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 1 (Ricardio the Heart Guy/Business Time)

Ooh, my favorite title card yet! The roses, the lighting, it’s beautiful! Although it’s also disturbing because Ricardio’s face is insanely creepy to me and I’d be happy if I never had to look at it again.

The episode begins with Finn and Jake rescuing Princess Bubblegum from the Ice king. Yep, he’s still looking for a princess to marry. Give it up, dude. Anyway, to thank Finn and Jake, Bubblegum invites them over for a party at her castle. Finn is excited about the party, and hopeful for what it might bring. Up until now it’s only been hinted at, but this episode makes it clear that Finn has a crush on Bubblegum. He himself won’t admit it, but everyone else can see it. Even Bubblegum seems aware of it.

When they get to the party, they meet Ricardio, a heart-shaped… thing. His name is a brilliant pun, but his face creeps me the hell out. I don’t what it is about his face, it’s just so EW. Anyway, Ricardio charms everyone at the party, and even catches the attention of Princess Bubblegum. Finn becomes jealous and tries to win Bubblegum’s attention back, but is unsuccessful because, unlike Ricardio, he can’t carry on a conversation about science with her, and science is what interests Bubblegum more than anything.

Finn suspects that Ricardio is up to something, and of course everyone thinks that Finn’s mistrust for Ricardio stems from jealousy. To be fair, it obviously is because of Finn’s jealousy, but it’s pretty easy to predict that Finn will be proven right at the end. Plus, just look at Ricardio’s face. How can you trust a face like that? Anyway, Finn convinces Jake to spy on Ricardio with him, hoping that they’ll catch Ricardio doing something wrong, but they don’t have any luck. That is, until they find a weakened Ice King on the streets, calling out for Ricardio.

Finn demands that the Ice King tell them what he knows about Ricardio, and the Ice King obliges. He tells them about how he’d been trying to cast a spell to win over Bubblegum’s heart, but he cast it wrong. Instead, his own heart came out of his chest, leaving him severely weakened, and ran off to steal Bubblegum’s heart (literally) itself. That’s what Ricardio is. He’s the Ice King’s heart. I love this. I’ve always been so enamored with the idea of… of… crap, I never had a reason to name this type of thing specifically so I don’t even know what to call it now. Um. Okay. You know the concept of Horcruxes in Harry Potter, where a wizard/witch can split their soul into more than one piece and encapsulate those pieces in objects, separate from themselves, but still live? Or, if you’ve ever watched Once Upon a Time, how people can have their hearts ripped out without it killing them, but they’ll be under the control of whoever possesses their heart? I like that, the idea of people being separated from metaphysical parts of themselves like their souls or their hearts (hearts aren’t metaphysical, but the idea of them being attached to our emotions or our sense of self sort of is, and they’re very romanticized/idealized) and still living, but it having an effect on their humanity or, as in the case of the Ice King, their health. What is that called? There must be a name for this trope/concept, it’s pretty common in fantasy. Whatever, I’m enamored with this concept.

Anyway, Finn and Jake rush to Bubblegum’s rescue, finding her being held hostage by Ricardio. The fight begins… and ends quickly. It’s not that hard to beat up a heart. The Ice King comes staggering in before they can do too much damage to Ricardio, and tells them to let him put Ricardio back into his chest before he dies. Finn is unsure of whether they should let the Ice King save himself, but Jake doesn’t like the idea of letting the Ice King die, so they allow him to take back Ricardio. I really liked this detail, because I was just wondering in my last review whether or not Finn would be willing to have the Ice King die if it came to it. Here was his chance, and he didn’t let it happen. I find it interesting that Finn did hesitate, though, and it seemed as though he only abstained because Jake thought that they should. By the expression on his face, you can tell Finn isn’t totally convinced that it was the right thing to do. It’s too bad this moment is so short, but I’m surprised a moment like this came so soon, if at all. More please.

So, Bubblegum is saved and the Ice King gets his heart back, and he’s apparently ready to go back to trying to win over/kidnap Bubblegum. Good to know he learned something from this.

Let’s talk about romance for a moment, shall we?

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a fan of romance, that it bores me and that I hate when there’s too much focus on it. I’m infamous for it among my friends, who are all diehard romantics. As much as I say that I hate romance, though, it’s not entirely true. Or at least, I may exaggerate just how much I dislike it.

Thing is, my whole “ROMANCE IS ICKY DO NOT WANT” spiel is contradicted by the fact that I can name plenty of ships I like. When it comes to fiction, my interest is mostly in the characters themselves, and how they interact and what their relationships with each other are. Like it or not, romance is a big part of that, and even if I find platonic relationships more interesting than romantic ones, it’s not like I can’t ever enjoy a romance. I don’t like it when the romances take over, when they’re only used to cause drama, when it becomes the only thing of importance in the story, but I don’t mind at all if it’s more of a secondary thing, or when it’s used to develop characters. That’s what I’m looking for: character development. I don’t want to see grandiose declarations of ~love~ or mushy dialogue, I want to see two characters growing to care for each other in a way that’s natural and believable. And not in the foreground. Maybe that’s why, when I do ship, I’m often really into the idea of the couple but then lose interest when/if the couple actually gets together.

With that out of the way, I’ll say this: Finn’s crush on Bubblegum is absolutely adorable. I’m enjoying all of the hints about it (can you call them hints when they’re that obvious?) and I hope they continue. It’s nice to see this kind of vulnerability and awkwardness from Finn, who’s usually so aggressive.  I don’t know if I’d say I ship Finn and Bubblegum, but I like the whole “puppy love” thing Finn has going. It’s cute. And I’m glad that they don’t make Bubblegum oblivious to Finn’s crush, she’s aware of it but it’s unclear whether she reciprocates it. I do find it a bit odd that she would tease Finn about it at the end of the episode, though. I guess it was meant to be playful, but it came off kind of mean. I don’t know, Bubblegum seems really nice, so seeing her do something like this is odd to me.

It’s good to see the Ice King again, even if he’s not in the episode for long. I wonder if we’ll ever see Ricardio again, and what that will mean for the Ice King. This show actually has some continuity, doesn’t it? So it’s totally possible that Ricardio will return.

Let’s wrap this up. I liked this episode. It’s funny, it’s cute, and it has some interesting stuff in it. I like it almost as much as I like The Enchiridion.

Rating: 8/10

Finn and Jake find some business men frozen in an ice burg (who look and act rather like zombies), and hire them to help make their adventures more efficient? I’m not totally sure how that works. And I’m a little confused about the frozen business men. Where and when does this show take place exactly? I thought it was in some fantasy realm or whatever, so what’s with the frozen business men?

Okay, I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently Adventure Time takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth.

WHAT

HOW

WHAT KIND OF APOCALYPSE PRODUCES CANDY PEOPLE AND SUCH

OR IS IT STILL IN A FANTASY WORLD BUT THERE HAPPENED TO BE AN APOCALYPSE THERE

JUST WHEN I THINK THIS IS SHOW IS STARTING TO MAKE SENSE TO ME

EXPLANATION, PLEASE

Okay. So. Um. Okay. The business men. At first they help Finn and Jake by polishing their weapons, and monitoring any evil activities that might be going on in the POST-APOCALYPTIC LAND OF OOO. Sorry, not over that yet. After a while, the business men start to take over too many of Finn and Jake’s responsibilities, and the two of them get lazier and fatter as time goes on until the business men are doing all of their adventures for them.

It turns out business men don’t make very good adventurers, though. They’re all about efficiency, and don’t think much about how their ideas affect the people they’re rescuing. When Finn realizes this, he takes action again and fires them, which sends the business men in a rage. After managing to calm them down, Finn and Jake apparently decide to put them back in their ice burg and send them drifting away. Ooh ~moral ambiguity~ or something.

I don’t like this episode.

That was probably obvious by the fact that the synopsis is so short and not very detailed, I didn’t really want to talk about the episode that much. It’s the first Adventure Time episode that I don’t like, which I guess was bound to happen sooner or later. I kind of wish it had happened later though.

Not that Business Time is terrible. I’d probably find it watchable. Really, I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t like this one, I just didn’t.

I think one of the reasons might be how out of character Finn seems. This might be a bit unfair, I’m only eight episodes into the show, so isn’t it kind of early for me to think I know these characters well enough to know when they’re being out of character? Well, because I’m watching this show so slowly instead of binge-watching it like I normally would do for a new show, combined with the fact that I spend so much time writing and thinking about it afterwards, it feels like I’ve seen more episodes than I actually have. And I guess I’ve built up an idea of what Finn is like in my mind, and Business Time doesn’t fit. I don’t know, I just can’t imagine feisty, active Finn being willing to let someone else take control while he does nothing. And I really can’t imagine him being willing to let it happen for as long as he did here. It doesn’t feel right. Jake I can kind of see doing that, he is a lot more laidback than Finn and from other episodes he seems fine with hanging back while someone else takes action. Finn, though? I guess I need to remember that, for all his courage, he’s still twelve, and what twelve-year doesn’t like to slack-off every now and then? Maybe that’s what this episode is for (besides confirming the post-apocalypse thing), it’s a reminder that Finn is a kid? Eh, still don’t like.

Another reason I might dislike this episode is one that is completely unfair, or at least it’s unfair to blame this episode in particular for it because it’s not the sole offender, it’s just I had this thought while watching it so now I associate the two. The thought was that I’m getting tired of Finn and Jake.

Wait, let me explain.

I like Finn, and Jake is okay, but we haven’t gotten much variety when it comes to characters, have we? Again, I’m only eight episodes in, so its early for complaints like this, but, again, due to how I’m watching this show it feels like I’ve seen more episodes than I have. So far every episode has centered on Finn and Jake, which makes sense since they’re the main characters, but it does get a bit tiring to always see the same dynamic, and I still know next to nothing about most of the other characters. All I know about Princess Bubblegum is that she’s nice, smart, and she likes science, and all I know about the Ice King is that he… likes princesses? I’m sure I’d like both of them if I knew more about them, but I haven’t had much opportunity to learn about them. And I still haven’t met this vampire character that I’ve heard so much about. Aren’t she, Bubblegum and the Ice King supposed to be main characters? Why do I still know so little about them?

Bubblegum has appeared in a decent number of episodes so far, but always as more of a catalyst to the plot than a participant. Trouble in Lumpy Space and Tree Trunks had other characters involved in their plots, but the focus was still mostly on Finn and Jake. I don’t know, maybe because I’m not particularly attached to anyone in this show yet, I feel a need for more variety just to keep me interested.

But of course I need to keep in mind that, no matter what it feels like, I’m EIGHT EPISODES INTO THE SHOW so I should probably be patient or something.

So, um, Business Time. Wasn’t feeling this episode. However, I do want to point out one thing that I liked:

• Jake: Your gut’s so huge and moldable.
• Finn: Hey!
• Jake: Hold on a sec!
• Finn: [Laughs] Man, that tickles.
• [Jake manipulates Finn’s gut to look like the Ice King]
• Jake: [Impersonating Ice King’s voice] I’m the Ice King, and I’ll never find a bride because I’m such a tool.
• Finn: [Laughs] Alright, let me try.
• [Finn manipulates his gut to look like Princess Bubblegum]
• Finn: [Impersonating Princess Bubblegum’s voice] I’m Princess Bubblegum and I’m a dork, because I like science! I’ve also got a really annoying voice that Finn thinks is attractive!
• Jake: [Laughs] That’s a- Hey, what’d you say?

Oh, Finn. You’ve got it bad.

Rating: 4/10

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 7 (SpongeBob’s Last Stand/Back to the Past/The Bad Guy Club for Villains)

Ooh, I love the dark look of this title card. It gets the point across nicely, with the small, lonely patch of grass surrounded by concrete that appears to be slowly creeping onto the grass, while the sky in the background is a dull, brownish-grey with only a streak of bright blue on the horizon. Even the title itself sounds ominous.

Right, I’m not here to review the title card, though to be honest I think the title card is more interesting than the episode and kind of would like to review it. Okay, so, SpongeBob’s Last Stand is an Earth Day Special, and we all know what that means: some overly-preachy environmental message that we’ve all heard a thousand times in movies like Ferngully and Pocahontas. Yeah, Earth Day Specials are usually lame. Was this one lame? Well, um, not really but kind of-ish? Let’s start at the beginning.

SpongeBob and Patrick are jellyfishing, and they find out that a highway will be built through Jellyfish Fields. SpongeBob wants to stop this from happening because it will destroy the jellyfishes habitat and blah blah blah. You get the idea. SpongeBob tries to get more people to help, but no one but him and Patrick are willing. So, why didn’t they ask Sandy? I’ve sure she would have wanted to help. He tells Mr. Krabs about the new highway, and the two find out that the highway will go directly over the Krusty Krab and straight to the Chum Bucket. Yep, turns out Plankton is behind everything. So now we have to save the Krusty Krab, too? Whatever. SpongeBob and Krabs go to confront Plankton on this, but Plankton tells them that he doesn’t give a barnacle. Those are his exact words. Oh, you can bet I’ll be quoting that from now on. Krabs is ready to give up, but SpongeBob isn’t. He and Patrick protest the new highway to no avail. When it comes time for the highway to be built, SpongeBob tries to put himself in the way of the construction, but even that does nothing as Plankton is happy to run him over. With their home destroyed, the jellyfish overrun Bikini Bottom. Because of this, everyone in Bikini Bottom (OH, THERE YOU ARE, SANDY) helps get rid of the highway, thus saving Jellyfish Fields. And the Krusty Krab.

Okay, so, I’m not saying that the environment isn’t important or that kids shouldn’t be getting environmental messages like this, but do they have to get them this often? And do they always have to be presented in such a preachy way? Granted, SpongeBob’s Last Stand isn’t as preachy as most environmental episodes of other shows are, but it’s still pretty preachy. Or maybe I’m just tired of seeing morals like this because I’ve seen it done in tons of movies and shows already, so it’s very possible my irritation is just a bias.

The songs in this episode are awful. Actually, the first song they sing is okay, it’s not very memorable but it’s kind of fun. That “Give Jellyfish Fields a Chance” song, though? Awful. It’s obviously a parody of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance”, which, as a Lennon fan, I love the idea of. But all Give Jellyfish Fields a Chance is is a string of random words with a chorus that goes “All we are saying is give Jellyfish Fields a Chance”. Literally, it’s just a bunch of random, unrelated words in the verses and then that chorus. You think I’m kidding or exaggerating? I’m not. That’s what it is. Look it up and see for yourself.

The jokes in this episodes ranged from laugh-out-loud funny to facepalm-worthy. I laughed more than I facepalmed, though, so that’s a good thing. I also liked some of the darker imagery that was used, like when the Krusty Krab is desolate and empty after the highway was built, and when Bikini Bottom is overrun by jellyfish.

Overall, I’d say this episode is slightly below average, but it’s still watchable.

Rating: 4.5/10

After helping out Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, SpongeBob and Patrick are shown their room full of memorabilia, which includes their time machine. Even though they were told not to touch it, Patrick touches it, launching the four of them back in time. There, we see a younger and fitter Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy fighting Manray who apparently doesn’t age because he always looks the same. Or maybe he’s just in really good shape. What’s his secret? Anyway, Patrick freaks out and drags SpongeBob back to the time machine, leaving Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy stuck in the past. That’s when Barnacle Boy has his best line ever: “Why haven’t we had those two classified as villains yet?” 10/10 I cried. SpongeBob and Patrick go back to the present, but it’s an alternate timeline where Manray has taken over Bikini Bottom and forced everyone to be his slaves (Squilliam makes a small appearance that literally lasts ten seconds and I still had a mini fangirl meltdown my God what is wrong with me?). SpongeBob goes to the Krusty Krab to find out if he still has a job in this alternate timeline, and there he finds Barnacle Boy working as a cashier. Well, I always did think he and Squidward were similar. They even look similar! Oh, and Mermaid Man is working as a fry cook. SpongeBob convinces MM and BB to go back in time again and defeat Manray. They do so, and in classic time-travel confusion, a bunch of different SpongeBobs and Patrick keep showing up to stop Manray. While Manray is confused, the younger Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are able to place him under arrest, saving the future.

I love time-travel and all of its weird rules and paradoxes, so when I found out what the plot of this episode was, I was really excited. It turned out pretty good, though not quite as good as I was hoping. Most of the jokes got a giggle out of me, but I would have liked to have spent more time in the alternate timeline where Manray has taken over Bikini Bottom. I think it had more potential and I would have liked to see it explored more. They probably could have stretched this one out a few more minutes and made it a special (it’s already pretty long for just a regular episode anyway), which would have allowed for more time to explore the alternate timeline.

I liked how cold and dark everything (including the inside of the Krusty Krab) looked in the alternate timeline. Did I ever mention that I love when this show uses darker animation/imagery? Because I do. When it’s done right, that is. Anyway, I liked the look of the Manray’s Bikini Bottom, and even the citizens looked appropriately downtrodden and tired. Everything in the alternate timeline had an cold, grim, unsettling feeling, it was really interesting, and it just makes me wish we’d gotten to spend more time in it.

Overall, this is a decent episode, but I don’t think it quite reached its full potential.

Rating: 6.5/10

SpongeBob and Patrick watch a tape of “the lost episode” of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. The episode is basically just what’s on the tape. A bunch of villains, which includes Manray and the Dirty Bubble (like I’m going to bother listing the rest), are meeting secretly. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy suspect that they’re up to no good, so they crash the meeting along with the Ponderer, Miss Appear, The Elastic Wasteband, and Professor Magma. Wait, what? Professor Magma? It’s Captain Magma, damn it! And where’s the Quickster? And why do their costumes look nothing like they do in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V? Am I seriously geeking-out over super heroes in a cartoon? Yes. Yes I am. Anyway, a fight ensues ending with the villains being caught. Apparently they were only having a book club meeting, so MM and BB can’t imprison them. That’s it.

This is kind of a neat idea for an episode. It’s different, at least. I can’t say I laughed at much, but it did keep me entertained and the fight was kind of cool. I also like the old-fashioned art style that was used for the lost episode, that was a nice touch.

I liked seeing some of the Super Acquaintances from Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V (either it or part III are my favorite MM and BB episodes), that was a nice reference and I appreciated it. But, I’m sorry, I must bring this up again: why is Captain Magma called Professor Magma instead, why do they all look nothing like they did in MM and BB V and where is the Quickster? I know it’s a nitpick, but  it bugged me a lot.

Oh well, this is still a pretty fun episode, but I probably wouldn’t revisit it. Although I would like to join the villains’ book club.

Rating: 6/10