Original Airdate: December 25, 2025
Written & Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Jackie Files, Sonja von Marensdorff & Jacob Winkler
Hey Hey! Owe y’all an apology for promising a review and then going AWOL for half a year. Planned on reviewing the finale the day it aired, was too hungover from the holidays to produce anything worth reading, and then generally lost the momentum to talk about the series after feeling pretty fatigued with the recent season. But, with Side Quests on the horizon, I figured I would wrap things up tightly. I’d like to talk about Side Quests in some capacity – managed to catch a few episodes ahead of the jump and was kind of shocked at how much I liked it. Whether that means I’ll be doing one mega-review or individual episode reviews remains to be seen. Let’s go ahead and tackle the finale of F&C season two.
The opening with Finn and Minerva is sweet, minus the “Minerva-Bot in a wig” line – ew? I think my boy has kind of gotten a bad rap this season for putting Huntress Wizard in this position in the first place, but it also makes clear how much he’s sacrificed in his relationship with HW. I think Finn genuinely loves her, but I also think he’s kind of reckoning with his own wants and needs. It’s interesting to see him try to pursue a life of mystics when it seems like deep down he has the values of someone who would want a comfortable family life to settle into. We get more on how he’s internalizing his feelings later, but as is, nice to see Finn and Minnie interacting again.
After the opening, we remain in the human city, where PB and the crew are preparing to upload Finn’s consciousness in a way similar to Minerva. I’m a little bummed by how many cheap gags are squeezed into these segments. I think most people pretty much know by this point that Finn isn’t actually going to die and I don’t think the episode needs to be heavy handed as a result, but I dunno, some moments feel especially gimmicky to me. The robot that they’re planning to upload Finn’s consciousness to is just comically ridiculous – there’s not a ton of subtlety when it comes to how we, the audience, are supposed to perceive this outcome despite it feeling like an issue that deserves some level of ambiguity. Minerva’s not really all there, and the series hasn’t been a stranger to playing up some of her goofier moments as a result, but I think the show doesn’t really do her any favors here. I think there’s just very few moments in this entire sequence that actually treat the situation with a level of sincerity, which kind of goes for most the season when it comes to Finn’s condition. I additionally kind of roll my eyes at the series doing a very obvious fake out with Jake returning to see his brother, but I do love NEPTR, so it gets a pass. Additionally, I’m only so cynical – the “Sleepy Puppies” lullaby does hit me, along with all the pups being present to morn their uncle. Even though Lady is… not really there? Well, she’s in the doorway at one point, and then we see her flying off at the end. Nothing bums me out more than how little she’s gotten to do in the current context of this world, but to harp on only Fionna & Cake for giving Lady nothing to do would be hypocritical. Though I will harp on TV for using “oh my God” instead of “oh my Glob.” Additionally odd about some of the people who attend his final moments, versus other more obvious stand ins. Like, I’m kind of assuming Jermaine is probably dead along with Jake, but no Shelby? Not even LSP among the other princesses? I guess Susan is probably too off the map to contact. But Astrid? Cadebra? What are they even doing there?
Glad to see all of the seeds from episode two finally get to play some role in the overall story, even if I feel like the way of reviving Finn is a bit contrived. I’m sure there’s metaphors galore that you can examine in relation to how Huntress Wizard is using her multiple incarnations to revive her lover, but quite frankly, I’m just not that interested enough in what’s happening. I think that goes for a lot of this season – as much as I’ve tried to dig deeper and observe the intricacies of the characters and their interactions, I’m not finding myself particularly invested in how this is all culminating. As much as the season has tried to fake us out to Finn passing on, it’s never really worked as convincing drama outside of how the other characters are experiencing it. I did enjoy little moments from each seed-world, like the appearance of Winter World Finn, who is courting Slime Princess – a reference to yet another one of Steve Wolfhard’s many headcanons. The Water World was especially neat, featuring a Martin-like giant sporting the ice crown. Maybe this is the greater mode that was offered to him back in The Comet? There’s also the really fucked up gag of Farmworld Finn’s children seeing their mother return and then subsequently melting. Kinda makes you wonder why Farmworld Finn didn’t acknowledge HW back a few episodes earlier, though I imagine it was just for time restraints. Also nice to see Jonni Pepper’s work return again when HW and Witch Wizard link up – glad she got a large part in the visual make-up of the mystical world. With Finn revived, everyone (initially) celebrates, with the exception of PB. I really think PB has been probably the strongest player for the OG cast this season, tying back to my point about Finn’s passing being an interesting concept for his friends to deal with. Granted, I think PB may be the only one who really has anything potent to play with and I like how this ties into her inevitably stepping down from being princess, something alluded to back in Together Again. Her stress and devotion to keeping both her circle, her kingdom, and even herself calm in the midst of one of her more stressful experiences has been built into quite successfully, and it feels like an appropriate part to start exploring how she can exist without being so tied to managing the lives of others over herself.
Time for the part of this blog that I am always so enthusiastic and passionate about discussing: Fionna and friends! So, we see the fallout of everything around the Sweet Spot, where everyone is understandably hurt and upset by Fionna’s actions. Except for Fennel who is like, bummed out, but sort of hints at a potentially deeper relationship with Fionna? I kinda liked the spirit bond the two had episodes earlier, but I don’t know if I really like the idea of them as romantic partners? I always felt like this was more of a sibling bond given how Fern and Finn were characterized in the previous series, so it feels a little icky to me. AT finales are typically known for their quick resolutions and failure to truly break the status quo, which I mostly defended back in the day, but it all feels so hollow here. Cake’s back in Fionna World! Which, okay, I feel like the permanence of her decision to stay with the Karmic Worm for a bit is sort of lessened as a result, but I guess it’s just to help save the day and then- Oh, she’s fully back with Fionna by the end and just hits up the Karmic Worm whenever, I guess? I guess they just wanted Cake involved in the action, but c’mon, why not commit to having Cake stay there as part of her arc? It wouldn’t have to be a permanent change, and I doubt there’s like an executive reason for having Cake stay with Fionna. I feel fairly confident that this staff has way more creative freedom than they did years ago working for Cartoon Network, so it’s kind of baffling at times how often this season in particular has chosen so many safe options. And speaking of which, we have the resolution to Cake and M-Cron’s storyline: they’re just gonna be friends. It served Cake this season to explore more of her struggles with being magic in a non-magic world, but like, in the same way everything else is wrapping up, it’s just such a boring, nothing conclusion. For a season that has been so devoted to fairytale concepts, it would’ve been awesome if these two actually got a fairytale ending. I would have got up and cheered if Cake transformed back into her normal cat self and M-Cron wrote on his little board, “Actually, I’m really into that.” But alas, we did not get that. Speaking of the fairytale theme, I feel like it just sorta petered out by the season’s end? There’s really nothing here that feels like a thematic conclusion to that motif.
I’m gonna talk about stuff I liked soon, I promise. But let’s just finish with Fionna-World while we’re at it. With Cake getting such a clean, polished conclusion to everything she’s experienced up to this point, I guess it’s only fitting that Fionna does too! Yeah, nobody is mad at her by the end of the episode. She breaks into Gary’s apartment and trashes his kitchen with baking materials and makes him a disgusting cake. And then Marshall is all, “Community is everything.” And then they make up. Alright! Again, it’s a little silly they had Fionna go as fucking bonkers as she did in episode 8 if it was going to make for like, a few minutes of drama and then be resolved very quickly. Most annoying, perhaps, is that I feel like Fionna’s pretty much exactly where we left off with her last season. She often acts selfishly and in a self-destructive fashion, but she just needs to learn to listen to others and communicate better. As much as people have criticized Fionna’s behavior this season, I was actually somewhat on board with having this character struggle to grow even with the lessons she learned prior. But I don’t really feel like I gained anything that new about Fionna in this process and it doesn’t seem like the show is really interested in showing any lasting consequences for her character. This season is weirdly conflict-averse between its characters. I feel like the staff took note of that one sentiment from Pen where he mentions not really enjoying Finn and Jake bickering and just projected it onto every relationship. I’m not saying it would be thrilling to have Marshall and Gary resent Fionna over the course of several episodes, it’s just odd how much these characters are not able to express “negative” emotions without a super healthy resolution to follow. Same goes for Phelix, who I feel like the show wants me to like for some reason but I’m not sure why? I dunno man, just an absolute nothingburger of a character by the end.
Alright, I’ve bitched enough! I’ve been mean to this episode, but it does have one gem, and it’s probably the scene you’re thinking of. Fionna going deep inside herself (or her inner Finn-ness) to speak to an exiled part of Finn. With the help of Bellamy Bug, of course, in his second appearance ever! Congrats to that one person who wanted to see Bellamy return back during the original run of the show. We see Fionna traveling through a plethora of familiar rooms to get there (including the hole from Dentist, the pillow fort from Puhoy, Castle Lemongrab, among others). A really sweet detail is Finn having a totally empty mind but an absolutely stacked heart – love that. The interaction between Fionna and Finn is really beautiful and sad, especially Finn being revealed to be the gut voice that led Fionna astray initially. I was a bit annoyed with the execution of this scene two episodes earlier, but I do like how this is revealed to be somewhat of a protective measure from Finn himself to not have to deal with the passing of his best friend. A lot of this series has kind of refused to deal head-on with Jake’s passing, which I think ranges between being incredibly nuanced to being coy for the sake of being coy. This is the most direct examination to date of Finn, among others, actually dealing with the consequences of his passing. Together Again leaves us with the sad realization that Finn may have never moved on from Jake’s passing. I think others were right to harp on this as kind of a morbid portrayal of the rest of Finn’s life, but The Bear and the Rose carries this out in a way that I think is very quietly beautiful. Finn is not totally devoid of reasons to live, but carries within him a devastated part hidden away that just can’t deal with what has actually happened. A part that harkens back to his adolescence – a part that doesn’t feel whole on his own. Talking to this part is what helps Finn understand his worth beyond trauma burdening him, and additionally helps Fionna understand her own place. It’s a very nice sentiment about the two learning to understand and comfort the darkness within them rather than trying to compartmentalize and ignore it like they have both been doing up to this point. It’s probably one of the best moments in the spin-off series.
I think the whole “Heart of the Forest” storyline got a bit too mumbo jumbo for my liking, but I do like how the resolution towards “natchy” magic is very similar to the lesson both Fionna and Finn learn – that you can tap into a magical existence just by learning to quiet the mind and connect with one’s true self. Also nice to see those kids finally living together, and with NEPTR nonetheless! I hope he’s always around if we check into this timeline in the future. Things start wrapping up; we hear Marshall’s demo play, which is just an instrumental track and no vocals (sure!), apparently nobody gave Prismo the memo that the Cosmic Owl has been revived, Dream Spirit Warrior targets Astrid as his next apprentice (who is sporting armor from the show’s promo art – Muto, you monster) and everything seems to be tidying up neatly. That is, until Fionna discovers the answer to the “go beyond the end of the peach” riddle and kicks a fence down, discovering a whole wide world to explore beyond the city. I… don’t want any more of this. I’m sorry y’all! I truly do not care about any of the Fionna World characters enough to want to see where this is going, and I’m even less interested in the post-credits sequence featuring Hunson. It feels like we’re starting to get into territory that the comics would tackle.
So yeah, with the exception of that one fantastic scene between Fionna and Finn, I didn’t really like this at all! Rushed, safe, kind of empty? I was holding out hope that the season was fooling me in the first half and that the second half would really shift into high gear, but it never did, and I feel the finale is just scrambling to try to make sense of it all. Everything just feels like it’s working to wrap up as quickly as possible, while simultaneously trying to open new doors to make room for a potential third season. But really, nothing here makes me confident in the series expanding further. I’m gonna be reviewing the season as a whole too, hopefully before Side Quests comes out, and then I can properly discuss that. So stay tuned soon for the review of season two, which should be hitting this blog in the next few weeks!
Adventure Time Reviewed 
