Beyond This Earthly Realm
Written and Storyboarded by: Jesse Moynihan & Ako Castuera // Air Date: June 11, 2012
Coverage: Josephus Brown

“What do you think, Finn? Can we pull back the veil of static and reach into the source of all being? Behind this curtain of patterns, this random pattern generator… So clever, right here in every home, watching us from a one-sided mirror…”

Whoops, sorry, just wizard talkin’ to myself!

Anyway, this is a real weird, fairly light episode but it’s one of my favorites from the entire series. It’s zippy, has hilarious jokes, weirdly sweet moments, bizarre cosmology, and some real great visuals and animations.

As I’ve said before, one of my favorite parts of this series is how often they’ll just rush through stuff that other shows would have wasted a lot of time on. This episode is a great example: It takes exactly 44 seconds from the fade in at the start of the episode for Finn to touch the lamb and get trapped. Other, lesser shows would have wasted time trying to make it be an accident but nope, Finn just grabs the thing from the pedestal to decorate his bathroom with and we’re off.

Now, the big question for this episode is:

Did the Ice King somehow get Finn to touch the lamb? Or did Finn tell him about it after he was trapped in the Spirit Realm and Ice King still has enough cogent memories of eldritch magic items that he recognized it? Was the whole thing his plan, or did he just take advantage of Finn screwing up and come up with the plan on the fly?

The way I see it, there’s two competing wildly unlikely things that could happen: Either the Ice King kept himself cogent enough to plan an incredibly long term gambit to get F & J to explore a cave and hope that Finn is the one who touches the lamb, or, it’s just a coincidence that IK’s portal goes to the lamb cave and he just stumbled on Finn’s predicament and decided to take advantage of it when Finn told him what happened.

I feel like that fact that the weird hole in Ice King’s basement is supposed to indicate that he planned this somehow but honestly that seems weird to me. How could he know that Finn would touch the lamb? How could he have gotten Finn and Jake to go explore the cave in the first place? How could he even have known that the hole in his basement went to the lamb cave if he can’t interact with it?

Me, I kinda lean towards the second one, myself. The only extra bit it needs to explain everything is that when they were walking back to Ice King’s place, Finn explained how he got trapped in the Spirit Realm off camera. The first possibility requires a whole series of unlikely things, but the second just requires the portal to be a coincidence.

Anyway, this episode really lets the artists go ham. The designs of some of these things are amazing. 

And they really manage to make The Dead One really upsetting.

I also like how breezily complicated the cosmology of this show can be. Eventually we get to see an entirely different plane of spirits, where ghosts of cats and other animals seem to wander around without us knowing, and it’s interesting that’s clearly a different kind of spirit realm.

This one also gives Tom Kenny a good opportunity to shine, and IK and Finn just sort of hanging out and talking is utterly hilarious to me, almost every one of their exchanges is golden. 

“We are turbros! Turbo bros! Turbros… Turbo… … Bros.”

It’s hard to overstate how much he’s an MVP for this episode. Like his delivery during the slow shift from his normal cheery tone at “See? I can’t kill any of them” to his whispered, “… I hate them…”, before snapping back, is some spectacular voice acting. And his wizard talkin’ monologue about all of us watching him through our TVs, delivered straight into the camera and out of your screen, is such a great line read. It’s amazing how much he can change the way he’s talking but still be clearly doing Ice King’s voice.

It was mentioned last week that this is a part of Adventure Time where it’s hitting a stride, and I absolutely agree. This is just a goofy little filler episode, absolutely inconsequential in the long run of the series that you would totally be able to skip right past and you’d never wonder what you missed, yet it manages to pack tons of fun weird shit in- bizarre cosmology, confirmation that Ice King’s “wizard eyes” aren’t just hallucinating, character beats that confirm long term continuity, and a quiet confidence that it can throw just absolute uncut raw batshittery at the audience and we’ll just go along for the ride.

I can think of few shows that have the faith in their audience to be able to do that, and it’s really demonstrative of how well-produced this show is. Just supreme confidence in itself and total faith in the audience to follow along. It’s really one of this show’s best qualities, and it will lead to some of the weirdest and greatest episodes later.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• The character design on the spirits is really impressive. I can’t imagine having to knock out literally dozens of brand new character models, none of which will almost certainly ever get reused again, just for one episode. Many of them barely have like a couple seconds of screen time!
• There’s so many great animation touches in this episode, too. Just look at Jake. His eyes get a little wide at different times, like when he says the lamb might have “spiritual significance”. There’s the bit where his eyes turn to Finn’s face when he gets trapped in the lamb. Or his brief moments of despair and worry when he’s trying to get Finn to come out. And then there’s Ice King’s amazing sassy hip dance when he does his dramatic reveal to Finn, which I adore.
• I singled out Tom Kenny’s performance here, but John DiMaggio and Jeremy Shada both bring it, too. Finn’s deadpan response to Ice King’s dramatic reveal of the plan is priceless, and for some reason Jake’s “jog your psychic schnapps” lives in my brain all the time.
• I wish I could do the Chewbacca noise so I could do it when I’m yawning like Jake does in the beginning  here.
• I love when this show gets weirdly spiritual, and Ice King and Finn building up a tiny breeze into a whirlwind is such a great resolution. It also reminds me of that game where you play a flower petal on the breeze, gathering other flower petals until you’re a big swirl, which I thought had some fancy Japanese name but apparently Wikipedia informs me is just called “Flower”. Hmmph.
• When I’m bragging about a clever plan working I often include “that I pulled from the air like a true magi!”
• I also, possibly not coincidentally, get a lot of use out of, “no wait my plan fell apart.”
• Finn’s hair is growing back. I love that they keep track of how long it’s been since he cut his hair last.
• Speaking of continuity, Finn’s quiet, “Where’d you go, Simon?” is so incredibly touching. I love these little hints that Finn’s attitude towards the Ice King really HAS changed in a fundamental way.

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Gotcha!
Written and Storyboarded by: Cole Sanchez & Rebecca Sugar // Air Date: June 18, 2012
Coverage: Cork

Joan Collins. Nora Roberts. Jane Austen. Danielle Steel. Dame Barbara Cartland. These authors are legends when it comes to romance. They weave tales of longing and lust that entrance their readers, but imagination can only take a story so far. People need to experience the electricity of locking eyes with an attractive person from across the room or the confidence gained by wearing the perfect outfit. These esteemed authors may think they know everything there is to know about romance, but have they ever put their skills to the test?

Enter Lumpy Space Princess, the voice of her generation. No one prior has been so outspoken and forthright on the matters of romance. LSP is a breath of fresh air for romance readers all over Ooo. All the critters like Steven and Chad the Ants, Billy the Vulture, and Ricky the Snake can’t stay away from her enticing lumps. After talking with her best gurlfriend, Turtle Princess, LSP sets out to write her trashy, tell-all memoir on how she uses her lumps to capture hearts. Who better to test the lump theory on than Ooo’s hero, Finn the Human?

As any true fan of romance knows, the first step in capturing the attention of your crush is to get a makeover. Would Freddie Prince Jr notice Rachel Lee Cook if she didn’t remove her glasses? Absolutely not. Would Finn notice LSP if she didn’t wear a trash bag dress with fruit pie lipstick? Probably, but that’s just a testament to the effectiveness of her lumps.

LSP goes undercover as Finn & Jake’s Adventure Secretary, a totally real job that she didn’t invent five minutes ago. After nailing her interview, LSP ‘seamlessly’ makes a space for herself in the Tree House and gets to work. Not secretary work, mind you, but the art of lumping seduction.

After a successful first night, LSP is feeling invigorated about her book’s progress and joins Finn & Jake on their latest adventure- carrying rocks up to the Mystery Mountains. Desperate to protect her cover, LSP does the unthinkable and carries two rocks. It’s hard work but LSP is a consummate professional and never complains, drops the rocks, or have to get carried up the mountain.

At the summit, Finn & Jake toss rocks to find the safe path across the Loch of Phantoms, but as adventurous as this is, it’s not what LSP’s readers are here for. Seductively removing a shoulder strap, LSP reveals her voluptuous shoulder lump only for Finn not to notice. Apparently, a rock going kerploop is more enticing. LSP is shocked at this revelation and steps her game up.

After entering into the cave, Finn & Jake go into Adventurer Mode while LSP channels Mardi Gras. With the grace of Mata Hari, LSP slips out of her dress and waves it around in an attempt to pull Finn’s attention away from the swirling portal. Ignoring Finn’s warning, LSP enters the portal into a cave of mirrors and unwittingly gets trapped. Finn appears in a mirror and LSP thinks that she has finally won his affections but quickly grows uncomfortable when Mirror Finn removes his hat and shirt. Doesn’t Mirror Finn know that seduction is for feelings only?

LSP’s lumps do too good of a job as multiple Mirror Finns begin to climb out from the mirrors in an attempt to get a hold of her lumps. Just when all hope is lost, Finn & Jake break through the closed portal and vanquish the Mirror Monsters, shattering the mirrors. Finn explains to a hysterical LSP that the mirrors are cursed to release evil if someone looks into them, which is very unfair to LSP. She’s so lumping hot, how is she not supposed to look into the mirrors? Finn assures her that it’s not just her outside that attracts people but her insides too, her “brains and stuff.”

Invigorated, LSP is ready to write the trashiest novel that Ooo has ever seen, but there’s just one problem. Despite all of her best efforts, Finn never fell for LSP’s lumps. Instead, LSP realizes that Finn’s inner lumps are what makes him so hot. With this breakthrough, LSP quickly finishes her manuscript. Turtle Princess loves the subject change and publishes it to crowing approval from Billy the Vulture, Turtle Princess’ new boyfriend.

LSP returns to the Tree House after her success and confesses to Finn that she puts the ploy in employment. It’s all thanks to Finn that LSP learns that hotness doesn’t just exist outside of a person but inside too, like their hearts and stuff. With a final “Gotcha,” LSP floats out the kitchen window like the manic pixie dream lump that she is.