Come Along With Me: Adventure Time – “In Your Footsteps” and “Hug Wolf”

In Your Footsteps | Boarded by Tom Herpich and Skyler Page | Aired: May 7, 2012 | Reviewed by Cedric the Owl

Heroic fantasy is generally big on emphasizing martial prowess over all other aspects of their character. Cast down the evil wizard, slay the dragon, defeat the horde of orcs, and so on.  This could be on my mind because I’ve been watching the new Superman show recently, but I’m far more a fan of heroes that inspire others through their actions. Finn himself has sought inspiration from other heroes around him, as well as through the Enchiridion, but what happens when someone else tries to take inspiration from Finn?

Our adventure opens as so many others do: with Finn using Jake as a parachute (or Jake-Chute, if you will) to air drop into a dance party in the middle of nowhere. While Finn and the Candy people boogie down, they attract the attention of a curious bear. Jake’s attempts to befriend them end in failure when the bear starts to choke on a pawful of peanuts. Finn immediately leaps into action to clear the bear’s airway, resulting in a ghastly belch of peanut fragments and a lifelong adoration.  

As our boys head home the bear follows along, and Finn welcomes him to hang out with them after the party.  He’s particularly enamored with the idea of a bear imitating his mannerisms.  I understand that mindset; I fully recognize that a bear could tear me apart without even meaning to, but they’re also fluffy and cute. Jake is more suspicious of the Tops Blooby Bear, and not only because they rough him up when he tries to get them to imitate him.  His fears seem to be confirmed when he stumbles upon the bear later that night, wearing Finn’s clothes and copying his earlier dance moves.

This basic plot owes a lot to the 1992 film Single White Female, wherein a woman takes in a new roommate who then starts to imitate her hair style, dress sense, and mannerisms. The movie itself has a contested reputation, but the basic plotline has a surprisingly long reach into pop culture, becoming a lesser used but still standard plot in both sitcoms and thrillers.  Fortunately, Adventure Time manages to keep things relatively fresh. Instead of not believing Jake when he tells Finn about the bear imitating him overnight, Finn trusts his word. He just doesn’t see the threat in it.  When the bear eats Finn’s supply of Finncake in such a way that it seems like it would frame Jake, Jake has the wherewithal to record him in the act. Finn is less than impressed, not because he doesn’t believe Jake but because Jake didn’t even try to dissuade the bear from eating his treats. It’s a fun way of juking around the traditional beats of the Single White Female plot – one person sees something suspicious, while everyone they tell about it doesn’t believe them – while still keeping the plot in motion.

Finn finally grows suspicious of the bear when he finds that they’ve invited the Candy people to another party in his name, and upon arriving finds the bear wearing Finn’s clothes and a paper mask of his face. And much as he may deny it, his newfound suspicions are clearly motivated by the bear’s proximity to Princess Bubblegum. Getting over a first crush isn’t easy, kid. Finn exposes the imposter to the crowd, only for PB to inform him that no one actually thought the bear was Finn. They figured it was just Finn playing some kind of joke, and to their credit it would hardly be the weirdest thing the boys have ever gotten into. While Jake amusingly shrinks to avoid drawing attention in the background, Finn knows he has to make things right to the bear. He follows and apologizes to the Tops Blooby Bear, and even offers him the Enchiridion to learn from on his quest to be a hero. Finn isn’t perfect, but he is perceptive enough to recognize this bear had pure intentions in trying to imitate him.

Or does he? The episode ends with a stinger that shows the bear delivering the Enchiridion to a familiar figure: the Lich, still possessing the body of the Snail! While the Lich’s motivations are not in question, the bear’s are more ambiguous. Were they working with the Lich the entire time, or are they merely a pawn in machinations far beyond their ability to understand?  

I framed the episode’s plot mostly in terms of a heroic narrative, but it’s also easy to see this episode as a parable about social awkwardness.  The bear just wants to fit in, and chooses to do so by imitating the most popular person he can see.  This theme of the awkwardness of learning social skills makes for an effective throughline to our next episode.

---

Hug Wolf | Written by: Somvilay Xayaphone & Bert Youn | Aired: May 14, 2012 | Reviewed by Mrs Queequeg

One of Adventure Time’s greatest strengths is its ability to change pace. My last three write-ups were two parters and big pieces of lore arcs, and now I get to do a silly 11 minute piece about consent. I love this episode because I talk about consent a lot in school but more importantly because I am not a hugger and I hate having hugs forced upon me. I don’t know why that’s the social norms we allow to override general consent, but I do not want you to press your body against mine unless you are my lover, or family tier and I haven’t seen you in ages. 

But I digress. We open with the boys about to burn down the Tree of Blight. They are attacked by a wolf who has hearts for hands and feet and threatens to snuggle Finn to pieces. Finn is hugged gently, while Jake sends the tree to the wicker devil. 

Back at the treehouse, Finn’s being really needy. Jake senses something is wrong, especially looking at Finn clinging to his pillow. 

The next day, the boys are eating candy litter when Finn bumps into Cinnamon Bun, who is immediately uncomfortable. He says that Finn broke into his house last night and hugged him so roughly, his love handles are sore. Finn thinks CB is full of it, but Jake’s worried and takes Finn to the library. He pulls out Bestiarium Vocabulum, which confirms his suspicions: Hug Wolves exist.

Jake reads on: Hug Wolves hug people every night to feed their insatiable hug lust. To become a Hug Wolf, one must be hugged by an alpha during a full moon. There is no known cure. Finn grows warm in horror and, after being rebuffed by Jake, turns to hug himself in the old making out with yourself gag.

Back at the treehouse, Jake tries to first cool Finn down, then ties him to the chair with ropes and chains, while BMO hides behind a plant. A nervous Jake asks Finn to say something reassuring and Finn answers back with what might be the most offensive language we’ve seen on this show.

Clouds part to show the full moon and Hug Wolf Finn changes. He growls, “hugs for buddies!” but is driven back by BMO’s strobe light mode. HW Finn goes out the window and comes across Mr Cupcake, who has a fevered temper.

It’s at this point that the episode becomes an unmistakable metaphor for violating physical boundaries, as far as you’re comfortable taking that. We’ve already seen that BMO and Jake are uncomfortable with Finn, but there hadn’t been a direct threat to them until that point. Consent is a simple topic to explain: Must be freely given and can be revoked at any time. 1As a high school teacher, I use the word consent as often as possible in class to remove the sexual connotation from it. We most often use it in physical situations, which I think both muddles the idea and heightens the intensity of it. Consent should be an easy, every day action. ‘Is this okay? Cool.’

I don’t know how triggering this episode is, but I like that it presents consent in a way that’s easy to discuss. It’s smart to use something with a positive connotation. We know that hugs are nice. They are a physical representation of a bond and can be used for joy, comfort, or attraction. Here, under a curse, they’re twisted into something bad.

Finn doesn’t want to hurt anyone, we have 3+ seasons of Finn being determined to be a hero, always trying to find the best way to help everyone. Now, we have an episode of Finn being turned into a villain. It’s a dire warning: you too can be a Hug Wolf. He lashes out at Jake, who’s trying to help, and then attacks Mr Cupcake and, horrifyingly, a teen girl, asleep in her bed.

I know we’re all adults and this is incredibly bleak, but I really like this episode for pushing the storytelling while targeting teens, tweens, and kids. It’s uncomfortable on purpose. 2Age rating is TV-Y7

Don’t be a Hug Wolf. Ask people about their boundaries. Respect their boundaries.

In the morning, Finn’s horrified to hear what he’s done, to face the Candy People he hurt, and in fairness to him, he wasn’t him. He apologizes to everyone and admits that he can’t take anything back, so he’d prefer to be imprisoned for his misdeeds, and to prevent any further assaults. This serves as part of the lesson too; if you violate the laws of consent, you and the wronged party with both feel bad, and you won’t be able to fix things.

Jake irresponsibly leaves Cinnamon Bun at the candy jail. CB can’t bring himself to protest, and Jake’s too focused on finding the Alpha Hug Wolf. He riles up the crowd that disdained Finn3Including Root Beer Guy! We’ll officially meet him in Season 5 and they leave. The full moon is visible from the cell, turning Finn. He asks Cinnamon Bun to let him out and CB, the poor sap, does want a hug and foolishly gives in. CB likes the hugs, he just doesn’t like the intensity of them.

Meanwhile, Jake is leading the DARE group, and he finds the alpha hug wolf. She turns on the group but Finn emerges from the woods, and they hug-wrestling, making the biggest hug ever created.

Finn hugs the Alpha Hug Wolf into a heart explosion and they both revert to their humanoid bodies, their need for hugs satiated. The Alpha Hug Wolf is an attractive purple woman and Jake creeps on her, asking for a hug. She sighs, and then turns into a Tree of Blight. And that, Jake, is what’s wrong with unwanted hugs.

Coming up next: Princess Monster Wife and Goliad

Note: We are taking next week off for American Independence Day, so we’ll return July 15th