Written & Storyboarded by: Kris Mukai, Anna Syvertsson, Charmaine Verhagen & Maya Petersen
I think at this point in the season, I have little expectation that it’s going to drastically change from what we’ve gotten so far. It seems that this team is veryinvested in exploring Fionna-World, even more so than the magical elements surrounding it. I’ve seen plenty of people, including myself, kind of rag on the Fionna-World bits for feeling a bit tiresome, but one argument I don’t necessarily get behind is that it’s poorly paced. I think spending an extended period of time fleshing out these characters and letting them breathe in their own world is a methodical approach into helping them feel more real and making us care more for them as individual characters. Whether or not that’s actually interesting is another story, but I’d argue that the magical elements are the pieces that feel much more sloppily panned out. Marshall’s story takes up most of the episode while Huntress Wizard’s section feels tacked on.
Let’s jump into the Marshall and Gary stuff first, which I actually was somewhat fond of this time around. One thing I like about Fionna-World is whenever we’re given a curveball about how these characters operate differently from their Ooo counterparts. It gets a bit tiresome to see all of the parallels between worlds in a way that doesn’t really stray too far from what we’ve seen already. I’m a bit pessimistic when it comes to the development of Marshall and Simone’s (finally named in the credits!) relationship, as I really don’t want to retread the same emotional beats that Simon and Marceline had in the original series. Granted, it’s still early, and I could see them pulling some type of twist that makes this connection different (my money is currently on Hana Abadeer somehow sabotaging the relationship), but since we only barely know these characters, I just can’t see it hitting with the same amount of emotional resonance.
However, there are elements of expanding these characters beyond just initial base traits and dynamics that I can appreciate. For instance, I like all the scenes with Gary’s parents! It was kind of a surprise to me, because I was so sure Gumbald, Lolly, and Chicle would be tied back into it, but having them be these standalone entities that we’ve never seen before actually helps this world to feel less superficial (UPDATE: It was later confirmed by Tom Herpich that Gordie and Gertie were based primarily on Banana Guards). Gordie and Gertie are lovely, and it’s so cool to see my boy Joe Pera guest star in an episode. If y’all haven’t seen Joe Pera Talks With You, I recommend watching it immediately – you will not regret it. Pera’s voice lends itself so wonderfully to the world of the series, and it brings such a gentle warmness to the character himself. It kind of makes sense that Gary would be way more adjusted than PB. Gordie and Gertie clearly gave him a wonderful life, so aside from being a tad bit of a control freak, he isn’t so drastically domineering as his Ooo counterpart. I additionally love Gordie and Gertie’s squishy, nearly genetic designs, once again clearly designed by Tom Herpich. Contradicting my initial point about how I like seeing new characters, having Nelly play a part in the family dynamic was a treat. Her making Deviantart style drawings in her room got the biggest laugh for me – so sweet how she’s living up her little neurodivergent life.
Marshall and Gary’s dynamic this time around is pretty okay and I like how there is a bit more of a conflict for them to work through after being so mushy throughout the first chunk of episodes. Marshall having added character depth of feeling like he can’t express himself additionally fleshes him out beyond his counterpart, who struggles more with being expressive to a fault. Whereas Gary is pushy, but not so egotistical that he pushes aside the woes of his partner. It’s pretty sweet, even if I find Gary’s delivery increasingly grating. I really would’ve preferred if Rannells stayed in this role. I have very little to say when it comes to Marshall’s connection with his mother outside of it being a nice bit of lingering trauma for Marshall himself. Also found it very funny when she just straight up kicks her son out after being annoyed by him.
On Huntress Wizard and Cake’s side, I quite like their dynamic, even if I find their exploration to mostly be uninteresting. I think there’s a lot you can do with the mystical elements of the Fionna-World treehouse, but it’s mostly squandered to just show us glimpses of this world and its magical counterpart that don’t really add anything to the scope or characters themselves. At most, we get little quippy bits of Cake and Huntress Wizard working off of each other, which is relatively fun. Cake’s continued desire to be independent from her previously domesticated lifestyle continues to be engaging, and there’s several great reactionary moments from her. My favorite bit though was her reading Of Human Bondage and being disappointed with its contents. And poor M-Cron! That dude just wants to fuck a cat at all costs and he can’t even get his moment. I do like that these sections focus more on expanding upon the relationship between two characters, especially when it’s giving Cake more of a chance to interact with the third team member than she did last season, I just wish there was substance to the expedition itself. It’s not fully devoid of fun as I mentioned, and I do like the segment where it’s shown that baby Finn is an eternal baby that ends up being a savior of his surroundings. But I just don’t think there’s a ton of meat to the adventure itself, mostly being an aimless series of events that don’t even really seemingly add to HW’s individual journey, or even just be that engaging in the process. I did get a little too much into the fun fan theory that these characters all have false childhood memories because the GOLB switch happened when Fionna was 17, but nah, it seems like that’s pretty much debunked with Marshall’s childhood in this episode.
Probably the most frustrated I was this time around was with the Ooo segments, that once again end with a bait-and-switch. I really got into the theories that Simon chasing after magic again was somewhat of a relapse for his character – it would’ve been neat to see that he and Fionna’s arcs are very much still connected, with the two of them struggling to find change in their lives even after world altering events. Last episode even kind of suggests that he’s somewhat ashamed to have the Wishing Eye, concealing it in his jacket secretively. But that’s sorta thrown out in this episode, where he just uses it to no avail. Isn’t it supposed to take a piece of your soul when you use it? I guess you could concur that’s what is happening to Finn, who is becoming progressively more decrepit, but it felt very gimmicky to me. They keep introducing cool longtime artifacts into the series only to do absolutely nothing with them for the sake of progressing the story under false pretenses. It’s getting very annoying to watch.
We also have Fionna’s side quests, which are mostly light and fun, with the added drama that she’s seeking out help from Abadeer to pay off the park’s debt. I’m reaaally not interested in having this story arc that is probably just going to result in everyone being kind of rightfully pissed off with Fionna for several episodes. I doubt they’re going to commit to it fully and I imagine there’s going to be a resolution with Fionna and her friends, so it just seems like a bit of added drama that doesn’t sound particularly fun to tackle. I do like Queenie so blatantly being petty – she’s a fun character.
What else can I say about this one? It’s nice to have a Rebecca Sugar song back, even if it’s pretty underutilized in the episode itself. I like how the one marshmallow kid is depicted having vitiligo – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a character with vitiligo depicted in an animated series. Also, there’s a really fucky looking version of Jay and Little Destiny walking around and I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be them or Fionna-World versions of them? I don’t know if this was just a really poor board translation or the intention of the episode, but the latter doesn’t really make sense considering that they would be Fionna’s children? I guess it’s a little late in the game now to be nitpicking the rules of this universe, but I’m just gonna assume it’s really them until I get information otherwise. Blah, I’m just getting tired. I wanna hold out hope that the second half of the season can turn things around for me, but I’m already so disenchanted. Part of me wonders if I’m really even adding anything new to the discussion – there’s plenty of people who really like this season and have been digging deeper into the characters and their nuances, and kudos to them! I feel like a cranky old miser trying to find an investment point each week and just being left with very little I actually want to say. I’m glad that this series has fans and it’s continuing to expand on characters that many want to see more of, but for me, it’s kind of becoming a weekly process longing for the spark that made this series so great to me in the first place. Maybe I’m just getting old!
No guest sequence this week sadly, but I loved the return of the wish world from Blenanas. Glad that they got Thurop Van Orman back to play him!
Favorite line: “We’re eating like royalty tonight! Because we’re the Princes.”
Written & Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Monica Ray & Jackie Files
Huntress Wizard has certainly had quite the journey in the AT world. Existing merely as a background character for the first six years of the show’s run, HW was able to thrust herself into relevancy based on her gnarly design alone. But even with her increased role in the series, Huntress Wizard’s personality and motives have never really been explored, which has been somewhat intentional. Adam Muto himself talks about this in a recent interview, stating that it was risky to flesh out a character that was primarily known and loved for being mysterious. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also cautious about this, especially when it comes to a character that was mostly elaborated on purely as a result of fanservice. That’s not necessarily a knock at HW, as I quite liked her role in the original series. But that’s because she was such a bit character that really only showed up ever so often, and even in her brief appearances, we never truly got what she was all about. The Crocodile Who Bit A Log feels like it’s slowly setting up for parts of that mystery to be unraveled, but does so through a subdued backstory that is quite eloquently executed.
There’s basically three sections of this episode, so instead of going through it frame-by-frame like I did last week, I’m gonna talk about each individually. First is the Huntress Wizard stuff, which was easily my favorite segment of the episode. Graham Falk cooked with the cold open – man, is it gorgeous! Falk has been in the industry the longest out of anyone, so any time he’s able to really flourish through individual segments (like the silent movie dimension from Prismo the Wishmaster) it really shows how much of a seasoned veteran he is. The backgrounds, complemented by rough, inconsistent pen lines and messy paints strokes, are absolutely boasting with beautiful colors. When it comes to the visual look of the current series, it’s been tougher in the show’s recent years to actually pinpoint which artist worked on which portion of the episode. There’s a number of possible reasons for this; with directors more at the forefront this series than prior (which is as good a time as ever to mention that Cole Sanchez is back, after several years being absent from the franchise), it’s possible cleanup and revisions end up homogenizing a lot of shots from their individual essence. There’s also a new overseas studio for this season, brought to my attention by fellow commentator Digamma-F-Wau, which could be contributing the same level of wash out. There’s also the possibility that I’m just off my game and the individual touch still is in tact, but there are bits in this one that feel like they may have been squandered in the final product (i.e. when Cake reacts shocked to the cooking materials nearly falling, that’s clearly a Falk shot. But I’d be interested in seeing the actual storyboard, because it feels a bit more stilted in execution). All that is to say, I’m glad to see how much Falk’s touch absolutely erupts during the opening, continuing to spotlight AT‘s unique talents in the best possible way.
Huntress Wizard’s journey to become part of the forest is meditative and wonderfully paced, showcasing her commitment, but initial struggle, to adopt zen in the roughness of the wilderness. She’s accompanied by Spirit Dream Warrior, who evidently she never had a romantic past with, and served more as a guru to her through her journey into wizardry. Once she becomes apart of the green wizard society, HW chooses the path of isolation instead of being connected to her new groupies. I’m wondering if we’ll get more of a backstory on what led HW down this path, but I’d also be okay if this is just some kind of intrinsic desire HW has to do things as a lone wolf without any type of community on her side. When she reaches the “Heart” of the Forest, we treated to a fun bit of back-and-forth between her and Witch Wizard. The show additionally continues to not give any clear answers on HW and Finn’s relationship, with HW hesitating to find a way to address him, which I like. I originally kind of went in to this season thinking they were more on the casual side, remaining friends but having moments of intimacy every now and then. Her reaction here, and later her dream sequence with Finn, make it seem like Finn really likes her, while she’s hesitant to be true to her deeper feelings. This is easily connected to her behavior in Flute Spell, and while some of that denial toward larger connections seems to have been shed by her next major appearance in The Wild Hunt, it doesn’t appear to have opened up any type of larger shift in her consciousness.
Granted, I’m sure there’s a lot we’re not seeing behind the scenes. I would imagine HW had a large role in helping Finn after the passing of Jake, and Finn’s connectedness to the forest implies that they have spent a lot of time together. I think there is a difference between Huntress Wizard having these moments of intimacy and actually acknowledging them as they are, or even just opening herself up to the perception of others. Regardless, her drive to do things her way come to a roadblock when Witch Wizard opposes her, leading to a really great fight sequence. The build up, the animation, camera angles, transformations, and great bit of score to boot. Continuing to give her credit where credit is due, Amanda Jones has been knocking it out of the park season with stellar music cues, accenting the high stakes battle between the wizards perfectly (also I’ll note before I forget, Jones brought back Kheirosiphon’s theme when he reappears! Nice touch). Outside of the opening, the forest bits provide the most visual flair for the episode, with the revelation of the “Hart” of the Forest being yet another highlight. This is once again a pretty direct reference to Princess Mononoke, which miiiight be slightly derivative? But regardless, I love the design and the way it thrashes, breaks apart, and eventually absorbs into itself provides for a uniquely exciting excerpt that comes to a screaming halt when Huntress Wizard fucking explodes. AT has been doing a really good job at not letting their current rating impact how gratuitous some scenes could be. I’m sure you could make Huntress’s body parts separating from her even more graphic, but it really wouldn’t feel like Adventure Time if they made it especially gruesome. It feels like it would be a little silly in execution, and it is, but in a way that is true to this franchise. For any seasoned viewer, it’s still impactful and devastating in a way that really only works within the tone of Adventure Time.
Within the Hart/Heart of the Forest, we get the aforementioned heartbreaking dream with Finn, reassuring Huntress Wizard that he’ll never forget her. It’s probably my favorite moment in the episode, doing so much with so little, and speaking to both of these characters and how differently they feel and express their emotions. HW’s body breaks up into individual segments that disperse throughout the multiverse as seeds of her essence. They end up in the following locations: Farmworld, Vampire World, the Baby World and then a gaggle of other dimensions that don’t immediately register in my brain as locations we’ve seen before. I thought the one from space might be the Drift, but nah, the specific background here doesn’t match anything from BMO. I’m just gonna assume we haven’t seen these locations before and then wait until someone makes the connection and makes me feel very stupid. The mystics that this scene plays around with are great; Huntress playing around with the various portals and being overwhelmed with the sounds feel true to her process of essentially being reborn.
With her hand cut off early in the episode and used as a sacrifice for the Heart, it seems like HW’s spirit is capable of living on beyond her physical body because of her connection to this magic. Or maybe, Huntress Wizard is dead, but her spirit lives on to incarnate at pretty much any time she’s separated from it. This seems consistent with Witch Wizard, who was practically murdered by Finn last season, but still maintains a physical body (possibly connecting to HW noticing her new “fit”?) The birth process is painful, and HW struggles within the overwhelming possibilities of choice at her very fingertips (with a foreboding rain of blood drops backing her). She returns to her meditative state, questions the possibilities of the world, and trusts in the universe that her choice is ultimately where growth will lie for her. It’s really nice that they got Sean Rohani to do voiceover within the spirit realm. It was great knowing that Kumail Nanjiani was coming back this season to reprise Prismo, but I was a bit bummed for Rohani since he did a great job of picking up for Prismo last season. Glad to know that he still has a role in the series, even if it will be considerably smaller. Thankfully, HW does NOT choose to find a new host body within Baby Cinnamon Bun’s mouth, and begins her growth within Fionna-World.
Over in Fionna-World, we rejoin the gang as they attempt to reclaim Gary’s new business venture. I really wanted to go into this season being more positive about the Fionna and Cake stuff, but honestly, mostly everything in Fionna-World does very little for me this time around. I just simply don’t really care about what happens in the individual lives of these characters. Gary and Marshall served as great stand-ins last season to show how PB and Marceline’s connection exists in all corners of the universe, but I’m less invested this time around, and I honestly do think that has something to do with the performances. I went from being neutral to both replacements to really not liking them this time around, with Marshall’s delivery falling a bit flat and Gary’s inflections feeling far too cartoonishly peppy. Watching these characters deal with what feels like generic sitcom fodder just isn’t doing it for me. And don’t get me wrong, the show is aware of this – Muto has said that this version of their world is very much an idealized 90’s sitcom world. But so far I don’t think they’re playing with those tropes enough or in an especially comedic way to make me feel like it’s more than just a bit of fodder between the real meat of the episode. I feel like looping in Cheers as a way to allude to this is very quickly starting to overstay its welcome – we get it, Fionna and Cake live in a sitcom! We don’t need Pendleton Ward to do his Norm impression every single episode!
I like some of the jokes we’re treated to, like the return of PepTank and his triumph in getting a night out to himself. I like how Hanna Abadeer apparently has spies out on Marshall, as seen with one hiding out when they’re at the bar. And we get female Dirt Beer Guy, aptly named Ruby! I am only so strong when it comes to these additional character cameos. I’m additionally a little bit confused about Fionna’s continued anxiety developing, as it initially seemed to stem from her desire to help those around her in fear of acting selfishly as she once did, but now it seems to derive more from her fear of being alone? Not to say those both can’t factor into each other, but I think it’s maybe emphasized a bit too much towards the end. I think they’re clearly trying to contrast HW’s desire to be alone with Fionna’s fear of being alone, similar to how Simon and Fionna’s arcs both played into each other last season, but I’m not sure it needed to be this direct. Did they really need to include Fionna projecting her own fear of abandonment while someone is withering away on the other phone line? It just didn’t feel natural to me and I feel like her arc doesn’t need to be defined so vocally.
The stuff in Ooo takes up the smallest segment of the episode, but probably provides for the funniest scenes. I love some classic Banana Guard stupidity, and even though John DiMaggio sadly does not reprise his role as one of them, Andy Merill does a great job stepping in. There’s additionally fun shenanigans with the Wiz kids and Pep being a little shit, as always. The voice acting from both Tom Kenny and Hynden Walch is great, they really sell the more dire and serious tones of Finn’s condition. We know nothing’s going to happen to him, as indicated by Together Again and the trailers alone. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t serious for those close to him, and the episode does a good job at communicating this.
Overall, I really like this one! Or parts of it, at least. Everything with Huntress Wizard is great, and I don’t even really say that as someone nostalgia starved to just see the OG cast members do their thing – I didn’t really have any particular fondness for this character in the original show. I just think that objectively everything going on with HW is miles better than anything happening in the subplot, though maybe I’m alone with this. Everything I’ve seen so far seems to be equally beloved no matter what the focus is, so I apologize if I’m being a stick in the mud to anyone who really is invested in the Fionna-World stuff and wants me to talk more about it. There’s a good chance that, as the season keeps progressing, the stuff with Huntress Wizard will incorporate more into the Fionna-World stuff and ramp things up to make them a bit more interesting. But as is, I just don’t think these breaks in the momentum really work, and I’m hoping that this season can turn around the elements that aren’t really working for me personally. But I can only bitch so much, as the HW segments are really, really good. For as many qualms as I have, it’s great to see the show can continue to expand upon tertiary characters in such unique and interesting ways.
This week’s artist shoutout goes to Monica (Monty) Ray, the newest addition to the AT board crew! Ray has worked on several shows including Big City Greens, and has done a handful of voices on other popular cartoons, like Harvey Beaks and Glitch Techs. Monty’s portfolio includes a lot of funky streetwear, and I implore you to check it out here!
Written & Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Kris Mukai, Maya Petersen & Charmaine Verhagen
We are back once again, babies!! Let’s go over the ground rules for this batch: since episodes are airing weekly (something that I’m personally very excited about) I’m going to at least try to churn out a weekly review coinciding with the most recent episode. Granted, there’s no promises with this, one because there’s a very good chance that I’ll lose steam down the line and need a break so that I can have the proper energy to write up something half-decent. Second, some episodes last season definitely benefited from taking time to sit with; I think the reviews for Prismo the Wishmaster and Cheers would’ve looked a little different had I not taken the time to chew on them a little. So, we’ll see as we go. As always, a quick thank you to everyone old and new who continue to support the blog! I deeply appreciate your loyalty, and I hope I can continue to offer something insightful and fun in return.
We kick things off with Astrid retelling the tales of last season, and surprisingly it looks like we’re kicking things off pretty much right where they left off, or at least within a few weeks to a month. Love the beautiful watercolor and colored pencil artwork we’re treated to, painted and drawn by Ala Flora. So nice to see my friends Simon, PB, and Marceline again, and Simon’s living with Marcy now! I like to imagine it was offered by Marceline when Simon mentioned he was looking for another place to stay – kind of like a daughter looking after her elderly father, very sweet. Because he’s an easy target, I also like to imagine him interrupting any moments of intimacy between the girls with some nerd shit that only he cares about. I love that dweeb.
We’re welcomed back to our main protagonist shortly after, where we get a bit of tweened animation of Fionna stretching in her bed (begging the gods that this show never gets demoted to fully rigged animation). A genderswapped Betty is teased by the announcer, which I’m interested to see if those implications mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Love to see that they once again cannot stray too far from the snail cameos, as we get a real snail traveling across Fionna’s TV stand, with the addition of the umpteenth Cheers appearance in the series. Though, it doesn’t last long, as Fionna quickly flips through some other 90’s dreck before landing on a fantasy program. Cheers was Simon’s escapist fantasy of a world that was simple and made sense, whereas Fionna still leans toward sensationalist and exciting sensibilities, away from the mundane responsibilities of everyday life. I’ve complained about not being super interested in Fionna in the past, but this does feel relatable. I’m pushing 30 now, which is the same age range these characters are supposed to be in, and here I am writing a blog on a fantasy show that I’m invested in far more than the drudgery of working a 9-5 job day in and day out. Adventure Time really has succeeded at placing you in the shoes of the main character and watching them guide through life in a way that never seems any less confusing. That relatability is always balanced out with something equally fantastical, and while Fionna’s world is far more urban than Ooo, we do now have the addition of a magical cat living in her own apartment right next door. Complete with the first obligatory bacon pancakes reference in this series (hot dog waffles) which admittedly I didn’t even catch the first time around.
New intro this season! I like it, for the most part. As always, it’s great to see the SmallBu team back at it again with very bouncy, vibrant animation. The anime allusions feel slightly jarring, but its an aesthetic that F&C have played around with since their introduction into the original series. The intro additionally doesn’t really feel like Adventure Time – the music and the lack of an introductory long pan feel like a deliberate stray from what we’re accustomed to seeing. I’m kind of all for Fionna & Cake branching out and adopting its own style this way. After 10+ years of alternative intros that have used the original title sequence as a reference point, it’s refreshing to get something quite different in taste. Although, I will say, I liked the music that accompanied last season’s intro far better. I don’t think it’s a very compelling beat and I don’t think it really aids the visuals that successfully either. I almost wish they repurposed the initial score and made new visuals to go around it – but I guess in true anime style, they wanted to start this one from the ground up. Apparently, a good bit of the intro is referencing Revolutionary Girl Utena, an anime I’ve never seen but I am interested in checking it out. I’ll reserve comments about the little bits of foreshadowing for character arcs and relationships sprinkled in until they actually come into fruition within the season.
Glad to see most of the returning players from last season back again in the title card sequence. Michael DeForge’s title cards are better than ever, complete with little iterations of Fionna and Huntress Wizard in both corners. Also, Kris Mukai is back once again! Mukai worked on a few episodes during the course of season 7, including Varmints, Mama Said, and Five Short Tables. Her style is immediately recognizable in the first chunk after the intro through the bakery store sequence (at least, I’m pretty positive it’s Mukai – I’ve only gotten worse at this with time!) with the eyes a lot closer together, accented by several lines and curvy expressions. Also cool that Turtle Prince’s human counterpart is featured in this scene, as she helped bring him to life in Five Short Tables. Also returning after a bit of absence is Chermaine Verhagen, who previously co-boarded Wheels, and had contributed a lot of bit parts and visual development to the show throughout the years. I’ll definitely need more time pinpointing her individual contributions to this episode – gonna take some time to analyze outside of this review so I can better recognize her drawings moving forward.
Funny to see some of the new iterations of characters, like a female version of Buck Pudding, everyone’s favorite side character. I guess who else would they have as the store manager of Home Depot? I’m also pretty sure that the child in the bus is just a male version of Astrid, so it’s additionally very comical that we now have alternative versions of NEW characters introduced in the series. It’s also driving me crazy – I have no idea who the yellowish person on the bus is supposed to be, if anyone. I’ve been looking at characters on the wiki for almost an hour and cannot identify who this character is alluding to – I’m just gonna open it up for someone in the comments to make me look like a total idiot.
Returning players like Queenie and M-Cron are a pleasure to see too. It’s been a while since we’ve had any Lady rep in the series, so I’m glad to see M-Cron getting a bit more focus, with Cake being absolutely infatuated with him. I’m curious as to where this is heading, which is something I’ll probably be saying a lot in these first few episodes. I do like all of the allusions to fairytales that have been coming into play within the episode thus far: the introduction with Astrid’s “happily-ever-after” story, the naming convention of The Hare and the Sprout, Cake’s cross-species romance, Fionna’s increasing interest in fantasy, the anime-like opening, the focus on mystics in Huntress Wizard’s segments, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire season largely worked as a deconstruction of fairytale tropes, or at the very least, used them as a thematic stepping point to explore ideas about how these characters view their goals and expectations. In the best case scenario, it’ll work similar to the multiverse concept in season one where they allow themselves to have a decent bit of fun with the genre without getting too lost in clichés. Also, the onslaught of new genderbent character introductions is certainly a bit gratuitous at this point, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly enamored with seeing how far they’re willing to take it. Madam Slicer was not on my bingo card for this season.
Simon opening his call to Fionna with “hey, girl!” was irresistibly sweet. It really is a testament to the previous season’s strength that he has become such a beloved presence in the series, after mainly being a gimmick for storytelling purposes in the original series. His awkwardness around PB is additionally hilarious, because I totally think he’s overthinking the kidnapping element and I think PB struggling with her own demeanor is just kind of how she is. Though, I also wouldn’t be shocked if she’s still petty over being called an assistant way back in Broke His Crown. Simon in general seems a lot more well-adjusted after the events of last season than Fionna does, which I’d imagine is a direct result of having several stand-in daughter figures and an outlet for his interest in magic. I was totally prepared for the scene with Simon at the solo tombstone to be heartbreaking, but having it be Choose Goose probably provided the biggest laugh of the episode for me. Not only does this sudden obsession with him since Distant Lands continue onward, but I’ll additionally never understand the absolute vitriol for him that the staff feels. He somewhat unknowingly became possessed after the events of Wizard City, was used and tortured by Simon in the first season, and now is dead with a tasteless rhyme on his graveyard, seemingly rotting in Hell as seen in Together Again. It’s kind of hilarious.
We get our first bits of Huntress Wizard soon after, and I guess this is as good a time as any to talk about the voice actor changes. There’s quite a few recasts this season, which AT is usually no stranger to when it comes to casting celebrities generally outside of the animation industry. This season sees the recast of Huntress Wizard, Gary, and Marshall Lee. It’s always disappointing to see, but none that I feel too strongly about; Jenny Slate is definitely the biggest loss, given that she’s played the character most consistently out of the bunch, but Ashly Burch has been a great presence up to this point in the series and I’m pretty confident she can do this character justice through her work. Donald Glover has been with the series the longest of the three, so losing him is a shame, though understandable because he’s reportedly been struggling with his health behind-the-scenes. As for Gary, it’s just kind of hilarious to me that this character cannot find a voice that sticks. I do wonder what the nature of needing to recast so many of these actors is – the animation industry isn’t exactly thriving right now, so I wonder if it ultimately ended up being that there wasn’t enough incentive to return to the series. In this article, Adam Muto mostly alludes to this being a result of scheduling conflicts, but c’mon, Andrew Rannells can’t show up a few times to voice the gay gum lad?? I guess scheduling conflicts could involve a whole plethora of issues, including travel time, personal matters, and full-time commitments, so I can’t really judge without knowing the whole scope of why they chose not to return.
Anywho, back to the meat. The Vampire King lion was additionally not on my bingo card, and it’s interesting to see him play a bit of a supportive role to Finn, who is in considerable peril. I think Amanda Jones as a composer has gotten progressively stronger from when she first started with the series, as I quite liked the score throughout this episode, especially during the scenes where HW is following the lion to her home. As I mentioned, I think the general sounds complimenting scenes aren’t as odd or experimental as they used to be, but I think think the adventurous, tense stings that accent certain scenes do assist the general tone and scope of the series becoming much more grand. It’s great to see Finn again, even though he largely plays second banana to just about every other character in the episode. It seems his role will mostly be a catalyst for the mission of other characters, namely HW, but I do hope we get some Finn love this season. After seeing him largely repressed and injured a good portion of the recent projects, I’d love to see a brief moment of reprieve for him by the season’s end. At least he’s still having freaky dreams, as indicated by the illusory Huntress Wizard feeding him (Princess Mononoke reference?) Let me just say that the forest backgrounds in general looking quite gorgeous. It’s so cool to see the evolution of certain shots from the original series, like Huntress’s “cliff under a tree,” the originally was composed of flat colors and now transformed into a multi-layered beauty. Shoutout to the many background designers and painters who helped make up this episode, some of which I’m planning to give a shoutout to at the end of each blog entry.
Back in Fionna-World, we’re treated to a few more character returns. Glad to see Marc Maron Squirrel is thriving in his new environment (in his impressionist era, no less!) and we see Marshall really adopting his vampiric roots. There’s a brief moment where he gets a call from “Birthgiver,” with the obvious implication being Hanna Abadeer, though with Ice Queen being taunted in the opening theme, I do wonder how exactly her connection to Marshall will play out in a way that differentiates itself from Marceline and Simon’s history. We’re also treated to Hunter and a quick parallel with Fionna’s injury slightly mimicking Finn’s current state, or at the very least, drawing back to the thorn that Finn had lodged in his hand way back in Is That You? With all of the allusions being made between characters, their physical state, relationships, and emotional wellbeing, I’d love to see this season play around with the ideas of just how much these characters have autonomy over their surroundings, or if they’re destined to falling into the same patterns and soul connections that their otherworldly counterparts are.
I feel as though the nearly half-hour episodes are much better paced this time around, which is a slight contrast from last season’s premiere. I felt Fionna Campbell was somewhat distracting in how it padded extra time, while we have moments in this episode that use time more methodically. We’re set up to a variety of different ideas and stories for the course of the season, but it doesn’t feel like information overload either. We’re still treated to more laidback sequences, like Fionna and the gang setting up for Gary’s grand opening. It’s good to see a blend of both, not rushing us right into the action, but having enough variety that it doesn’t feel claustrophobic in its surroundings. The dream sequence, on the other hand, does throw a lot out in a short amount of time, which is a welcomed addition. The more introspective elements seem to revolve around Fionna’s newfound dedication to helping others and the internal pressures that come with putting aside her own needs for others, along with the guilt and trauma that she surely carries along from her adventures through the multiverse. We get a brief glimpse of Martin’s discarded head, someone who previously counted on her that was hurt as a result of her actions. Also appearing is Winter King’s demented chicken servant from The Winter King, which is a possible sign that all of the terror and insecurity that Fionna’s arc implied she left behind is still lingering and at the forefront. We also get a wolf lurking, with a white wolf in dreams potentially symbolizing hope and a wolf in general connecting to some sort of threat or internal conflict. And hey, the thorn wasn’t the only arm symbolism we get up to this point, as Fionna has her own gnarly bionic arm in her fantasy dream! Cool to see Cake and Fionna sharing dreams is still a trademark of their relationship.
Things start wrapping up, as we’re treated to additional conflict setups, like Fionna feeling indebted to Gary after Queenie shuts his business down, Simon teaching Wiz Biz stuff (treating us to an aged up Blaine, Pep, and Cadebra! I love how Pep’s voice is slowly starting to sound pitch shifted, I wondered when he was going to eventually transform into Steve Little), and Huntress Wizard tracking down the bear that hurt Finn. Already saw a lot of people complaining about the abrupt ending, but like, here I am thinking, “we are so back.” It’s Adventure Time, baby! As is, it was a pretty decent premiere. Like I said prior, it’s kind of difficult to talk about it outside of speculation for future entries, but generally a better start pacing wise and more engaging compared to Fionna Campbell. I’m still a bit skeptical about how much I’m going to find myself intrigued by the Fionna-World stuff this season, as I’m definitely much more drawn to what’s happening in Ooo, but nothing established so far was particularly bad. Fionna-World is, at best, mildly charming. I think there’s still plenty they can play around with to evolve this concept and I appreciate the dedication that is being put into the world building. It just so happens that a lot of my attitude seems to be leaning toward “we’ll see what happens” as opposed to feeling glued to the screen, waiting to see what Fionna and her friends’ journeys bring us next. But I’m not totally cynical, I’m absolutely giddy to have this show back in any fashion. This team especially have proven themselves time and time again, so I’m looking forward to just what this season has in store in all corners of the multiverse.
This week’s staff shoutout goes out to Ala Flora who, as mentioned, worked on the opening storybook sequence. Flora’s work is visually stunning, tapping into childlike wonder and boasting beautiful colors in the process. You can check out her portfolio here.
Muto’s been with the show since the beginning, and has become the head honcho following the departure of Pen Ward. I always have said that it’s kind of hard to understand Muto’s vision for the overall series when it comes to tone and direction. I think more than anything his love for the series additionally includes letting the artists do what they do best while also trying to evolve and expand the world and keeping the characters relatively evergreen. When it comes to boarding, it can be equally difficult to determine which sections Muto worked on unless it’s with someone very distinctive, such as Sugar. His style is so synonymous with the polished look of the series that there’s definitively overlapping synchronicities in style. Not to say that he doesn’t have his own flair, however. Muto’s probably of the best draftsmen in the entire series, churning out some really clean and neat drawings that bleed through even in his rough storyboards.
Art Style
Muto is a comic man most prominently. Most of his style can be analyzed through his two most prominent comic series – Tall Penguin and Future Boyfriend. I’m always impressed by how clean Muto’s linework is, ranging from very simple shapes to more complex designs that never seem to battle each other. Diverging from the hyperrealism of his counterpart, Rebecca Sugar, Muto lends himself to more cartoonish sensibilities. It’s easy to see how Adventure Time has impacted his own look, while also noting the nuances that bleed through in his own boards. Very wide faces, forced perspective, small slants for eyebags, the heightened detail mixed with extreme simplicities. Muto mainly avoids color in his artwork and sticks with a monotone drop.
Finn & Friends
woof. This one was a toughie. Scanning through the earlier seasons, it’s really difficult to denote Muto hallmarks outside of the observation that “this bit was not boarded by Rebecca Sugar.” I don’t mean that to make it seem like Muto is an inferior artist, most of his drawings look great! It’s just somewhat difficult to distinguish his Finn apart from some of the many other iterations in the series. Something pretty consistent with all of Muto’s art is his wide-eyed characters donning slanty eye bags, which Finn takes on in the first and fifth image. One feature I never really noticed until I was researching for this write-up was the slightly curled dot eyes that will show up more so in the earlier Muto efforts, seen in the second and third images. Also, the thin, liney eyebrows in images four and six carry through most of Muto’s episodes throughout the series.
Muto’s Jake is way more easily recognizable than his Finn. Muto and Wolfhard have an unspoken competition for crankiest, wrinkliest Jake. While Wolfhard’s accents are noted by their smallness, Muto goes for a bigger, more expanded approach with Jake’s features, often making his eyes, nose, and mouth take over most of his body. These choices really get to shine in Daddy-Daughter Card Wars more than anywhere else. As seen in image 3, 7, and 9, Muto will often have Jake’s ears hang off his body as little nubs. Though, I usually associate this design choice more with Hanna K. Nyström.
This gallery of other characters is mostly just me realizing that Muto’s style is perhaps most notable on the dog characters, and his love for drawing them in side view. Again, a bit difficult to find some specific examples where an image really stands out as “yeah, that’s a Muto drawing.”
Concept Art
Muto regularly dips his toes into conceptualizing ideas for the series. A lot of these have made their way into the show verbatim (Finn and Jake Banana Guard disguises, Nightmare Princess, BMO and Ice King’s business outfit) while others were expanded upon by other board artists (Fern’s design).
Misc.
Muto has whipped up a lot of gift drawings and non-episode promo images, mainly towards the original show’s climax. Like most of his art, they’re done in his traditional black-and-white style.
Storyboards
Some Muto boards, showcasing both his love for added details, thick and defined outlines, and sideview pups.
Written & Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Sonja von Marensdorff & Jacob Winkler
Things are starting to wind down with this one! We’re in the endgame of the season, with everything that’s been built up starting to reach its bookend. I think at this point, my opinions about what drew me into the series in the first place were pretty much finalized. The exploration of Simon’s journey and relationship still felt very compelling, while Fionna and Cake and the unfolding of their universe still failed to really grab me. I think if you kept up reading by this point, you probably already know how I feel about everything, so I’m going to try not to beat a dead horse too much and just be pretty succinct with what I don’t really dig while giving more attention to the stuff that really interests me. I think there’s a good bit of the latter in Casper & Nova, with some surprises baked into it.
Let’s get right into some cosmic goodness. As Simon discovers himself occupying GOLB’s realm, he also discovers the Lich, quietly muttering a prayer to his scholar. As mentioned in the previous review, this is probably the most emotion we see out of the Lich, and while it feels like a concept I would’ve been previously opposed to, I actually quite like the execution. I think at this point, it’s pretty hard to make the Lich a convincing big bad. Towards the end, his role in the series started to feel a bit oversaturated, and with the expansion of the universe that we’ve seen throughout Fionna & Cake, I think it’s apparent that the Lich is only a small portion of an infinite universe. I still like the concept that he embodies all things that are inherently evil, but at the same time, it’s kind of hard to keep pulling the same punches with his character and acting like they’ll have the same impact every time. Fleshing him out a bit and showing that his plight is more of spiritual intention rather than this baseline desire of evil actually adds to his character in a positive light. I love the one-dimensional Lich we’ve seen up to this point, but it’s become increasingly apparent that even the staff have grown tired of finding new ways to make his presence feel evil enough. I think this is a proper bookend to his character, and I’m hoping they don’t try to find new ways to bring him back at this point. I don’t think they really can either – GOLB turning him into a space block erases him from all existence. Which I guess is retconned by Together Again, where the Lich hand is present in the Dead Worlds. Shouldn’t that not be a thing, considering what we know about GOLB via Margles and Betty? I don’t know, all’s I’m saying is this was a great cap to the Lich’s long history of monologuing his way through the series and I’m hoping that it stays that way! Also love Simon relating to the Lich. Dude even kicks him! Simon is fearless, man.
This scene also starts to add layers to GOLB that were not touched on in previous entries. GOLB was a character that pretty much only existed in Easter eggs and hushed mentions, to hint of a greater evil/mystery creeping in the background. Come Along With Me introduced GOLB as the final big bad for the series, though beyond his role as a plot device, we don’t actually get to learn much about how he operates beyond what we already know and the mythos is pretty lacking. In Casper & Nova, without really even saying anything about what he (or I guess she now?) is about, there’s so much to take away from how she operates. GOLB is an agent of chaos, and while the Lich associates that chaos as being based in annihilation, I’m not sure that GOLB is inherently an evil entity. She kind of just acts like a baby, curiously interacting with her environment and occasionally turning beings into floating space blocks. Of course, that more genuine curiosity may be fueled by Simon’s presence and the idea that Betty’s soul is still trapped somewhere within GOLB, but I don’t think that her presence is necessarily aligned with chaotic evil intentions. At least this is brought into question when Simon enters the picture.
Not only can Simon and the Lich relate in failure to find meaning, but they also have a shared love for long-winded monologues! Simon dishes out sad sentiments about his long journey in trying to reverse Betty’s current state, and it makes room for yet another performance that highlights Tom Kenny’s chops. Kenny allegedly deemed that Fionna & Cake was the most emotional he’s ever been in the booth, and it’s episodes like this that really bring it to the forefront. Though, not the only time Kenny’s ever provided an emotional performance; the way Simon’s voice breaks and goes raspy as he gets more hushed reminds me a lot of his role in the Futurama episode Luck of the Fryrish. He’s so often recognized for his resume of silly cartoon characters (and rightfully so!) that you forget how he’s a legitimately great actor, and you can feel every bit of remorse, self-pity, and sadness in his voice as he confides to Golbetty. It’s complemented by some really stellar imagery, like Simon standing at the edge of existence while describing his loss of purpose in life. Even his optimism is found only in the idea sacrificing his own existence for the purpose of benefiting others – a pattern that both he and Betty know all too well. This is when that chaotic instinct is ultimately challenged, as GOLB transports Simon right in the middle o- holy shit it’s Shermy and Beth!!
Those rascals showing up was not on my bingo card for F&C, so it’s a welcomed surprise! It’s cool to see more of the 1000+ world, which seems to mostly stay true to what was set up in Come Along With Me as well as Steve Wolfhard’s outline. We got brief glimpses into Shermy and Beth’s personalities in the finale of the O.G. show, and I love how much their rebellious side is focused on in this entry. It really makes them standout from their soul counterparts; Finn and Jake (well, mostly Finn) were loyal to government and law sometimes to a fault, while Shermy and Beth are completely radicalized. This connects back to Beth’s exile from the kingdom, which has yet to be fleshed out beyond said outline and Come Along With Me‘s intro. It is SUPER funny to me that the duo’s revolution seems to be routed in Marxist sentiments based off of Beth’s checklist (mentioning praxis, comrades, and guerrilla warfare) which really makes me curious if their intentions are pure. It makes things a little more interesting that their values are potentially not as altruistic as their spiritual counterparts, especially with Beth in the lead. Jake is more easily corruptible than his brother, so it’s cool to see that shift in dynamic while still keeping the heart of their bond still very much in tact. Also worth noting, another voice actor bites the dust! Willow Smith did not return to reprise her role, which felt like a given, and Beth is instead portrayed by Imani Hakim. Like most of the recasts this season, it’s not super noticeable, especially since Smith only had so many lines to begin with. It is nice to have Sean Giambrone back as Shermy, who is just so darn lovable. His energy and inflections are great, and I love his stupid little face and his stupid little envelope-opener sword.
It doesn’t really make any sense at all why Simon would be incarnated into Shermy’s body, but it’s AT. Sometimes convoluted moments get a pass for being fun and this just happens to be one of those instances. It’s additionally very fun that the library is nearly kingdom sized in the 1000+ world; we never get to see Turtle Princess’s domain in any capacity throughout the series, so I’m willing to bet that she just eventually constructed her own kingdom on the grounds of her very favorite place. Good for her, though it was super fucking rude of whoever boarded the library sequence to include her discarded shell in the ruins. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life!! There’s lots of neat little moments in the library, like the return of the Pagelings. It’s so cool how every bit of dumb AT lore ends up working it’s way back into the franchise at some point, no matter how insignificant their role is. They’ve gotten a lot more threatening this time around too – assuming there’s no Paper Pete’s among this gangly crew. Also got a kick out of Beth’s interest in transcendental meditation, I would love a “TM for Pups’ merch adaptation in the same vein as the Enchirdion book from years back.
I love the sweet way that Beth goes along with what she believes to be a game that Shermy’s playing, leading to the unveiling of Ancient Artifacts, which has been interpreted more as a fantasy adventure than a guide to the hidden world of magic (more on that later!) We also get another guest artist in the mix, with Louie Zong spearheading the visual design for the Casper and Nova sequences. It’s awesome to have Zong’s presence on the series, his music and art have been hugely inspiring to me for years, so it’s surely a welcomed addition. I love the low-poly designs and animated portions that feel like they were ripped straight from a PS1 cutscene. Casper and Nova appearing very similar to villagers from Animal Crossing was also a lovely touch. It’s pretty apparent off the bat that Casper and Nova are stand-ins for Simon and Betty, but since most of the thematic elements of their story are expanded on in the following episode, I’ll wait to discuss it for next entry.
As for the rest of the episode, there’s a few more moments sprinkled in that I like. Fionna’s interactions with Marshall and Gary are fun – I love her reaction to seeing them hook up, as well as their collective reactions to hating each other in a parallel universe. Seeing genderbent (is this still an acceptable term? It feels somewhat outdated but I have no idea what the general public’s opinion on it is. Or just nerd culture. I’ve never actually heard someone use the phrase ‘genderbent’ in the real world) Tiffany was additionally fun, and I loved Cake morphing into Fionna’s fit of the day. The brief reference to Cheers (the series) was super funny as well – love Norm Peterson’s iconic catchphrase “I’m walkin’ here.” But yeah, pretty much already talked about all the stuff I was actually interested in. A lot of the pacing for Casper & Nova suffers from the same reasons that Cake the Cat did; most of the episode kind of meanders in the F&C world, feeling like their scenes are mostly just there to slowly carry out the story elements that bleed into the next episode. This is complemented by the “track down and capture the mini-Scarab” segments, which feel equally unengaging. The nightmare sequence at the beginning is fine. I like Simon’s contorted body in the fridge towards the end, but AT has had many, many dream sequences up to this point, most that are far more well-executed.
Annnnnnnd, that’s it I think? An episode that’s mostly pretty interesting when it comes to the stuff I’m personally invested in: GOLB, Simon’s story, the Lich, the 1000+ world. Other aspects of it don’t really grab me as much, but I think there’s more than enough to make me still engaged with what’s happening. Some of the best moments of the season are featured here, namely Simon and the Lich’s individual monologues in GOLB world. I’m not gaga over this season of the franchise, but one thing that does elevate it is that there are like, two to three genuinely great moments per episode surrounded by story and character elements that are mostly good-to-decent. That’s pretty much how I feel about the next entry, which is very clearly a glowing endorsement! Kind of.
No specific production tidbit for this one but I implore y’all to check out Louie Zong’s music. The album linked here is one of my favorites from him.
Favorite line:“I know how to read! I have degrees!”
Written & Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Jim Campbell & Jackie Files
Whoever wrote the “Jerry from HR” line that was included in Fionna Campbell and Simon Petrikov made me feel like the biggest jackass for three weeks thinking I was onto some crazy crackpot theory about who Jerry was.
Jerry may be the most overtly bleak episode of the series to date. While Adventure Time primarily takes place within the aftermath of a ruined society, it’s contrasted with the colorful, manic beings that inhabit it. Jerry takes place in the aftermath of a ruined society and is complemented by barren, empty land that is devoid of all life. That being said, it still cuts down some of that bleakness by sliding in one of Adventure Time‘s schmaltziest love stories to date. And BMO. It’s always good to see BMO!
Betty and Simon’s history together is fleshed out in great detail throughout Jerry. The original series was always pretty vague about what brought them together in the first place outside of the general implication that they were in love. We were treated to tidbits here and there, mainly toward the end of the series; Simon mentions Betty’s library book note in Broke His Crown, Simon and Betty are both seen in a photograph with the Enchiridion (which we see in real time here!) in I Remember You, and Betty’s trip to study petroglyphs, as well as the said search for the Enchiridion, are explored through memories in Temple of Mars. Jerry pretty much works with all of those little pieces of the puzzle to build out larger picture of their relationship. It’s always kind of a gamble doing these backstory episodes, because there’s the chance that it’ll ruin some of the mystique of just offering hints and leaving the rest to context clues. But in the case of Simon and Betty, I think these two are LONG overdue for an episode focusing on their relationship. All we’ve pretty much ever gotten from the two of them are dramatic acts of clinging to a lost love, so actually getting to see and understand what went into that love is kind of important. Otherwise, it just sorta feels like a one-dimensional concept. The way it ends up being presented is still kind of a one-dimensional concept, but this where context starts to become important when looking at their relationship from a distance.
Their story starts in a campus lecture hall (following a spicy encounter at the library), where Simon is making a presentation about ancient artifacts, including the Armor of Zeldron (Blood Under the Skin), the Wand of Disbursement (Sons of Mars), and the porcelain lamb (Beyond this Earthly Realm). I really wonder what specific class this is, because why did they invite Simon just to fuckin’ rag on him? Even the instructor thinks he’s a basket case. I’m guessing it’s supposed to be some sort of ancient mythology class that Simon was invited to for the purpose of discussing fictitious artifacts, but went off the rails and just started preaching about his own fascination with Dungeons & Dragons esque fantasies. Betty seems to be the only one who is actually interested in his lectures, and this is really the first time we get to see her personality shine. She’s a lot more outgoing, adventurous, and seemingly more impulsive than Simon is. I wouldn’t say this is entirely new from what we’ve seen from her in the past – Magic Betty had a similar drive to latch onto seemingly outlandish ideas as well as engaging with Ice King head-on in a seemingly direct approach. It’s kind of cool, seeing as how they really just needed her to be crazy and desperate in the Magic Betty, but there’s definite aspects of her personality that connect through all explorations of her character. Kind of like how Magic Man is still somewhat of a douche as portrayed in Temple of Mars, showing that magic or not, these traits still exist in the user. I like how Simon kind of jokingly mentions going on the expedition and she immediately invites herself onto it within seconds.
I do enjoy how the expedition itself is left mostly in the dark – I think the concept of finding the Enchiridion is way too fantastical in theory to tack into a pretty tight story, and it’s not really the focus anyway. We get nice little moments of their dynamic playing out and I can only imagine whatever went into actually discovering the Enchiridion was consciousness expanding for them both. Board artist Nicole Rodriguez even drew up a few sketches implying that some expedition funny business went on between the two, though Simon mentions wanting to keep things professional later, so I have to imagine he never got TOO comfortable. It’s kind of sweet how hesitant Simon is to be transparent about his feelings, but it also makes sense given the fact that we later explore a bit of an unevenness in their relationship in terms of how much Betty sacrificed over Simon. Adding in a bit of a power dynamic where he’s pursuing a student might’ve overcomplicated the themes they were going for. But as I mentioned, regardless of thematic elements, watching their relationship unfold paints a very rich picture of how these characters operate. When Simon fails to communicate his own desires at the bus stop, you kind of get the idea that, while super bummed out, Betty’s self-sufficient enough that she would power through. She quickly dismisses the note when she thinks she’s in over her head, and is readily prepared to throw herself into uncertainty. Simon finally buckles up the courage in what is a very romantic gesture, but the sublimity of it all is put into question when he begins to grapple with Fionna’s misconception that he joined Betty on her journey. Betty was prepared to proceed confidently through her own life, but how much was Simon ready to navigate through his own?
I think it’s an idea that presents some level of cynicism – what appeared to be this flawless, glossy relationship in Simon’s eyes actually had elements of imperfection that he may not even been aware of. I think it’s helpful for his perspective, but their story doesn’t just dissolve there. The sequence with the lovely Half Shy song shows that there was genuine love exploding between the two of them. Their scenario doesn’t really lean into black-and-white viewpoints of any kind, it just begins to plant the seeds into challenging Simon’s perspective beyond what he is currently choosing to believe in. I really love how romantic the scene is between the two – I don’t really think we’ve ever seen this level of mushiness displayed between any couple in the show. Though again, it doesn’t really stop playing with those aforementioned ideas – the song itself was playing when Betty was about to leave on the bus. “Her” song quickly became “our song,” according to Simon.
I know I usually wait till the end of these write-ups to talk about anything related to Fionna and Cake themselves, but I actually really like Simon and Fionna’s relationship in this one! It’s nice that Fionna starts to gradually shift from being focused solely on herself and her own journey and gives her full attention to Simon’s story. Her willingness to listen to him as he describes the most magical time of his life is ultimately what leads to her increased empathy with Simon’s current dilemma. That, and a disregarded Ice King video tape, complete with a spoofed version of “Everything Stays.” It’s also really sweet to see Simon act as somewhat of a caretaker to Fionna, which is a role he obviously excels in. I really love when he uses his own romantic tale to cheer Fionna up when she’s upset – it very much reads as an old man method of “here’s a nice story to distract you from your difficult emotions.” And the bit of playfulness they share, like Fionna pretending to be disinterested in Simon talking, is also a nice touch.
My thoughts about Fionna and Cake’s dynamic in this one are less than positive. I feel like the entirety of their conflict is pretty unnecessary and bogs down any moments where it arises again. I get that Cake’s character journey is about her desire to become more independent, and I think you can still accomplish that just with her moment towards the end when she fights with Fionna over the crown. But having her be uncharacteristically joyless throughout most of this one (though some of her pouting makes for funny drawings) only for it to get resolved pretty unceremoniously takes me out of the experience. A loooong time ago I talked about the episode Video Makers and the philosophy that it’s not really entertaining to do entire episodes pitting best friends against each other unless it’s particularly funny or dramatic. While I think I was kind of being a persnickety internet critic back then (I probably still am one!) I do agree that you kind of have to tread careful waters with this type of dynamic, because what plays out here is just pretty tiresome. I think, at the very least, Cake’s admiration of BMO makes her portrayal in Jerry a bit less contentious. Oh, and while I’m being a snarky internet critic, that BRB note we see from Finn was created in Temple of Mars, years after the events of Finn the Human! Do better, AT crew!!!!!
BMO in general is great to have back. I was a little miffed when I saw BMO in the trailer for the first season of F&C, because it really seemed like they were going to overly rely on characters from the OG series instead of fleshing out the newer ones. But my cynicism dissolved quickly, because BMO is always delightful. I’m not sure what it is about her, but I kind of have yet to see a poor portrayal of her. Besides some inconsistencies of how she acted at the beginning of the series versus now, her presence always seems to get the right blend of character traits down. It’d be so easy to just make BMO overly cutesy and whimsical or something, but she’s always a little bit of an asshole too, and there’s usually this subtle (or, in this case, overt) level of sadness that she carries with her. It’s extremely sad to watch the little dude mosey around amidst the destruction of Ooo, and I wonder how much BMO is able to actually grapple with it on a conscious level. I imagine her behavior is somewhat of a trauma response, but also just goes to show how far BMO’s imagination can be stretched to the point where I’m not sure if she’s really able to tell the difference/deal with such horrendous destruction in a way that involves legitimate grief. BMO referring to Fionna as “Finn” further supports the idea that she may not be able to differentiate reality from fiction, which was possibly heightened by her current surroundings as well.
It also makes me wonder – if BMO survived because she’s not technically “alive,” who else can say the same? It’s interesting to see the Candy Kingdom is still intact as opposed to the plant life, considering that Princess Bubblegum and the rest of the Candy People are pretty much entirely made up of the stuff. And what’s the story for Marceline, who is not “alive” fundamentally? It’s probably not worth overanalyzing in too much detail, as it probably isn’t a world that will be expanded much more, but my single headcanon is that NEPTR also survived the extinction, but BMO just pretends he isn’t there like usual. Poor NEPTR, these spin-offs have not been kind to you. BMO’s sole friend that we hear her talk about is Jerry, a character I wasn’t really sure I knew what they were going to do with. Again, my working theory was that the Jerry from HR McGuffin back in the first two episodes was somehow going to tie into this twist, but eventually I just figured Jerry was going to be a figment of BMO’s imagination. That was maybe a bit too elementary of a guess, because I got slapped in the fuckin’ face over that Lich reveal!
Honestly, similar to BMO, I’m always surprised at how much I’m delighted by a Lich appearance. Like, by the time Whispers aired, I was pretty tired of his character because his appearances no longer felt very “weighty” to me. He started out being the most intimidating baddie in any animated series, but by the end of it, he was feeling more and more like a glorified villain of the week. This was the same with Together Again, where most of the horror was shed, but Ron Perlman’s delivery, the dialogue they gave him, and the way it worked as kind of a bookend for Finn and Jake’s journey as a whole roped me in. Now with Jerry and the way he actually somewhat develops in the next episode, I think I’m back on the Lich train fully. Granted, I still think he should probably be retired from this point onward, but this is the first time in years I actually feel like we’re learning something about the character. Whispers more so utilized his presence to build on Sweet P’s character, while Together Again simply features him as a final boss of the sorts. Jerry shows the Lich in a bit of a different light, as he has lost the drive in his goal to end all life, seemingly succeeding in his efforts for the most part. It’s pretty similar to the state we saw him in throughout Wake Up, where he operates with no purpose when he cannot carry out his primary function. Here, however, it seems like it’s more of an active choice on his part? It’s kind of easy to forget that the Lich’s autopilot isn’t just to destroy everything in his path – his titular episode back in season four had him scheming and manipulating to carry out his duties, which implies that there is some level of conscious decision making on his part. I didn’t really ever need the Lich to be fleshed out, because part of what makes him cool is that he’s shrouded in such quiet terror. But the added mysticism of his role in the universe does help to continue to expand the world of Adventure Time beyond its humble roots. And how cool is it that this is the wish world that was created in Finn the Human?? I love how nuanced that detail is, in a way that I didn’t even realize it on my first watch (though the whole “wearing Billy’s dead skin” thing should’ve been a dead giveaway). Also, I absolutely adore the fact that BMO has clearly been braiding Lich Billy’s beard, because it wasn’t like that the last time we saw him in this condition. So cute… I think?
In fact, we get A LOT of cosmic expansion in Jerry. A whole other chunk of the episode takes place in a dimension filled with other worldly beings, namely Orbo, who has put Scarab on trial. Orbo is voiced by David McCormack, most known for his role as Bandit on Bluey, a show I’ve watched way too much of for someone in their late 20’s with no children. McCormack does a great job of breathing life into the character, and he’s animated super well. I thought it had to have been Nick Cross that did the individual animation for facial expressions, and lo-and-behold, it was! It’s super cool that Cross is always around for whenever a visual bump is needed in the series. I do love the continued theme that most cosmic entities are just party dudes trying to have a good time and don’t really pay too much mind to being sticklers for the rules. Scarab is the exception of course, but I do think there is a bit of sympathy lent to him in this one. He’s of course a total buzzkill and seems hyper-focused on something that everyone agrees isn’t really a big deal, but he also seems like the only person in this realm who is attempting to do their job properly. I also love all the background deities we see in this one, most of which were designed by Steve Wolfhard. I love the one with two heads intersecting in Venn diagram fashion, but my favorite has to be the God lard. I need an entire season of F&C about his story.
This is probably the best looking episode of the season as well. I love the way color and light really erupt within the confines of the cosmic realm, carrying on a lot of the visual identity we’ve seen from both Prismo and Cosmic Owl’s domains. I’ve talked a bit about the backgrounds, but haven’t given proper due to those who have put the effort into breathing life into them. Jesse Balmer played a big role in the visual development of the season, having worked on the last chunk of AT and did a bunch of stuff for Distant Lands. A lot of the concepts for landscapes in this one came from Balmer (mainly the dilapidated grass lands) while a team of BG designers also chipped in. Jarrod Prince, Craig Bowers, Udo Jung, and Nicholas Maniquis are are credited for design work on this one, each having a unique portfolio within the industry, with Maniquis even dipping his toes in Natasha Allegri’s other project, Bee and Puppycat. I really love the eerie look of Ooo that contrasts the vibrant colors within the cosmic realm; I’m using the word “contrast” a lot in this write-up, but there’s so many craftily placed divergences in tone, color, and form in this one that it’s hard to ignore. The way the clouds wrap around like dead vines while the sun beats down in inconsistent rays makes for an ugly bit of solemnity that really carries out the bleak tones it’s going for. This is an episode that is pretty light on score during the actual scenes in Ooo, and I think it’s all the better for it. I don’t mean it as another diss towards the soundtrack, but the hollowness of it all is only benefited by how infrequently music cues support it.
And talk about hollow – BMO fucking dies in this one! If it was any other show, her sacrifice would’ve given the main characters the necessary tools to move forward in their journey, but no, she just straight up dies in a pretty gruesome way and the main crew is none the better for it. The funeral scene is genuinely impactful – even though the BMO we know is fine in the mainline universe, it doesn’t shy away from the fact that her demise DID make an impact on Fionna and Cake, and probably more so to Simon, who didn’t know if he’d ever see the “real” BMO again. It has one of my favorite Tom Kenny line readings from the series, when Simon defeatedly utters, “farewell, you little miracle…” That shit HURT. Of course, Simon’s own state of mind begins to unravel a bit more in this one. It’s clear to everyone around him (well, actually just Fionna) that turning back into the Ice King is something that would essentially destroy his mind, but Simon still doesn’t seem to care about that reality. Even though he’s been vindicated by the idea that there doesn’t appear to be a healthy way to interact with the crown and that his role in Marceline’s life undoubtedly paved a way for the common good, he’s still more concerned with erasing his current existence and escaping into a mind of incoherence. This fixation on self-destruction, coupled with his incantation spell, throw him right into the realm of GOLB, with the Lich and Scarab not far behind.
Jerry is another excellent episode from the season. I have my qualms with it, though most are on the smaller scale and don’t bog down the stuff that is really, really good. The super glossy, cheery bits intersect perfectly with the harsh realities that are dished out, without them ever feeling like they’re competing with each other. It also feels like a good penultimate culmination of a lot of what the season’s individual arcs having been building into, in some ways that kind of surprised me, with Simon forced to question his own stagnant views on his former love life. It’s another episode that moves the plot points forward successfully while never detracting from the unique individuality of the episode itself, immersing us in an alternate reality that is one of the most compelling we’ve seen from the series thus far.
I mentioned the Half Shy song earlier in the review, but a studio version was released that is much longer than what we hear in the episode itself. You can give it a listen here, it’s quite nice! Though, I’m still patiently awaiting the day “Greatly Appreciated” from Min and Marty gets released. Your move, Ashley Eriksson!
Favorite line:“And she could make the best soft-boiled egg! Not runny, but perfectly jammy.”
Written & Storyboarded by: Jim Campbell, Lucyola Langi, Iggy Craig, Graham Falk & Nicole Rodriguez
Of all the Fionna and Cake episodes, The Winter King is probably the most popular of the bunch. For good reasons – it’s a ton of fun! Almost deceptively fun because there’s a ton going on beneath the surface. It’s always interesting when we get to see the perspective of someone else under the crown’s influence along with the additional information we can gather about its power. Despite that sounding like a mostly bleak concept, The Winter King makes for a thoroughly entertaining exploration while still proving that there’s really no “good” relationship with the crown.
This one has a subplot that takes up the other half of it, so I’ll go ahead and cover all the Winter King stuff and then talk about the Gary and Marshall Lee stuff. The Winter King returns after his brief dream debut in Fionna Campbell, and I wonder if his presence accounts for the fact that Fionna and Cake naturally have more of a connection to the multiverse in their subconscious because they are Prismo’s creation. The connection between the Winter King can be made because they are stored in Simon’s brain, but the way that the Winter King is able to present himself, even without Simon being able to perceive his presence, is because of their thinly veiled ties to the macrocosm. But it’s also interesting because the Winter King scene in Fionna’s dream is clearly a different design and voice entirely, making me wonder if there is indeed another Winter King lurking in the multiverse or if it’s a result of Fionna’s own projections of what she personally wants to see from him. Generally, those projections seem to be true at first, as the Winter King presents himself as a noble hero figure that is not plagued by the powers of the crown. At first, this seemed like a cool way to explore the possibility that the crown may not be limited to only causing suffering to its host. This contradicts the already established idea that magic users inherently struggle with levels of madness and sadness, and when it derives from one of the most magical items in the universe, it’s hard to believe that the crown’s power could be subverted in such a drastic way. One that, of course, makes Simon feel instantly inferior. It’s difficult to watch him struggle with the idea that his suffering with the crown is the fault of his own, but hard to not get swept up by the charisma of Winter King’s character at the same time. Brian David Gilbert does such a great job at instilling an immediate charm into the character that feels both convincing while simultaneously being cartoonishly over-the-top.
Even in the midst of his glamour, there’s clear signs that Winter King may not be the generous hero that he paints himself to be. For starters, he never really offers direct answers as to how he overcame the debilitating powers of the crown, only alluding to overly-simplified non-answers that really don’t enlighten Simon to the possibility of solutions. Most notably, of course, is Winter King’s deflection when it comes to discussing Betty. Despite WK’s life mirroring Simon’s up until the point he gained independence from the crown’s power, he barely acknowledges Betty’s presence, referring to her only as “the dead one.” I do wonder if this is part of WK’s method of deflecting his pain and sorrows outward instead of stomaching those emotions on a conscious level or if this additionally can be factored into Simon’s later inflections about his own relationship (spoilers for future episodes, so skip ahead to the next paragraph if you need). Simon later has to confront the idea that he may have been putting his relationship on a pedestal in way that made him avoidant to the possibility of self-reflection. It seems that Winter King may have taken what is generally a reasonable level of self-centeredness and has let that engulf him to the point where he isn’t interested in even exploring parts of his past self. That is, with the exception of Marceline, who now has an ice version of her child likeness. Considering it is a more childlike interpretation, I’d guess that Marceline must have rebelled or abandoned Simon at some point and he created an ice version companion that wouldn’t/couldn’t betray him, especially because if she does, she’s ice. It’s fucked up, and even more fucked up that she ends up MELTING by the end of it.
But Winter King does offer a chance to explain himself to Simon… through song! A guest animated song sequence, no less! The Smallbu Animation team returns to the show once more, this time boasting their most impressive effort. I really enjoy their contributions for Beyond the Grotto and Ketchup, but they were either permitted a lot more freedom, were compensated more graciously, or simply have evolved as a studio over time, because MAN is this whole sequence gorgeous. It boasts the usual Smallbu hallmark of having jittery, pencil thin line art, but it’s the colors and the choreography that really elevate it to masterful levels. The painterly, Christmas-like backdrops look especially gorgeous, incorporating these really lush textures and beautiful details, like the reflections of house lights and character outlines off the icy lake. It’s worth giving additional kudos to Nicole Rodriguez who boarded the entire sequence; there’s so many great camera angles that Rodriguez incorporates in, such as the entire sled segment or Winter King’s skate tricks. The whole thing feels conscientiously planned out, with SmallBu’s animation complementing the boards to the best of their abilities. The song sequence is additionally phenomenal, written by Pat McHale and performed elegantly by Brian David Gilbert. Had no idea we’d be getting more than one McHale song this season, let alone two in the same episode! In an interview, Adam Muto referred to this episode as being similar in tone to a Rankin-Bass special, and I think that really checks out – the overly hammy characters, the expositional musical numbers, and the sparkly Christmas imagery. Could see it being factored in as a pseudo-Christmas special for the franchise as a whole.
But a Rankin-Bass special isn’t complete without a comical villain, and that’s where the Candy Queen comes into play. I don’t know if I’ve seen ANY Adventure Time character blow up as quickly as she has in terms of popularity. I guess you could throw Huntress Wizard as well, though she had multiple appearances to help build on her underground popularity. As far as one-off characters go, Candy Queen is easily one of the most of the franchise’s most beloved, though we’ll see if that popularity lasts the test of time. As for me, I quite like her as well! It should be a given, but I often kind of forget just how impressive Hynden Walch is as a voice actor. Up until Candy Queen starts singing, I truly was not sure if it was Walch performing or if they got someone else for the part. Walch clearly has a blast with the role, mirroring Tom Kenny’s performance as Ice King to a seamless degree while still making it her own thing. I know she played Harley Quinn in some Batman animated iteration years ago, and I figured her performance in that would be very similar to what she brought to the table here. But when I looked it up, I think she even channels something pretty different for Harley Quinn as well! This was really a defining moment in recognizing how much her energy can really take on a life of its own without even changing her voice that drastically.
The Candy Queen’s character is equally a blast. I love the persona flip, along with the added bonus that PB possessing the powers of the crown perhaps makes her even more crazy than Simon was. PB’s character already has an established struggle with harming others under the guise of authority or for scientific research, and her counterpart has that same mad-brain that allows her to conduct schemes and machinery that Ice King could never even fathom to complete. It is interesting to see the slight differences between how their crazy operates; I wonder if it’s part of the crown’s nature to anchor onto the negative aspects of the individual wearer and cause them to flare severely. Like, we’ve seen what Simon’s like when he’s under stress – dude just drinks beer and sloshes around in a self-pitying stupor. It’s really not that different than how Ice King operates on a day-to-day basis, outside of the sheer madness element. It seems Candy Queen as a character is still continuously desperate for the need to control others and have her kingdom thriving, as it seemingly is. Though, it does make me wonder one thing – I kinda figured that the crown didn’t MAKE Ice King desperately horny for women, but rather that he somehow misinterpreted down the lines that he needed to rescue his “princess.” Candy Queen seems similarly obsessed with IK in the way IK was for her, but would this mean that the crown inherently causes this type of desperation in its user? I guess you could argue that Winter King projected his individual madness onto PB as opposed to the crown’s magic itself. Also, maybe Winter King is just that hot. Also, also, I totally believe that Winter King is willingly kidnapped by Candy Queen all the time because he’s a sick narcissistic fuck. He probably loves all the attention and getting rescued every single week.
McHale’s second song for the episode Baked with Love is additionally superb. Might honestly be the better song over Winter Wonder World? It lacks the gorgeous supporting animation, but once again, Hynden kills it on the vocal front and adds so much energy that makes the already catchy melody really pop. I additionally love the unsettling inclusion of the wide-mouthed Banana Guards and all of the additions to the dilapidated Candy Kingdom. In general, this is another great episode from a visual perspective, but that’s almost redundant to say at this point in the season. I love all of the unique new designs for inhabitants of both the Ice and Candy Kingdoms like the Ice Clops and the monstrous versions of candy citizens. From the Ice Kingdom’s perspective, they didn’t really need to reinvent the wheel with its inhabitants since the kingdom is really only relegated to animal life and the occasional cryptid, so it’s nice to see all of these luxurified citizens added to the equation. I thought for sure the Ice Scouts were supposed to be some riff on the rollerblading characters we saw iterations of in the first two episodes, but I’m not sure that’s the case. They’re very cute, regardless! There’s also that really fucked up looking hairless penguin that I want to know more about.
Fionna and Cake also get some fun stuff to do. Well, Fionna mostly – there’s a bit of Cake’s resentment towards her continuing to build which eventually comes to a boiling point in the eighth episode, but we’ll get to that when the time comes. I like Fionna’s little journey in this one, getting really into the thrills of taking on a hero role, but being forced to confront her own actions when she realizes that it’s not all just a simulation. It’s a good exploration of putting her own selfishness in place and letting her naturally begin to make more decisions that are conscious to the feelings of others from this point on. But really, it is just fun watching her act in a way that is very similar to how Finn perceives adventuring to be in his own life. A lot of what goes on here is very much like a Dungeon Train scenario, in how much Fionna is enthralled by battling miscellaneous bosses in an effort to quell her own suffering. And like that episode, it’s also got great loot (so nice seeing a new sword, the ice sword design is sleek!) and is just funny to watch Fionna get so enmeshed in murdering Candy People. Love when she gets wide-eyed about “action stuff,” it’s probably the most she feels like Finn’s counterpart all season.
Of course, her fun takes a turn when she inadvertently removes the magic from the Winter King’s crown, similar to how Cake did this with a Hot Dog Knight back in Cake the Cat. It’s probably the most morbid onscreen death we’ve seen so far from the franchise (though not all that different from Old Man Prismo’s death) and it makes me wonder why the same thing didn’t happen when the crown’s power was removed from Simon back in Betty. I think the obvious answer is that it’s just for dramatic effect, and really not any particular way I can personally theorize around it. But it works, and as I mentioned earlier, the shot of the melted Marcy child is wild. The twist that reveals PB was under the Winter King’s spell the entire time was certainly a surprise, and I love Simon feeling vindicated that he isn’t simply weak for falling under the control of the crown. There’s really no way out of it unless that energy is projected onto another person – at least, that’s what we know for now. Didn’t mention it earlier but I also love Simon’s general affection and support for Candy Queen despite her insanity, it’s so sweet that he empathizes with her.
Alright, so we got all that out of the way, now it’s GaryLee (I think that’s the name of their ship?) time babies!! In a nutshell, I think that they’re very charming together. I don’t think any of the stuff with Fionna and Cake has been bad so far this season, but I’ve struggled to find a focal point in really caring about the human world that they’re leaving behind. That is until this episode – I think Gary and Marshall Lee hitting it off not only helps bring to light Fionna’s selfishness in wanting the world to be altered in her vision, but is also just very genuinely endearing on its own. So much of the original series, and even Distant Lands, has focused on the somewhat tumultuous aspects of Marceline and Bubblegum’s relationship. It’s nice to have a glimpse into their relationship that is fully committed to showing what makes them work. That’s not to say that the series has never emphasized these elements, because I think Obsidian and even episodes like Varmints or Broke His Crown do just that, but The Winter King breaks it down into very simplistic terms. At the beginning, it plays into their polar opposite personalities, being Gary’s by-the-book attitude and Marshall Lee’s laidback, often anarchistic nature. But soon, this blossoms into a mutually beneficial sharing of worldviews. Marshall values Gary’s commitment to bringing his own dreams to life while Marshall’s spontaneity helps Gary get out of his own desire for monotony. I especially like how the conflict that comes from this, being Marshall calling the Lemoncarbs without letting Gary know, doesn’t instigate drama between the two and instead is used for a quiet moment of open communication. I also really love how their part in the episode wraps up with Gary conceiving of Slumber Party Panic‘s plot through a vision of his pastry menschen. The continued sprinkled bits of ideas that aspects of the multiverse exist merely as ideas in the minds of “lower” beings is really cool to me, I would love to see that expanded on with the other cosmic characters at some point in a future series.
The episode caps off with a baby world version of Ooo, which seems like the team picked the gimmickiest idea they could think of for an alternate universe and decided to tack it onto an episode just for fun. It’s cute, though it somewhat bothers me that there’s a baby version of the Lich just hanging out in the open. I kinda like that idea that the Lich would exist as just himself in every single universe that he’s in and is not impacted by the conditions of said universe, but I guess that a whole baby universe wouldn’t really be able to exist in that case! Might’ve just made more sense to leave him out of the equation. The episode caps off with Simon comforting Fionna over all the fucked up things they just witnessed as the two continue to develop their friendship. I mentioned that I’m still getting a feel for the newer board artists, but Lucyola Langi has the most immediately recognizable style in my eyes. She boards the last six or so minutes of the episode and those massive pupils are what really make her touch identifiable and definitely instills a lot of inherent cuteness in the characters. Also, noticed a classic Falk monobrow when Gary throws a shirt on the bed around the 7 minute mark.
The Winter King is easily one of the strongest of the season; it’s fun, has an interesting exploration of the crown’s power, great character moments, beautiful animation, terrific songs, and great voice work to boot. Like I said before, it’s easy to see why this one caught everyone’s eye, and I think the joy of the experience can’t be understated. It’s been a while since Adventure Time has been able to let its silliness unfold properly, either because its wrapped up in more serious stories or has struggled to recapture the weirdness of the past. The Winter King doesn’t lean too, too far on the odd spectrum, but it shows that both the fun and intrigue of the series can coexist in one outing, which is balance that AT has become so recognized for. And in general, I commend the season for managing to have a continuing story while still allowing each episode to have its own self-contained feel. It’s something that I feel serialized shows have really struggled with, and even AT did to an extent towards its original run. It’s part of why I think Fionna and Cake works so well, because each episode is able to be looked at and remembered for its own unique attributes.
Another Steve Wolfhard tidbit! Wolfhard created an outline for characters that would appear in the baby universe, mainly basing them off season one characters, which can be seen here. Some of them made it in, like the baby Jiggler, baby Ricardio, baby Magic Man and other recurring and major characters (baby Lady is especially cute!). Though it would’ve been cool to see some of the rarely seen denizens of Ooo make it in, like baby Gut Grinder or baby Head Marauder. Side note: Wolfhard was the supervising director for this episode, and I love whenever you can tell that he chimed in with a drawing. The shot where the main Lemoncarb cracks her knuckles has Wolfhard written all over it, wrinkles and all.
Written & Storyboarded by: Jacob Winkler, Sonja von Marensdorff, Hanna K. Nyström & Anna Syvertsson
One of the promises of Fionna and Cake that I was perhaps the most skeptical about was the incorporation of multiverse elements. The multiverse has become a staple of pop culture in recent years and it’s growing a bit tiresome seeing every genre of content trying to adopt it for storytelling opportunities. It’s easy to see the appeal of the concept, because it does allow for generally limitless storytelling that doesn’t have to be grounded in any sense of logic or reality. But in most examples, it’s utilized for gimmicks more than anything. Even in stuff I like, such as the Spider-Verse movies, it’s a concept that very easily defaults to cameo opportunities from other parts of the franchise or absurdist additions that don’t really add anything outside of being comical. I didn’t want Fionna and Cake to default to hopping from one world to next, visiting a Steven Universe world or meeting a Lego version of Finn. However, it isn’t entirely fair to harp on Adventure Time for necessarily jumping on the bandwagon when the multiverse was apart of its lore far before it became a hot topic – they even beat Rick & Morty to the punch! It’s additionally very reassuring that they incorporate it into Fionna and Cake in a way that feels very meaningful and is actually one of the stronger elements of the season as a whole.
The cold open for Destiny is pretty cool. I like how much Farmworld Finn’s presence is set up in this one. Farmworld prior to the ruling of “The Snowman” felt like an early modern countryside of simple folk that didn’t interact with supernatural elements at all. This beginning paints a similar reality, with the implication that the citizens remained skeptical and on the opposing side of magic, only now it’s evolved into a dystopian, anarchistic landscape. More on that in a bit.
Jumping right into where last episode left off, Simon reveals his plans to help make Fionna and Cake’s world magic again by finding the crown and performing the GOLB ritual once more. It’s clear to see that the events of last episode have put Simon in a state of rejection of his own self, as he seems no longer willing to accept his current place in life. Once again channeling into the themes of addiction, Simon craves his previous life being under the power of the crown, even if it means that he’ll be out of his mind. At least he’ll be numb to whatever pain he’s currently experiencing and won’t have to deal with his issues on a conscious level. Simon justifying using the crown to save Fionna and Cake also isn’t that different from how he used the crown to save Marceline. I have a feeling that, more than just Simon’s own nobility, the power of the crown is tempting enough for Simon that he’s able to make those justifications. Of course, he would never use it if it meant Marceline would be in any real danger, hence him leaving her at the beginning of Everything Stays, but he’s willing to take those chances most of the time because he’s allured to its magic abilities. The same can be said here – with how much he feels purposeless in his own skin, it’s not hard to reel him back in. Even though he knows it’s bad for him and that it will completely change him as a person, it’s a reality he’s willing to accept because at least it will benefit the lives of others. It’s a noble act in theory, but does have a layer of self-centeredness behind it. Simon’s not really thinking about the lives he may hurt if he does start using the crown again, including Marceline, who would end up being left in the dark to a decision being made behind the scenes. Nor is he really thinking about the other lives it would impact in Fionna and Cake’s world, something that Fionna herself is guilty of.
I like all the continued banter between Fionna, Cake and Simon. I mentioned before, but I’m a sucker for all of the cat gags this season has churned out, and Cake bringing Fionna the dead mouse thinking that she loves it is right up my alley. Fionna and Simon’s relationship becomes a lot more fun with Destiny as well. They didn’t really get a ton of time to work off of each other last episode because so much was being thrown at the viewer, so seeing them both work off of each other was nice. I like how she kinda treats Simon like a cringey stepdad that doesn’t understand social cues. Like when he won’t shut the fuck up about Greek mythology at a stranger’s dinner table and Fionna comes back at him with, “dude, what are you talking about?” Simon gets his own bit of sass in though, when Fionna mistakes him for a doctor. He’s an antiquarian, dammit! It’s all fun stuff, and appreciate any time the episode takes to slow it down a bit. There’s some nice moments where Fionna and Cake also banter around at the beginning while looking for loot to steal. The slow pacing of the season up to this point has kind of felt drawn out, but I like that we do get these small moments to breathe in the midst of the ball rolling. Helps it stay with that Adventure Time feel. Oh yeah, also, Scarab’s back again! He does some stuff in this one, but it’s mostly not noteworthy. A bunch of people online were all horned up over his human design, which was fine. He also tinkers around with Prismo’s Time Room and I like the oozing, pink plasma that seems to control synthetic channels to the multiverse. That’s pretty much all I have to say about Scarab in this episode.
The exploration of the Mad Max evolved Farmworld is a blast. I love the designs of the citizens, mostly based on concept art by Michael DeForge, Steve Wolfhard and Delfina Pérez Adán, who previously provided animation work for Distant Lands. I also like all the bits of absurdity sprinkled in; the longshot of the boy on stilts stealing the tire for the car that merges with a much larger vehicle was great, and I like how there’s bits like the chicken man that don’t even make sense in-universe. Like, what got him into this position? Also, this is the first time I’m realizing that the human who notices Cake’s powers is a Farmworld version of Chet! That’s gotta be the most casually sprinkled in cameo of the season. Though, with every episode, I feel like there’s another one that I missed, so we’ll see if I’m still saying that by the end of it. We’re soon reintroduced into The Destiny Gang, whom I was delighted to see again! They really don’t get too much to do that’s funny or interesting and mostly just drive forward the conflict of the episode, though they get a few funny lines in, namely, “he died doing what he loved – trying to ride alligator like horse!”
Most of the episode is more focused on Big Destiny’s kin, introducing us to Little Destiny, who probably has the only design I don’t like out of these gaggle of characters. I dunno, whenever Adventure Time constructs characters using more realistic anatomy and detailed facial features it doesn’t really work a whole lot for me. It kinda reminds me of that lamp from Friends Forever – I think it’s the pronounced lips more than anything. In general, I’m not too captivated by Little Destiny’s role in the episode and her connection to a certain blonde boy, who we’re introduced to shortly after this season’s umpteenth Choose Goose appearance thus far. We’re also treated to a weird little jab from Big Destiny’s other child about wanting to cut Fionna’s nose off, but somebody beating him to the punch. Is this factoring in that dumb theory Pen Ward himself had early on in the series about Ooo’s humans being mutated by having no nose and beaded eyes?? Adam was a pretty vocal critic of this theory back on the commentary of the early seasons, so it might have been a nod to that little debacle. Or even just implying that Farmworld citizens have big ass noses in general.
The aforementioned blonde boy leads our crew to what is believed to be Farmworld Simon, but we get something so much more beautiful: Repressed Adult Farmer Finn™!! This is where my inner fanboy is able to come out and thrive – I LOVE this version of Finn. Going back to my first statement about how the season utilizes the multiverse to the best of its abilities, I like how much ongoing commitment there is to showing that these versions of the main characters essentially are the main characters, just under a different set of circumstances. It’s kind of playing off of what the original series did with Fern, who was just a carbon copy of Finn that was launched in an entirely different direction because of situational experiences. Only this seems to play around with the idea that the nature of our characters is relatively the same throughout each universe, but the nurturing differs almost entirely. Farmworld Finn was given a second chance by Prismo at the end of Crossover, but it’s clear that this wasn’t necessarily a happy ending for him. The impact of the crown left him with psychological scars, as the Finn we see here is far from the almost cluelessly joyful Finn we saw only episodes earlier.
Even outside of a psychological perspective, Farmworld Finn has appears to have chosen (or fallen into) a more traditional path by having lots of children and playing the role of a strong, stoic provider. Lots of people have noted that the 12 or so year time skip would mean that Finn had to have gotten someone pregnant when he was 16 or 17. I don’t think this is that crazy for a world that seems riddled in early modern culture and on top of that, we already know Finn is a horny devil. This is true across every part of the multiverse, especially when he has a dose of trauma under his belt. But yeah, I love his design and all his dialogue is crafted so perfectly. He gets to throw out great antiquated lines like, “I don’t truck with magic,” and, “be gone at first light.” It also can’t be understated how great Jeremy Shada’s performance is – I almost didn’t recognize him at first! Having Shada deepen his voice to sound gruffer is something that could easily feel forced but I think he pulls it off tremendously. He’s old enough at this point that he can channel more baritone inflections without it feeling beyond his scope. When he snaps at Simon for wanting to seek out the crown, the anger in his voice is really felt. And even beyond a speaking role, FW Finn has some really great silent moments where you truly get to experience his life in a nutshell; I love the way he notices how concerned his children are after he lashes out and quickly collects himself to not upset them further, and later when he quietly stares into the fireplace, troubled by the insanity of his past. It’s both a great way to help explore his trauma while also tying back into the delusions that Simon is convincing himself of. Though Ice King probably never brought a level of damage akin to what “The Snowman” did, the impact of the crown and the general madness that it causes is played with a level of absoluteness here, in a way the season would continue to support.
Speaking of Finn’s kids, the names “Jay” and “Bonnie” return after being introduced in Puhoy! This was a nice little detail that may even build on the concept that the Pillow World was, indeed, part of the multiverse. It makes me wonder just how many instances there are in the series where the potential of a wormhole opening is implied – I think Puhoy is a key-in for the most notable example. Farmworld Bonnie is especially cute, which also makes me wonder if there is a Farmworld equivalent to Bubblegum. I like to think that there may not be, or if there is, Finn may have never even crossed paths with her. Finn just named his child that because somewhere in his being he knew he liked that name, which is a concept I think is neat. He also has a gaggle of additional unnamed children, some of which possess features similar to Huntress Wizard’s human forms seen throughout the season (green eyes, red hair). I don’t know how down I am with the continued exploration of Finn and HW’s relationship to the point where she is his soulmate across multiple universes. I liked how the show ended not really focusing on who Finn “ended up” with, because having him settle down at 17 always felt a lil weird. I guess if I really want to tie up the continuity I established with FW Finn getting a girl pregnant at an early age, maybe he met up with her in a similar way to their Ooo counterparts’ meeting in Flute Spell, only they actually consummated it. I guess her role as Finn’s wife is still up in the air because she seemingly passed away in Farmworld, but I think the hints speak for themselves. Even with how much Farmworld Finn has lost, it’s sweet that FW Jake is still kicking. I have no idea how this ancient pooch has lasted so long – it’s possible that Finn got him later on in his childhood as opposed to having him early on, so he’d be around 15 or so now. I think he probably just lives a chill ass countryside life and gets fed well with lots of pets, which is enough to make my god damn heart melt.
Jay is the most prominent of the Mertens family in this episode, and I’m mostly lukewarm on his presence. He’s involved in this star-crossed lovers’ romance with Little Destiny, which I guess adds a level of stakes for the episode? I dunno, I feel like they already had a decent amount of tension going with the fact that they have the Destiny Gang wanting to abolish magic and Scarab after them at the same time. I’m not really sure how their relationship adds to the episode or the season as a whole – I guess they claim their own destiny (no pun intended) in a way that supports what Fionna, Cake, and Simon are also striving for. Still, I don’t find them super engaging as characters and their bits are pretty standard Romeo & Juliet fodder. They even have Cake working off of them by kind of making fun of their whole shtick, but it’s played pretty straight otherwise. Still, it was all worth it to see Farmworld Finn break out a fuckin’ flamethrower arm and set Destiny Gang members on fire. Man does not fuck around! The breakneck pace of the last few minutes are solid: Cake trying to stretch out but still struggling to use her powers is fun; I love Big Destiny’s lashy, perfect eyes when he has his glasses broken; the final confrontation between Scarab and Farmworld Finn is greatly executed, with an impactful curb stomp that had plenty of people questioning whether FW Finn was killed. I don’t really think that’s what they’re going for, but who knows. I feel like the way the rest of the season pans out leaves me believing this probably isn’t the case and it’d be lame as hell if Finn in ANY universe was taken out in such an unceremonious way. This farm boy needs to go down in flames! Also, I didn’t know where else to add this in, but does anyone have any thoughts about Simon mentioning that the crown smells like freshly cut grass? I guess it could just be a throwaway line, but it felt too random to be that. Haven’t seen any theories otherwise, though.
That blabbering aside, I dig Destiny. It works with the multiverse concept to the best of its ability by helping expand the show’s characters beyond just the conditions of Ooo. A looong time ago in my review of Finn the Human, I criticized the episode for not really capturing the spirit of Finn to the best of its abilities, but Destiny makes it pretty clear that… that’s the point. Finn, and all of these characters, are subject to change based on their surrounding environments, leaving us with fragments of the same characters that have their own unique perspective on life. It’s still the soul-shape of Finn in his Farmworld counterpart’s body (that hilariously hushed “math” proves it), but with a lifetime full of different experiences that allowed him to grow in his own unique way. I also enjoy the idea of focusing on one universe per episode as opposed to having them hop from world to world – it allows for the art direction to really thrive when the environment is able to commit to one core theme. And sprinkled in are some solid bits from Simon, Fionna, and Cake, but did you really expect me not to make this entire review centered around Finn at this point? I never claimed to be nonpartisan.
Fionna and Cake brought back a lot of AT veterans for some freelance work, including Charmaine Verhagen! Verhagen co-boarded Wheels and worked on the series as a storyboard revisionist starting around season 8. Verhagen did some concept art for Destiny character designs, but they didn’t end up making it into the actual episode. A shame, because I really like the withered Jakes she whipped up! You can check out her concept art here.
Written & Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Jim Campbell & Lucyola Langi
I’m glad I took some time to let these episodes sit a bit before jumping in to review them, because there’s A LOT that Prismo the Wishmaster dishes out.The entirety of this episode essentially acts as an answer to one of Adventure Time‘s most unusual questions after the events of the episode Fionna and Cake and Fionna. I previously lambasted that episode as the worst in the series, because it seemed like it was just throwing shit at the fan to try to mystify Fionna and Cake at a point in the series where it felt like they really had no place anymore. Turns out, Fionna and Cake and Fionna was actually setting up an idea that the crew played around with for a while but never really had the time or place to explain it in full detail. According to Adam Muto in an interview with Inverse, Prismo’s introduction in season five naturally came with the idea that he would be the true creator of Fionna & Cake. I do admire the current place AT is at where they can just come back later on and address unopened doors in the past, while continuing to plant seeds for the future. And Prismo the Wishmaster is just that – AT at perhaps its most convoluted, chock full of answers to questions and questions raised from those answers. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course.
The episode begins with a neat little cold opening taking place in The Drift from BMO, which also doubles down on this season’s personal goal of having as many Cheers references as they can possibly squeeze in. This one’s mostly just for gag purposes, though it may show that even a cosmic being like Kheirosiphon craves the mundane and simplistic life that Simon and Fionna so vehemently reject. Or maybe it was just to feature an alien version of Norm, which I’m also okay with. This is also the moment we’re introduced to Scarab – the main antagonist for the season. He’s a character that I have pretty lukewarm views on overall; I think Scarab at the very least boasts a cool design and presence in the general worldbuilding of the series. I like his crystal scythe and his little Tamagotchi-esque captor eggs, and I think it’s cool to have some kind of understanding of how cosmic crimes (or what seems to be cosmic misdemeanors in this case) are addressed from an authoritative level. As a character, Scarab’s not really anything to write home about. AT in general has been kind of struggling with villains since the last season of the OG series and I think it just boils down to them never being funny or intimidating enough. Aside from The Lich and rare instances of genuinely threatening baddies (Ricardio’s presence in Lady & Peebles comes to mind or Hierophant in May I Come In?), Adventure Time villains are kind of supposed to be lame. The idea is always taking a concept that should make for a terrifying villain in any other fantasy series but making them super humanized and pretty mundane. Like, Kee-Oth is a demon that belongs to this super distorted underworld-type dimension but he also takes Pilates classes. Or Hunson Abadeer, the literal ruler of the Nightosphere, who uses karate moves when he’s pissed off at his daughter and vocalizes those exact karate moves when he uses them. There are other villains, such as Lemongrab or Dr. Gross, that have interesting pieces of psychological baggage that make them more engaging, on top of being funny as well. But Scarab just doesn’t really get any committed character depth and isn’t given anything particularly funny to say or do, so he just kind of ends up being a foil. I don’t really totally fault the crew for not taking the time to flesh out this character when there is already so much else going on, but I also wonder why they chose to include him in the first place. I like how his role further explores the presence of cosmic beings in the universe, but any other time he shows up is just kind of a reminder of the stakes of the situation at hand.
But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself – after the detour in The Drift, we once again see a depressed Prismo shirking his duties in the Time Room. Similar to Choose Goose, it is really funny how committed the staff is to including Wyatt across multiple different iterations. Though, unlike CG, I think Wyatt’s inclusion is much less overdone and it is funny to also see those parallels painted as to how he ended up (and stayed) within the First Dead World (who knows what type of cosmic crimes he committed on his own to get there??) It’s also pretty clear that Prismo gave up caring about the consequences that came with making wishes a long time ago, and honestly, why should he? Wyatt probably would’ve wished for Tree Trunks to rub his shoulders for all of eternity or something, it’s not really the type of wishes that require him to be extra careful and caution. And also, you get the clear idea that not really any other person who has entered that Time Room in years has had any kind of concern or interest in Prismo’s life. Honestly, Jake might’ve been the only non-cosmic being to ever show interest or compassion for Prismo, so it really adds to how much he’s sunk into desolation. Also worth noting is that Prismo has a new voice actor as of this episode, making for another point where I’m just going to divulge into production notes that all of y’all have probably heard already! Prismo’s original voice actor, Kumail Nanjiani, did not return to the role because of a representative of his passing on Nanjiani’s behalf without his knowledge. It is sad because Nanjiani’s reaction on social media shows how legitimately bummed he was by this and how even with how big he’s become, he has a special place for Prismo in his heart. Nanjiani brought so much natural charisma to the character, it’s a performance that will be truly missed. Though it’s not all in vain, because Sean Rohani, who voices Prismo in Fionna and Cake, does a pretty great job taking over! It definitely took some getting used to – I think even if you sound very much like the actor that you’re replacing, there’s still an adjustment period to the new performance and inflections that impacted my immersion slightly on a first watch. However, watching it again and having seen the whole season by this point, it’s much less noticeable and easier to appreciate what Rohani brings to the table. Also, as many people have mentioned, Prismo being depressed definitely supports Rohani being a bit raspier than Nanjiani was in the role.
I love the little black-and-white sequence that results from Wyatt’s wish. I like that the design of it didn’t immediately jump to rubberhose as a main inspiration point and instead just uses weird, more stylistic interpretations of 20’s designs. Graham Falk boarded the entire sequence, which really gives him a chance to shine with his more expressive style. The animation for the scene was done by Nick Cross, who seems to have been the main source for in-house animation during the entirety of Fionna and Cake. Cross animated the intro for F&C as well and it’s delightful to see energy that he instills to knock an already well-boarded segment out of the park. This is the man who animated the entirety of the Highway Man scene in Over the Garden Wall, after all! It’s also cool because Cross’s work with Falk dates all the way back to when Cross was a storyboard artist on The Untalkative Bunny, so things have really come full circle here.
I mentioned that Cake the Cat felt like it was plodding a bit and held on certain bits that felt like they could’ve been used for other space. Prismo the Wishmaster is definitely an episode the earns its 24 minute runtime and not even because every second is jam-packed with knowledge overload. It does have some little moments of Prismo interacting with Fionna, Cake, and Simon, while still managing to sprinkle in some dialogue that establishes Prismo as the true creator of F&C (more on that in a bit!) We get a few good glimpses as well into what Ooo’s inhabitants are currently up to, though it’s not especially juicy. Kind of odd that Finn has had extensive changes since we last saw him while Huntress Wizard looks exactly the same as she did 10+ years ago in-universe (they even use her pre-Flute Spell model sheet). In fact, everyone in these clips looks like they could use a little time gap update. You mean to tell me Susan is still wearing her same pre-memory jog outfit? I can’t imagine that smells even remotely decently, but good to see her and Frieda are still traveling together. One clear change is that Pep appears to be advancing through wizard school with his pal Blaine. The most jarring change of all, however, is when we see a brief clip of Lemongrab later on, with a… very noticeable voice actor replacement. Justin Roiland has been outed as a big ol’ creep since F&C went into production, but my guess is this news didn’t break until the scene was fully animated or at the very least in the process of final animation taking place. Jinx Monsoon, who provides the voice for genderbent Lemongrab 1, does her best imitation of LG but it REALLY falls flat. Can’t really blame her or the staff for this as it was clearly a last minute decision that had to be made, but man, if Prismo’s voice change altered my immersion slightly, this nuked it on a first watch.
As the episode moves along and we get into Prismo’s introduction to Fionna and Cake, the puzzle pieces start to come together about his connection with the two, along with Simon. Prismo being the true creator of Fionna and Cake is something I’m still kind of grappling with. I think I was much more negative to the idea off the bat, grew a bit more positive to it, and now I’m kind of in neutral territory. I think the main reason it put me off to begin with is that it doesn’t really fully mesh with the timeline that Adventure Time has set up. Fionna and Cake, the episode, takes place two full seasons before Prismo is introduced in Finn the Human, and I wasn’t really satisfied with the theories to combat this, such as how Prismo is omnipresent and seems to exist outside of time. We know that the Time Room itself exists outside of time, but the way that Prismo interacts with Ooo, along with Finn and Jake, seems to at least exist in a linear way with how Ooo perceives time. Even Prismo himself seems to be mourning Jake’s death in a process that meshes with Ooo’s general timeline, so it wasn’t a theory I was willing to roll with. I think the easiest justification for this is that Adventure Time episodes, outside of clear continuity points, don’t really need to be seen as entirely linear storytelling. They’ve even broken this on occasions, with BMO Noire and Princess Potluck occurring on the same day but being a full season apart, or the flashback in Joshua and Margaret Investigations happening without a clear framing device. So, I’m pretty much fine with accepting that this as part of Adventure Time‘s lore and don’t believe it truly accounts to discontinuity. However, I feel generally mixed about Prismo’s role as the true author. This kind of feels similar to a development like Orgalorg, where the execution of the concept is fun, but the concept itself sort of overly mystifies a relatively simple idea. I liked that Fionna and Cake stories were something that came from Ice King’s obsession for Finn and Jake and that it was actually something he was good at! Ice King couldn’t really constructively do anything worthwhile in his condition, but it was cool to see that Fionna and Cake was the one thing that he actually seemed to pour his heart into and that he gradually accrued a fanbase over time. It’s somewhat of a bummer to me that this small accomplishment was taken away from him, though it depends on how you view creative ideas a whole anyway. I do love the construct that creativity comes from a magic source and is channeled further by peons in an almost spiritual experience, so I don’t reject the mysticism of it entirely. There’s also the implication with how the stories are told that Ice King DOES have some control over the direction on how they are told and that he’s adding his own unique spin to them. It is additionally confusing that Fionna is the central protagonist in all of these stories – wouldn’t it make more sense for Prismo to center them around Jake? Maybe he’s taking their relationship, and Ooo as a whole, and looking at it at a glance, but it’s just strange because Prismo and Finn have never had a very developed relationship. There’s even that dumb line that they included in Hoots where Prismo doesn’t even immediately remember who Finn is – this is the kid you based an entire fanfiction off of?? Though I guess it’s more the fault of that episode than this, so generally speaking, I’m still a bit polarized with my sentiments for this development, though not totally opposed to how it presents itself in the series mythos.
Additionally, some of the lore about wishes being made is cool, namely that wishes only occasionally add to the multiverse and create entirely new dimensions, which supports that Shelby wishing for his GF to have a pony did not in fact create an entire alternate wish universe (a damn shame). Also, this is where we get the hilarious Flapjack cameo, which at this point, I’m all for. I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m pretty opposed to any Adventure Time crossover opportunities and I wouldn’t be into the idea of this explored further (as Adam Muto mentioned was an original episode idea), but fuck it, if the multiverse is being explored in detail, I’m fine with a cute little cameo homage to Adventure Time‘s granddaddy. Also super sweet that they chose an episode and clip that was boarded by Pen Ward himself. We also get the neat little tidbit that Beyond the Grotto‘s dimension hopping was created by a wish (possibly the Sea Lard’s?) It really only opens up for the possibilities that other instances of guest animation and unique reality jumps, like Pillow World, also factored in multiverse theorem.
It does seem like Ice King’s individual achievements are slowly whittling away from him, though again, I’m kind of fine with this in how it plays into this specific series. Ice King and the crown have been used for a number of different allegories throughout the franchise’s run, and while I’m bummed that the events of Skyhooks II never really further elaborated on Ice King’s existence as an independent being, Fionna and Cake is clearly going for a different take on it. Addiction is a theme that Simon & Marcy briefly toyed around with when dealing with the crown, and it’s the main thematic push that Fionna and Cake often deals with. Simon being left to look at old memories of himself while everyone in the room praises how funny and cool he used to be when he wore the crown feels like an alcoholic being knocked at for becoming sober. Simon knows that the crown was something that completely disconnected him from his humanity, but you really can’t blame him for becoming increasingly pro-magic as the episode continues when everyone around him is making him feel like he doesn’t have worth in his current state. They’re harsh sentiments from Fionna and Cake, though you can’t really blame them entirely either. Simon spends most of the episode at his absolute worst, defaulting to self-blame and general apathy to everything and everyone around him. Almost to the point where you think, yeah, maybe he would be better off as Ice King! He was out of it and often tortured by the powers of the crown, but at least he was often aided by a clueless joy that took away from any of the pain he is currently experiencing. Of course, this is only looking at one side of it, and only further aids the addiction comparison.
The general interactions between the four central characters of this episode are lots of fun. I like Prismo’s growing understanding of Fionna and Cake’s ability to comprehend things outside of the traits he has already given them, such as Fionna’s difficulty wearing shorts and her opinionated responses to the information being divulged to her. I also love Cake’s experimenting with different shapeshifting abilities that often feel like a child’s wobbly sketches as opposed to fully articulated formations. As mentioned, Simon’s general “fuck this” attitude and him chugging beers with Prismo was quite funny, and I loved how unsentimental the foundation of Fionna and Simon’s relationship is. The implication that she’s going to level with him and then smacks him is great, though it does lead to a genuinely somber speech from Fionna. Again, Madeleine Martin (incorrectly referred to her as board artist “Madeleine Flores” in my Fionna Campbell review – my bad!) does a great job at breathing life into the character and makes her entire situation feel dire, as it is.
It’s always fun going on a little detour of the Time Room and its surroundings, as Is That You? established. I like all the added bits of worldbuilding, like the clock titans that help to communicate the construct of time across the multiverse. This seems like an addition that would be important later on, but it ends up just being a cool little tidbit that helps expand the world – even maybe something that could be elaborated on later on! Speaking of which, Prismo’s boss is name-dropped once more after being mentioned in Crossover (didn’t even mention that “crossover” is the official term for overarching pieces of the multiverse, neat!) I won’t go into this now because there’s more little bits we get later on and I don’t want to spoil anything in case someone is reading these episode-by-episode, but I’ll share with y’all my own headcanon about the boss once we get to the end of the season. The whole exploration of the Time Room is a visual treat, expanding on the spiraling cyberspace-esque backgrounds that first appeared in Is That You? The original series didn’t really have the budget for especially rich backgrounds, so Prismo’s Time Room was limited to mainly flat colors and gradients, but we get some cool textural additions to these landscapes that really help it pop. The entire episode is just a treat from the color front – I love the black light colors that emerge when Prismo begins presenting F&C‘s world to them. The whole episode in general is illuminated by great color choices, I implore you to check out the great color script from background paint supervisor Carolyn Ramirez here. Speaking of staff contributions, I’m starting to recognize new board artist styles a bit more with this episode! I believe Jim Campbell’s contributions chime in when Prismo begins to attempt to hide Fionna, Cake, and Simon from Scarab; his take on Prismo is especially notable, giving him a much rounder head that looks similar to Jesse Moynihan’s take on Prismo in Crossover. Lucyola Langi appears to take over once Fionna and Cake try to escape the Time Room entirely until the end of the episode – her style is notable in just how large the pupils are on each character, perhaps most apparent when Fionna pleads her case to Simon and when F&C ponder how the time remote must work. Kudos to Digamma-F-Wau in the comments for help bringing light to some of these production notes!
Other miscellaneous highlights from this episode include the introduction of Prismo’s Pickle Room; I like how Prismo’s special pickles started from just a one-time gag to now escalate where he has an entire section of his cosmic home dedicated to his pickle storage. I like all the small cameos of cosmic criminals on Scarab’s crystal, including Martin (who is pushing that TV-14 rating with the middle finger inclusion). Any mentions of primordial lore were rad, like the implication that Prismo was chosen to be Wishmaster instead of it just being conceived with his creation. And I think it was easily the funniest portion of the episode when a butt-naked Simon was beamed in, only slightly annoyed at the inconvenience of Prismo summoning him.
Like I mentioned, it’s still one that I’m grappling with from a revelation perspective, but the episode itself is tons of fun. It really gets the ball rolling and kicks the season into full gear, with this being the last bit of set up that moves things forward. Again, it’s always fun that Adventure Time can manage to provide clarity on certain arcs and plot points that feel like they’ve been lost to the wayside, while also committing to making things more convoluted and rich for interpretation in the process. For the most part, that’s kind of how the season operates – digging deeper into certain elements of expansion while also committing to leaving doors open by the end of it. It’s one of the hallmarks of the series that I truly love and I think Prismo the Wishmaster plays around with that in a great way that never bogs down the experience. It’s an episode that easily could’ve been weighed down with its heavy dosage of exposition, but in typical AT fashion, it has the most fun with it that it can.
I’ve kind of exhausted all the production notes I had for this one throughout the blog, so we’ll skip over the footer tidbit this time.
Favorite line:“This is the multiverse, a huge web of all the different realities elegantly connected like an anthill or a camp counselor relationship chart.”
Written & Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Jacob Winkler, Haewon Lee & Nicole Rodriguez
Cake the Cat follows in the previous two episodes’ method of developing characters that, up to this point, we really didn’t know too too much about. I’d argue that, of the three main characters, the necessity to flesh out Cake beyond what we already know about her from the original F&C episodes feels a bit frivolous. Cake is probably my favorite of the Fionna & Cake bunch up to this point because she was really the only character who immediately set herself apart from her male counterpart; she was sassy, more no-nonsense, and Roz Ryan’s terrific voice presence gave her an immediate sense of charisma. Of course, she also shared some elements of Jake’s personality, mainly that she doesn’t take anything too seriously and is often there to lighten up the mood when things get too heavy. In that sense, she already kind of established herself early on where the rest of the F&C cast of characters were kind of left with fragments of personality and depth that were most left unchecked. So, with that being said, I don’t think spending extra time on giving Cake her own arc in this story is entirely necessary. Of course, she has some nice moments of development throughout the season, but I think what really made her work in these ten episodes is just whenever she just offered moments of comedic relief.
Before gettin’ into Cake stuff, there’s a brief little precursor to the episode I’ll tackle. We see Prismo once more, only this time he’s very clearly depressed. I really like all the small moments of Prismo mourning Jake’s loss – it’s all very understated moments of grief that really paint how much of an impact Jake had on Prismo’s life. And it’s even sadder to wonder just how long this has been going on, though it’s still unclear of when exactly Jake kicked the bucket. The clip of Finn and Jake at the Bird Temple has questionable implications, namely that Finn got the tattoo of his brother before he died. I think that idea is pretty dumb, so my current headcanon is that this must be an alternate universe where Jake survives, but Finn ends up getting the tattoo anyway. I’ve seen the idea thrown around that the tattoo could’ve been the result of Finn losing a bet to Jake, which I think is relatively unsentimental, but I could get behind it if only Finn was super happy about losing said bet. Like, he doesn’t even care, because he’s like, “hey, I get to have my favorite person on my chest forever!” I think that would be pretty sweet. The little sequence itself of their adventure feels similar to the pretty surface-level quest we see at the beginning of Together Again, though it has some neat little additions. I like how the temple itself seems to be partially based on Ghostshrimp’s design for a Bird Temple from the scrapped season one episode The Helmet of Thorogon and the cockatykes on copter-trikes does feel like a very AT-specific concept. Seeing Jakesuit again is also fun, though I feel like it’s reaching the point of oversaturation after appearing pretty recently in Together Again. You can’t just throw the Jakesuit around willy-nilly, it’s for special occasions!
As mentioned, the rest of the episode mainly focuses on Cake exploring Ooo and discovering her own self. It’s a lot of moments that, in my opinion, mostly feel unnecessary to explore. Like, was the exposition of Cake trying different size-altering fruits and acknowledging that she enjoys shapeshifting something that we needed to see happen? Or even her feeling at home with the magic surrounding her, only to be ganged up against by the very beings that made her feel inspired? I feel like most of what is established here can be cooked into Cake obtaining her magical abilities inthe following episode without much having been lost. AT often got flack for jamming too much into the span of 11 minute episodes during its original run. While there are definitely instances where that is the case, and there are ways that the added runtime in Fionna and Cake helps stories to flourish, there are instances where these 25 minute episodes tend to overexplain and spend a little too much time trying to set things up. This is of course most noticeable at the beginning of the season, and I really feel like moments from this episode could’ve been baked into the first one, which also was paced a bit awkwardly. Again though, this is coming from someone who was less enthralled by the Fionna and Cake world in general and was more interested in Simon’s plight and the exploration of different Ooo-like worlds. There arguments for keeping this episode the way it is, with how it establishes Cake and Fionna’s relationship and Cake’s feelings of wanting independence from Fionna. Though, I’d argue that this only really leads to incidental drama down the line, so again, I don’t really feel like I personally got much from trying to expand Cake’s character in this great of detail.
The rest of the episode is also pretty middling. I never expected the Marc Maron squirrel to appear again (I kinda just figured he’d be riding that frisbee through the air for all of eternity) but it was nice to see him once more. I think F&C, like Distant Lands, is still kind of struggling to capture the weirdness of the original series, and it’s probably most apparent here. The additional return of the Jim Cummings woodland critters feels like it’d be a prime opportunity for classic AT silliness to shine, but they mostly just show up, get fucked up by Cake (in one of the only instances from the season where I felt the use of blood was a bit gratuitous), and don’t really do anything funny. I’m always down for recapturing the light oddness of Adventure Time, though I feel like this is something the new team is struggling with the most. It’s not without moments that do feel spirituality-aligned; the Squirrel going on about how he involuntarily became an apple salesman one day was great and his boss being irrationally angry with everything she expresses was also fun.
And because I’ve already harped on this in a previous Distant Lands review, I’ll get my whining out of the way now so I don’t harp on it in the future: it still impacts my immersion slightly not having Tim Kiefer composing. Amanda Jones joined the series starting with Obsidian and I just feel like a lot of what she offers up doesn’t always mesh with the series/what Kiefer brought to it. There are so many bits of score in Fionna and Cake that feel kind of generic; the scene where Cake is trying fruits at the market is supplemented by a flute tune that just kind of sounds like typical medieval fare, while Kiefer would always experiment with different sounding instruments, like the dulcimer score heard at the market in Blade of Grass, to support Adventure Time‘s unique and quirky tone. I don’t know if this is really a jab at Jones per se, I think Kiefer was just always so essential to the series in ways that I don’t really see discussed much. Again, I think Jones does an alright job from time to time at capturing the same energy that Kiefer did (I think the theme song for Fionna and Cake itself is particularly great) and I will commend her in the future for times that I think she did knock it out of the park, but I had to get it off my chest at least once so I don’t bitch every time I think the score is ill-fitting.
While on the subject of music, I actually do like Cake’s song in this one! I think it plays out a bit awkwardly in the episode itself, but it is a pretty catchy tune and is actually one of the tracks I find myself humming the most from this season. I quite like Roz Ryan’s singing voice and people may also forget that she was actually on Broadway before getting into film and television. It’s nice that she gets her own song outside of her part in Bad Little Boy, though she deserves just as much praise for that. Oh yeah, and Rainy’s back! She was one of the few recognizable characters from the batch of Ooo residents and apparently she hasn’t aged a day in 15 years or so. I did like how the civilians were all pretty much new designs based around commonplace species from Ooo. I really dig the one tree guy painting portraits that apparently got bored at one point and started painting a house instead. Or maybe that’s just what he sees, I guess.
On the other side of the episode, we see Fionna desperately searching for Cake while Simon continues to lose his mind and attempts once more to summon Betty. Again, it’s more so just moving things along before the ball gets dropped and everything starts moving, but there’s nothing going on that’s particularly of interest. Fionna drinking wine out of a paper bag with Marshall and Ellis P. was fun, but otherwise I didn’t find any of Fionna or Simon’s scenes particularly noteworthy up to her entering Ooo. And with how fast Fionna gets launched into a whole other world and quickly accepts it, I’m shocked that they decided to just kind of tack on this development on at the last minute! I don’t really mind it and I don’t think you have to spend an extended amount of time doing a fish out of water story with her, but with how much the episode takes its sweet time with other things, it’s kind of funny how much Fionna’s introduction is quickly glanced over. She gets some fun moments towards the end – I’ve never related to anything more than when she brushes off her clothes to provide a handful of Cake’s hair, and her just straight up murdering weird creatures around her sets up her longstanding arc of murdering other weird creatures around her throughout the season. It’s cut short when Fionna and Cake are beamed up to Prismo’s and Astrid is left without her hat. I was kind of convinced that Astrid would tag along in this journey and hold a role similar to the Distant Lands sidekick characters, but I’m kind of glad that didn’t end up happening. Astrid is cute, but I think it would probably just overcrowd an already jammed series.
Otherwise, this one is probably the most lukewarm I am for a Fionna and Cake episode. I’m usually fine with letting things breathe a bit, but with such a small amount of episodes for the season, I just feel like a lot of it is kind of padding out setup. Again, nothing against Cake as a character, but I think spending a decent amount of time developing her character in ways that could kind of just be implied feels like there could’ve been some tweaking in terms of how this episode slot is used. The stuff with the squirrel and gang is fine, but isn’t really fun enough either to justify its role in the episode. But generally speaking, it still isn’t bad, it’s just time I felt could’ve been used for something funnier, more insightful, or experiment a bit more with the themes they’re going for. As is, I still think Cake plays a great role in the season, just not from a stance of personal growth.
Also, Minerva gets a small cameo in the human city! There’s actually a full deleted scene from the episode where Minerva interacts a bit more with Cake, which you can see here. I think the additional scene is cute, but I think I’m more happy with the little glimpse/cameo that it was cut down to. The boards for this scene I believe were drawn by Hanna K. Nyström, though feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Favorite line:“Literally, some apple guy came up to me and said, ‘this will be your life now and it will be a life of loneliness.”
Adventure Time Reviewed 
