review – Adventure Time Reviewed

Original Airdate: December 18, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Anna Syvertsson, Maya Petersen, Rebecca Sugar & Charmaine Verhagen

Annnnd we’re finally winding down! Or revving up, in this case. Some housekeeping notes before we start, feel free to skip to the next paragraph if you want the meat: I’ll be reviewing the season finale on the day it comes out, take a loooong break from there, and then come back and review season two as a whole. For a couple of reasons – one, because my reviews this season have been about as messy as the season itself. I don’t think there’s really a concise throughline to most of them and they work more as a stream of consciousness. Not to say this format hasn’t worked for me. Honestly, if I wasn’t for the immediate momentum to get my thoughts out following each episode, I don’t know if I’d have a ton of motivation to revisit and review most of these in the future. But I’d like to have something meaningful to say about the season as a whole, and I think I’ll need a good amount of time to collect my thoughts and emotions and see where I ultimately land. Second, because this season has been kind of exhausting! There isn’t a ton of goodwill to be had at this point, even with people who ultimately like this season. I’ve seen plenty of people who like this season act with disdain towards anyone who does not and vice versa. And then there’s the whole subset of weird MAGA inspired discourse around the dynamics of the show that I don’t even wanna touch. It’s just a bummer to be around, so I think a good long break is warranted. I have no idea when Side Quests is coming out next year, but I’ll try to plan to have the season two review done before its release. As for Side Quests, I haven’t fully decided whether I’ll be doing episode-by-episode coverage, but given the nature of the series as a whole, it will probably be one review covering everything. But, for now, let’s get to the episode review.

After dealing with what was possibly the most frustrating episode of this entire spin-off series last week, it’s good to see the season redeem itself again with an episode that is pretty great. Honestly, I think this season has really benefited from the episodes that just have one solid setting throughout, intertwining each segment and character involved. This really worked for me in The Bird in the Clock, and also greatly benefits The Worm and the Orchard. Of course, these are two episodes that additionally really limit themselves on the inner workings of Fionna-World, so I think my biases are also clear. But is it any surprise to anyone that when this series focuses on fantastical elements, people are likely to be more engaged? Just a thought!

This one picks up where the last episode left off, with Huntress finally connecting to the Heart of the Forest through her own “inner mope.” HW’s been looking for answers outside of herself in order to return home when this episode makes it clear that the answers were within her the whole time. It’s cheesy, but also very Ozian, once again tying back into the fairytale woohoo of the season. And the episode doesn’t really hold on this fact too long for it to feel like some massive revelation, it’s quickly acknowledged and expanded upon further when Huntress ends up in the Undergrowth. Along with Fionna, who has fully entered sulk territory. Her absolute apathy towards everything is very funny and connects more to elements of her character that I actually enjoy. I like the Fionna that is just so consumed with her own self-worth that she drowns whenever she’s confronted with her own actions. I think you can’t really get there without having the events of last episode, which I still think were kind of ridiculously executed upon, but I’m a lot more positive about this portrayal than the previous. I don’t think Fionna’s actions ever really nuked her as a character in my eyes, it was more so just exceptionally frustrating to sit through in that singular instance.

Going deeper into the Undergrowth, Fionna is rescued by a mysterious stranger that turns out to be none other than Fern! It’s really neat to see how much the series has kept him in as a valuable player even after his passing in Come Along With Me. I get the feeling that the staff really likes this character, and I get it, I love Fern! I almost didn’t recognize Hayden Ezzy’s voice at first, who has clearly matured greatly since the series finale of Adventure Time. It’s really neat to see him work as a spirit guide to Fionna, seeing as how they’re both kind of cut from the same cloth. Both have had the experience of living in Finn’s shadow, trying desperately to be a beloved hero, but not knowing exactly how to get there and falling into their own sense of self-destructiveness. It was additionally cool to see the exploration of some of Finn’s repressed thoughts, including one that we’ve seen before in Escape From the Citadel, along with some new pain, like getting fully rejected by Huntress Wizard after asking her to move in with him. Ooof! I’m not gonna lie, I did tear up a bit when Fionna touches the massive pain ball that is presumably in reference to Jake’s death. I guess this confirms that Jake died on some kind of expedition and that it wasn’t due to old age. Additionally, it’s so utterly macabre that Finn is referred to as a “sad fruit medley” and that he has tons of repressed memories that he hasn’t yet dealt with. Of course, we know that this has always been apart of Finn’s conscious decision to “vault” thoughts that are just too painful or weird for him to fully acknowledge. It’s clear it’s only gotten worse with time, and I would once again love to see a future iteration of this franchise that has Finn start to deal with these painful experiences that he’s pushed down so far, eventually leading up to him acknowledging Jake’s death on a conscious level.

We get to finally see the Karmic Worm, who was introduced by voice in The Crocodile Who Bit a Log, and who we saw briefly as a background cameo in The Bird in the Clock, as we get to see what he was banished to do after breaking off from his brother. I really like the character, once again portrayed by Sean Rohani, who is just so sweet and likable. They give him a real weight in that he’s spent 1,000’s of years coming to terms with his previous failings and the grief that he’s brought his brother. The way this episode deals with karma as a concept is rather fascinating, having the Worm consume repressed trauma, process it, and then letting that trauma ripen until its ready to be processed on a conscious level. As the Worm indicates, those bits of trauma may cycle back into the Undergrowth time and time again, showing that the cycle of suffering throughout the multiverse is unlimited in its infinite approach to dealing with karmic truths time and time again. I’ve been super into the Buddhist perspective for a few years now, so having the series sort of play around with the concept of saṃsāra is really neat. As the Karmic Worm states:

Thoughts come here to transform. It’s amazing. And not just because of what changes; the changes reveal what stays the same… The truth. It might cycle through here a hundred times, take a hundred forms, but every one is another chance to know it, like you, and the forms you take.

It’s quite a beautiful sentiment that I don’t think has any real concrete answer. The concept of “truth” is so complex that I don’t think it’s exceptionally easy to come to conclusion of what one’s truth is. Obviously, Fionna has majorly struggled with finding this answer in herself after dealing with the often misleading sentiment of “following your heart.” I think the idea here is that, beyond just thoughts themselves, there is an inherent “youness” that always exists beyond thoughts, actions, and states of beings, and that every experience is just another way to find out what works for you and to connect it back to something that expands your worldview beyond making logical deductions. The song is additionally lovely, and had me shedding another tear. It’s another Rebecca Sugar song (more about her shortly) and I think it’s quite incredible how she can whip up these really meaningful songs that are simple, yet so incredibly complex. Like, it’s for sure super sappy, but at the same time I can’t help but watch my cynical heart melt when you have these lyrics that feel like life’s greatest truths are unraveling – the acknowledgement of the darkness and the light, the stagnant, yet always evolving nature of life, and the ability to accept and appreciate the beauty of it all. I really fell in love with this whole section.

Also, yeah, Rebecca Sugar is back on the storyboarding front! The relationship between Adventure Time, Rebecca Sugar, and her series Steven Universe is something that always fascinates me. So much so that I’m going to long ass detour in the middle of this episode review to talk about it. Adventure Time paved the way for the animation industry throughout the course of the 2010s in more ways than one, with Sugar playing a key part in what so many other animated shows have since tried to replicate. The exploration of emotions, intricate character dynamics, somewhat explicit LGBTQIA+ representation, and catchy songs to boot. Granted, Sugar can’t be credited solely for these contributions, but the episodes she’s worked on are so distinctively recognizable in both art and tone that her individual presence is irrefutable. Her own series, Steven Universe, very much followed in the footsteps of Adventure Time, starting out as a goofy, episodic cartoon that eventually evolved into a surprisingly intricate examination into a complex world and its characters. In a lot of ways, Adventure Time walked so Steven Universe could run. SU had all of the hallmarks that made people love AT in the first place, and exceeded upon them in many respects. While AT ended up being somewhat of a prisoner to the status quo in its middle seasons, SU was able to evolve its characters and story beats in a much more progressive way. Steven Universe quickly became more of the flagship show in the animation industry, both in art direction and focus. So heavily that it’s almost hard to ignore how Adventure Time was also influenced by it.

Adventure Time as a franchise has largely revolved around dedicated character arcs with a heavy emphasis on emotion in recent years. Because of the fluctuating nature of the original series, nobody really had a defined character arc outside of individual episodes or long running character themes, and emotion often took the backburner. Not to say that Adventure Time was devoid of emotional moments, but because of how bonkers the world is, the characters, in unison with ourselves, didn’t really know how to react to certain outcomes. You have an episode like BMO Noire where we explore BMO’s psyche, and you’re not really sure if what you’re watching is deeply evocative or entirely silly. You have You Forgot Your Floaties, which is less about the grief Magic Man feels for his lost wife and more about magic and its connection to madness. Even episodes that do inevitably expand upon the emotions of characters, like The Tower, are more of an exploration of how confusing it can be to try and rationalize what you feel in a meaningful way. This isn’t a diss at Steven Universe, by the way. I think it’s a pretty fantastic show that kind of paints an idealistic world where everyone does acknowledge their shortcomings and value truth and love above all. But the sensibilities of these franchises and how they deal with characters and emotions are often day-and-night: Adventure Time‘s characters are almost entirely repressed for a good amount of its run while Steven Universe‘s characters erupt with emotional introspection.

As much as I like ambiguity of how characters feel throughout most of the series, it was kind of cathartic to have something like Islands come around, where Finn finally deals with his curiosity about his heritage, or Elements, when Jake lets out his bottled up stress that comes with being a caregiver. That trend of having characters be more expressive regarding their baggage continued into the spin-off projects, with Distant Lands and Fionna and Cake mostly revolving around characters working through their emotions to the point where I’d argue there is very little ambiguity when it comes to how characters are feeling or what they’re experiencing at any given moment. Even stuff that I think is kind of nuanced in its approach, like Simon’s relationship with Betty, is basically all worked out via a therapeutic monologue he has with himself in GOLB’s realm. I say all of this not to deem one method of writing good or bad, but it is thoroughly interesting to me how much Rebecca’s presence and the impact of Steven Universe seem to have paved Adventure Time‘s future almost as much as its own past has. So it’s fitting that she returns here, to not only once again grace our ears with another banger song, but also to bring Cake’s ongoing internal struggles to a resolution. As much as I kind of dislike how this episode is solely going to be credited as a work of Sugar’s, since many talented artists worked on it and have not been recognized all season, I admit that I’m also kind of a hypocrite! I just spent the last three paragraphs talking about how much of an impact she’s had on this series, and really, it’s hard to ignore what a magical presence she brings to the table. I almost rolled my eyes at the idea of another Sugar song popping up about the beauty of all things – it’s just something that feels like it should be so hackneyed by now. But when it actually plays in the episode, I’m like putty in Rebecca’s hands. It’s hard to ignore what a visionary she is and how much she influenced, and is still influencing the series as a whole.

We also get a ton of Huntress Wizard on the side, which mostly accumulates into a battle sequence between her and Witch Wizard. I don’t know if I really like that Witch Wizard ended up being the big bad of this season, even though I don’t think it really comes out of nowhere, given her role in The Crocodile Who Bit a Log. I think I just did admire the season up to this point for not having any kind of direct antagonist, with time and internal struggles playing the forefront. I don’t think it’s really a huge detractor, and I do like the way their back-and-forth bleeds back into the episode. Witch Wizard struggles to actually transform in a meaningful way (literally) because of how much she’s taken, and her own karma will not allow her evolve as a result. Huntress Wizard is able to reform because she’s connected with her own truth, in a way that I additionally don’t think has been particularly explicit throughout the season’s run. I was bitchy last episode about how little HW has been at the forefront of this season, and I think that stills stands, but I wanna go back to what I said in The Wolves Who Wandered and commend this team for not going the obvious route with exploring Huntress Wizard’s character. I think from the first episode we sort of know what she has to learn already – that she’s mostly closed off and she needs to find a way to connect more with the world around her. The season has mostly steered away from reinstating this, outside of it being a bit overtly alluded to in The Bird in the Clock. I think this episode kind of solidifies the idea that Huntress herself is not necessarily someone that needs to be fixed, nor is Fionna, for that matter. She’s had the opportunity to look over her circumstances over the course of the season and realize that her own form is malleable, and that her role in this world doesn’t have to be so static. Granted, change is only ever so slight. She’s not necessarily a different person from what we see in this episode. She helps the little plant boy recover and then promptly shoos him off before he gets attached. I think a lesser version of this episode would’ve expanded upon the relationship between these two as a clear point of Huntress’s growth, but I think it’s a cool addition into the “everything stays, but it still changes” motif that AT has carried out since the very beginning. Huntress Wizard isn’t some radically different being who is now open to everything life has to offer, but she’s seen the truth of herself and is able to adjust accordingly, for the good of her and everyone in her life. This revelation is additionally referenced in her response to Witch Wizard later in the episode: “You’ll learn to be somebody again.” Even in nothingness, there’s an opening to pave your way into somethingness.

Talked about it more in relation to the Worm, but Cake also has her season long arc wrap up with this episode. It’s once again a nice little revelation for her to recognize that she was essentially transforming for the purpose of others accepting her, and not moving in the direction towards self-acceptance. It’s sweet that she inevitably chooses to stay in a world where she feels welcomed and celebrated, just for a bit to figure things out. It reminds me a lot of Dungeon Train, where Finn learns a lesson, but isn’t exactly ready to give up the comfort he feels in his surroundings. I think it is a lot more understandable here that Cake would want to live here long-term, as it treats her less like a circus attraction and more like her own, special being, but I also think there is a purpose for her in Fionna-World as well. Now that it’s integrated with magical beings, Cake can be a voice for those that are treated differently by society, but it’s nice that she has her own moment of reprieve where she’s allowed to explore what being magical means for her within a mystical landscape.

Fionna’s arc moves forward as well, in a way where it’s hard to necessarily make a judgment on what she needs to do from here. I personally think after the last episode it would kind of be interesting to see her friends not forgiving her and her being left with a way to find her own self-worth that doesn’t depend on the validation of those around her, but I’m open to multiple ways of exploring this. I do still like Fionna, and I think she’s still likable despite all of the baggage this season has churned out for her. I’m not really sure how exactly this team is gonna pull it off, so I am intrigued to see if this heads in the direction of redemption or possibly doubles down on the difficulties of change that this season inherited. We get limited exposure to the citizens of Fionna-World, but it did get a bit of a snide laugh out of me how Gary’s repressed memory revolves around him struggling to be responsible with his family when we just saw Finn watch his brother fucking die. Again, being smug, I don’t think suffering necessarily should be weighed against each other, I just couldn’t help but laugh at it. I really like Hunter’s scene, primarily because I don’t think this world has had dialogue all season that ever felt like it emulated a real human conversation. But Hunter very bluntly stating that Fionna needs to “get her shit together” did ultimately hit me in a very real way. Especially with Fionna’s heavy realization that she’s caused Hunter pain in a way that she didn’t even know could be expressed by them. We also get maybe the most explicit revelation of Fionna’s abandonment as a child, which is about as much as I needed to see. With how much this season has gone to great lengths to just reprise character moments that we’ve already seen examined in the original series, this is a nice, small moment that hits because of everything Fionna’s gone through. It’s not just simply connecting it back to her counterpart, it’s using her counterpart’s experience to accurately build into everything she’s feared and grasped onto for so much of this season. Had this been done earlier in the series or even expanded upon in great lengths, I don’t necessarily think it would work with the same emotional weight that its tackled with here. Ellis’s dream also finally plays out, where we get to hear the Venusian citizen’s words: “go beyond the end of the peach.” One idea about what this could mean – Finn’s referred to as a “sad fruit medley,” with the thoughts themselves growing and ripening like fruits. I think the idea here is to go beyond the fruits, or thoughts, themselves to discover the truth. I think Fionna herself has gotten so wrapped up in what she thinks is her intuition, but it’s just her latching onto thoughts that she’s mistaken as wisdom. Thoughts themselves are meaningless unless given meaning, so simply watching them play out as is and doing your best to use your better judgment is ultimately what leads to that truth. We’ll see if this has further implications in the following episode.

We also get to see the revival of the Cosmic Owl, leading to yet another AT character that beat death. I think many will complain about how short-lived this development was, and how the franchise as a whole seemingly fails to stick to killing off its characters, but I kind of love how finite death as a concept is in the AT world. As the Karmic Worm says, “our kind are like ideas, hard to kill outright.” It’s really neat lore that deities essentially exist based on the belief and thoughts of others, very much in a way that connects to our real world views of gods. And in this sense, we see the thought of Cosmic Owl evolving in real time – he’s gone beyond his role and having had the experience of reconciliation with his brother, he’s ready to move beyond his designated place in the world and become something greater. It’s a really nice way to progress his character in ways that tie back to the episode itself.

We get a brief tangent from Ooo, which made me laugh out loud when the shotgun cocking sound effect plays as PB turns to her last option: calling Minerva. This kinda bothered me at first, because I thought, “oh, NOW you’re calling his mom?” But of course, someone brought up the idea that this is obviously because Minerva will probably advocate for uploading her sons consciousness to the mainframe, which I imagine is something that Finn’s posse, especially PB, are largely against. I’ll be interested to see how much this debate is explored in the following episode, because I think there’s so much you can do with it. With the ever-prevalent concept of AI slowly creeping in to take over the world as we know it, I think there’s a lot you can tackle with this concept that ties back into how we experience this in the real world. Not really sure if they have time to even deal with that, but I’m eager to see it nonetheless.

I really love this one. I feel like there’s so much magic to be had, and aside from The Bird in the Clock, it’s really the first episode all season that made me feel like a kid again. And one of the few that really made me feel anything! Again, it’s not my intention to diminish any contributions of the talented artists that have no doubt worked tirelessly on the rest of this season. Some of which I haven’t even mentioned – the backgrounds in this episode look beautiful, working off of what clearly look like Jesse Balmer’s visual development. I haven’t even properly credited the directors for each episode, this one being Ryan Shannon, which I’m possibly planning to adjust moving forward. But yeah, I can’t deny the chops that Sugar brings to this one. She can’t be solely held responsible, but her segments (lasting from about the 15:10 mark to the 20:50 mark, and I think 7:30 through 8:34?) really reminded me about just how endearing and special this world is. Coupled with a great song, good action, lush landscapes, surprising character cameos, and thematic elements that are just so irresistibly beautiful, this may just be the best episode of this season.

Please, please, please everyone check out The Elephant tomorrow night on adult swim, or next day on HBO Max! It’s an anthology special with Pendleton Ward, Rebecca Sugar, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Pat McHale at the helm, each working on a unique section that none of the others have seen. It’s such a unique experiment and the creative process is so fascinating. You can read more about it here, where McHale is interviewed in length about his experience.

Favorite line: “He basically shits therapy.”

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“The Insect That Sang” Review

December 11, 2025December 11, 2025 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 Wolves Who Wandered” Review

December 4, 2025December 4, 2025 Adventure Time Reviewed

Original Airdate: December 4, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Maya Petersen, Anna Syvertsson, Hanna Nyström & Charmaine Verhagen

The second I finished this episode, I knew people were gonna hate it. And lo and behold, scanning over all corners of the internet, I haven’t seen many positive things to say about it. But I dunno y’all, I actually kinda liked this one? Granted, I can see why people are becoming increasingly more frustrated. It’s episode seven and we’re taken on a huge detour that mostly centers around the aspects of this season that people, including myself, have not particularly liked. When I saw the preview images for this episode and saw that is was mostly just going to be about Fionna and Fennel, a character we barely know and one that I didn’t particularly care about, I was preparing myself to be in the same boat with everyone. Maybe episode five was the point where I just kind of surrendered projecting my expectations onto the season and just let me accept it for what it is, but I thought this one was pretty decent.

This one is mostly Fionna’s story, with a smidge of HW thrown in. Fionna tries to rescue her ex-man after he’s gone missing for several hours with the help of Fennel, who finally gets a dedicated role. I like that Fionna has evolved from “girl loser” to just straight up being an asshole for a good chunk of this one. It never feels like the character herself is malicious, she’s just kind of a dreamer that prioritizes her own needs and struggles to exit on her worldview when it comes to considering the perspective of others. A lot of the episode is challenging that perspective while showing that parts of her beliefs are yet to be shaken. She grows closer to Fennel here, realizing that she’s not the villain that Fionna painted her out to be, and becomes a bit more aware that the people around her are not exactly as put together as she initially thought. Granted, she still fails to really recognize Marshall’s wants and needs throughout the episode, putting them mostly aside because, in her mind, all of what she’s doing has been for him. Though, as it’s becoming increasingly apparent, that’s not really the case. Fionna has pretty much prioritized her own needs throughout the course of the season, chasing after Phelix and becoming buddy-buddy with Hana Abadeer because she doesn’t want to fail. Most of her actions are a result of her trying to act heroic, but it’s feeding into her own egoic desires instead of coming from a place of truly listening to what her friends want and need. As much as people have criticized the Fionna-World segments for feeling aimless and often tedious, I do think this character arc has been pretty solidly executed all season.

A lot of Fionna’s personal development in this episode is connected to her working with Fennel, who honestly has quickly become one of my favorite of the Fionna-World residents. Granted, the bar isn’t super high, and Fennel doesn’t have that much of a character to play around with, but she is quite endearing. I once again like the inverse of Finn and Fern’s dynamic, with Fionna being the one that envies and resents Fennel, while Fennel herself is mostly none-the-wiser to her turmoil. I like their little back-and-forth dealing with magic eyes, as they run rampant in the city in pretty unproductive ways. I usually don’t really like when TV shows tackle tripping on drugs, because I think they often greatly exaggerate and misinterpret what the experience of being on something like shrooms is actually like. It’s usually presented as lots of flashing colors and visual hallucinations, instead of the absolute childlike bliss of a good trip or the terrifying, dissonant experience of watching your ego dissolve in a bad trip. Here, they at least have the excuse of connecting it back to real magic in this world, so it doesn’t have to fully allude to our real world understanding of psychedelic substances. Even so, there are elements of the “trip” that feel true to life, like Fionna and Fennel’s sloppy crying and glowing admiration of one and other as they return to Earth, coupled with our first glimpse at what magic Fennel looks like! It’s really sweet to finally have actualization of these characters’ dynamic in some sense, after their resolution was cut short in Come Along With Me.

It’s nice to see wizard eyes utilized as a concept in the series once more, which goes a bit beyond the usual gaggle of demons and creatures that we’re used to accompanying this realm. We also get a bit more of an added cosmic perspective, with a trip to Venus that occurs quite similarly to Mars’ ventures in the former series. I kind of like that it’s up for debate how much of this has actually occurred, though I like to believe that Venus is a concrete destination that maybe exists beyond the multiverse? It’s kind of curious how planets really work within this series – are there multiple versions of Venus, or just one that can be potentially accessed through all corners of the multiverse? Part of me kind of wrestles on what I think works better. On the one hand, I think it makes the world a lot more massive if you have multiple versions of planets and deities and gods that exist in multiple different spectrums, but it kind of also detracts from the presence of the King of Mars and Glob is there are alternative copies of them across multiple galaxies. I guess the Lich technically does exist in several different universes, so it probably is likely that these gods have their own doppelgangers. It seems like the show has kind of ignored exploring that concept too deeply, which I don’t necessarily blame them for. It seems complicated!

Venus is a great time though. Love the designs, the color palette, and the city-like landscape that mirrors Fionna-World, equipped with several odd-looking landmarks. Also, a banger of a song! Rebecca Sugar was credited for the tune we heard previously in The Butterfly and the River, but nothing in the outro that I saw references who worked on this one. It sounds like a Sugar song at the very least, and it’s probably my favorite song from the season thus far, which isn’t saying much. Song sequences have been used pretty sparingly up to this point. Tuning into Roman mythology, the planet is based primarily on the goddess Venus, with her sensibilities being the basis for the entire ecosystem. It’s even run by Venus de Milo (referred to as Embolina in the credit), the statue, who is now equipped with mods. Granted, that part of me wondering if this is truly a real place is somewhat squandered by the fact that Phelix is apparently trapped here while actually playing a set down on Earth, but he seems like more of a manifested idea rather than an actual, living being here. I think it’s quite likely that Venus does work in mystics as well, with Phelix being a representation of love and lust instead of embodying his Fionna-Worldly counterpart. The battle sequence with the heart warrior is decent fun, once again with a pretty stellar Amanda Jones score complementing the scene. Tying back into Fionna and Fennel’s connection, I really love how much Fennel’s admiration of Fionna immediately kickstarts her transformation, while Fionna only provides half-hearted forms of praise until she digs deeper and recognizes the truth behind her resentment. Along with the funny gag of Fionna’s love for swords actually paying off, whereas Fennel’s did not.

HW’s segment is small but effective, having her search for Fionna, Fennel, and Phelix in an effort to continue to pinpoint the heart of this world, as she recruits Hunter. As much shit as this one is already getting for not progressing the plot, it is quietly moving things forward, just not in such a grand way. Huntress Wizard has been shown to reject opening up to others as a way to maintain her mystique, but we see her development in not only accepting help from others, but directly asking for it. I think a lot of this is in part due to the fact that HW is practically an alien in this world and is somewhat forced to develop these skills in order to survive, which is kind of a neat little tie-in to what makes this world human. Huntress Wizard comes from a mystical world where she can survive off of her own skills and magic as a means to get what she needs, but she’s completely out of practice here. Nothing that she has is helping her get any closer to what she needs, so she really has no choice but to depend on others to help see her plight through. It is somewhat of a fish out of water story in that regard, but I do once again appreciate all of the little bits of her character growth that are sprinkled in subtly. I do think she’s kind of gotten the short end of the stick compared to all we went through with Simon last season, but I will say there may be a bit more nuance to what we’re watching here? Simon’s story was great but it was admittedly heavy-handed. We had an episode like The Star that was pretty much devoted to reinstating in a million different ways how much Simon needed Marceline and vice versa. We really haven’t gotten a dedicated exploration of Huntress Wizard’s journey, which is kind of a qualm I have on some degree, but having HW intertwined with Fionna and Cake’s story this season, while last season had the duo more involved in Simon’s story is a nice reversal, albeit one that I’m not fully enamored by. I also actually have kind of grown on Hunter a bit! I’m probably not gonna go back and change all the times I referred to them as “him” throughout the past two seasons, so please accept my retroactive apology for misgendering you, Hunter. It’s cool once again to have a character backstory that actively distances itself from the original counterpart’s. HW can be seen as quite arrogant and untrusting, though I wouldn’t refer to her as particularly angry. So giving Hunter anger issues, alluding to a side we’ve really never seen from them, was a really nice character touch. It’s additionally cool to see expansion from a character that has kind of outgrown their counterpart? Like, we watch Gary and Marshall planting the seeds for their relationship last season, while we watch the inverse of Finn and Fern’s connection throughout this season. Hunter has had their own character journey and identified aspects of their life that they wanted to improve, while HW has really not been forced to have that level of introspection until now. It’s a neat touch that once again adds a little bit more depth to this world that can bounce back and forth between feeling expansive and completely hollow.

Other shtuff: Cake is, as usual, delightful and provides for some of the episode’s funniest moments. I especially like her one response to Fionna about dreams that is clearly just an outtake from Roz Ryan that they chose to use in the episode itself. Her obsession with M-Cron continues to be quite funny and sweet, and I especially got a kick out of his little horse-like leg shake after being envisioned as his magical counterpart. We do get to see more magical versions of these characters, as well as a return of the timeline expanding trees, which makes me ultimately wonder if we are going to see some kind of reverse in the matrix of this world, returning everyone into their magical counterparts. The return of “what the Björk” was a welcomed surprise. Ellis P’s little opening that appears to be a sign of more mystics to come was fun, with Pendleton Ward continuing to boast the most comedically obnoxious inflections for this character. We also get some moments with Gary and Marshall, which are fiiine. I like how this bakes into Fionna’s central story (no pun intended), but I still don’t really care about Marshall’s story or his connection to Simone. I’m being a bit snide here, but I think the connection they’ve built up with Simone is a little unbelievable. Aside from my feelings of this relationship already retreading the emotional beats from Marceline and Simon’s connection, I think it’s kind of laughable how it’s played up that Hana Abadeer is a villain for interfering with Marshall and Simone’s relationship when he is a child interacting with a adult. Like yeah, within the context of this story, Hana is horrible. But I dunno, I’d probably be fuckin’ pissed if I saw my child hugging a random stranger in the park too! This season has really tried to nail down the fundamental human nature of the world, but I think this is kind of an outlandish situation that they’re trying to convince us is endearing only because we know this relationship from the original series. I just don’t think it really works for several reasons, but I guess I’ll be prepared to eat my words when Rebecca Sugar eventually shows up and writes a song with them that will make everyone cry.

As is, this one is pretty alright! I understand everyone’s criticisms and complaints with it, but like last week, I had a decent bit of fun watching the otherworldly elements play out in relation to the Fionna-World dynamics, so I don’t think it was a complete loss. It was also refreshing to not have an obligated visit to Ooo in this episode and just let the main dynamics play out as is. It’s been brought up again and again, so I’ll once again reinstate that I don’t really think the pacing is that egregious in relation to the Fionna-World segments. I think development has been kind of carefully sprinkled across each episode in favor of exploring the characters in Fionna-World a bit more methodically and building on why we should care about these characters. Does it always work? Definitely not, but I think the people who claim that “nothing has happened” are being a bit hyperbolic. Do I wish that there was more action and comedy packed into each episode? For sure, but I do think there’s a bit more of a calculated approach to the Fionna-World segments than people give them credit for. I see the vision more and more with each episode, and even if it’s a direction I’m still a little wary on, I can at least start to say that I understand what this season is looking to accomplish and why it’s doing what it’s doing.

Not an artist shoutout this week, but if you guys are into the AT comics, you should definitely check out this video by NICKtendo. As someone who has selective experience with them, it was neat to get an all-encompassing look at the various series and arcs they tackled, so even if you haven’t read and you just like the series, I would definitely recommend checking this out!

Favorite line: “One thing that’s not open to interpretation is dreams.”

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“The Bird in the Clock” Review

November 27, 2025November 28, 2025 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.”

Adventure Time, Animation

“The Butterfly and the River” Review

November 20, 2025November 24, 2025 Adventure Time Reviewed

Original Airdate: November 20, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Kris Mukai, Anna Syvertsson, Charmaine Verhagen & Maya Petersen

I think at this point in the season, I have little expectation that it’s going to drastically change from what we’ve gotten so far. It seems that this team is very invested in exploring Fionna-World, even more so than the magical elements surrounding it. I’ve seen plenty of people, including myself, kind of rag on the Fionna-World bits for feeling a bit tiresome, but one argument I don’t necessarily get behind is that it’s poorly paced. I think spending an extended period of time fleshing out these characters and letting them breathe in their own world is a methodical approach into helping them feel more real and making us care more for them as individual characters. Whether or not that’s actually interesting is another story, but I’d argue that the magical elements are the pieces that feel much more sloppily panned out. Marshall’s story takes up most of the episode while Huntress Wizard’s section feels tacked on.

Let’s jump into the Marshall and Gary stuff first, which I actually was somewhat fond of this time around. One thing I like about Fionna-World is whenever we’re given a curveball about how these characters operate differently from their Ooo counterparts. It gets a bit tiresome to see all of the parallels between worlds in a way that doesn’t really stray too far from what we’ve seen already. I’m a bit pessimistic when it comes to the development of Marshall and Simone’s (finally named in the credits!) relationship, as I really don’t want to retread the same emotional beats that Simon and Marceline had in the original series. Granted, it’s still early, and I could see them pulling some type of twist that makes this connection different (my money is currently on Hana Abadeer somehow sabotaging the relationship), but since we only barely know these characters, I just can’t see it hitting with the same amount of emotional resonance.

However, there are elements of expanding these characters beyond just initial base traits and dynamics that I can appreciate. For instance, I like all the scenes with Gary’s parents! It was kind of a surprise to me, because I was so sure Gumbald, Lolly, and Chicle would be tied back into it, but having them be these standalone entities that we’ve never seen before actually helps this world to feel less superficial (UPDATE: It was later confirmed by Tom Herpich that Gordie and Gertie were based primarily on Banana Guards). Gordie and Gertie are lovely, and it’s so cool to see my boy Joe Pera guest star in an episode. If y’all haven’t seen Joe Pera Talks With You, I recommend watching it immediately – you will not regret it. Pera’s voice lends itself so wonderfully to the world of the series, and it brings such a gentle warmness to the character himself. It kind of makes sense that Gary would be way more adjusted than PB. Gordie and Gertie clearly gave him a wonderful life, so aside from being a tad bit of a control freak, he isn’t so drastically domineering as his Ooo counterpart. I additionally love Gordie and Gertie’s squishy, nearly genetic designs, once again clearly designed by Tom Herpich. Contradicting my initial point about how I like seeing new characters, having Nelly play a part in the family dynamic was a treat. Her making Deviantart style drawings in her room got the biggest laugh for me – so sweet how she’s living up her little neurodivergent life.

Marshall and Gary’s dynamic this time around is pretty okay and I like how there is a bit more of a conflict for them to work through after being so mushy throughout the first chunk of episodes. Marshall having added character depth of feeling like he can’t express himself additionally fleshes him out beyond his counterpart, who struggles more with being expressive to a fault. Whereas Gary is pushy, but not so egotistical that he pushes aside the woes of his partner. It’s pretty sweet, even if I find Gary’s delivery increasingly grating. I really would’ve preferred if Rannells stayed in this role. I have very little to say when it comes to Marshall’s connection with his mother outside of it being a nice bit of lingering trauma for Marshall himself. Also found it very funny when she just straight up kicks her son out after being annoyed by him.

On Huntress Wizard and Cake’s side, I quite like their dynamic, even if I find their exploration to mostly be uninteresting. I think there’s a lot you can do with the mystical elements of the Fionna-World treehouse, but it’s mostly squandered to just show us glimpses of this world and its magical counterpart that don’t really add anything to the scope or characters themselves. At most, we get little quippy bits of Cake and Huntress Wizard working off of each other, which is relatively fun. Cake’s continued desire to be independent from her previously domesticated lifestyle continues to be engaging, and there’s several great reactionary moments from her. My favorite bit though was her reading Of Human Bondage and being disappointed with its contents. And poor M-Cron! That dude just wants to fuck a cat at all costs and he can’t even get his moment. I do like that these sections focus more on expanding upon the relationship between two characters, especially when it’s giving Cake more of a chance to interact with the third team member than she did last season, I just wish there was substance to the expedition itself. It’s not fully devoid of fun as I mentioned, and I do like the segment where it’s shown that baby Finn is an eternal baby that ends up being a savior of his surroundings. But I just don’t think there’s a ton of meat to the adventure itself, mostly being an aimless series of events that don’t even really seemingly add to HW’s individual journey, or even just be that engaging in the process. I did get a little too much into the fun fan theory that these characters all have false childhood memories because the GOLB switch happened when Fionna was 17, but nah, it seems like that’s pretty much debunked with Marshall’s childhood in this episode.

Probably the most frustrated I was this time around was with the Ooo segments, that once again end with a bait-and-switch. I really got into the theories that Simon chasing after magic again was somewhat of a relapse for his character – it would’ve been neat to see that he and Fionna’s arcs are very much still connected, with the two of them struggling to find change in their lives even after world altering events. Last episode even kind of suggests that he’s somewhat ashamed to have the Wishing Eye, concealing it in his jacket secretively. But that’s sorta thrown out in this episode, where he just uses it to no avail. Isn’t it supposed to take a piece of your soul when you use it? I guess you could concur that’s what is happening to Finn, who is becoming progressively more decrepit, but it felt very gimmicky to me. They keep introducing cool longtime artifacts into the series only to do absolutely nothing with them for the sake of progressing the story under false pretenses. It’s getting very annoying to watch.

We also have Fionna’s side quests, which are mostly light and fun, with the added drama that she’s seeking out help from Abadeer to pay off the park’s debt. I’m reaaally not interested in having this story arc that is probably just going to result in everyone being kind of rightfully pissed off with Fionna for several episodes. I doubt they’re going to commit to it fully and I imagine there’s going to be a resolution with Fionna and her friends, so it just seems like a bit of added drama that doesn’t sound particularly fun to tackle. I do like Queenie so blatantly being petty – she’s a fun character.

What else can I say about this one? It’s nice to have a Rebecca Sugar song back, even if it’s pretty underutilized in the episode itself. I like how the one marshmallow kid is depicted having vitiligo – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a character with vitiligo depicted in an animated series. Also, there’s a really fucky looking version of Jay and Little Destiny walking around and I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be them or Fionna-World versions of them? I don’t know if this was just a really poor board translation or the intention of the episode, but the latter doesn’t really make sense considering that they would be Fionna’s children? I guess it’s a little late in the game now to be nitpicking the rules of this universe, but I’m just gonna assume it’s really them until I get information otherwise. Blah, I’m just getting tired. I wanna hold out hope that the second half of the season can turn things around for me, but I’m already so disenchanted. Part of me wonders if I’m really even adding anything new to the discussion – there’s plenty of people who really like this season and have been digging deeper into the characters and their nuances, and kudos to them! I feel like a cranky old miser trying to find an investment point each week and just being left with very little I actually want to say. I’m glad that this series has fans and it’s continuing to expand on characters that many want to see more of, but for me, it’s kind of becoming a weekly process longing for the spark that made this series so great to me in the first place. Maybe I’m just getting old!

No guest sequence this week sadly, but I loved the return of the wish world from Blenanas. Glad that they got Thurop Van Orman back to play him!

Favorite line: “We’re eating like royalty tonight! Because we’re the Princes.”

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Artist Spotlight – Tom Herpich

January 21, 2025March 25, 2025 Adventure Time Reviewed

What up, kiddos! Got a really cool notification the other day – AT Reviewed has surpassed 500K overall views! That’s really astounding to me – this started as a small project that I wasn’t even sure I’d get that far on, and snowballed into something that people seem to dig. So a few new updates – for one, it’s about time I got rid of those pesky, tiresome dermatologist ads that pop up after every paragraph, so no more intrusions in your reading experience! I also bought the domain, which should hopefully make it a lot easier to access the site.

Since there’s probably some lag time between seasons, I wanted to start a new little project. The new season brought a lot of new faces to the table, and while these fresh new voices helped to breathe new life into the AT world, it did make me miss the original team and how much I had become invested in their unique styles. That’s not to say that the new team doesn’t have their own voice, but it became much easier to detect the style of AT‘s alumni primarily because they had so many opportunities to showcase it in the course of nearly 300 episodes. And personally, part of the reason I wanted to start this blog was to highlight those individuals touches.

It remains very, very cool to me how Adventure Time brought together indie artists that mostly didn’t have a ton of professional experience or a style that seemed to mesh with the current landscape of children’s entertainment and unified those sensibilities to make way for something completely unique. So I wanted to pay tribute to that crew by doing this little Artist Spotlight series. As always, I have no idea how many of these I’ll realistically tackle over a period of time, and if there’s new AT content, those reviews will take priority. And as much as I’m inclined to talk, I’ll try to keep commentary relatively light. I want this to be more about celebrating the work of each artist (in a, by no means, comprehensive way) rather than to analyze writing or art style. But there’ll be a little bit of that too. First up is my personal favorite board artist, Tom Herpich!

Art Style

Herpich is one of the more detail-oriented artists working on the series. He often draws humanoids and beasts with various complex pieces of armor, clothing, accessories, etc. He also has a really solid combination of contrasting styles: body proportions are very detailed and close to human anatomy, while other features, like the eyes, nose, mouth are exaggerated and cartoonish. His style of writing is very much in the same vein – overly goofy humor wise but with a realistic sense of darkness in dramatic moments. Like most of the other artists, it becomes very apparent in seeing his own sensibilities bleed through from both a visual and tonal perspective.

Character Design

That love for detail really comes out in his character design work. Herpich started out as a character designer and would originally make designs overly complex in a way that didn’t really translate to the mostly simplistic style of the series. In an interview from the Art of Ooo book, in reference to Mannish Man’s initial designs, Herpich states, “I didn’t realize at the time that all this stuff was impossibly complicated, plus strayed so far from the original storyboard drawings that it would’ve all had to be reboarded to use these designs.” It’s interesting to see how the series shaped Herpich’s artwork while also seeing how his style has influenced the designs of monsters and magical entities.

Finn & Friends

Herpich’s Finn is most distinctive in his more oval-than-round eyes and the far distance apart from the mouth, as well is very round and large teeth. Sometimes Finn has a full top row of teeth with Herpich! He loves to draw exaggerated expressions with Finn’s teeth and mouth, seen in the top two rows (this type of grimace is Herpich’s specialty). It’s easier to notice his style in full force from season five onwards, but the oval eyes are always a dead giveaway, as seen in the bottom left still from Go With Me. Similar to the tone I was discussing above, Herpich has a very dualistic approach to Finn’s character. He’s often at his dumbest and goofiest from Herpich’s perspective, but also prone to his inquisitive, as seen in episodes like The Visitor, Hallf of Egress, and The Tower.

The oval eyes occasionally find their way into Jake’s design, though more recognizably are peaking over the top of his head. Herpich is also one of the few board artists that consistently draws Jake with two ears present, even within the standard 3/4 perspective. Herpich’s characterization of Jake is a bit less pronounced than his partner Steve Wolfhard’s is, with Herpich seeming to excel more within Finn solo journeys.

Some other examples of scenes and characters that were boarded by Herpich. A lot of his hallmarks can be seen across multiple characters: oval eyes, large, rounded teeth, mouths that are very distant from the eyes, eye blushing, and the oval-shaped grimace I mentioned above. Herpich will also sneak his desires for more detailed human anatomy in, as seen in the top left screenshot of Martin.

Promo Art

Examples of promo art that Herpich whipped up.

Herpich’s solo Finn episodes are some of my favorites, and that goes for the promo art as well. I really love the bold color choices on all of these, with these three in particular feeling almost like an interconnected series.

Miscellaneous promo art, with the second and third promoting season seven and the series finale respectively. The first image was to promote the series returning from a long hiatus between Daddy-Daughter Card Wars and Preboot. It’s one of my favorite AT images produced outside the series – has so much simplistic charm and love instilled into it.

Storyboards

Herpich attention to detail really permeates through his boards, and he’s conjured up some of the most fluid action sequences in the series. The above is from Dentist – a lot of malleability with the characters as well. I love the realistic physics of Finn’s hat moving – something mostly unique to Herpich.

Another high-stakes sequence from Walnuts & Rain. Really elaborate shots and camera movements for a storyboard as well – AT really utilized storyboarding as an effective method of directing more so than most animated shows in the industry.

Title Cards

Herpich is also unique in that he’ll create rough sketches for title cards within the storyboards, something that is not required of him, but he’ll add anyway. Most of these don’t end up being used for the final designs; they all commonly feature characters facing toward the screen.

The actual title cards that Herpich has designed are day-and-night from his rough sketches. Most of them don’t feature characters at all, but shots that build environment for the episode itself. It’s a rare opportunity that allows Herpich to work on background design versus his usual responsibilities.

And that’s it for this one! I hope that this was an enjoyable expedition, as I mentioned, I plan to do more of these in the future. If there’s any aspects that are lacking or could be improved, I’m happy to hear your suggestions! Will keep with the board partner model and tackle Steve Wolfhard’s contributions next.

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“Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake” Season 1 Review

December 26, 2024November 7, 2025 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

Simon Petrikov
The Winter King
Jerry
Prismo the Wishmaster
Destiny
The Star
Casper & Nova
Cheers
Fionna Campbell
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.

Uncategorized

“Cheers” Review

November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 Adventure Time Reviewed

Original Airdate: September 28, 2023

Written & Storyboarded by: Anna Syvertsson, Hanna K. Nyström, Jim Campbell & Jackie Files

Finale time! Seeing the reaction to this finale was pretty intriguing to me – I don’t think I’ve ever seen the fandom react so negatively to an Adventure Time season finale to date. A lot of the criticism I witnessed was targeted at the Casper and Nova sections detracting from the actual story elements, Simon and Betty’s resolution feeling unsatisfactory, and the Fionna and Cake bits throwing some genuinely baffling curveballs. I have no idea if the contemporary consensus for Cheers is still this negative, but it was interesting to see such a drastic shift in goodwill after the first 8 episodes of the season were so beloved. While I agree with some of the critiques that people raised, I was left with mostly positive feelings post-finale. Granted, I’ve been doing AT finales for like, 14 years now. Expecting to be a little disappointed is part of the game!

Quite possibly my favorite shot in the entire season.

We’re immediately thrown back into the Casper and Nova world, with a firsthand perspective of how they perceive their artificial world. Looooove the backgrounds Louie Zong whipped up for these segements. Really highlights Zong’s talent and ability to capture multiple sensibilities; his previous efforts in Casper & Nova feel like low-poly Nintendo 64 gameplay, while the backgrounds here are much more reminiscent of the fully rendered artwork from that time period. Don’t exactly love the 2-D designs for Casper, Nova, and the foes they face. The harsh black shadows work with the 3-D elements, but it looks relatively dated in a less aesthetically pleasing way when it comes to the general AT style. If it wasn’t already obvious by the previous episode, the Casper and Nova bits increasingly become apparent as an allegorical comparison to Simon and Betty’s relationship. I’ll admit, I think some sections of it, especially in the 2-D sections, go on a bit longer than is necessary, but I do think it serves as a fine exploration of Simon’s desires to follow his own instincts instead of looking toward resources outside himself. The finale isn’t exactly gracious to Simon – it paints him in a bit of a selfish light, resorting back to childish black-and-white scenarios that require Beth, someone with significantly less life experience, to put him in his place. I think it’s really what paints Simon as innately human; he’s spent the entirety of the season chasing after the highs and lows of his experience while ignoring the nuance between those moments that make them less absolute. All Simon has been able to see when reflecting on his relationship with Betty is this perfect, glossy romance that even we, Adventure Time fans, have bought into for years. It’s a romantic tragedy that has really only been presented with those incredible peaks and valleys, and only up until recent have we been able to see the subtle imperfections in their dynamic.

I think this was definitely something they needed to tread lightly, because going too strong on this thematically could’ve devalued Simon and Betty’s connection a bit too significantly. But I think they strike a good balance of reiterating that Simon and Betty’s love WAS true, just not perfect. I don’t think this is a complete curveball either, as elements of this imbalance were touched on in Temple of Mars when Betty laments how her own choices played out in their relationship. In general, I think most relationships ultimately play out with one partner sacrificing more than the other. So while there is a level of guilt that plays out in Simon’s head, I think, more than anything, it’s an important lesson he learns about no longer chasing after his own fantasies. In fact, he even grapples with the idea that, had he decided to join Betty on her own excursion, it may have led to an entirely different outcome that would’ve benefited them both in the long-run. This sounds like something that would only lead to more self-loathing and pain for Simon, but it’s ultimately what sets him free. Seeing the truth of his situation means that he’s no longer stuck romanticizing the past or even further becoming enmeshed with his ego. The fantasy sequence at the bus stop does get me a bit misty eyed; I think it’s quite beautiful to watch both Simon and Betty accepting the mess of their own relationship while acknowledging their true, deep love for each other. It’s hard to say whether this is truly the real Betty, a vision aided by GOLB, a hallucination from Simon, or a little bit all of the above, but it effectively sends Simon into a healing mindset where he realizes his own self-worth. After a call to Fionna from the GOLB realm (that I GUESS has cell service??) Simon fumbles one final time with his addiction to the crown’s allure, before ultimately tossing it into GOLB’s void.

Meanwhile, in Fionna’s world, we’re treated to a big battle between Scarab and the townsfolk of Fionna world, which have fun moments mixed into a mostly underwhelming mess. I liked seeing all of the various cosmic criminals released from Scarab’s Tamagotchi eggs, especially the Brooklyn-coded dude who seems like his only crime was not saying hello to Scarab in passing. The overtly gruesome death of Perry, the living island of insight, is mildly amusing, though I feel it’s a bit of a retread of the little buddy gag from The Pit. Cake shouting “Terry!” did get a chuckle out of me. Marshall and Gary get their fair share of funny moments; I love Gary murmuring “he’s hot” when observing Scarab, and Marshall’s “power of love” song immediately failing was great, especially because it’s a direct subversion to the climax of Obsidian. Cake’s kaiju monster morph is additionally fun – this is another episode that Steve Wolfhard served as the supervising director for, and you can tell he chimed in with a lot of very comical drawings and poses (he even got to see his own creation, Pawn Swan, come to life!). Oh! And I’ve been having trouble all season denoting which segments Hanna K. boarded, but this was the first time it was apparent to me: believe she handled the entire second portion of the episode, from about the 6 minute mark to the 12 minute mark. I really only deciphered this because of how Beth is drawn – Hanna loved having Jake’s ears hang off of his head and swoop up a bit, which is the same way Beth is portrayed here. So as long as Hanna keeps drawing dogs, I’ll be able to point out her boards in a jiffy. (EDIT: I was wrong – Hanna boarded the latter half of the episode. Ugh.)

I do also like how Fionna’s arc is ultimately wrapped up, as well as how it parallels Simon’s. Fionna and Simon were both on complete opposite ends of the spectrum: Fionna was heavily involved with her own self-cherishment, while Simon was bludgeoned by self-loathing. Yet, both were overly invested in their own plights and unable to see the reality and worth of the world around them and the part they play in making it a better place. Given the option to design her world however she wants it, Fionna opts to selflessly contribute to the happiness of those around her, giving them what they want and in turn making herself feel more fulfilled. Again, very similar to how Simon pushes away from his own hyperfixation toward self-annihilation and chooses a path that is instead focused on bettering the world of everyone involved. It’s a decision that leads to potentially the most chaotic choice that GOLB has made since her inception: letting Simon survive instead of becoming wiped from all of existence. It’s a decision that’s so out of the blue that it transforms GOLB into something that we don’t ever get to see in detail. Is Betty back to her human self? I’d guess probably not, and it’d be even more bleak if human Betty was just chillin’ out there in an endless void. But I do believe these choices have led to an unprecedented change in how GOLB operates, which is eventually alluded to in the end credits’ sequence. Simon is set free and we get a few more fun glimpses into the multiverse as he returns to Ooo, including the Water Park Prank universe being canonized (I do seriously love how the guest animator episodes are now just confirmed to be different parts of the cosmos entirely) and a universe where Magwood still possesses her jewels, possibly hinting at a crownless universe. And that fuckin’ snail clearly can’t stay away, because even though we saw his lifeless shell in previous episodes, he’s back kickin’ it once more! Here’s to hundreds of more obligatory snail cameos as the franchise continues onward.

That’s about where the good stuff ends for this one, save for a few parts in the ending montage, but I’ll get into that in a bit. AT has kind of steered clear of big battle territory in the past, much to the dismay of a lot of fans who wanted to see more combat and high-stakes scenarios being thrown into the series, but aside from the thematic elements, the tension in Fionna World once again meanders. Most of the stuff with Scarab goes on way too long, to the point where they defeat him multiple times, only for him to get back up again. I think it’s pretty safe to say at this point that Scarab may be the weakest addition to this entire season, really only feeling like a foil and never proving himself to be funny, intimidating, or insightful enough to carry his own. I do like how, ultimately, Prismo’s Boss is left in secret, as I feel it would maybe be too much to try to tack on at this point in the game. Most of the battle between Scarab and the denizens of Fionna World are middling enough, but things get extra lame when we’re reintroduced to a lot of the supporting players of the season, recruited by Prismo. It’s a pretty weak way to shoehorn these characters in at the last minute, and unlike the inclusion of Shermy and Beth, I don’t think Jay, Little Destiny, Baby Finn, and the Marc Maron squirrel are fun enough to justify their roles. Genuinely, if it weren’t for the Marc Maron squirrel fulfilling Fionna’s giantess fantasy (and the fantasy of some of you FREAKS out there), the other ragtag players don’t really do much to help. Baby Finn was really only there because I guess it would’ve been too morbid to leave him to die in the vampire universe. I guess it is funny that Jay now takes care of an infantile version of his father. Speaking of which, following the defeat of Scarab, Jay and Little Destiny decide to stay in Fionna World permanently. Uhhhhh, sure??? A lot of people were kinda pissed off that Jay just ditches his family life back on Farmworld, which like, whatever, I guess you could argue they’re rebellious teenagers that aren’t fully grasping the severity of their choices? But I think it’s just an objectively dumb way to wrap up their arc. If the series wasn’t renewed, I think it would just leave somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth that there’s no level of acknowledgement about what these two left behind in their homeworld. But since the series has been renewed, I’m equally uninterested in seeing where this goes. I don’t really care about these characters enough to see their choices fleshed out for potentially an entire season, and it seems inevitable that they’ll now have to explore these decisions in some way. Unless they just Choose Goose it and unceremoniously say they moved back home or something. Either way, it’s an incredibly tone deaf conclusion to their journey.

No disrespect to the artist who performed the song in the ending montage, but man, I really do not like it. It feels very… non-Pixar animated film electro-poppy end credits esque? I don’t know if that’s actually a thing, but that’s what it registers in my soul. A little too cheesy for my liking, especially with how uncharacteristically neat everything is tied up for an AT outing. But I get it, they probably weren’t sure if they were gonna get renewed and wanted to mesh everything together in a nice way. They just didn’t consider that I am a cynical almost 30 something year old man and they should be making this show for ME. Can’t wait to rant and bitch about the BMO pre-school show when it doesn’t have any type of pathos I can connect to. There’s a few moments I dig: I like Prismo and Scarab paling around in the Timeroom together, with Scarab playing into his edgy teenage sensibilities by creating a gothic fanfic. It’s cool that Simon educating Astrid creates somewhat of a paradox, making her the true author of the Casper and Nova sequences – very cute! Loved seeing Minerva once more, along with the somewhat unsentimental cap to Simon’s journey. We see him having fun and exploring, but I think the advice Minerva gives is pretty sound and doesn’t just wipe away the turmoil he’s experienced up to this point. Also, wonder if him moving means he’s going to join Fionna World for future seasons. Would be pretty weird if he wasn’t apart of it at all now, so we’ll just have to see what that implies! The episode caps off shortly after, with Fionna nurturing her now slightly magic world, along with a post credits scene much different than the one we saw in Distant Lands. A yellow square and red pyramid merge together, possibly symbolizing Simon and Betty’s relationship, along with the order of Prismo’s Timeroom and the chaos of GOLB realm. The combination creates an apple with a bow tied around it, perhaps playing into GOLBetty’s transformation once yin and yang came together. Some other people have speculated that the apple is a dedication to Polly Lou Livingston’s passing, which, d’awww, I like that as well.

But yeah, for the most part, it’s a pretty middling finale. I do think I lean maybe a bit more positive than other people do? That is to say, I think the bad parts of this episode are probably worse than most of the season has been up to this point. But the good aspects, namely Simon and his interactions with GOLBetty, are really great. Simon’s arc has really carried most of the season in a very strong way, but I will give credit that Fionna’s role isn’t terrible. I think it capped off in a relatively satisfying way, and while I’m critical about a lot of what occurs in Fionna World, I do think Fionna and Cake’s inclusion was at least miles better than what I was expecting from the series during a first announcement, even if most of their journey boils down to being relatively generic. But I’ll get into that more in the season review, which I’m hoping to get out before the end of the year (hopefully!). I also wanna churn out at least one bonus post of an idea I’ve been kicking around for a while, but it took me a whole year to review just 10 episodes, so no promises! As always, thanks for reading up to this point, and stay tuned for more stuff down the line!

Favorite line: “Hey Beth, I was a prisoner in my own head!”

Adventure Time, Animation

“Casper & Nova” Review

November 26, 2024November 18, 2025 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.

Tag: review

“The Worm and his Orchard” Review

Original Airdate: December 18, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Anna Syvertsson, Maya Petersen, Rebecca Sugar & Charmaine Verhagen

Favorite line: “He basically shits therapy.”

“The Insect That Sang” Review

Original Airdate: December 11, 2025

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

Favorite line: “Call my fake dad!”

“The Wolves Who Wandered” Review

Original Airdate: December 4, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Maya Petersen, Anna Syvertsson, Hanna Nyström & Charmaine Verhagen

Favorite line: “One thing that’s not open to interpretation is dreams.”

“The Bird in the Clock” Review

Original Airdate: November 27, 2025

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

Favorite line: “He’s risen.”

“The Butterfly and the River” Review

Original Airdate: November 20, 2025

Written & Storyboarded by: Kris Mukai, Anna Syvertsson, Charmaine Verhagen & Maya Petersen

Favorite line: “We’re eating like royalty tonight! Because we’re the Princes.”

Artist Spotlight – Tom Herpich

Art Style

Character Design

Finn & Friends

Promo Art

Storyboards

Title Cards

“Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake” Season 1 Review

“Cheers” Review

Original Airdate: September 28, 2023

Written & Storyboarded by: Anna Syvertsson, Hanna K. Nyström, Jim Campbell & Jackie Files

Favorite line: “Hey Beth, I was a prisoner in my own head!”

“Casper & Nova” Review

Original Airdate: September 28, 2024

Written & Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Sonja von Marensdorff & Jacob Winkler

Favorite line: “I know how to read! I have degrees!”