocean. Just float.” Ha, that’s right, Finn is terrified of the ocean. He wants to do it anyway, for Billy, but when he gets to the ocean he has a hard time bringing himself to do it. So Fear Feaster appears from out of his belly button. Wow, I forgot Fear Feaster was even a thing. This is a callback to the Season 1 episode Ocean of Fear, which is when we first find out about Finn’s phobia of the ocean, and Fear Feaster is the manifestation of Finn’s fear. That lives in his belly button. I don’t know. Fear Feaster starts taunting Finn, but Finn knocks himself out so that he’ll fall into the ocean without having to think about it. Um, never do that, kids. When Finn wakes up and realizes he’s floating in the ocean he starts to panic, which makes Fear Feaster come back. Finn kills him with the grass sword and with Fear Feaster gone, he no longer fears the ocean. Billy appears as a constellation in the sky.

• Billy: You finished my list. Now I can rest like a great hero. Thank you, Finn.
• Finn: You’re welcome. Canyon helped, too.
• Billy: Tell Canyon I watch her sleep. Man, love is weird, Finn.

I hope you didn’t do that when you were alive, Billy.

• Finn: I know. Is that the thing you wanted to tell me?
• Billy: No. Goodbye.
• [The constellation disappears.]
• Finn: Wait. Billy!
• [The constellation reappears as quickly as it disappeared.]
• Billy: What?
• Finn: What’s the thing you wanted to tell me?
• Billy: Oh, uh, you must go to the Citadel. That’s where your father is.
• Finn: Joshua’s not alive. Me and Jake buried him behind the—
• Billy: Not Joshua! Your other dad. Dad the Human.
• Finn: What?
• Billy: Your father, Finn. He’s alive.
• [The constellation disappears as Billy’s words echo in Finn’s head. The Crystal Citadel is shown floating somewhere in space, and Finn’s dad’s silhouette is seen trapped in a crystal.]

Oh snap.

Well, it’s nice to see Finn dealing with losing Billy, and I like that he’s able to bond with someone else who was close to Billy. I think it would be a big help to both of them, especially since Finn can’t really talk to Jake about it because Jake is apparently in complete denial.  Finn and Canyon actually had a nice relationship, I hope she’ll be in more episodes.

I also liked that they brought back Finn’s fear of the ocean and Fear Feaster, that was a cool throwback and it made me feel pretty nostalgic for the first season.

But who cares about any of that stuff. What about that cliffhanger? I bet that drove people crazy! It’s funny because this episode is pretty laidback, especially compared to other season finales for this show, but it still manages to hook you with the last minute or so.

So. Season 6 should be interesting.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Lemonhope Parts 1&2)

I love the contrast between these title cards.

I’m just going to write this as one big review, because there’s not much of a point in reviewing them separately.

Part 1 starts off with Lemonhope having a dream in which he has wings and is flying through a dark landscape. There are several doors and he hears knocking behind one, but he can’t get it open. He has a lot of dreams similar to this throughout both episodes. He’s woken up by Princess Bubblegum for school, and she shows him this video:

Jesus. This is the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen on this show. Which is saying something.

Lemonhope was obviously not paying attention, which disappoints Bubblegum because he’s supposed to save the Lemon People eventually. Lemonhope doesn’t want to though. He doesn’t see why he has to. He likes being free and he doesn’t want to go back to the Lemon Kingdom. You know, I kind of like that Lemonhope is like this? It’s just, it’s something I often think about when it comes to the “Chosen One” narratives similar to this. What if the Chosen One just doesn’t give a shit? What if they refuse to help? What if they don’t want the responsibility, and not just in a “I’m going to angst about it a lot but ultimately I will take it because selflessness” way, but in a way “I’m kind of an asshole and I literally just don’t care, deal with it yourselves” way? Plus, it’s sort of understandable that Lemonhope would be like this. He’s still being a little shit, but I mean, if you were freed from being a prisoner in a totalitarian dictatorship, would you be eager to go back for any reason? Also, Lemonhope is a Lemon Person, aren’t they all kind of selfish?

Still, someone has to save the Lemon Kingdom and for some reason is has to be Lemonhope. Bubblegum tries her best to convince him, but Lemonhope ends up running away. He stows away on a ship and he gets knocked out for a while, during which he has another weird dream. It’s about Lemongrab 2 falling off Lemonhope, who is for some reason a horse in this dream. He ignores Lemongrab 2’s pleas for help and steps on a piece of gum, which is Princess Bubblegum in his dream. While he attempts to get her off his hoof, she screams that he is “Unacceptable!”, and she sounds a lot like Lemongrab. When Lemonhope wakes up, the ship is in ruins and in a desert, and there’s nothing for him to eat or drink on board. He wanders the desert for a while and eventually passes out. This is where Part 1 ends.

Part 2 picks up right where we left off, with Lemonhope passed out in the desert. He’s found by a man who introduces himself as “Phlannel Boxingday”. It’s obviously Princess Bubblegum in disguise. I mean, it’s never confirmed exactly, but the pink skin kind of gives it away and there’s something Phlannel says later that very heavily implies it’s Bubblegum. Anyway, Lemonhope spends some time with Phlannel Boxingday and keeps having weird dreams about the Lemon Earldom. He decides to talk to Phlannel about it.

• Lemonhope: [sighs] I’m free now, Phlannel, to do all whatevs I ever wanted, but all I think about is my old life. What does it mean?
• Phlannel Boxingday: Well, it’s true you are free—free to help the Lemon People or leave them be—but a debt unpaid is not easily forgotten. So you are a prisoner still in deinem kopf(in your head).
• Lemonhope: Huh. That’s what Mistress always said, and I didn’t even listen.
• Phlannel Boxingday: Ah, Lemonhope, you’re a doer, not a listener. You learn with your heart and hands, not your head. So… what will you do, Lemonhope?
• Lemonhope: I’ll… I’ll go back, and I’ll help my people, and maybe I’ll feel better.

So, Lemonhope goes back to the Earldom, and of course it’s raining and storming and dramatic. After scaling the wall of the castle, Lemonhope is confronted by Lemongrab himself.

Well. That was a thing. Is it ever explained why Lemongrab hates the harp so much?

Later, Bubblegum sews up Lemongrab again, using pieces of the original and his brother. She says that he’ll need some time to recover, but will soon be back to his lonely self, his only stable relationship model (her words, not mine). She also tells Lemonhope that she’s set up a room for him in the Lemon Earldom and asks him if he would mind overseeing the Earldom for the time being. Lemonhope says no, to her surprise. He came back only so he could stop thinking about them all the time, he doesn’t want to stick around. He says he’ll be back when he’s tired of being free. Bubblegum is disappointed, as she really thought he was going to stay and she even wrote a song about it. Omg Bubblegum you’re such a dork I love you. Finn convinces her to sing the song and she does, the episode ending like this.

God, I love that ending. It’s so haunting, seeing Finn and Jake’s tree overgrown, a futuristic-looking Candy Kingdom that looks abandoned and destroyed, a seemingly untouched Lemon Earldom that is now eerily silent, Lemonhope returning to the Earldom after a long life of freedom for his final resting place while Bubblegum’s voice sings softly about his life.

So ends the Lemongrab arc, and I think it might be my favorite arc in the series so far? I like how in his first appearance Lemongrab seemed annoying but relatively unthreatening. The more we see him, though, the more we realize that Lemongrab really is dangerous, but also pitiful. He’s too selfish and narcissistic to be around anyone, let alone ruling an Earldom. He doesn’t want to be alone, but being alone is also his only stable relationship model. I think Bubblegum does care about Lemongrab. He was her creation just like the Candy People and she thinks of all of them as her children, so I think it’s safe to say she thinks of Lemongrab the same way, despite… everything about him. Plus, she obviously feels some responsibility for the way he turned out and all of the suffering it’s caused him and other people. There’s not a whole lot she can do, though. He ended up being a tyrannical ruler, and he only got worse and worse every time we saw him. He even turned on his brother, who was supposed to be the one person he could relate to and get along with. What do you do with someone like Lemongrab? What can you do?

As for Lemonhope, well, I think he was just so relieved to be free that he didn’t want to risk going back to the Lemon Earldom. He seemed pretty terrified of Lemongrab and can you blame him? I think he needed time to come to terms with his responsibility and how everyone was counting on him. I like that he didn’t stay after saving the Earldom. He came to help them and he did, and he never wanted to stick around so why should he? He comes back once he’s had enough of freedom, which is a long time later, because he’s tired and probably dying soon and he wants to be home, even though I’m not entirely sure whether the Lemon Earldom was ever home to him.

Rating for Part 1: 7.5/10

Ratinf for Part 2: 8.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Blade of Grass/Rattleballs)

Whoever came up with the title for this episode gets a high five.

Well, since Finn’s demon blood sword is broken he now needs a new one. How many different swords has Finn had throughout the show? He buys his new sword from a mysterious figure who gives him a grass sword. Finn loves the sword, since it slices with perfect precision. In fact, when Tree Trunks sees him use the sword, she says it’s “demonically perfect” and declares the sword cursed, but Finn and Jake laugh her off. Later that night, they start to get a little creeped out by it, though. Finn has a nightmare about the sword turning him into grass and when he wakes up the sword has wrapped itself around his arm. He tears it off and dumps it in a river, and he thinks that’s going to be the end of it. Oh Finn, don’t you know anything? It’s not going to be that easy to get rid of a cursed object.

The next morning, the sword is back. See? I told you. Jake wraps the sword up so it won’t be able to attach itself to Finn and the two head out to try and return it. However, the person they bought it from doesn’t seem to be there anymore, and somehow the sword keeps attaching itself to Finn. They find out from Choose Goose (haven’t seen him in a while, he’s still a weirdo) where the original owner of the sword lives and they go to confront him. It turns out to be a grass wizard, and he tells Finn that the cursed sword will be part of him forever. Finn decides that he’s okay with this, and accepting the sword makes him able to control it.

I like stories about curses, and especially cursed objects that have a mind of their own and attach themselves (in any sense) to people. Obvious comparisons for things like this would be the ring from Lord of the Rings or the Horcruxes from Harry Potter, but unlike those objects, the grass sword doesn’t seem particularly malicious. Ever notice that it never actually hurts anyone that Finn fights (aside from monsters)?Well, okay, it did get pretty aggressive about wrapping itself around Finn at first, but it calmed down once Finn decided he was okay with the sword. I like the idea that accepting that the sword is part of him now makes it easier for him to control it, and fighting it just made it worse.

Of all of Finn’s swords, I think the grass sword is my favorite one yet. For one thing, I like that fact that it stays wrapped around his arm most of the time, and he can summon it whenever he needs it. Usually his sword is just stuck in his backpack, or it comes out of nowhere. At least now we can see where it’s coming from, and it also looks far more convenient.

I also like the demonically perfect precision of it. Who knew grass could be so bad ass? (Actually, I knew. Grass is my favorite Pokemon type and people always laugh at me for it. But I knew Grass was awesome. I knew it. Hey, speaking of Pokemon, there’s actually a Grass-type move called Leaf Blade, and it’s a good move too. This had a point but I lost it.)

Anyway, good episode, Finn’s new sword is cool, not much else to say.

Rating: 7.5/10

Finn feels like he’s been slacking on his duty of protecting/helping Princess Bubblegum, and to make up for it he becomes way too over-zealous. He ends up annoying Bubblegum and exhausting himself, so Bubblegum tells him to give himself a break. He wanders around for a bit and ends up in a junkyard where he starts playing around with his new sword. While doing so, he almost gets crushed by a falling car, but he’s rescued by a hooded swordsman. It turns out to be some kind of gumball machine, but it looks different from the Gumball Guardians, who introduces himself as Rattleballs. Rattleballs tells Finn that he has a “warrior’s spirit” but his swordsmanship is terrible. Finn wants Rattleballs to train him and after Finn helps him unlodge a gumball that was stuck in his throat, he agrees.

I was a bit confused by Rattleballs’ criticisms at first, because I was under the impression that Finn was a good fighter, but then I realized two things:

1. Finn probably does need some practice with his new sword, which is really different from any other he’s used before.
2. Finn probably has never had any formal training, so he may be decent but he probably would look amateurish to an expert like Rattleballs.

After training Finn (which involves a lot of egg-throwing for some reason… if you can dodge an egg you can dodge a sword?), Rattleballs tells him how he got to be in the junkyard. Centuries earlier, during the Candy Kingdom’s humble beginnings, Bubblegum had created an elite group of gumball robots (did they come before or after the Gumball Guardians?) to replace the incompetent Banana Guards. The robots were great at their job, but they were also ruthless and had an insatiable love for violence. They became too dangerous to have around, so Bubblegum had to destroy them. Rattleballs was the only one able to overcome his programming and realize what was happening, and he managed to escape. He’s lived in the junkyard ever since. That’s… actually really tragic. A race of robots who were programmed for to be ruthless, but ended up being too dangerous for anyone’s good and so had to be destroyed. And it’s done so quickly, with none of them realizing what’s going on. This and the episode about Shoko make me really curious about the beginnings of the Candy Kingdom.

Rattleballs asks Finn not to tell Bubblegum he’s still alive, but Finn does so anyway because he’s vowed to serve her. Bubblegum goes to the junkyad with some Banana Guards to destroy Rattleballs and Rattleballs defeats her Banana Guards easily, though he doesn’t kill them. He then tells Bubblegum: “I no longer crave mindless violence. I have found peace in meditation, gardening, egg throwing. I also hope time has made you less bloodthirsty, princess, but do with me as you will. In my heart I still serve you, 100%.”

He hopes time has made Bubblegum less bloodthirsty. I’ll just let that speak for itself.

Later, Bubblegum tells the Banana Guards that Rattleballs has been destroyed. It’s then revealed that Rattleballs is still alive, Bubblegum only pretended he had been destroyed so that she wouldn’t have to go back on an order. Wait, what? Why would that matter? Has she really never gone back on an order before or something? She tells Rattleballs that he can continue serving the Kingdom in the shadows, and he replies, “Thank you, Princess. That’s marginally better than hiding in a dump.” Ha, I like that line. Bubblegum knights him and he leaves with a smile.

That ending almost got me. I thought for a second that Bubblegum might have killed Rattleballs. I mean, would you put it past her?

I still don’t get why it would be such a big deal for her to go back on an order, but I do like that Rattleballs basically becomes the Candy Kingdom’s Batman. He’ll probably do a better job of protecting the Kingdom than the Banana Guards.

I like Rattleballs a lot. I like how he’s sort of ninja-like, which is funny because he’s a gumball machine and you’d think he’d be really clunky. Not to mention all of that rattling should probably be a hindrance. Seriously, though, Rattleballs is cool, and I like that he’s basically Finn’s wise ninja-like mentor. I also love his backstory. I love the tragedy of it (it sound bad when you put it like that, doesn’t it?), and I love the morality questions it raises. Rattleballs and his race are robots, not Candy people, but how much intelligence and humanity did they actually have? When Bubblegum took them to be destroyed, she didn’t tell what was going on, and she didn’t let them see what was happening to their companions. They all just followed her orders to not look, and only Rattleballs was able to break that order. If the other robots had known, what would have happened? Sucks for Rattleballs, he has to see all of his companions destroyed and then go out and live in a junkyard. And even then, he’s still loyal to Bubblegum in the end. So just how much has he managed to overcome his programming, and how mindless were the other robots?

Rating: 8.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (James/Root Beer Guy)

This episode opens with Finn and Jake attending a funeral in the Candy Kingdom. Apparently it’s an important one, because Princess Bubblegum herself holds the ceremony and it looks as though most of the Kingdom is attending. We get a flashback to a week earlier, when Finn, Jake, Bubblegum, and her assistant James are going into a pit in the Desert of Wonder. Bubblegum wants to collect samples to see if the area can be colonized.

During the mission, Bubblegum discovers some of those radioactive goo monsters from Simon and Marcy residing in the pit, and the group is forced to take cover in their ship. Bubblegum asks Finn if he has any idea and he suggests they radio for help. Unfortunately, the radio is broken. James says he can fix it, but Finn and Jake are reluctant to trust him. James is… goofy. Bubblegum insists that he’s resourceful and that they can trust him, though. A few minutes later James claims to have fixed the radio, but when they try it the radio is suddenly wrecked again. Finn and Jake accuse James of being a saboteur and Bubblegum sticks up for him again. Finn comes up with another idea to send up a flare, and once more it looks like James has sabotaged them when the flare is missing.

Finn comes up with one more idea, which is to allow the monsters to catch and devour him, so that the other three will escape. Bubblegum knocks him out with a wrench. She does the same thing to Jake. Well then. Finn kind of lapses in and out of consciousness for a bit and sees a couple of things that he can’t make sense of. He sees James hand over a piece of himself to Bubblegum, he sees himself and Jake being dragged away from the scene by Bubblegum, and he sees James being overtaken and devoured by the monsters. Later, when they’ve made it to safety, Bubblegum explains to Finn what happened.

• Finn: [wakes up] Aah! James, look out! Ohh. PB! What’s going on?
• Princess Bubblegum: Finn, I need to explain something really heavy. I was the one who sabotaged all your escape plans. I calculated the chance of success for every possible escape plan, and none of them were going to work. You said it yourself: there was only one way out. Someone was going to have to eat the big one to save the others. James did something really noble to save us.
• Finn: But I wanted to do it. Why didn’t you let me?
• Princess Bubblegum: There’s a reason. With this sample of James, I can clone a new one. He’s candy, but you’re not. I can’t clone another you.
• Finn: Whoa.
• Princess Bubblegum: I made the best choice available.

Back in the present, Bubblegum talks about James’ sacrifice, and then present the James clone. She gives the clone a medal for bravery while Finn wonders whether or not this is right. The episode with a scene where the original James, who is now a zombie, rises from the pit with the other goo monsters. So I guess we’ll be seeing zombie!James at some point.

I don’t get why Bubblegum had to go out of her way to sabotage Finn’s plans. If she knew they wouldn’t work, why didn’t she just tell him that right away? Why the extra effort?

I like that the differences in Finn and Bubblegum’s morality are starting to come out more. Of course Finn would be the one who volunteers to sacrifice himself for others. Finn has always been the sort of person who would make himself miserable trying to make sure everyone else is happy, of course he wouldn’t hesitate to die if it meant everyone else could live. It’s clear that he’s upset that he didn’t get to do it, and instead someone else had to die for him. Bubblegum knows that there’s no good option here, just a least terrible one. If anyone had to sacrificed, James makes the most sense. Bubblegum can create a new one, but she can’t create a new Finn. Although that raises the question of whether or not cloning James is right. Obviously it is to Bubblegum, but Finn isn’t so sure. I’m kind of with Finn on this.

The unfortunate thing about this episode is that the interesting stuff happens in the last couple of minutes. The rest of it is just okay. Still, I do really like those last few minutes.

Rating: 7/10

So. Root Beer Guy. He’s an aspiring writer with a crappy job. He works at a call center as a telemarketer. I actually used to work at a call center, though it wasn’t telemarketing. People called us to complain, we didn’t call them. It’s the most emotionally draining job ever. Anyway, he apparently writes at night, while his wife is asleep.

• [Root Beer Guy closes his book and places it to the side and switches off the night light. He gets off the bed and takes out a typewriter. He then brings the typewriter to the kitchen]
• Root Beer Guy: I knew there was trouble. I could smell it on the hot evening breeze. Fortunately for me, trouble is my favorite thing because I’m Joe Milkshake. I kicked down the door with one swift, decisive motion… No… With one swift and decisive motion, I kicked down the door… No… The door was kicked down by me swiftly with not many motions, but a whole lot of decisiveness was used by me that was apparent to everybody… oh.

Every writer has been here at some point.

While putting the cat out that night, Root Beer Guy sees something odd. It looks like Finn and Jake are kidnapping Princess Bubblegum. When he tries to tell his wife, she tells him it was probably a dream. The res of the episode follows Root Beer Guy as he tries to get someone to care about the fact that Bubblegum was kidnapped, but no one will listen. He tries confronting Finn and Jake himself but they threaten him to keep quiet. Eventually RBG finds out that Finn and Jake are going to Lake Butterscotch, presumably to dispose of Bubblegum’s body. He calls the Banana Guards and they rush over, catching Finn and Jake in the act. Bubblegum then reveals that this was a trick to test the competence of the Banana Guards, and she’s surprised to find out the RBG was the one who solved everything. She makes him head of the Banana Guards, and he becomes much happier. He also apparently gives up on writing, probably because “Joe Milkshake” was an obvious self-insert reflecting who RBG wishes he was, and now that he’s actually happy with his life he doesn’t need Joe Milkshake anymore.

What I liked about this episode was Root Beer Guy’s writing, and how it’s… not good. At all. It just reminds me so much of a lot of the earlier stuff I wrote, like when I was around 10-13. You know, obvious self-inserts, wish-fulfillment, prose that tries too hard. RBG is kind of endearing to me because he’s so passionate about it yet amateurish, like a lot of new writers (even thought he’s not exactly new, he’s been working on his novel for ten years).

Aside from that… eh? Episodes focusing on minor or one-off characters are hard to pull off, and this one just didn’t work for me. RBG is likable enough and I can relate to him in some ways, but he’s not really interesting enough to keep my attention. I got bored.

Rating: 4.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (We Fixed a Truck/Apple Wedding)

This episode is exactly what it sounds like. It’s about fixing a truck.

Finn and Jake have found an old truck that doesn’t work, and they want to fix it but don’t know how. They call Banana Man, the one voiced by Weird Al and whose rocket and house were destroyed by Finn and Jake, because he apparently knows how to fix a truck. So they fix it, and Banana Man thinks that Finn and Jake will be his best friends forever but I’m willing to bet that doesn’t happen. They take the truck for a ride through the Candy Kingdom and see Princess Bubblegum being chased by a mob a Candy citizens who think she’s been replaced by a lizard monster. It turns out they’re right, as “Bubblegum” turns into a giant lizard and starts terrorizing the kingdom. The real Bubblegum comes out of a sewer while Finn, Jake and Banana Man defeat the monster, but the truck is destroyed in the process. They drove the truck toward the monster, using Banana Man’s peel to make the car spin faster because apparently it runs on Mario Kart logic, and then jumped out before the truck crashed into the monster. So the monster is defeated, the truck is destroyed, and Banana Man is arrested for being naked out in public.

Soooo… do you like trucks?

Okay, but seriously, this actually isn’t so bad for an episode that’s basically about nothing. There’s no narrative, really, it’s just them fixing a truck and random things happen, but it’s kind of fun? I probably wouldn’t watch it again but it was at least entertaining enough to make it worth watching once.

I know nothing about cars. If someone asks me what kind of car I would like, I’ll awkwardly say “a red one” and I won’t be able to say much more than that. Also I’m terrified of driving. So I can’t say whether or not what they’re doing/saying in this episode is accurate. Does anyone know if it is?

Rating: 6.5/10

This episode is about Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig getting married, and the weird things that threaten their wedding ceremony. One of them is Princess Bubblegum, who Tree Trunks says has “hijacked” the wedding, having planned most of it. Bubblegum expects to be conducting the ceremony itself, but Tree Trunks tells her that the King of Ooo will be doing this instead. I didn’t know there was a king of Ooo. Bubblegum is furious and calls him a fraud, then goes to investigate and find proof of her claim. Meanwhile, BMO is unfortunately stuck listening to the complaints of Wyatt, one of Tree Trunks’ bitter ex-husbands.

• Wyatt: Hey, did you know I used to be married to Tree Trunks?
• BMO: No!
• Wyatt: Heh, yeah… it’s just me and TT. We had some wild times back in the day. Did you know I once taught her to play tennis?
• BMO: No…
• Wyatt: Yep, tennis! I took her to one of those… uh… paddles… or whatever, you know!
• BMO: No.
• Wyatt: Yeah, she left me. She said I was stifling her spirit… I mean hehe… You know, what? Not enough tennis for ya?

Well, how can a lady resist a man who played tennis with her one time, amirite?

Also, Finn needs to stop LSP from coming to the wedding at all costs. It’s not specified why. LSP, you would be invited to my wedding for sure. Possibly as my bride.

As the ceremony starts, Bubblegum is snooping around in the King of Ooo’s blimp, and Finn encounters LSP.

• [Finn hears some rustling from the bushes and gets up.]
• Finn: Lumpy Space Princess? Is that you?
• Lumpy Space Princess: Let me go to this party…
• [A crow flies out, frightening Finn.]
• Finn: It’s not your party, LSP. [tries to find Lumpy Space Princess.]
• Lumpy Space Princess: Poor Finn. Don’t you know? [flies up from an old well. The wind blows the picnic mat off Lumpy Space Princess, revealing her in a wedding dress. After all, no wedding’s complete without wedding crashers…] Every party is my party.

Omg I freaking love LSP.

Honestly every single LSP line in this episode is gold and I would quote all of them but that would be annoying. Anyway, Bubblegum apparently does find some dirt on the King of Ooo in his blimp, and she crashes the ceremony. Quite literally, actually. She crashes the blimp into where the ceremony is held and basically ruins it. She reveals the King’s outdated marriage license and places him under arrest, only to find out that he has a renewed one right there with him. He asks her if she’s been looking through his stuff, and she nervously says this:

This might be my favorite Bubblegum line, honestly.

Tree Trunks stands up to Bubblegum, which results in all of them being sent to jail. Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig decide to simply have their ceremony in the cell, though the King refuses to do it. He tells Tree Trunks, “You can perform your own dang ceremony,” before escaping the cell. They realize that the King (whether intentionally or not) has given Tree Trunks permission to conduct the ceremony herself, and she does. Bubblegum, who is watching everything on a monitor, is so touched by this that she orders the guards to set everyone free. We end the episode with this:

• Tree Trunks: Looks like we got the whole place to ourselves… if you know what I’m saying.
• Mr Pig: Wait, d-don’t you think there might be cameras down here?
• Tree Trunks: I hope so…

Tree Trunks is so kinky.

All right, so, I actually enjoyed this episode, but I think it’s one of the not-so-popular ones? I’m not entirely sure because I don’t spend a ton of time in the AT fandom aside from looking at Bubbline fan art since I’m still trying in vain to avoid spoilers as much as possible. But I think I’ve heard/seen people express dislike for this one fairly often? Or at least, I’ve seen/heard a lot of dislike for Bubblegum in this episode. Which, um…

Yeah, let’s talk about Bubblegum for a minute.

I may have a tendency to get really defensive of Bubblegum, partly because she’s my favorite and partly because I’m always particularly defensive of female characters that I like. I won’t go into why that is right now, but let’s just say after being in fandoms for so many years I have good reason to be. Still, as much I love Bubblegum and as much as I always want to defend her, I do understand that she’s not a character everyone is going to like. I don’t think a character that’s universally liked even exists, for one thing, and I can see how Bubblegum in particular may be difficult to like for some people.

To be completely honest, though, Apple Wedding was the first episode where I thought, “Wow, Bubblegum is kind of an asshole.” It’s kind of funny, because it’s not like this is the first episode where she’s done something morally questionable or mean or anything like that. It’s just, in all of those other episodes I found it much easier to understand where she was coming from and sympathize. Even in Wizard Only, Fools. I always understood her and what her goal was (which was usually about the greater good), and while that doesn’t mean what she was doing was any less mean/wrong, I never thought “she’s an asshole”, you know what I mean?

This episode, though? Yeah, she’s being an ass here. She’s still my favorite, but what is up with her in this episode? As I’ve said I generally don’t have a problem with characters acting like jerks if it’s in character, and in fact it’s usually when I think they’re the most interesting, but I don’t really get why Bubblegum is acting this way here? I get that she dislikes the King of Ooo for being a fraud, whatever that means, and he does say some suspicious things during the ceremony. So that’s one thing, I guess. But why does she care so much about doing Tree Trunks’ ceremony? From what TT said early in the episode, Bubblegum basically took control over the wedding plans and TT didn’t seem happy about that. Does Bubblegum just like controlling things and being in charge? And why arrest everyone at the wedding? Is it because she doesn’t like being proven wrong and went overboard? It’s hard to say what I think of Bubblegum in this episode because I’m not sure what her deal is exactly.

Anyway, aside from all of that, I really liked this episode. I actually think it’s of the funnier episodes of this show. There are a lot of great lines and character moments that had me laughing (again, every LSP moment was gold), and it was just really well-written comedy.

Rating: 8.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Box Prince/Red Starved)

Do you like cats? ‘Cause that’s one thing this episode has plenty of. Cats doing cat things.

Finn finds a cat with a box over its head and the cat leads him to a kingdom full of cats with boxes on their heads. The cats can’t talk, but Finn thinks that the cat he found is trying to tell him that he’s the true ruler of the kingdom and his throne has been usurped by an imposter. Meanwhile, Jake has something stuck between his teeth. Finn eventually realizes that this cat kingdom probably isn’t even a kingdom and Jake gets the thing out of his teeth. This episode is super exciting, let me tell you.

Soooo… do you like cats?

That’s the only way I can really see someone enjoying this episode. It’s basically just eleven minutes of cats doing cutesy stuff, so if that sounds good to you then this episode is for you, I guess. I’m not much of a cat fan so… yeah.

I’m sorry, this is such a short review. Is it even a review? Probably not, but I’m sorry, I just don’t know what to say about this one.

Rating: 2/10

In this episode, Finn, Jake and Marceline are in an underground sand city to get a special spoon for Princess Bubblegum. Jake accidentally causes an avalanche and seals their only exit, and they’re unable to contact Bubblegum for help. Even worse, Marceline’s supply of red has run out, and if she can’t find anything red to drink she’ll go savage and drink Finn and Jake instead. Finn says that he’ll look around for something red that Marceline can drink while Jake stays with her.

While Finn is looking, Marceline’s thirst is slowly making her more unhinged and more monstrous, which frightens Jake. After exploring the sand city for a while (and finding some pretty interesting stuff) Finn eventually finds what he thinks is a ruby, but when he brings it back to Jake and Marceline, he’s told that it’s actually an emerald and that he’s colorblind. Hm. I wonder what color Finn thinks the dress is. At this point, Marceline is ready to attack both of them, but Bubblegum suddenly appears. Before Finn and Jake can warn her, Bubblegum is attacked by Marceline, who quickly drains the pink from her hair and face. Bubblegum is fine, she just looks a little deflated. So I guess Marceline did get to drink the red from Bubblegum’s pretty pink face. Oh man, this is just making me ship them even more. Finn gives Bubblegum the spoon they were supposed to get for her and when she puts it on her nose, she returns to normal.

Okay, at least this one is more fun. Marceline going rabid from red starvation is both funny and slightly creepy. I like it when Marceline gets to be intimidating and act like a vampire. Jake’s reactions are pretty funny too. I like how when Finn comes back with the “ruby”, Jake is in the process of trying to cook Marceline himself because hey, she was going to eat him so why shouldn’t he eat her first? But to Finn the whole thing just looks so messed up. I also love this conversation when Jake points out it’s an emarald:

• Jake: That’s an emerald, dude.
• Finn: You too now?! Emeralds are green, boyee.
• Jake: This thing is green.
• Finn: Why is everybody messin’ with me? It’s like a dark gray-ish red. Mostly gray. Sometimes red things are gray!
• Jake: You’re a little colorblind… and there’s nothin’ to be ashamed of!
• [The “ruby” is now green.]
• Finn: Oh… whoops.

Finn, are you sure it’s grey-ish red and not light-ish red? (You get points if you know what I’m referencing. The points are worthless but still.) Anyway, I love how defensive Finn sounds when he says “Sometimes red things are grey!” (I’m Canadian so I spell it with an E, yo.) Dude, Finn, you’re totally colorblind. As funny as I think this whole scene is, I can actually sympathize with Finn a little bit because I’m slightly colorblind myself. I’ve never mistaken an emerald for a ruby (at least I don’t think I have?), but I have mistaken blue for green and vice versa, and I’ve mistaken red hair for blonde hair. So I kind of know how embarrassing that kind of thing can be.

Overall I enjoyed this one. Even though not a lot is happening it still manages to be entertaining and funny.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Time Sandwich/The Vault)

Jake makes a sandwich. The most perfect sandwich to ever exist. It’s so perfect it literally glows. Unfortunately for him, Magic Man appears and steals the sandwich before Jake can take a bite of it. Magic Man says Jake can have the sandwich back if he solves a riddle:

When your face shows 7:20,

When green leaves turn brown,

The only way forward is down.

Then, you’ll see, the wetter, the better.

That last line? That’s what she said.

Magic Man then jumps out the window and creates a bubble around himself in mid air. Everything in the bubble moves in slow-motion, and it’s presumed that Magic Man will take a bite of the sandwich when he hits the ground. Finn and Jake can’t enter the bubble because it will only make them move in slow-motion themselves, so they try to find some other way to get the sandwich back. They call on some of their friends, like BMO, Princess Bubblegum, and Marceline, but none of them are able to come up with anything that works. Eventually Jake loses hope completely and cries over the loss of his perfect sandwich, but it’s then discovered that Jake can move in the bubble at normal speed as long as he stays sad. That was the answer to Magic Man’s riddle, Jake has to be as sad as possible (7:20 looks like a frown on a clock… how do they come up with this stuff?). So Jake gets the sandwich back and that’s the end of it.

So, Magic Man being in this episode is a plus for me, because I love that weirdo.

I’m really bad at riddles, by the way. Like really bad. If I had been in Bilbo Baggins’ place, I definitely would have lost that riddle contest to Gollum and he would have eaten me. So I knew I wasn’t going to figure out the riddle anyway, but even so whose idea was it to compare a clock showing 7:20 to a sad face? Who looks at a clock at 7:20 and thinks it looks like a sad face? The other lines in the riddle are pretty standard, green leaves turning brown to represent depression, the only way forward is down as in “feeling down”, it’s better when it’s wetter as in tears. It’s all pretty obvious in hindsight, but that 7:20 line is so out there, did anyone know what it meant before the reveal?

It’s a creative riddle, at least, and the slow-motion time bubble was also a fun and creative idea. The whole episode is just fun, and there’s not much else to it besides that.

Rating: 7.5/10

This episode begins with Finn having a nightmare where he’s being grabbed by a ghostly green woman. He’s woken by Jake, who is unhappy that Finn has been having these recurring nightmare for a while now. He wants Finn to deal with whatever emotions or memories are causing them. In other words, he wants Finn to go into his mental vault, where all of his repressed memories are stored. Jake is even less happy to learn that Finn is apparently fully conscious of repressing things he doesn’t want to deal with, and that he refuses to go into the vault. So, Jake needs to trick Finn into hypnosis, and we find out that the ghostly woman is actually one of Finn’s past lives.

The woman’s name is Shoko, and she’s a one-armed thief who steals things for other people in exchange for money. So she’s kind of like a mercenary, I guess. One person wants her to steal an amulet, and threatens to kill her if she doesn’t get it. She goes to what looks like the Candy Kingdom, though it’s still being built. Shoko knocks herself out and is “rescued” by the owner of the amulet. Princess Bubblegum. Shoko is taken inside the Candy Kingdom and treated, and she and Bubblegum start to form a friendship. Later, Bubblegum shows Shoko her greatest creations, the Gumball Guardians. After activating them with the amulet, Bubblegum gives Shoko a present. The present turns out to be a mechanical arm. Shoko tears up upon receiving the present and runs to her room. That night, Shoko is unsure of whether she wants to go through with stealing the amulet, but then she remembers her client’s threat. She steals the amulet, waking Bubblegum and the Gumball Guardians, and makes a break for it. Unfortunately, she ends up falling in a river of radioactive waste. Bubblegum orders the Gumball Guardians to rescue her, but when one of them reaches into the river its arm is burned off. We later find out that Shoko got out of the river, now in a monstrous form, and died shortly after, still holding the amulet.

Meanwhile, having seen the memory, Finn calls Bubblegum and asks her to come over. When she arrives, he reveals Shoko’s body under the floorboards, and the amulet is still there. He returns it to Bubblegum, having realized that Shoko was haunting him in the hopes that he would return the amulet. And we end the episode with this exchange:

• Princess Bubblegum: Whoa, what?! My amulet?! Wait a second… [gasps] Is that…?
• Finn: It’s me, Shoko! And PB, you’re like a bazillion years old. You’re not freaking nineteen! What the heck?!
• [Princess Bubblegum gives a small, half-hearted laugh.]
• Finn: Weirdo.

Dermatologists hate her! Local princess is like a bazillion years old, looks nineteen!

Bubblegum actually being hundreds of years old isn’t a surprise to me, partly because it was spoiled for me and partly because, well, it’s kind of obvious. There are way too many flashbacks that supposedly take place years ago but still show Bubblegum looking the way she does now. It was clear that she was either older than she let on or aged in a different way. Actually, that second one has been confirmed for a while, hasn’t it? We know that the age Bubblegum’s looks depends on her biomass, when we saw her go from an eighteen year old to a thirteen year old and then back to eighteen. But I wonder if that has any effect on her mental or emotional maturity.

Anyway, I really loved this episode. I love stories about reincarnation and past lives, Shoko is really interesting to me and her relationship with Bubblegum is the perfect mix between tragic and adorable (which means I have a new ship… whoops). What’s not to love?

The best thing about this episode is Bubblegum and Shoko’s relationship, it feels so genuine and sweet even in the short amount of time they have. I liked the scene where Shoko is telling Bubblegum about how her parents sold her arm, hence why it’s missing, and Bubblegum is horrified because “Parents should protect their children!” And Shoko just looks sort of sad and confused, like she wasn’t even aware that what her parents did to her was wrong until Bubblegum said so. It seems like Shoko’s never really had someone who was nice to her until she met Bubblegum, which makes having to betray Bubblegum complicated and painful. I can’t help wondering what would have happened if Shoko had decided to take up Bubblegum’s offer and stay in the Candy Kingdom. Maybe she could have been protected from her clients and lived a much longer and happier life. I also liked that when Shoko fell into the river, Bubblegum wanted to rescue her but didn’t seem to care that much about her amulet. She just wanted to save Shoko and was saddened that she couldn’t, even after what Shoko did.

Rating: 10/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Too Old/Earth & Water)

The episode begins with Finn and Princess Bubblegum going to a dinner at Castle Lemongrab. Jake isn’t around because Finn told him that Bubblegum doesn’t like him, which is clearly a lie to keep Jake out of the way so Finn can hang out with Bubblegum alone. Sigh. We all know where this going. They enter the castle and the Lemon citizens are a little different from when we last saw them. They seem more intelligent, at least, and they’re all wearing collars that we later find out are shock collars. Then the two Lemongrabs make an appearance and… oh my.

Well, Lemongrab 2 isn’t dead. But he is partially eaten. And original Lemongrab has gained weight, it’s implied that this is because he keeps eating citizens as well as most of the food available, which I guess would also explain why Lemongrab 2 looks malnourished.

Of course Bubblegum notices the difference in the two Lemongrabs and is concerned about it, but Finn is mostly interested in getting closer to Bubblegum. During dinner, there’s a scene where Lemongrab takes food from a Lemon citizen and Lemongrab 2 gives some of his own to the citizen, which sparks an argument between the two Lemongrabs about whether or not this is acceptable. Basically they just shriek “Unacceptable!” and “Acceptable!” back and forth. But hey, Lemongrab 2 is actually sharing his food and going against Lemongrab’s rules! That’s interesting, he definitely wasn’t always that nice. Maybe being half eaten himself has given him a change of heart. Anyway, while the Lemongrabs are fighting, Bubblegum wanders off and tries to figure out what’s been going on around here.

The Lemon Castle seems to be falling apart, and in one of the rooms Bubblegum comes across a Lemon Child playing a harp and singing a sad song. His name is Lemonhope, and Bubblegum is impressed by his musical talents and touched by his song. She wants to take him to the Candy Kingdom, where he’ll have a chance at a brighter future than he would in the Lemon Kingdom, but they’re discovered by Lemongrab, who smashes his harp and insists on him staying here… and then Lemongrab throws Lemonhope in the dungeon because of course he does. Bubblegum wants to break Lemonhope out and Finn suggests that they prank Lemongrab, just like they did in the very first Lemongrab episode, Too Young. Bubblegum agrees to the plan, and it gets them both thrown in the dungeon with Lemonhope. Oddly, Bubblegum isn’t bothered by this outcome at all. She takes a flute from Finn’s backpack and gives it to Lemonhope to play. Turns out Finn’s failed plan was a part of Bubblegum’s plan, so she could give the flute to Lemonhope and his playing would attract the Lemongrabs, who will open the doors to smash the flute and allow them all to escape.

The Lemongrabs do arrive and Lemongrab 2 opens the door to the dungeon, and this enrages the first Lemongrab. He screams at Lemongrab 2 for having become “soft” and then he eats the rest of him while Finn, Bubblegum and Lemonhope escape. Unfortunately once they get outside the castle, they realize that the gates are locked.

• Princess Bubblegum: Oh, no! We’re locked in. Finn, give me your phone, I’m calling Jake!
• Finn: What? No! Let’s, um… we could do another prank! I brought some of your super-spicy hot sauce! Ah, so spice!
• Princess Bubblegum: Finn, this is serious!
• Finn: But, my other plan worked.
• Princess Bubblegum: Finn, your other plan failed, which was part of my plan, which worked.
• Finn: Your plan? But I thought we were having fun together.
• Princess Bubblegum: Finn, I have citizens who need me. I can’t always treat everything like a little boy game.
• Finn: Oh. Yeah, no, that’s cool.

Oh, Finn.

Then Lemonhope points out that “something scary is happening”. He means Lemongrab appearing on his balcony and yelling after them.

• Lemongrab: How dare you? How dare you? After all I’ve done for you?! You try to steal my Lemonhope away?! You’re too old, princess. Too old for pranks. Too old! [smashes part of balcony] I’ve tried imprisoning! I’ve tried reconditioning! You leave me no choice. Lemon Children! [pressing button on remote control and shocking the Lemon Children] Go forth! Go forth now!

Have you tried not being so weird, Lemongrab?

Finn says he’ll hold the Lemon Children off, as a last effort to impress the princess. Bubblegum simply pulls him out of the fight as she’s climbing the gate and puts him out of reach. That’s when he asks her, “Wait, so do you not like any games, or just little boy games?” That’s really not what’s important right now, Finn. Suddenly Lemongrab 2 emerges from Lemongrab’s mouth briefly, just long enough to say this:

• Lemongrab 2: Lemon brothers! Stop! Stop and listen! [presses button sequence on remote that breaks the Lemon Children’s shock collars off] It has cost me much, but I have learned that lemon need not squeeze lemon to survive. Lemonhope, go forth, grow strong, and return for us!

He’s eaten again after this, while the Lemon children help Finn, Bubblegum and Lemonhope over the gate. Okay, so I guess now Lemongrab 2 is dead. At least he died a hero. Sort of. R.I.P, Lemongrab 2. Again.

As they walk back to the Candy Kingdom, Bubblegum tells Lemonhope about the Candy Kingdom and Finn trails slightly behind them, looking pensive. He calls Jake and tells him that he finally gets that Bubblegum is too old for him, and that there’s too much of an age gap for them to have much in common. He also says older people are “less fun inside” which makes me think he sort of misunderstood what Bubblegum was actually trying to tell him, but hey, at least he can finally move on from Bubblegum completely, I don’t think he had really done that even while he was dating Flame Princess.

I have to be honest, I’ve heard/seen a lot of of people say that Finn is really terrible in this episode and really, I don’t think he’s that bad? I was expecting so much worse than this. Finn is stupid in this episode, yes, and he’s definitely not focusing on what’s important, but in the end he’s not doing anything really detrimental. He’s just being stupid.

Maybe what bothers people is the fact that in this episode he goes back to crushing on Bubblegum when that was supposed to have ended a while ago. I can see how that would annoy people but I’m more forgiving of it.

The thing is, I think Bubblegum is always going to be a bit special to Finn. She was his first crush (presumably) and he liked her for a long time, so I think he’s always going to have some affection for her. Even when he was dating Flame Princess, while he wasn’t openly crushing on Bubblegum anymore he did show signs of having some romantic feelings for her. Now that he and Flame Princess are broken up, it makes sense that he would briefly try to make things happen with Bubblegum again as a rebound. People do all kinds of weird things when they’re upset about a breakup, this really isn’t that much of a stretch.

I think now Finn finally gets that he and Bubblegum aren’t going to be a thing any time soon, even if I’m not sure he totally understands Bubblegum’s reasoning. If we get another Finn-loves-Bubblegum episode after this one, then I’ll probably be annoyed.

As for the other stuff going on in this episode, Lemongrab continues to get more and more disturbing, and the Lemon Kingdom has become a dictatorship. I find it interesting that Lemongrab 2 actually started to be decent. The Lemongrabs are supposed to be exactly alike, but one got worse while the other got better.

And I know that there are two episodes called Lemonhope in this season, so I guess we’ll see the fate of the Lemon Kingdom soon.

Rating: 7.5/10

Finn’s depression after his breakup with Flame Princess continues in this episode, and we also find out that Ice King is staying in the Tree Fort since his Castle has been destroyed. I actually hadn’t thought about that. Ice King has also temporarily given his crown to Gunter while the penguins rebuild. That sounds like a horrible idea, but okay. While Finn is moping Jake and Ice King talk about how tough breakups are and Ice King brings up the fact that he and Jake actually used to be married. I like how their accidental marriage is the first thing Ice King thinks of as an example of a bad breakup.

The scene switches to Flame Princess, who is sitting in the middle of a forest and feeling depressed and frustrated about the breakup. Particularly, she’s frustrated with the fact that she doesn’t feel like she can trust anyone. Everyone in the Fire Kingdom is “all deceitful and Shakespeare” and she feels like she’s been betrayed by the one person she thought she could trust. She realizes that she’s being watched by Princess Bubblegum, who claims that she’s not spying on Flame Princess, just observing her for research. That’s still kind of spying. Anyway, Bubblegum tells Flame Princess that she’s a threat because her emotions are directly linked to her combustion levels, but Bubblegum may be able to isolate and suppress her more “volatile traits”.  Flame Princess takes this to mean that Bubblegum can cut off her emotions so she won’t feel so terrible anymore, and she agrees to do whatever it takes.

They go back to the Candy Kingdom and Flame Princess is strapped to a machine that Bubblegum says will help them understand her. Before they can begin the experiment, Bubblegum gets a phone call from Jake, who says that they need her help in the Ice Kingdom. Apparently Gunter has created a race of strangling snow snakes or “snow-a-constrictors”. Bubblegum leaves Cinnamon Bun in charge after giving him some very specific and simple instructions, then she leaves for the Ice Kingdom. Cinnamon Bun immediately goes against Bubblegum’s instructions and releases Flame Princess, inviting her over to his house. Why would Bubblegum leave Cinnamon Bun in charge? In what way does that sounds like a good idea? Doesn’t she have anyone smarter to help her with the experiment?

At his house, Flame Princess learns that Bubblegum was the one responsible for Flame Princess being locked up all those years, and then it’s flashback time!

• [Title card: 15 YEARS AGO. Scene cuts to the Fire Kingdom.]
• Messenger: The word! The word!
• Flame King: What’s the word?
• Messenger: The word is your newborn baby will have greater powers than you’ll ever dream of.
• Flame King: Uh… have my baby sent into the wilderness of the outside world to perish.
• Messenger: Okay!

This sounds like the beginning of Oedipus.

Continuing the flashback, we see baby Flame Princess being left in the woods and accidentally setting them on fire. She’s found by Bubblegum, who immediately tries to return her to her father.

• Princess Bubblegum: Flame King?
• Flame King: What do you want, princess of the Gum World?
• Princess Bubblegum: I found your lost daughter.
• Flame King: I-I don’t remember losing anything.
• Princess Bubblegum: Pssh.
• Flame King: Okay, you got me. I had her sent to wander in the woods. I was in fear of being usurped. Come on.
• Princess Bubblegum: That’s your problem, but you can’t just let her run around the woods. She’s too dangerous. Find some way to contain her power, or I will.
• Flame King: Pssh, fine.
• [Scene cuts to baby Flame Princess in the lantern.]

The flashback ends there and I’m a bit confused, because it looks like Bubblegum wasn’t technically responsible for Flame Princess being trapped in the lantern. All Bubblegum did was bring her back to Flame King, who then put her in the lantern. Was it Bubblegum’s idea or not? She does tell him to contain Flame Princess’ power or she will, but did she actually tell him to put his daughter in the lantern?

Well, anyway, Flame Princess is angry that yet another person she thought was helping her turned out to have a secret. She wonders if she should just go back to where she belongs. Meanwhile, the snow-a-constrictors have been taken care of and Bubblegum and Finn are going to check on Flame Princess. They discover that she’s missing and from a note on Cinnamon Bun’s door they find out that she’s gone back to the Fire Kingdom. They go there themselves and after getting past the Flame Guards (who are hilarious), they discover that there’s a new ruler in the Fire Kingdom. It’s Flame Princess, and Flame King is now trapped in the lantern himself. Apparently she and Cinnamon Bun overthrew her dad together, and Flame Princess’ new policy in the Flame Kingdom is that everyone must be totally honest, no secrets whatsoever. Finn apologizes to Flame Princess and asks if they can get back together, but Flame Princess doesn’t want that. However, she does say that she’s forgiven Finn, and he’s welcome in the Fire Kingdom as her friend any time as long as he’s always honest with her from now on.

I like Flame Princess episodes, and episodes about the Fire Kingdom in general. Flame Princess’ character is so interesting and so is the Fire Kingdom.

I’m starting to dislike Cinnamon Bun’s character, but I do like Flame Princess’ arc in this episode. I like seeing her deal with the fact that she’s been lied to most of her life and was never really allowed to do anything because she was perceived as a threat. I don’t like that they kind of let Bubblegum’s plotline drop, though. Flame Princess finds out about her part in her imprisonment but she doesn’t even interact with Bubblegum after that. Bubblegum’s experiment isn’t even mentioned, and Flame Princess was so eager to try it before. I hope there’s another episode that addresses this later.

I hope this isn’t the last time we’ll see Flame Princess and the Fire Kingdom. It would be great to see what they do with Flame Princess now that she’s ruling the place, and the Fire Kingdom is just so enjoyable.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adventure Time Reviews: Season 5 (Sky Witch/Frost & Fire)

A post on a Wednesday? Yes! I’m on a break this week so I wanted to try and get an extra post or two in.

A quick heads-up first. I’m getting closer to the end of Season 5 and since Season 6 is not completed yet and probably won’t be by the time I’m done Season 5, I’ll most likely begin a new review project after Season 5. And things are going to be a little bit different, let me explain how.

For one thing, I want to start reviewing books as well as TV shows, so what I’ll probably do is alternate between posting a book review and a show review. How I’m going to work that out I haven’t quite figured out yet. So if you have any suggestions for shows and books you want to see me review, let me know. I have ideas of my own and I won’t guarantee that I’ll review everything that’s suggested to me, but I will take it into consideration at the very least.

Now, the thing about TV show reviews in particular is that I need to make sure whatever I’m reviewing is not only something that interests me but something that would be interesting to write/read about. Plus, my usual format of reviewing something episode-by-episode won’t work well with every single show. That’s why I’ve decided that some shows I review may have to be done differently. Episode-by-episode will still be the standard, but I might review some shows season-by-season. Or, I may just review a couple of requested episodes from a show and only those episodes, or I may just write a post about a certain plotline or character from a show, or about the show as a whole. Basically, there will be a lot more freedom. When you suggest a show, you can also suggest what you think would be the best way to review it or what in particular you want to know my thoughts on, and I’ll try to find some way to make it work.

I also may start making more “miscellaneous” posts, just to give myself a break now and then from straight-up reviews. I might make a post that’s just talking about my favorite genres or my favorite characters, or a post that discusses some random aspect of fandom. These posts won’t happen often and they probably won’t even be scheduled (though I may give a heads-up when one is coming up), they’ll just be written and posted as I feel like it. You can also suggest topics for these posts.

So, those are my plans for my next “phase” of reviewing, let me know what you think and what you would like to see from me, and some time soon I’ll make a post going over everything in more detail and also letting you all know what shows and books are on my to-review list.

Now, on to the review!

This episode begins with Bubblegum waking up, and she’s wearing the T-shirt Marceline had given her. She smells the shirt, like practically inhales it, and then puts on a sweater from her closet. There’s a picture of her and Marceline in her closet with their arms around each other. Oh my God, the Bubbline in this scene is overwhelming. Bubblegum so has it bad for Marceline.

It really does.

Anyway, Marceline actually shows up later and says she wants to hang out with Bubblegum, but Bubblegum doesn’t buy that, so Marceline confesses that she actually needs help finding Maja the Sky Witch. So the two head out, and they come to a barrier of vines and bushes. Marceline tries to force her way through and is unsuccessful, but Bubblegum discovers that if you lean on the barrier and let yourself relax, you can just pass through. On the other side of the barrier is a creepy-looking forest where they can sense strong witchcraft. They come across Maja’s Crabbit, which is some kind of hyrbid between a crow and a rabbit and it can also shape-shift. Or something. Its name is Familiar. Familiar flies away and as it does a feather falls to the ground. It transforms into Hambo, Marceline’s beloved stuffed toy, and it starts talking to her.

• Hambo: Marceline! It’s me!
• Marceline: Hambo!
• Hambo: Yeah, girl. What took you so long? I thought you gave up on me.
• Princess Bubblegum: Your teddy bear?
• Marceline: I’m sorry, man! [starts walking towards Hambo]
• Princess Bubblegum: [holding her back] Yo, wait a sec!
• Marceline: [turns to Princess Bubblegum] WHAT?!
• Princess Bubblegum: Marcy, how old are you? It’s a trick, right? Come on!
• Hambo: Help me out, dum-dum! [fake crying] Boo-hoo. Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo
• Marceline: [taking Princess Bubblegum’s hand off of her] Get off! [starts running toward Hambo] Buddy!
• Princess Bubblegum: [tackling Marceline] NO!
• Marceline: [on the ground] [grunts] BONNIE!
• [Princess Bubblegum throws the googoomamameter at Hambo, causing Hambo to disappear and wooden pikes to thrust upward through the ground where Hambo was.]
• Marceline: You killed him?
• Princess Bubblegum: Don’t be dense! Hambo can’t even talk! Snap out of it, girl.
• Marceline: He’s been with a witch this whole time. Maybe he can talk now.
• Princess Bubblegum: That’s seriously what this is about? Rescuing your old teddy bear?
• Marceline: Yeah. Sorry I didn’t tell you. You might not have come otherwise.
• Princess Bubblegum: Um, yeah. Raggedy Princess can make you a new Hambo in, like, three seconds… or Raggedy Princess can be your new Hambo. She’d do it, too. That girl’s got, like, zero self-respect. [chuckles] That’s mean—don’t tell her I said that.

I know it’s mean, but that comment about Raggedy Princess makes me laugh. I think it’s just the randomness of it and the delivery, and then the quick backtracking when she realizes how mean it was.

Marceline basically threatens to beat Bubblegum up after this and Bubblegum relents. Marceline notices the broken branches left behind by the Crabbit and flies after him, leaving Bubblegum running after her desperately. She finds a pond that is actually a portal to Maja’s house, and begins searching through the rooms to find Hambo. Marceline has also reached the house and is fighting Familiar. Bubblegums finds a receipt that says Maja bought Hambo from Marceline’s ex-boyfriend, Ash (remember him?). Maja appears and Bubblegum tries to convince her to give Hambo back, but when Maja refuses Bubblegum must persuade her some other way.

By this time Marceline has defeated Familiar, and Bubblegum has come out with Hambo. Marceline asks how she got Hambo back and Bubblegum is vague with her answer. We later find out that Bubblegum traded the shirt Marceline had given her for Hambo. Maja wanted Hambo because she needed an item with sentimental value for a spell, and Bubblegum’s shirt apparently has even greater sentimental value. Aaaaawww, Bubblegum!

Okay, so I’m a huge Bubbline shipper, which means I was going to love this episode no matter what. I am totally here for bi/pansexual candy princesses and bi/pansexual vampires. (And yes Bubblegum and Marceline are most likely either bi or pan since they have shown attraction to male characters as well as to each other.)

Anyway, even putting aside my love for the Bubbline ship, this is just a really good episode. Bubblegum and Marceline’s interactions are great and I’m happy to see that their relationship has improved somewhat since What Was Missing. There’s still some awkwardness, but they get along better and they work well together. The episode is a lot of fun and really creative. It’s also really sweet. One of the things I like most about it is what it does with the idea of sentiment, and how the character who at first seemed to be mocking it ends up being very sentimental herself.

Marceline is a very emotionally-driven character. She’d like everyone to think she’s untouched by everything and she’ll do her best to hide any strong emotions she may have, but… she’s not very good at it. Almost every episode she’s been in has been an emotionally-charged one that doesn’t further plot so much as it does character development, and nearly everything Marceline does and every decision she makes is based on emotion. She had a harder time getting through the vine barrier than Bubblegum because she couldn’t make herself calm and emotionless. She nearly put herself in danger because she fell for the Crabbit’s trick with the talking Hambo, which played on her insecurities and feeling of attachment to Hambo.

Bubblegum, on the other hand, is one of few characters on the show that isn’t driven by emotions. That’s not to say that she doesn’t have any, obviously she does, but she tends to keep those emotions under very tight control. Bubblegum’s decisions and actions are based more on reason. She does what she thinks is the smartest and best decision in the long run, not what she think is necessarily right or even what would make her happy. She’s not impulsive and hot-blooded like Marceline or Finn or… almost every other character on the show. She’s logical and usually calm, which can make her seem cold when she’s surrounded by all these super emotional characters, but she’s not really. She’s just very good at controlling and compartmentalizing and, let’s be honest, repressing those emotions (which is unhealthy but we’ll get more into that some other day). Still, Bubblegum’s shirt supposedly had even more sentimental value than Hambo did, according to what Maja said. So clearly Bubblegum is more emotional and more sentimental than she lets on, it’s just not what drives the character.

So yeah, great episode, and I hope there are more Bubblegum and Marceline episodes coming. I also hope we see Maja again, or that we’ll at least find out why she needed an item with sentimental value.

Rating: 10/10

Finn and Flame Princess are hanging out outside the Tree Fort when Ice King flies by and teases Flame Princess. This makes her angry and she beats up Ice King for it, to Finn’ amazement. That night Finn has a dream that Flame Princess is shooting flame at him and burning him while a disembodied voice whispers something Finn can’t understand. Finn thinks that Flame Princess burning him feels good and he enjoys the dream. Okay, so this is obviously supposed to represent a wet dream. Flame Princess is literally shooting fire at his crotch and Finn is enjoying it. You can’t get much more obvious than that. Finn wants to have the dream again and he’s sure the reason he had it was Flame Princess’ fight with Ice King, so he goads them into another fight.

Flame Princess and Ice King have a second fight, though this time Ice King didn’t say anything mean to Flame Princess. Finn just convinced her that he was making fun of her. Finn’s dream that night has Ice King shooting ice beams at him instead, and this time the Cosmic Owl is there laughing at him. Finn realizes that it was the Cosmic Owl’s voice that he was hearing in his last dream, and he must make himself have the dream again to figure out what it all means. He sends a letter to Ice King that reads:

Dear Ice King,

You smell like stink. You’re unpleasant, you’re not funny, you’re old, and no princess will ever marry you ever, simple Simon

Sincerely Love,

Flame Princess

P.S. Let us fight.

 

He also writes one to Flame Princess that reads:

Dear Flame Princess,

You’re just the worst. Your hair is bad, your feet smell like face cheeks, your stupid candles smell heinous and you can’t even kiss Finn without totes freakin’ out!

Let’s meet up and fight, dummy.

Sincerely,

Ice King

 

He delivers the letters to them and the two get all riled up to fight each other. Flame Princess and Ice King fight once again, but this time the fight goes on longer and is much more violent. After a while Finn realizes the mistake he’s made and tries to stop it, but the heat from Flame Princess’ fire causes him to pass out. He has another dream, one where Flame Princess is burning him again, but this time Finn transforms into a deformed baby-like creature. Flame Princess is disgusted and walks away while the Cosmic Owl whispers to Finn. This time Finn can understand what he’s saying: “You blew it.”

Finn wakes up and finds that Flame Princess has destroyed the Ice King’s castle. He rescues Ice King and Gunter from the rubble and tries to escape with them before the still-enraged Flame Princess can see. Flame Princess mistakenly attacks Finn while he’s escaping and then apologizes upon realizing what she’s done. However, Finn says that he’s the one who should be apologizing.

• Finn: No, princess. I’m the one who’s sorry. [drops Ice King] Ice King hasn’t been picking fights with you, it’s…it’s been me all along.
• Ice King: [annoyed] What?
• Flame Princess: So, you wrote that letter?
• Finn: Yes, but look, it’s just like, I had this dream and it was because of that fight you had. It was weird, but I also liked it. But it was important because the Cosmic Owl was [Flame Princess decides Finn’s words have no meaning, and all she hears is wah for every syllable for a couple of seconds.] So I had to get you to beat up Ice King-
• Flame Princess: Shh. I should have known. That letter said things in it that only you would know. Personal things, Finn. And you used them against me. I thought you were the one person I could- I need some time alone.
• Finn: Princess!
• [Flame Princess walks away.]
• Finn: But, I said I was sorry.
• [Gunter rips out of Finn’s shirt and falls into the water.]
• Ice King: You blew it, man.

You know you’ve really messed things up with a girl when even Ice King thinks you’ve messed things up with a girl.

I guess Flame Princess and Finn are broken up. I mean, Flame Princess didn’t actually say “I’m breaking up with you” but it’s clear that this is what we were supposed to get from that conversation. The funny thing is that Finn’s first dream was supposed to be warning him about this, but if he’d never had that first dream this would never have happened. It was because he wanted to have the dreams again and figure them out that he goaded Flame Princess into fighting Ice King, and that’s how he “blew it”. The dream became a self-fulfilling prophecy. If he hadn’t had it to begin with, everything probably would have been fine.

But let’s talk about Finn for a second. A running theme in this season seems to be “Finn is actually kind of a dick”. I’m guessing a lot of that has to do with puberty and hormones and yeah, I remember what it’s like to be Finn’s age and it’s not a time of my life that I like thinking about. Everyone is a dick at fourteen and everyone is later embarrassed by their fourteen year old self. If there are any fourteen year olds reading this, I’m not saying that you’re all 100% terrible, but trust me, there’s going to be a lot of stuff you did/said/thought at fourteen that in a few years will really embarrass you. Anyway, point is that I actually don’t take too much issue with Finn in this season because it is realistic, but that also doesn’t mean I’m going to give him a free pass.

What Finn does in this episode is not cool. Deliberately goading two people into violence for personal gain is bad enough, but Finn also uses Flame Princess’ insecurities against her. He makes her think that she’s being made fun of, and he knows she’ll believe him because she’s rather naive and very volatile. I’m guessing what really upset her in Finn’s letter was the part where he mentioned that she can’t kiss him without “totes freaking out”. We’ve already seen that Flame Princess is scared of her lack of self-control and of her supposed inherent evil. The fact that she can’t even be physically intimate with the boy she likes without literally overheating and burning a hole through the earth is probably not something she’s happy about. So yeah, using that against her was not something Finn should have done, and saying sorry doesn’t really fix that. (By the way, I like that Finn saying sorry wasn’t treated like an immediate fix for everything. I feel like a lot of people are under the impression that if you apologize to someone they are obligated to forgive you, but while apologizing is definitely the right thing to do it’s important to remember that it doesn’t mean they have to stop being mad at you.)

I wonder what this means for Finn and Flame Princess now. Their relationship surprisingly had very little effect on the show, it wasn’t as much of a game-changer as I thought it would be. Flame Princess isn’t even in that many episodes. So, how is the breakup going to effect Finn? And will we still see Flame Princess at all? I hope we do, and maybe now that she and Finn have broken up we’ll get to see her as more than just “Finn’s troubled girlfriend”. They were setting up some interesting stories and conflicts with Flame Princess and it would be a shame to see all of that go to waste.

Rating: 8/10