Tag: Animation

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“The Insect That Sang” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

Original Airdate: December 11, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Graham Falk, Iggy Craig, Jackie Files & Sonja von Marensdorff

Holy moly, we made it! The moment everyone’s been waiting for: the fundraiser!!! So much of this season has been designed around this one plot point that a lot people have pinned as a lackluster motivation, but I always kind of figured that it would play out as a red herring. It’s a very generic 90’s sitcom dilemma, which the season has alluded to time and time again, but here, we actually get to see the fundraiser play out in real time. It’s about underwhelming as you’d expect. I’ve also been fairly forgiving with the pacing this season, as I felt that the consistent complaints about nothing happening in Fionna-World were hyperbolic at best, with most of the action being carried across in meaningful, albeit less exciting character moments. Here, I feel like we speed-run through important character moments in both the Fionna-World segments and the cosmic bits, while still feeling like this episode is jam packed with fodder that doesn’t really add to the experience or story in any meaningful way.


Let’s jump around a bit and start with the cosmic stuff. It’s great to see Orbo again, as well as the other gods (y’all know my affinity for God Lard). Fionna and Huntress are judged by Orbo for their crime of killing the Cosmic Owl, which leads me to believe that the Citadel is indeed no longer functional after the events of Escape From the Citadel. Ratted out by, of course, Scarab. I really didn’t like Scarab as a main antagonist last season, but I enjoy the little inclusion of him as more of a secondary villain. He’s just such a hammy little stick in the mud that it’s hard not to get behind his obsessive tendencies towards law and order and his dramatic patterns of speech. Most of the trial itself is very funny, with some great lines from Fionna herself: “I’ve seen like, five episodes of Night Court,” “call my fake dad!” and “eyewitness accounts are wrong like, 70% of the time.” There’s a brief clip of Rumble Jaw that Scarab flips onto in the Time Room, which was the fake project that the AT team whipped up to disguise that Distant Lands was in the works. My boy Party God gets to join in the fun! There’s also a brief “Jesus” mention from Orbo, which we’ve seen in the Fionna-World segments, but never beyond that world. I’m probably the only one who cares about something like that, but the implication of there being a Jesus in this world is way too funny/intriguing to me. Brief aside, if you are also into that concept, check Jesse Moynihan’s recent pilot. It’s a completely bonkers exploration of a dystopian future, and if you love the more heady bits of Adventure Time, I think this will be right up your alley.

Anywho, back to the episode in question, as much as I am delighted to see more of the cosmos, there’s just as much that frustrates me with the trial itself. Fionna throwing Finn under the bus is probably her most controversial move to date (among others later in the episode) and I don’t really think it works for me. I’ll commend the team for really pushing their main character towards unhealthy levels of recklessness and I get that a lot of this episode is supposed to show her at her breaking point, but I think the execution is pretty wonky. One, because I don’t think she’s a good liar to begin with. She comes up with a handful of different fabrications that Orbo and the other gods aren’t really buying into and don’t make any sense, so I think it’s a bit gimmicky that they would even believe this at all given that she hasn’t told them the truth once and they decide to montage over the sequence where she actually explains how Finn killed Cosmic Owl. Second, I could understand this more if she panics in the moment and just blurts out that Finn did it right away, later apologizing to Huntress for her moment of weakness. You can kind of get a sense of her panic here, but I think it feels a lot more calculated. She comes up with it on the spot, really sells it, and then backs her decision up to Huntress Wizard later on. I don’t know, I’ve defended the season up to this point on making her kind of an asshole, but I think this is pushing it a bit much just for the sake of finally getting Finn involved in the action and paralleling Cosmic Owl’s previous actions with his brother. It didn’t feel like an earned moment of weakness for me personally, especially with everything she went through and experienced in The Bird in the Clock, and I think Huntress Wizard being so uncharacteristically nonchalant about it after they return to Fionna-World added to it feeling poorly executed. Speaking of which, I really didn’t like Prismo’s inclusion either. I thought it was kind of tasteless to have this sort of gag where he’s drunk and really depressed about his friend dying. With how well last season quietly handled Prismo’s grief, I thought it was a really lame move to play up his sadness in a pretty comical degree.


Onto the fundraiser itself, Cake takes the lead in putting everything together in Fionna’s absence, and I think she’s solidified herself as my favorite character in this series. Which honestly isn’t surprising, I’ve always felt that way about Cake in the original episodes. But beyond her ability to just be very funny, Cake probably has the best arc in this season as well. I continue to love the exploration of her character as she struggles with her identity and fawns over M-Cron in the process. I love the commitment of having her and a human character paired together, something that really has revved up the alt-right community online for some reason. There’s been a lot of people claiming that this pairing is disgusting because it’s between a human and a cat, but I dunno y’all, have you seen this show before? Finn symbolically fucked a crab in Breezy, having cross-species relationships is nothing new. I think it’s both hilarious and very sweet how much they’ve committed to this idea, and while I initially thought that the obvious set up for this couple is that Cake would come to the realization that it wouldn’t work out, I hope that doesn’t happen! I think their connection has been very convincingly sweet, and I’d be bummed if they don’t end up getting a happy ending.

We get to watch the acts of Boys Night, and boy, is it laaame. Besides that Marshmallow Kid once again killing it and Marc Maron squirrel delighting me with his presence, I did cringe a little bit at some of the set pieces. Namely Marshall’s song, which I thought was laughably bad. It goes without saying that most of the character drama hasn’t really worked for me up to this point outside of Fionna and Cake’s journey, so trying to play this off as a powerful moment for a character who has had a pretty hackneyed plight all season just flops completely. I know there’s people online that would literally die for this character, but I’m sorry, both Marshall and Gary are such weak links for me. It doesn’t help that we have another dynamic included that I’m less than invested in, being Simone and Marshall reuniting. I once again don’t really care about this connection and think it’s even less than intriguing that Simone is just a totally rational human being who can be communicated with at any point. I kinda figured that snaggle tooth we saw her with in The Cat Who Tipped the Box indicated that she was a bit gone mentally, similar to her other worldly counterpart. I hate to keep making comparisons between Ooo’s world and Fionna-World, because I don’t think that these characters need to be entirely like their counterparts. But when they take these alternate versions and really don’t give them any characteristics aside from being generic and nice, it just feels like I’m watching a washed down version of the original series to begin with.


It additionally doesn’t help that Fionna’s connection with Phelix finally comes to a breaking point where the two share a kiss directly in front of Fennel. Once again, I’ve come to the defense of this storyline throughout the season because it felt more like an internal struggle for Fionna and less like it would play out in the traditional teenage romance drama. But nah, here it is pretty much just the latter. It’s funny how much the season has been playing around with mocking sitcoms and trashy 90s shows while pretty much playing into those tropes and storylines without any degree of irony. We’ve gotten about a dozen dunks at Cheers, but is this really writing that feels above that territory at times? I also really can’t stand Phelix at this point, he’s such a nothing burger of a character. We barely see anything from his perspective so I cannot get any kind of indication of who he is supposed to be besides the fact that he’s kind of an airhead. This series seems so against villainizing any of the human characters in any degree, but in doing so, it makes nothing about Phelix feel consistent. I guess he’s emotionally immature? Or a fuckboy? But the show simultaneously wants you to like him and find him charming? It’s such a poor character journey, and I’ve purposefully kept my mouth shut about it in hopes that it wouldn’t boil over into such trashy fodder. But here we are. I will give kudos that I like the continued bit of trauma Fionna experiences when getting close to anyone as a result of her experience with the Winter King last season.

I don’t hate the idea of Fionna being at her breaking point either and destroying the Sweet Spot, but once again, I think it plays out a bit over the top. She’s borderline devious in how she destroys everything, I think it’s a lot harder to feel for her when her pain isn’t demonstrated in a particularly relatable light. I think, had she gone off and got drunk similar to The Lion of Embers, came back and tearfully destroyed the Sweet Spot, it probably would’ve paid off a lot more successfully. But when she’s this much of a loose canon it comes off a bit ridiculous, and I think it all happens much too quickly. Granted, you have a season entirely revolving around her failing mental state, I just don’t think this level of cartoonish exploding is necessarily earned or executed with the level of pathos that it should be.


And man, what the fuck is even going on with Huntress Wizard? She’s had like, maybe half an episode the entire season dedicated to her arc and has been meandering around all the while. I’ve argued that this is the inverse of last season, where Fionna and Cake are the main players while the third team member is becoming accustomed to their world, but I really don’t think the balance was this uneven last season. HW has occupied such a tertiary role that it’s almost comical hearing her say “I have to find the heart” at least three times every episode. I really feel like this season has lost the mark with her, and it feels all but too late at this point for her to have a successful resolution. I’ll eat my words if necessary, but so much of this season has failed to make her a compelling tritagonist to the point where I almost forgot to mention her at all in this write-up.

I’ve mostly been ragging on this one but I’ll give it the benefit that it’s quite funny. The Lemoncarbs trapping Phelix is great, as are their sick dance moves. Cake consistently provides for some great visual humor, with really great expressions to boot. Hana Abadeer’s quick exit at the beginning additionally got me good, which makes it even harder to root for her son when she’s such a darn fun villain to begin with. I liked seeing all the little Tamagotchi boys once again, proving that these trapped deities only really have future job security when it comes to, well, security. And, over in the brief Ooo bits, having a very somber death being executed with PB’s Ball Blam Burglerber was classic AT goodness, as was her random expression of German dialogue. But I don’t think the more humorous bits in this one are enough to make me feel less tired than I already do. I like a lot of the ideas this episode has on paper, but in motion, I just think it misses the mark. I’m not sure if it’s just the season weighing heavily on my shoulders, but this episode in particular just rubbed me the wrong way. I’m just getting so tired of this trite world and its generic characters and the gimmicky, forced way that drama comes about. There’s still two episodes left to really wow me, but after eight episodes of all three main stories failing to come together in a meaningful way for me, I’m left with one pitiful sentiment: I just do not care anymore.


On a brighter note, the guest sequence is very fun! Directed by Jonni Peppers, an indie animator I’ve been fond of for quite sometime. She made an entire feature length animated film on YouTube only using funds from her Patreon, which is a super impressive feat. You can check out her portfolio here, and I’d additionally recommend checking out her film Barber Westchester.

Favorite line: “Call my fake dad!”

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“The Bird in the Clock” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed

Original Airdate: November 27, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Jackie Files, Iggy Craig, Jacob Winkler & Graham Falk

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

I always love AT‘s dream episodes, as they usually allow for some of the most freeform opportunities to explore trippy visuals and hidden symbolism. It’s something that’s been crucial to the series since its very early days, with the Cosmic Owl’s presence being reinstated time and time again. It’s only fitting that the conclusion to this character’s role in the series is given a proper send-off, in yet another really fun excursion.


Before we get into the main story, there’s another guest-directed opening, spearheaded once again by Graham Falk. It really bummed me out that last episode broke up the momentum with the special sequences, so I’m glad to see they’re back once again. So far, I think Falk’s sections are my absolute favorite of the bunch. I love his malleable, cartoony style that somehow additionally meshes so well with the cosmic side of the series. I would’ve never expected Cosmic Owl to have a dedicated backstory, yet here we are. The story of the brothers and their cosmic crimes is fun, with some clear inspiration points in mind. Twins are commonplace in mythology, along with trickery going hand-in-hand, with the Maya Hero Twins feeling like a potential point. I also get big Adam and Eve vibes with the etheric pizza being a stand-in for the forbidden fruit, and the brothers simultaneously being cast out as a result (wouldn’t be the first biblical reference this season). Of course, this is done in the most Adventure Time-y way possible, mixing very comic novelties with genuine mythos. Also, so glad to see my boy God Lard back once again. It’s like the team read all of my complaints about the season so far and retroactively put him in the episode, just to shut me up a little. Really nice to hear Sean Rohani back again as well, narrating the entirety of the opening. It’s so sweet how they found a way to incorporate both Rohani and Nanjiani in meaningful ways, never feeling like Rohani really had to compromise too heavily as a result. We also have the return of the Citadel Guardians after a loooong absence from the series, and it seems like there’s even more to come with them in the future. Oh, we are so back!

Let’s get to the stuff I really like: the dream section. There’s a few different ways to tackle this, so I’ll jump on Fionna’s stuff first. It’s really cool how much Fionna’s fears range from average human psyche biz to absolute dimensional horror. We get a brief interlude into Marshall Lee and (possibly?) DJ Flame’s dreamscapes and they’re entirely connected to pretty standard neuroses and fantasies that come with being human. Fionna is both tied to her fear of being loser as well as the trauma she’s experienced throughout the multiverse. This season has been really smart at making this a quiet backdrop for her character; I’ve always liked how much repression is a common theme in the series. So many of these characters don’t deal with their trauma on a conscious level, and that’s kind of the basis of the original series in general. Everyone is carelessly trying to figure out how to act and survive in the aftermath of a world-altering shift that is rarely ever dealt with head-on. So, to have Fionna have these subconscious glimpses into her guilt and fear, without necessarily pathologizing it, is very cleverly executed.


Cake’s little tangent with her fear of being “wrong” is similarly well-executed, and it doesn’t treat itself too seriously. It reminds me a lot of Jake’s explored fears in Come Along With Me, where it doesn’t attempt to make them too complex, but there is something potent to be said about what was explored. Here, it’s very similar, where we’re treated to a warped sitcom setting in which Cake meets her babies. It was so cool to finally get some inclusion of the pups – or in this case, kittens – in this world, and it did not disappoint. Really sad to see how Cake is somewhat ashamed of them, as they very much remind her of the parts of herself that she’s less than comfortable with. Cake’s plight is really unique, because on the one hand, she asked for this! But in typical AT fashion, the happy endings that we’re often treated to aren’t so clear cut. There’s still consequences to be dealt with even amidst a character receiving what they wanted, and it continues to be engaging to watch her try to find comfort in her own skin despite her wishes being granted. It was hilarious to see Ms. Cupcake show up unceremoniously to schmooze M-Cron – a fear that apparently exists in all corners of the multiverse. If I had one petty complaint, I wish we didn’t get the quick flash of magical Ms. Cupcake’s design. Feel like it was included just as a way to identify her fully, but like, seasoned AT viewers already know who this is! Sullied the joke just a slight bit for me.

As we explore deeper into the Finn-Mind, we’re treated to the return of Farmworld Finn. It’s great that they found a way to incorporate him once again without having to utilize multiverse hopping, though I’m somewhat certain this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him. We deal with elements that the previous season left open, like the loss of Jay and Little Destiny, who we see at the beginning of the episode looking very… normal! I’m still not entirely convinced the cameo last episode was supposed to be Fionna-World versions of them? Like, I could still totally see the possibility that a board artist included a rough sketch of them in, and it was an oversight on the part of the overseas studio to translate them model-specific. But at this point, if I was this team, I would just roll with the punches and say it is a Fionna-World version of them. Increase the number of questions about how this world works and never answer ’em! One of my gripes with the way last season ended is I thought Jay and Little D leaving their home to join Fionna-World felt a bit selfish and drastic, and it was kind of written off as a happy ending. Here, I still don’t think they’re really dealing with the implications of this? Farmworld Finn is, at the very least, happy that his son is alive and well, but it’s kind of brushed over pretty fast in service of exploring other ideas and topics. I don’t think the season has the capacity at this point to wrap up Jay and Little Destiny’s arcs in a successful way, so I’m not really gonna be persecute the team too much for not fleshing it out further. I moreso blame Cheers (the finale of last season – I totally get that it’s confusing I refer to the episode and the TV series the same exact way) for including such a large curveball in the first place. Regardless, I love FarmWorld Finn, so having him in any capacity is great. Jeremy Shada once again does a great job of carrying out his more baritone inflections without them feeling silly, and having FF dedicate himself to helping his otherworldly counterpart is quite sweet, given their history.

We get the most Finn content we’ve had all season, and man, is it great to see my boy back in action. I will admit, it slightly bums me out how surface level we’ve seen him throughout the entirety of this spin-off. With so many other characters taking the forefront, and Finn taking the back seat, the series hasn’t really allowed him the same level of introspection that other characters have been dedicated to. We mostly get boneheaded Finn, who has thrown himself into danger at the chagrin of his beloved and aimlessly has adventure-brain even in the midst of being comatose. But don’t get me wrong, I love this sweet, dumb boy. His segments definitely made for the most fun parts of the episode and it did harken back to some of his goofier moments in the original series. The repetition of “who are you?” had me laughing out loud, as well as the insistence that Fionna is his “girl-Jake.” So it’s really not a loss, I don’t think this is out-of-character for Finn and I’m just happy to see him in any capacity. I just know that boy is hurting a lot and I long for some kind of exploration of how he’s dealing with what he’s going through. But now’s not the time unfortunately, and I can only hope we get more of his perspective in future seasons and projects. I did additionally love how he’s sporting his bro’s sword after it’s been absent from the show for a whopping 14 years! It was additionally brutal to watch him die over and over again, but there was a bit of a dark glee I found in just how relentlessly it was executed. Namely the clock woodsman that axes him to bits. Woof! This season has been doing a great job of playing into the suspense of his situation. We know he’s not gonna die because we see him in Together Again, but – oh, they made him rapidly age in the previous episode. But maybe he only looks like he’s old and – oh, they literally show his Together Again design in the dream sequence. Again, I doubt we’re going to see Finn die by the end of this, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t buy into the stakes more and more as time goes on.

The dreamscape itself is great, with some really excellent backgrounds and characters that all nod to time running out. Really great designs, including the elevated clock bears, and the sheer amount of clocks and numbers that arise in the background. Also, notable is the amount of dates and times that felt very meta to me? Could be reading into this too much, but the February 10 date on the calendar and the 12:03 timestamp are connected to two individual episode airdates: The Red Throne and All the Little People, respectively. Considering how much Fionna has been headstrong in trying to win back DJ Flame and willing to manipulate her surroundings to do so, I would not be surprised if these were intentional connections that reference back to her main arc. There’s a few blink-and-you’ll-miss details, like FarmWorld Finn’s face morphing into his Ooo counterpart at points (which feels like it could be an animation error? Who knows!) Cuber’s little commentary excerpt was hilarious – I like to imagine that he’s still out there in the distant future just watching over everything and having a ball. A great little Phil cameo in the box Huntress Wizard was searching in, feels like forever since we’ve seen him as well! Along with some classic backwards talking ala Twin Peaks and backdropped by the auditorium we previously saw in Orb.


Oh yeah, and we FINALLY get to see Fionna and Finn interact with each other! This would definitely be a bit more special if it wasn’t teased to death in the initial promos and trailers, but it’s still pretty great. Despite what I said about Finn being boneheaded, I do like how he’s the one that kind of serves as a guru to Fionna. Of course, his methodology is simple and easily misconstrued as we see later, but Finn is a pretty simple guy with a noble heart. He’s someone that so seamlessly follows his values in a way that makes it look easy, something that Fionna struggles to accomplish in her own life. Granted, it hasn’t proven to be a perfect method for him. His desire for thrills and adventure is ultimately what led him into such a predicament, something that also ends up corrupting Fionna by the end, but it’s his intrinsic goodness and trust in the world around him that is so admirable. Even if his message does get bungled by the episode’s end, I do think his words are true for him, no matter how simple they are.

Huntress Wizard also plays a supporting role in this episode, with a lot of the big developments happening literally at her hands. The craziest thing that’s happened all season is the murder of the Cosmic Owl, which I have to imagine will have big cosmic consequences by season’s end. The return of these otherworldly elements is great because I think you could argue cosmos is a large part of Fionna and Cake‘s DNA as well. So much of the first season was exploring the Time Room and the other entities and deities surrounding it, so having it be a consistent part of the series is great and definitely one of the aspects I’m most interested in seeing more of. Back to HW, I like her role in the episode, even if I feel like her presence this season is less than fleshed out efficiently. We lost some time with her throughout episodes three and four, and last episode was much more of a fun expedition as opposed to a character journey. Here, it’s very much the same, except her relationship with Finn is sort of tacked on by the end of it. We’ve gotten some glimpses of Huntress Wizard’s solitude throughout the season, but her arc has kind of taken the backburner. Last season, I really liked how each episode in the multiverse explored part of Simon’s character that maybe he wasn’t even totally well aware of through fun and creative ways. Here, I don’t think Huntress Wizard’s journey thus far has really pertained to her individual arc of learning to trust others and be more open about her feelings, so it feel somewhat overt for Fionna to blurt out HW’s resistance to being open to Finn as a way of trying to shoehorn in the lessons she has to learn. Season one had Fionna carefully realize Simon’s dilemma over the course of several episodes, and it made sense by the end of Jerry why she would conceal the crown from him. Here, I don’t really think it’s earned that Fionna recognizes HW’s resistance to showing affection, because it doesn’t feel like these characters have worked off of each other enough. I dunno, at the very least I found it to be unsubtle, and would’ve preferred Fionna simply noticing HW’s reaction to Finn rather than vocally addressing it.


We also have a little taste of both Ooo and Fionna-World on the side. I’m really glad the whole Hana Abadeer drama isn’t played up as much as I was expecting last episode. I really pictured everyone being pissy at Fionna, which would last several episodes, but everyone just kind of accepts it here. Almost a bit too uncharacteristically? Like, I sort of feel like Marshall should be pissed at Fionna for involving his mom in his life when he clearly has no desire to do so. I guess he is kind of a pushover, but given how much he can’t stand Hana, I felt like there maybe should’ve been a bit more resistance, though I’m not really complaining. I really like HW and Hunter’s meeting and how HW kinda just wrecks him for no reason. It’s a big deal that is treated so casually by HW herself, and I continue to enjoy how bluntly standoffish she is. We get more DJ Flame tension, everyone’s favorite part of this season! In all fairness, it’s kept brief and done pretty well as an execution of the ever-so confusing “follow your heart” advice (more fairytale woo-hoo!) It’s funny to see how negatively people react to watching her chase after Flame, because it does remind me so much of how pissed at Finn everyone was during the course of season five. I don’t mind this exploration of Fionna, because I think it ultimately does tie back into her chasing after her own fantasy world. She clearly admires Finn’s heroism but is somewhat misled by it, equating it more to the success and presentation rather than the acts themselves. She wants to be this world’s champion and just doesn’t realize that she’s chasing after an idea rather than identifying ways she can make simple, positive changes around her.

The Ooo bits are fun this week, even if I feel they are once again slightly undercooked. We have Marceline be tempted by her vision of the VK to bite Finn, which is a return of the lingering concept introduced in The Dark Cloud. I think this happens waaaay too fast and I really wish it had some introduction earlier in the season. I really like the idea of Marceline being so worried about her friend and tempted by the VK’s impulses as a means of saving his life, I just don’t think it’s executed well in such a short amount of time and seemingly without any kind of internal struggle. I’ve been complaining about how little Marceline has had to do despite being an active presence all season, and I wish this plot point had a bit more leverage to be explored. You’d think instead of having her float around aimlessly and say things like, “hey Bubblegum, remember when I ate you out last night?” they would even include just a small reference to this earlier on. But I can’t complain too much because, what the fuck, Old Lady Princess is back? And she’s voiced by her original voice actress, Kerry Kenney-Silver? What is up with this season and the random nods to season one?? I’m not complaining though, that was probably the biggest delight, and for all of the characters that have gotten recast this season, it’s so funny that she has the same one after only portraying her once 15 years ago. I like Bubblegum getting progressively more neurotic as time passes by, to the point where she’s prioritizing the public’s perception rather than immediately focusing on a cure. And who can blame her, they’ve pretty much tried everything under the sun to no avail. It continues to be both really funny and quite poignant how this team is trying everything to help their friend. Once again, I really felt Walch’s delivery of “I hate seeing him this way.” The icing on the cake has to be BMO showing up at the end, drawing on Finn’s face in a bit of careless whimsy. It’s fitting that the episode this season that has felt the most like Adventure Time for me ends with the most Adventure Time style ending.


So yeah, this was a blast. I don’t think it necessarily forgives the sins of this season’s earlier episodes, as Huntress Wizard’s saga still feels slightly underdeveloped, the Ooo segments feel like they’re just sloppily running through solutions with little payoff, and the Fionna-World bits still fail to really grab me. But at the very least, I had fun with this episode, something I haven’t really felt for most of the season. It’s a high stakes battle against time that is also quite funny, and has plenty of little details to explore that don’t just limit themselves to cute Easter eggs. I was always kind of interested in where the season was heading out of pure fascination with how committed they were to telling a non-magic story, but now that we have magic back in the mix, the cat is kind of out of the bag. I do feel like it reads as a bit unconfident how this show is with mainly focusing on the slice-of-life elements of Fionna-World, but I’m not complaining. It’s Adventure Time! This is exactly the kind of stuff I signed up for, and even if there’s a bit of lingering sloppiness, I’m happy that I at least found that spark I’ve been looking for all season long.

This week’s artist shoutout is Jackie Files, who has worked on several episodes the past few seasons. In a time where promo art is all but dead with the series, Files has been whipping up little previews for each episode she’s worked on, and they’re really great. They remind me a lot of the style Steve Wolfhard used to use in his promos. Files also makes really neat ceramics, one of which was used for Fionna and Cake‘s art show at Gallery Nucleus. You can check out her portfolio, including promo art and boards she’s worked on, here!

Favorite line: “He’s risen.”

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Artist Spotlight – Graham Falk

Adventure Time Reviewed

Graham Falk is an interesting case – he originally joined the series for some guest board work during season five for Shh! and Root Beer Guy. In most instances, guest board artists will work on a few episodes before moving onto other projects, or simply as a one-time opportunity, like Kris Mukai and KC Green. However, Falk continued to work on the series sporadically throughout season 6 and 7, until he became a fulltime regular for season 8 and eventually even boarded the very final scene for the original series finale. There’s a lot of unique attributes to Falk’s role in the series, first being that unlike a good majority of the staff, he’s a seasoned veteran in the animation world. While most artists have a few previous gigs under their belts, Falk’s career in animation dates back as early as 1980, working as a layout artist and character designer, among several other roles for many successful animated shows. Falk even had his very own series, Untalkative Bunny, which ran for three seasons. Falk’s cartoonish style and love for classical animation can easily be seen in his work, which translates into his time on Adventure Time.

Art Style

Falk is somewhat of an enigma when it comes to locating his artwork. He doesn’t seem to have an online presence or portfolio, which tracks since he’s had such a longstanding career even before the presence of the internet. If it’s not evident enough by these screenshots, Falk’s main inspiration point in both art and storytelling is that of silent cartoons from the 1920’s and very early 1930’s, most evident in his series Untalkative Bunny and his design work for Over the Garden Wall. Dumb, silly expressions, stretched facial features, oval eyes, tilted line-of-action, dramatically big mouth emotes, and monobrows are all hallmarks of Falk’s touch. A lot of those same idiosyncrasies can be found on Summer Camp Island. For as unique as Falk’s touch is, some of his episodes for both Summer Camp Island and Adventure Time can look pretty standard and difficult to decipher, until one expression comes along that can easily be pointed out as a Falk drawing.

Finn & Friends

This one was difficult because there’s Falk hallmarks that are found across every character, and then there’s just the way that Falk draws Finn specifically – I tried to settle for a combination of both. Something very common in Falk’s posing is the 70ish degree angle that characters will stand at, as seen in images one through four. Expressions will additionally be slightly crooked, with boomerang-esque shapes, shown in Finn’s expression in image three. Expressions will also be quite large, specifically in the mouth. Falk Finn’s will be seen with huge, teethless smile, or big frown-y scowls, seen in images four and five. More standard shots of Finn from Falk actually hearken back to his earlier model sheet look, a departure from the more modernized look that most storyboards artist had adopted by the final season, which can be seen in image six. And, while most artists at the time were competing for who could draw the largest eyes on Finn, Falk’s eyes are maybe some of the smallest. Falk also likes drawing Finn in sideview perhaps more than any other artist, as seen in images three, seven, eight, and nine.

A lot of Falk’s touches for Finn also impact Jake: dramatically angled posing, wackier-than-usual expressions, a focus on sideview shots. Jake also suffers a similar fate as Finn, with Falk’s style being somewhat conformed in the final season and less of his touch being evident, as seen with the model sheet-esque Jake in the ninth image. I love how Falk draws Jake’s eyes, with the whites taking center stage and the black mildly outlining them. Falk Jakes also occasionally have mouths that don’t connect all the way to his jowls, as indicated in the first and second images.

A handful of Falk specialties. Monobrows, extreme angled posing, big frowns and smiles, eyes with thick, black outlines, and sharper-than-usual edges on mouths.

Promo Art

Some of the few pieces of AT promo art that Falk has whipped up, including a paper plate canvas for Sad Face.

Concept Art

Miscellaneous concept work from Falk of designs he whipped up for the hardware store owner in Root Beer Guy and the visual scope of Abstract.

Title Cards

A few original title cards that Falk designed, along with a large chunk of concept sketches that didn’t make the cut.

Storyboards

A collection of silly Falk boards.

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Artist Spotlight – Sam Alden

Adventure Time Reviewed

A late bloomer during the OG series, but one that became just as recognizable as the longtime alum, Sam Alden joined the series starting with The Mountain and later became a series regular beginning midway through season 7. Alden was often paired with Jesse Moynihan in his early days, before taking on a similar role as his counterpart, being paired with many different partners throughout the rest of the show’s run. Pretty much anywhere he landed, Alden delighted with standout boarding efforts and some of the better Finn-centric entries in AT‘s last run.

Art Style

With a main focus in pencil art, Alden’s portfolio consists mainly of his short-form comics and intimate, portrait-esque illustrations. It’s a natural fit that Alden was paired with Jesse, as Alden’s love for vivid colors is easily apparent in his work. Experimentation with color can be readily seen in the examples above, with harsh contrasting elements, two-tone schemes, and washed out, dreamy backdrops.

Finn & Friends

The biggest dead giveaway that Alden had his hands in an AT episode is the quotation eyes, which Finn is frequently seen sporting, as seen in images four, five, seven, and eight. I just said on my last post that Moynihan takes the cake for the biggest, roundest pupils on Finn, though I may have spoke too soon. Alden will often draw Finn with massive pupils, a face that takes up most of his head area, very large ear nubs on his hat, and some big, eye bag accents. Also, Alden’s Finn has a generally lengthier body than other iterations, sporting longer arms and legs. Honestly, it’s fitting that Alden wrote the Come Along With Me gag where PB acknowledges how tall he’s gotten.

Jake isn’t a character that Alden has had a ton of time with, as he’s predominantly absent from a good chunk of the artist’s portfolio: The Mountain, High Strangeness, Happy Warrior, Whispers, The Wild Hunt, and Blenanas. So, it’s a bit difficult to point out his Jake, but he still boasts some unique touches. Something consistent with other characters Alden draws (including Finn) is the focus on a character’s bottom teeth with no visible top teeth. There’s also some idiosyncrasies he shares with his board partner, Jesse Moynihan, such as the eye shape and the black sections peaking out on both sides of the white.

Some other characters/shots where Alden’s influence is apparent. Quotation eyes, absolutely massive pupils, and some bottom teeth love.

Promo Art

Alden has created some of the most beautiful promo art the series has seen. Probably the most consistent in format, as each promo feels like it is part of a whole series.

Concept Art

Alden has worked behind-the-scenes to develop a bunch of different elements that made their way into the series, such as the Mountain of Matthew, Bandit Princess, the electric boar, Ice Finn’s domain, and some early looks at Finn’s parents.

Title Cards

With the exception of the Islands and Elements miniseries, Alden has designed the title card for every episode he’s worked on (excluded are The Wild Hunt and Blenanas, which did not have rough versions available).

Some title card roughs from Alden.

Storyboards

Select Alden boards. The unavoidable quotation eyes and a glance at Normal Man‘s fast-paced mountain sequence.

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Artist Spotlight – Jesse Moynihan

Adventure Time Reviewed

It’s Jmoyns time! I’ve gushed about Jesse plenty on this blog; aside from Tom Herpich, he’s probably my favorite board artist in the series. So much of his own personal tastes and style bleed into those boards in a way that’s really inspiring to me. He’s come a long way throughout the series, starting out with some really wonky drawings that didn’t translate super well into the final animation to becoming one of the most rounded and consistent artists, both art and tone wise.

Art Style

Moynihan’s artwork, done primarily with all physical materials combines psychedelic colors, geometric shapes, and fantastical characters wearing wrestling gear. He started off focusing on making comics, which mainly consisted of his series Forming, before getting recruited by Pen Ward to work on AT. Jesse typically tackles both the spiritual and psychological through his own work, which transferred over into most of his AT outings from season four onward. More than any other storyboard artist in the series, Jesse has poured a large chunk of his life into his writing. Each artist has their own personal voice and quirks, but I don’t think anyone quite reached the same level of vulnerability that Jesse did. The show almost became a diary for him at certain points, as he dealt with his own questions about finding inner peace in The Mountain or had a raw unraveling when struggling to cope after a tumultuous break up with his former girlfriend, whom he also called “Margles.” A lot of his stuff has been pointed to as an example of the show’s growing pretentiousness, though I think his relationship with the series is probably the best example of its strengths. Using the show, its characters, its world and its rules to create something personal and unique with each individual outing.

Manly

Manly, a short made by Jesse and his brother for Cartoon Hangover, additionally exhibits the hallmarks mentioned above. It’s also a good chance to see more consistencies in his drawings that cross over into AT, namely the eye shapes, forced perspective, and a contrasting blend between simple designs and complex anatomy. Unrelated to Manly, but Justin Moynihan, Jesse’s brother, has contributed a bit to the main series musically, including Lost in the Darkness, Love in the Darkness, and the Booboo Sousa song. Jesse has also contributed to the show song-wise, including Real Power, Yeah Girl, It Stinks, and Braco Don’t Go.

Midnight Gospel

Moynihan served as art director for Pendleton Ward’s other series, The Midnight Gospel. A lot can be taken away from the background art in terms of how it matches the sensibilities detailed above. It’s a perfect mix between Ward’s simple charm and the psychedelia of Duncan Trussell.

Finn & Friends

Moynihan Finn’s have some BIG round pupils. Maybe some of the biggest Finn pupes in the series (Not counting Lucyola Langi, because she obviously takes the cake). When they’re not massive and circular, a classic Moynihanism is the slanted, oval eyes that appear on a lot of different characters, notable in images one, four, and five. Moynihan Finns also most commonly emote with raised eyebrows, seen in images six, seven, and eight. His Finn usually has more teeth displayed than the average Finn, as seen in images five and eight. While eye highlights are something common throughout the series and with every artist, Moynihan’s eye highlights are usually much smaller and more muted, as seen in the first and last image. And perhaps one of the biggest dead giveaways for a Moynihan Finn is the more defined shoulders, noted in images two, three, and seven. In fact, Moynihan is perhaps the artist that most frequently draws Finn without his backpack. Examples include Hitman, Who Would Win, Breezy, Is That You?, Astral Plane, and Checkmate.

Moynihan Jakes usually possess the same simplistic, raised eyebrows that his Finn’s have, as seen in images one, three, five, and eight. Perhaps most distinctive are eyes Moynihan draws for Jake, which will slant in the same sideways motion as Finn’s, with the whites receding into the black, as noted in images five, seven, and nine. In fact, the black in Jake’s eyes often swallows up the white pupils, making them much smaller than most board artists – seen in most images but primarily in one, four, six, and eight. Jake’s eye sockets will additionally often bulge off the side of his head, noted in the first two images. And, in typical Moynihan fashion, Jake’s shoulders are much more prominent. Seen in images one, three and four. A Moynihan Jake ear will often curl off the side of his head, but often not as dramatically as a Muto or Nyström ear.

Some other Moynihan character shots. Lots of slanted eyes, forced perspective, big pupils, extra teeth , defined shoulders, and the occasional sassy arms-on-hips.

Promo Art

Moynihan has created A LOT of promo art throughout the series, mostly in a black-and-white fashion with heavy shading, while some let his love for bright, vivid colors shine. Others are simplistic notebook doodles, which I always appreciate as well. Board artists don’t need to create promo art for episodes, so I always like when they commit to putting something out, even if that is just a simple doodle on paper. Some are really elaborate, like his last two season six episodes that incorporate live action elements. It’s pretty cool to additionally see the shear volume of people Moynihan has worked with throughout his tenure. He most consistently worked with Ako Castuera, but has partnered with various other artists, most notably throughout seasons 5 and 6. He might be the artist with the highest volume of partners? I could probably fact check that, but I’m not gunna.

Storyboards

Some select Moynihan boards. In a similar look to his promo art, Moynihan will often incorporate his own sense of shading into his boards, even if said shading doesn’t make it into the final product (i.e. Betty). Also included is his love for forced perspective, and a cameo from the lost beta character Tiny Hippogriff.

Adventure Time, Animation

Artist Spotlight – Adam Muto

Adventure Time Reviewed

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.

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Artist Spotlight – Steve Wolfhard

Adventure Time Reviewed

Known for his love of tabletop games and general affinity for the pups, King of Ooo, and the 1000+ Ooo-scape, Steve Wolfhard started out as a board revisionist before becoming a full-time board artist at the start of season 5. His partnership with Tom Herpich has been the longest running board team for the entirety of the series, and despite their general overlapping interests (Tree Trunks, Finn and Jake’s brotherhood, Finn being kind of stupid) Wolfhard’s style largely contrasts Herpich when it comes to design.

Art Style

Wolfhard’s style is easily recognizable for its super thin, squiggly outlines. Details mostly extend to facial accents, such as wrinkles, eyebags, hairs, and fuller lips. His sensibilities are similar to that of his partner, connecting to the magic and sorcery of the world while also leaning more toward a cartoonier side. Wolfhard has worked on a few animated shows post AT, most notably Amphibia.

Concept Art

Wolfhard’s squiggly outlines and flat color are prominent in most of his artwork – concepts included. Wolfhard has maybe created the most concept artwork for the series, with a blend of ideas he conjured up for the episodes he’s worked on (Finn and Jake’s KOO armor, the adult pups) while others involve oddball pitches that don’t get off the floor (Finn dating the Mona Lisa, King of Ooo dating an androgynous blue figure). Some of these oddball ideas do end up making their way into the series later in the process (Slime Princess growing huge, King of Ooo being a little waxman).

Pups

Wolfhard has an affinity for the pups, which makes sense – it was one of the first elements of the series that he had a part in developing. Lots of different points of development above, including appearance and personality outlines for the pups.

1000+

This section isn’t entirely unique from the one before it, as the pups make their way into the 1000+ lore. Wolfhard got to build the visual look for the 1000+ world pretty much from scratch, and most of his character concepts made it into the actual show, with the exception of Wintergreen and Clover, the possum standing on Sweet P’s head.

Finn & Friends

Whenever Finn or any other character is drawn with thin face wrinkles or more prominent lips and cheeks, that can be a dead giveaway of Wolfhard’s touch. When Finn isn’t wrinkly, it can be a little bit more difficult to tell of Wolfhard’s touch. Standard shots of Finn are very simplistic looking, as seen in the final image. Sometimes he’ll give Finn or other characters a dumb little cheeky smile as seen in the fourth image, though this is an expression that most of the staff likes to churn out from time to time. Wolfhard’s details can usually be noted by their “small”ness, not overly exaggerated and usually manifest as minute line strokes.

Wolfhard’s Jake is a bit more identifiable than his Finn, because boy, is this guy cranky!! Again, the simplicity is key here. Anytime you see those thin, slanted, slightly wobbly eyebrows on Jake, it’s likely going to be Wolfhard. His most focal ear is usually just hanging off the side a bit, while the second may peak off or be hidden.

Some Wolfhard board-to-animation drawings in all of their wrinkly, big-lipped glory. Also some dumb smiles.

Promo Art

Often, instead of doing promo artwork, Wolfhard will conjure up full comic strips for the featured episode. I linked Daddy-Daughter Card Wars and The More You Moe, the Moe You Know to their full page.

Similar to Herpich, Wolfhard has made some really powerful Finn solo stuff that I think is gnarly.

Storyboards

Some cut scenes from episodes that Wolfhard has boarded – those squiggly lines are, of course, most prominent in the boards.

Title Cards

Some title cards Wolfhard has designed. It’s interesting because these are generally larger than his usual visual efforts, often featuring grand features and extremely detailed backgrounds. Wolfhard’s handwritten titles can be most prominently noted on episodes like Bonnie & Neddy and Ring of Fire, where they’re traced over precisely in the final product. Temple of Mars strayed away from this in the final product.

Some cut title cards that Wolfhard has crafted (he did end up creating the official title card for The More You Moe, the Moe You Know regardless).

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“Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake” Season 1 Review

Adventure Time Reviewed


I’ve said it before on this blog, but man, I was not looking forward to Fionna & Cake. I was really bummed out that a franchise with so much potential for exploration would resort to such a gimmicky concept that hasn’t even been beloved by the fanbase for over 8 years. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the series (or the “season” now) was actually very clever in not playing into the lowest common denominator of its source material and utilized it to tell a very engaging story about accepting your own ordinariness. In a way, this has always been what Adventure Time has excelled at – playing into the sensibilities of what a general audience would want to see/what sells with a big studio and then pretty much doing whatever they want after its greenlit. Granted, Fionna & Cake doesn’t have the same kind of freedom that its predecessor did. They only had 10 episodes to tell a concise story, so there’s not really a ton of room to experiment with ideas and styles and tone. But for what they were actually able to fit in to those 10 episodes went above and beyond my expectations, making for pretty great first season. Mostly.

The stuff I’ve gushed the most about throughout the season is anything involving Simon, which was equally surprising to see just how invested I was in his role. Despite how outlandish his circumstances are, having been controlled for thousands of years by a magical crown and suddenly becoming conscious once more in the midst of a colorful post-apocalyptic landscape, his portrayal is strangely relatable. I think there’s a lot you can draw from his experience thematically: feeling like you don’t belong, being deprived of the highs and lows of life, dealing with the day-to-day following addiction recovery, not knowing how to exist without your partner. With all successful AT allegories, there’s no singular one connection, and Simon’s journey allows you to connect with him in whatever way you see fit. His arc is probably the most successfully executed on; it helps that it closely relates to the cosmic stuff that I love so much, but also because I think it caps off in a relatively nuanced manner. You have Simon realize that he has his own part to play in the world, but I don’t think it’s as neatly tied up as some of the other plot points in the season. He still has a lot of soul searching to do, but at least has a good foundation based on his own journey. I additionally really love the exploration of his relationship with Betty, learning to take the past off a pedestal and accept its imperfections while still cherishing the experience. It’s a far cry off from that awful Marcy and Simon comic series, which has Simon rescue Betty from the clutches of GOLB, with nothing learned or gained from the process itself. This version doesn’t negate the tragedy set up by Come Along With Me, but instead plays off it in a way that allows for quiet, somber closure and ambiguity when it comes to what it means for these characters.

Fionna and Cake’s arcs are a bit more spelled out. Again, I have to give kudos where its due for making me care even a little bit about these characters who were essentially props in the OG series. And Fionna’s journey of learning to put the wants of others before her own is decently well-executed, with the additional relatability of being 20-something and incredibly self-indulgent. But I think there remains little to gather from this whole expedition outside of a surface level. Pretty much every episode beyond that first one, Fionna and Cake’s bits are overshadowed by characters and story beats that I find much more interesting. Fionna’s connection to Simon is probably the strongest thing going for her character – I find their relationship genuinely very endearing and crucial to each other’s growth. As I discussed in my Cheers review, it’s neat how their arcs overlap while being driven by two drastically different mindsets: Fionna is unable to look outside of herself because of her own self-cherishment, while Simon is unable to because of his own self-hatred. It’s two sides of the same coin and explored in a way that I think is less obvious than Fionna’s individual storyline, boosting both in execution. I do worry about the future of the series where Simon is potentially not as involved, because I really wonder how Fionna can stand alone without that intriguing connection. Her dynamic with Cake is fun, and unique from their Ooo counterparts, but not nearly as lovable as Finn and Jake’s, which is to be expected. The one time they tried to establish conflict between the two in Jerry brought out some of the lamest character moments in Cake, who otherwise was very enjoyable. Cake was always the strongest part of each of the original Fionna & Cake entries in the series, and she remains very funny in this iteration. I could see her role potentially getting annoying in future seasons, as she’s really just there to be quippy and add comedic relief when scenes get a little too heavy, but it really didn’t bother me much this time around. As I also mentioned in my review of Jerry, however, I don’t think her having an arc of her own was super compelling. Necessary, maybe, as it does tie into Fionna’s desires to look outside herself and the debacle around wanting a more magical world, but I don’t think it added much for me personally. I really wouldn’t have been mad if Cake was purely there to just add some goofs in and support Fionna in her own journey, as any of the more tension-heavy moments from her were a bit of a wet blanket.


We get lots more Prismo here, which is always delightful for a character who really only got to shine once or twice a season, if that. I do miss Kumail Nanjiani’s portrayal, but Sean Rohani did a fine job at taking over. Prismo is mostly out of commission outside his titular episode, but his appearance does make way for lots of fun bits of exploration in the cosmic realm. Also, Scarab is here! I think Scarab is ultimately this season’s biggest failure. Granted, he doesn’t steal too much screentime, but as the primary antagonist, he’s around way too much and contributes so little. I’ve probably said it before but villains, outside of the Lich, have never really been the show’s strength. A lot of the conflict in Adventure Time is more internalized, with actual foes and bosses kind of just coming across as pretty normal or insecure dudes and dudettes. Most adversaries are comedic in nature and don’t pose an actual threat, but Scarab is kind of neither. He’s not funny or threatening enough to really justify his existence outside of being an opposition to the main crew, which I do understand to an extent. With telling such a tight story that seemed pretty sure of what it wanted along with well-defined internal struggling, there also needed to be some sense of conflict that helps those two individual stories unravel. I just wish it made for a more interesting adversary, but this is something AT has really been struggling with in recent years. Hugo, New Death, Dr. Caledonius (had to look her name up because holy shit, who even remembers her?) are all villains that suffered from being tacked on for external drama while never feeling fun or intense enough to really leave any lasting emotions. I somewhat wish the next season would just try to have no outward antagonist and just let the characters and stories pan out without coming up with a new big bad every iteration.

I do think the structure of this season was generally quite sound otherwise. Adam Muto talked about how working on the miniseries kind of prepped the team with a better understanding of how to tackle ongoing stories in a successful way, and it shows here. I never want AT to become so story focused that it loses the charm of having each episode possess its own identity, and I think Adam probably felt the same. Every episode in this season cleverly has its own unique feel and landscape, never feeling like any truly blend together (with the exception of maybe the last two episodes). Additionally, I think the longer runtime is mostly used very well. Again, the team obviously had some experience with this in Distant Lands and mostly succeeded in their efforts, and that remains pretty consistent here. Granted, a few episodes like Fionna Campbell and Cake the Cat do feel a bit aimless in their spare time, but every other episode is so loaded with ideas and concepts that can’t even be handled entirely within their runtime that it does replicate that traditional jam-packed feeling of the 11 minute chunks. As I’ve said, I’ll always prefer Adventure Time for what it was during its run: a mainly structureless series with a million episodes that could focus on story elements, interesting ideas, or just something fun. But I do think a lot of the spirit still remains within this season, even if it does have to be a lot tighter and still try to prove itself so that it can move on to tell more stories.

The multiverse definitely complements the individuality of each episode. It’s the element I was most concerned about, because I’m so fatigued with the current landscape of multiverse stories that seem to only be interested in doing really gimmicky concepts with it. However, as the whole series has proved, Adventure Time likes to take gimmicky ideas and explore them in their own unique way. The multiverse here, outside of boasting fun and new, yet familiar environments also explores the nature of characters that we know within an entirely different light. It’s cool to see that the soul-shape of each of these characters seems to remain in each world – Finn is dedicated to doing good, PB desperately needs control over her environment, and Marcy retains a level of playfulness no matter where her moral code lies. These characteristics remain in spite of their surroundings, but even then, we watch them act in drastically different ways. It’s cool to see an exploration like Farmworld Finn’s display that the characters we know and love aren’t necessarily static or even largely identifiable in other parts of the cosmos. Despite there being some consistencies in general nature, Finn, PB, and Marceline do not have consistent senses of self that expand beyond their own worlds. Their nurturing is subject to change and can mold their nature into pretty much anything that serves their environment. Finn’s sense to do good could involve slaying monsters to protect a Kingdom of candy or it could mean protecting his family at all costs. PB’s need for control could involve creating her own Kingdom or it could lead to her becoming a rebel in the face of oppression. Marceline’s playfulness can be quite childish, if not also a bit selfish at times, but can be managed in the right company, or lead her to destructiveness in the wrong company. It’s really cool to see this concept applied to characters we already know and love, and to do so in a way that doesn’t aim to just display alternate versions of them. There’s a level of exploration that is quite interesting and really challenges what is consistent about these characters no matter where they’re found across the stars.

It was pretty surprisingly to see announced that Fionna & Cake would be intended for young adults as opposed to its initial tween audience. I think this is generally something that was naturally built into, as the original series gradually grew into something pretty exclusively for older kids and teens, Distant Lands had a bit more of an edge to it that pushed it into a primarily teenage territory, and F&C takes that one step further. I think it’s smart that the season doesn’t try to push this in a particularly egregious way, with really only supplementing blood and minor swears throughout. I even thought they could’ve pushed it a little more! There’s some thematically darker stuff, like all of Jerry and Simon’s entire plight, though it’s difficult to say if those are elements that wouldn’t also be included in the original series. Overall though, I think I’m glad they went in a bit of a safer direction right off the bat so it’s not too jarring of a jump forward. Hoping they can continue to push these boundaries, especially moving forward. From early previews, it looks like Huntress Wizard is going to be more prominently featured next season, so I’m hoping this means that we can finally have a scene where her and Finn do ayahuasca and get saucy. This is what a TV-14 rating is all about!


This is usually the part of the season reviews where I talk about the board teams, but lord, I am not really equipped to do so anymore. With so many new staff members and so little time to explore individual tones and styles, I can’t really eloquently talk about each writer beyond an art style perspective. Big shoutout to my friend Digamma-F-Wau in the comments, who has been shedding light on who worked on each portion of F&C episodes where I have failed to determine. There’s a few dead giveaways I’ve been able to pick up on; Lucyola Langi draws the characters with such massive pupils that it’s hard not to pick up on her style when you see it. Anna Syvertsson, who is the only staff member that has the bragging rights to say she joined for the Minecraft special, draws those pupils really close together, often accented by eyebrows that peek off of the forehead. Graham Falk still boasts his more cartoony style with a slight tilt to each character. Iggy Craig is one of the better board artists when it comes to character acting, constructing one of my favorite scenes in the entire season (I.E. Simon having a breakdown in DBG’s tavern). But otherwise, it was pretty difficult for me to determine style, let alone tone. Things feel a bit cleaner this time around, even with individual artist identity occasionally bleeding through. I mentioned Graham Falk’s style, but besides the intro to Simon Petrikov and the silent cartoon world in Prismo the Wishmaster, it was really hard to pick out his scenes even considering that he’s one of the most standout artists of the original series. The season still looks quite nice visually, with occasional bumps in animation, usually courtesy of Nick Cross’s contributions. This is may be the best the series has looked color wise, with each episode presenting a really unique palette. Carolyn Ramirez worked on the color script for each episode this season, and her work really shines. Additionally, plenty of alumni of the original series contributed to the show’s visual design, with Tom Herpich, Derek Ballard, Charmaine Verhagen, and many others pitching in.

In terms of writing, as mentioned, it’s pretty hard to determine who excelled and who didn’t. There’s only so many episodes to work with, so you don’t have a good chance to understand the sensibilities of each writer. You don’t have 2oo episodes and counting to pick up on Jesse Moynihan’s desires to explore emotional ambiguity or Somvilay Xayaphone’s opposition to telling any jokes that have a direct punchline. And, with four or five boarders each episode and no complete consistency on individual teams, it kind of makes it impossible to analyze the group efforts in the way that Tom Herpich and Steve Wolfhard collaboration could be observed. Granted, I’ll say that I generally liked the even numbered episodes more. Generally, any episode with Graham Falk, Iggy Craig, Lucyola Langi, and Jim Campbell seemed to resonate more with me than the odd numbered episodes, with the exception of Jerry that only featured Campbell as a writer. Would love more of an approach in future seasons if the episodes could be broken up similar to the original series, with two board artists at the helm. No idea if that’s really ethical in terms to how the seasons are produced, but I’m definitely yearning for a bit more artist individuality in each entry.

AT has really leaned into its musical sensibilities in recent years, with F&C churning out an original tune pretty much once or twice per episode. Generally speaking, most of these are jams. I love the very 90’s poppy opening in Fionna Campbell, the grand Rankin/Bass style numbers in The Winter King, and especially adored Rebecca Sugar’s contribution in Simon Petrikov. Also dug the Half Shy song in Jerry, with it additionally boasting interesting thematic elements. There are times in recent years when I’ve felt that AT seems a little obligated to do musical numbers because of Sugar’s contributions, and that was really felt during Cake’s song in Cake the Cat. I might just be saying that because I didn’t particularly like that song, but it did feel like it was a bit shoehorned for the sake of incorporating more tunes in. I was mean enough to the ending song in my review of Cheers, so I’ll let that one go. One thing I’ll mention once more and then let go of is that I’m still bummed with how much I feel the score weighs down the series. Amanda Jones is a fine composer but I really don’t think her sensibilities mesh with Adventure Time. One thing I dug about Tim Kiefer and Casey James Basichis (whose contributions I often fail to properly address on this blog) is that they were constantly experimenting with weird sounds and instruments in a way that the series in its current iteration just doesn’t really play around with. Most scenes are accented with relatively generic adventurous or dramatic stings, and the better cues seem to just be trying to replicate that original magic. The series as a whole is not nearly as weird as it once was, so maybe it’s more fitting that the score that goes along with it additionally isn’t as experimental. Still, I think score is a pretty major part of any animated series, and the lack of Kiefer is definitely noted and slightly hurts my immersion at times.

Season One Episodes Best to Worst

  1. Simon Petrikov
  2. The Winter King
  3. Jerry
  4. Prismo the Wishmaster
  5. Destiny
  6. The Star
  7. Casper & Nova
  8. Cheers
  9. Fionna Campbell
  10. Cake the Cat

Final Consensus

Overall, I was super impressed with Fionna & Cake. After feeling a bit fatigued by the relatively lackluster Distant Lands, F&C really reinvigorated my love for the series with its strong storytelling and dedication to evolving the franchise further. Did I love the season as a whole? Not completely, there’s elements I really dug, but other that I didn’t get totally into, which you can read into above. Granted, it was way better than I expected and clearly had a lot of love put into it, which I think is pretty unique for such a long-running series. Adventure Time really appears to be something special for everyone who has the pleasure of working on it, and it seems like everyone is careful to preserve its legacy. That being said, I do worry that more of the wild days of the series are over. As much shit as Season Six got, I do thoroughly love how willing it was to push away from what fans really wanted to see and just played around with ideas and themes that the artists working on it found interesting. I do feel like in a way that initial charm of the series is lost, but I’ve also come to terms with that. I’m happy to be getting more of the show in any capacity, and as long as there’s still a lot of love put into it, I’ll remain a loyal viewer.

Adventure Time, Animation

“Casper & Nova” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed


Original Airdate: September 28, 2024

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!”

Adventure Time

“Jerry” Review

Adventure Time Reviewed


Original Airdate: September 21, 2023

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.”