*Episode premise spoilers, which include spoilers for episode 9.*
Okay, so as I’ve said, I haven’t watched Adventure Time. I’m not at this point the target audience for this show, and there’s a ton that I still don’t know about the franchise. It took me until, like, episode 4 to really understand the basics of what was going on! But this season finale, man—it got me right in the feels.
The Scarab has broken into Fionna and Cake’s world and is determined to destroy it as an unsanctioned universe. Our heroes and their friends do everything they can to fight back, even though Cake is still the only being with magic in this world. On the outside, Betty (a.k.a. the embodiment of Chaos) has prevented Simon from putting on the Ice King crown. Instead, he’s been placed in another body in a different universe, where he desperately searches for answers to its crown’s whereabouts in a Choose Your Own Adventure-style book.
Look, this episode has plenty of action and humor—Cake turns herself into a kaiju! The whole series has plenty of action and humor. But it has a lot of sadness too. I mean, the show kicks off with the main characters feeling depressed and directionless, searching for meaning in a place where they just can’t seem to find it. So it’s only fitting that the season 1 finale digs into some of the other feelings behind that.
For Fionna, she longed for magic in her own world, but while she was thrilled to be transported into a wild, weird multiverse, she’s continually feared that she can’t become the hero she desperately wants to be. The Scarab specifically picks at those fears, telling her, “Your little trip must have shown you the truth: it would be better for everyone if you were just gone.” As Fionna fights for the drab little world she’d been so eager to get away from, she’s not sure if she’ll be enough to save it.
In the universe Simon’s been shunted into, the only book he can study for information about the crown is a Choose Your Own Adventure book in which two characters named Casper and Nova are on their own search for the magical artifact. As the story goes on and Simon is increasingly frantic to “win” the book, we start to see the parallels between Simon’s own past with Betty, along with the regrets and loneliness that have been weighing him down. At one point, agitated by an impossible choice in the book, he laments, “There should be more options!” His companion softly points out, “Maybe there would be if you didn’t pick Casper’s options every single time.”
This is an episode filled with all kinds of feels: fear and regret, but joy and triumph as well. It’s an episode that’s brimming with life, and that’s ultimately what it leaves you with.
I suppose it’s not surprising that Andrew Rannells’s most prominent storylines were in episodes where Fionna and Cake weren’t in their universe. As with last week, Gary is present throughout the finale and does his best to pitch in, but he kind of gets lost in the shuffle. His best moment comes from his swoony reaction to Marshall’s attempt to fight the Scarab with “a new heartfelt song inspired by our love!”
Fionna & Cake has been renewed for a second season, but for now, here are my parting thoughts.
Recommend?
In General – I think so. Even with my woeful lack of knowledge from the main show, I came down on the side of really liking it. I imagine that it hits even harder for fans of Adventure Time!
Andrew Rannells – Maybe. Rannells is solid throughout, he just doesn’t have much to do. He doesn’t really get any opportunities to stand out here.
Warnings
Violence, sensuality, language, drinking, gross-out humor, and strong thematic elements.
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