Blood Under the Skin
Written and Storyboarded by: Kent Osborne & Somvilay Xayaphone // Air Date: October 25, 2010
Coverage: Cork

Welcome everyone to the Match Game – Ooo Edition!

There’s a hot, new, ROYAL bachelor in Ooo. He’s got ice blue skin, does a mean highland jig, and likes to keep his face all smoooooth. Everyone, meet the … wait… does this say the Ice King?

– No, no! I’m a Nice King!

You heard it here first folks! He’s the Nice King and he is single.

– It’s great to be here *laughs evilly* When do I get to take all the princesses?

Well Nice King, after asking the princesses a variety of questions, you will pick your top princess for your date.

– You did catalog the princesses or something? I don’t want the ugly ones mixed up with the others.

Alright let’s get ready to welcome the top 18 most eligible princesses in Ooo!

–*clears throat* Princesses #1, 9, 16, & 19. Loyalty means a lot to me. What would you do so I know that you would never leave me?

– Hmm… Okay. Sounds like there’s a lot of duds in that group. Nice Knights! Go clear out the ugly ones! It’s distracting me.

Alright, Princesses #2, 3, 4, & 13: I like my princesses all smooooth. How smooth are you?

– Oh ho ho ho! This sounds promising.

Princesses #8, 12, 14, & 17. I’m looking for an elite army of wives to take over the world. What skill would you bring?

– Yikes. These princesses sound rough. Nice Knights! Get rid of them, it’s disrupting my love life!

Princesses #6, 10, 11, 15. I like to walk in a tight formation in a circle. Are you willing to go steady with me and maybe two others?

– Eugh! Are these Nice Knights even doing anything? I need the highest quality of princesses.

Princesses #5, 7, 11, 18. I live in a big sand castle. What would bring to decorate your cage?

Alright Nice King, the time has come to choose your Princess. Which number Princess is the future Mrs. Nice King?

STOP! That’s not the Nice King, that’s the Ice King! He just shaved his beard. Look at him, you can see it growing back. Princesses, the Ice King tricked you!

That’s our show for tonight folks. A special thanks to the Nice Knights, Finn and Jake, for taking their time to realize the Nice King is the Ice King. I hope all the princesses are getting their fair share of hits in.

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Blood Under the Skin
Written and Storyboarded by: Cole Sanchez & Benton Connor // Air Date: November 1, 2010
Coverage: Mrs. Queequeg

After removing a dangerous ladybug from the house, Finn gets a splinter from the front door. The Fear Feaster’s leitmotif plays while the camera zooms in on Finn’s finger. Deciding that he needs finger protection, Finn and Jake head to the Farmer’s Market and barter with Choose Goose for a thimble. Finn is a typical young teen, who desperately wants to be accepted by his peers, who are the knights sparring at the market.

The knights reject Finn and degrade his lack of real armour before Sir Slicer 1Peter Stromaire is such a great voice for this character. I know him best from his appearance on Psych, where he plays a morally gray character, but he has a lengthy IMDb page, and has done a lot of video game VA work arrives with his own leitmotif to mock Finn before riding off.

Embarrassed but not yet blushing, Finn rushes back to Choose Goose to trade up for a better *click click* armour. Choose Goose puts Finn further on the spot with the suggestion of foot armour, butt armour, and a poem (to the delight of the knights.) Now blushing, Finn accepts the poem as the start of a quest for Zeldron’s armour. He will show them when he has legendary armour! But before Finn can start off, birds and leaves herald the return of his tormentor: Sir Slicer. Who’s making fun of Finn’s soft vanilla-strawberry skin and calling him a dork and a loser!

Finn and Jake reach water with a red wall. Jake strides over the swamp, since the armour is “Finn’s thing.” I like Jake in supporting older brother mode, willing to feel the poem and be the guide. The wall is revealed to be a series of shower curtains, being used by showering residents, who are not pleased in the slightest to see Finn invading their privacy. By the time Finn gets through the aptly named Swamp of Embarrassment, he’s breathing heavily and his face is bright red. What’s that? It’s Sir Slicer’s music! He returns a third time to laugh at “Crimson Cheeks,” who’s so red he looks like a tomato.

The next stage of the quest is to silence the echoing from the woods, which turns out to be a sobbing red faced monster lady. Finn declines Jake’s offer to handle this one for him, so Jake instead gives him dubious advice. Jake shifts into dirtbag older brother mode with, “Just make her think it’s her idea. That’s how you make the ladies do what you want.” Clearly, not smarter than everyone else.

Finn hasn’t lost the full face flush from the swamp, and with his white hat, looks just like a red face monster baby. Finn’s horrified, and guess who’s back, back again. Slicer’s back, he told a friend. Sir Slicer has a minstrel with him, who sings a song that grandfathers will sing to their grandchild for generations.

He’s Finn the blushing baby,

His cheeks are bright and red!

Be sure to make fun of him

Before you go to bed! 

The red faced monster attempts to defend Finn, but Sir Slicer rebuffs her with his armoured glove and the gusto of Jen Barkley2Poncho!. Eventually, the monster falls asleep and Finn can make his escape with Jake. 

They reach the Home of the Zeldron’s Armor and burst in, only to be confronted with the Ghost Man and his obsession with drop ball. I’ll give Finn this secondhand embarrassment, no one wants to watch another’s butt cheek dexterity3I know, we don’t kink shame here, though I do laugh when Ghost Man’s glutes are animated to be struggling. Somehow Ghost Man’s record is six, but we don’t get the full rules as the boys press on. The antechamber is sparkling and bright and both are thrilled.

Finn declares all the prior embarrassment to be worth the armour and basks in the literal glow. He finally is beyond reproach and has earned himself famous armour. The only problem is it’s “lady armour,” made for someone large chested 4The commentary mentions that the armour used to have a lot more of a provocative design (loud laughs.) Images can be found online with skulls as nipple protrusions, but the version they reference had spiked flails that dangled. “There was a lot of swinging, a lot of breaking of pillars. Use your imaginations.”.

Finn cannot take another embarrassment, after all he is a pubescent teen boy who is very concerned with how others perceive him. He refuses to wear the armour, even when Ghost Man threatens him in banshee mode. Finn tries, and fails to take on Ghost Man on his own before Jake intervenes.

Jake puts on the armour and looks fantastic. He gets sultry, 70s-inspired music while he towers over both Finn and Ghost Man. Ghost Man mistakes Jake for his mother, and Jake demands that he goes outside into the light. When Ghost Man returns, he thanks Jake for breaking his drop ball addiction and Jake credits The Power of Embarrassment. Jake might be a font of bad advice, but he’s secure in himself and never afraid about how he’s seen by others.

I don’t know if Sir Slicer has that mother-daughter thing5I can tell when you’re about to cry but he appears at the mouth of the cave. Finn calls him out for following a kid around all day, and it turns out that Slicer can be embarrassed too. He isn’t so nimble getting off his mount and tumbles to the ground. It turns out his armour is too heavy for him to maneuver in, and he’s helpless. Add injury to insult, when he reaches out for a stick to help him stand up, he gets hurt! Now the splinter’s in the other hand and Finn “offers” his thimble. Watch Slicer’s mount back out of the scene. Awkwaaard!

Jake shows that he learned something from Ghost Man, as he uses drop ball moves to pick Finn up. While Finn learned a lesson about embarrassment in this episode, but he still blushes here, and I can’t fault him for that. Jake flies home, smashing through mountaintops with his breastplate, and as someone with boobs, that quick moment is some strong wish fulfillment. 

Times Finn blushes: 9

Times someone makes the click click noise: 12

The running theme in this episode is a mix of conforming, caring about others’ opinions, and, of course, choosing to be embarrassed. This attributes to the blood under the Finn’s face skin, as well as the blood that wells up in his and Sir Slicer’s fingers. The posturing of Finn rings true to his age, and sadly of Sir Slicer as well, because some people never lose the need to be superior by putting others down. We’ve seen Finn be worried about his “reputation” before, and it will come up again, but that’s a lesson that’s tough to learn and while this episode is light and silly, I like its message a lot for the kids who will watch it.