*A few character spoilers.*
This is a good episode. We get another interesting world for Fionna, Cake, and Simon to explore, and neat things are happening with Gary and Marshall back in Fionna’s world.
Fionna, Cake, and Simon jump to a world where the crown has been seized by the Vampire King, who uses its ice powers to block out the sun. It’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland overrun by vampires, and our heroes team up with a hard-bitten, cynical Bonnie (Princess Bubblegum in the Land of Ooo) to defeat the Vampire King and his ward the Star (Marceline in the Land of Ooo.) Back in Fionna’s world, Gary and Marshall attend a fancy charity event thrown by Marshall’s mother.
One of the few things I know about Adventure Time from cultural osmosis is that its most popular ship is Princess Bubblegum and Marceline. From what I understand, as a kid-friendly animated series from the 2010s, the chemistry between them is implied but unspoken through most of the show’s run, not overtly shown onscreen until the series finale. But in the specials and spinoffs that have appeared since the main show ended, they’ve been specifically portrayed as a couple.
As such, it’s easy to see the dramatic potential in a world where Princess Bubblegum is a jaded vampire hunter and Marceline terrorizes the living at the right hand of the Vampire King. Because I haven’t watched the main series, I can’t feel the full weight of their interactions in this episode, but I imagine that for fans, it’s probably similar to “The Wish” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Fionna is in a hard spot here. She’s reeling from mistakes she made with the Winter King in the previous episode and doubting her abilities. “I wanna make things better, not worse,” she tells Cake. And she’s still eager to be a heroic figure, butting heads with Bonnie’s mercenary focus on the mission at hand, arguing that they can stop the vampires while helping people along the way. But she doesn’t fully know what she’s doing—at times, she rushes in too recklessly, and at others, her overcaution gets in the way of important things.
In the last episode, I was a little surprised at first by the interactions between Gary and Marshall, but in retrospect, it makes sense. During the infodump in episode 4, it’s revealed that, when Fionna and Cake’s world was still magical, Gary was a Bubblegum person and Marshall was a vampire, which pointed to them being gender-swapped versions of Princess Bubblegum and Marceline. Here, we see them paired up by the plot again.
Even though their world doesn’t have magic anymore, there are still vampire nods all over the place in their plot. The charity ball is being held at Marshall’s mother’s gothic mansion—it’s a fancy gala for a blood drive, and the whole event is brimming with blood-themed slogans, posters, and novelty hors d'oeuvres. The storyline is focused around Marshall, who’s been distancing himself from his mom and is clearly uncomfortable to be back in her world. “Is that what you’re wearing?” she says the instant he arrives, plucking at his jacket with disgust before breezily telling him there’s a pressed suit in his old room.
But while the plot is driven by Marshall’s inner conflicts, we see them mostly through Gary’s eyes. At first, he’s thrilled to be at a fancy event full of good food and potential investors with deep pockets. He’s enjoying himself and talking up his idea for a bakery with a whole series of character-based pastries. But as he sees the interplay between Marshall and his mom, he realizes how much his good time is being had at Marshall’s expense. Although I wouldn’t say there’s anything too revolutionary for Andrew Rannells here, he does a nice job with the material, alternately excited/flattered by the attention and opportunities but with growing concern for Marshall’s well-being.
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