Too Old | Aired: August 12, 2013 | Reviewed by Grumproro
How do I keep ending up with these episodes that cover so many possible review topics? Really, my main reason for signing up for this one was that I knew it involved some important Finn content, and I’m always happy to spend some time thinking about the complicated nature of Lemongrab. What I continue to forget about Lemongrab episodes is that they are just as much, or perhaps even more, Princess Bubblegum episodes. BUT, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton you could say about Lemongrab too! And, in this case, Finn! So how to write a proper review? Is it best to focus on all three elements or is it better to focus on just one? The episode is a clear reference to the previous “Too Young” so it could make sense to just go through and see how that plays out. But I feel like there are too many new dynamics, so I’d end up all over the place. Maybe I need to go back to my last Lemongrab review and check in on where we were with the Lemon people.
So the questions we’re left with now are…what will PB’s “watching over” look like? Will it be any different than before? Because I get the sense that she’d really rather just send the Lemongrabs away and not have to deal with them anymore. But how will the Lemongrabs rule their new lemon citizens? They have all the food they need, and they don’t know how to make new lemon people, so that problem has been solved, but their core lemony selves haven’t changed. They’re just like this. But what is this?
So that’s an idea. I’ll try to answer these questions to get us started. Adding the Grayble horrorshow we got between these two episodes to get a full picture. As far as I can tell, the watching over includes this visit and little else because PB seems shocked to discover the state of Lemongrab Castle, only noting ahead of time that the Lemongrabs seem to be getting “weirder”. She has a lot going on, so I imagine it’s difficult to keep an eye on everything. Still, I’m a little surprised she didn’t know how extreme things have become with the Lemongrabs. I think it’s safe to say that the Lemon citizens are not her highest priority at the moment.1And should they be? I don’t know! I don’t believe that just because you created something that you’re necessarily responsible for everything it ever does. But…a little more attention might be warranted here? How much socialization did Lemongrab receive? How long was he living alone, forgotten, before he showed up in “Too Young”? Is there really nothing more that PB, his absolute creator, could do to help? I don’t know. I don’t want to blame her for his behavior because he’s responsible for his own actions. But all those Lemon people are suffering too. And…and…this is why I always end up spinning in circles. Which is unfortunate for them. Because things seem to have taken a very, very dark turn after the Lemongrabs fought in the Grayble. The way the Lemongrabs rule their citizens appears to be through fear and control, with Lemongrab 1 being the true leader, as Lemongrab 2 is relegated to a subordinate role. I can’t say this is a huge surprise. These are traits we’ve seen from the Lemons before. It’s just more extreme and…upsetting now. And part of what makes it upsetting is why I struggle writing Lemongrab reviews. I like this character. It’s complicated and weird and messy and frustrating. I don’t like what he does a lot of the time, but I like facing this character and watching what the writers do with him.
But, wait, no, I wanted to write this review about Finn!! There’s just too much to say! But I want to at least note that I think what Finn does in this episode is painful, and uncomfortable, and real. He’s seeking comfort in an old feeling, trying to move on before he’s really ready, and clinging to something that can never be (and that is not good for him in any way). By the end, he’s more hurt than he started, but he’s still not moving forward. Instead, he declares that he’ll return to Flame Princess, with the assumption that is even an option to begin with. Sure, he wants to “patch things up” but I don’t know how much he’s thinking about her at this moment. But maybe I can just leave it there for now. Because Finn’s not going anywhere, we have plenty of episodes coming up that will give us time to consider Finn’s problem.
So back to the Lemongrab/PB thing because there’s something that really bothers me here that I can’t stop thinking about. I don’t think it’s PB’s job to keep constant watch over her creations, I spiraled about that in the footnote above. But things have gotten really, really bad at Castle Lemongrab, and as Lemonhope stares at Lemongrab before going over the wall I couldn’t help but think about why PB chose him, out of all the Lemon people suffering under Lemongrab’s tyrannical rule, to whisk away to the Candy Kingdom. This isn’t something I thought about the previous times I watched this episode. But for some reason, this time, it really stuck out. So I guess that’s what the rest of this review is going to be about.
On the surface, it makes perfect sense. There’s no excuse for the way Lemongrab has been treating Lemonhope (and all the others). It’s disturbing and abusive, and it’s easy to understand the desire to help. PB wants to remove Lemonhope from this violent and stifling environment because “By all accounts this is a brilliant and sensitive little boy” so she can enroll him in a “school for gifted children”. As for the rest of the Lemon citizens?
I’m sure they’ll be fine….And it sounds like maybe Lemonhope could return and help reform Castle Lemongrab? That’s what Lemongrab 2 is hoping for, at least. Get it? HOPE. It all just feels a little…not great? It’s not just that I can’t help but feel sorry for all the not “brilliant and sensitive” Lemon kids not suited for a “school for gifted children” (although that’s obviously part of my problem). It’s also what happens in the Lemon dungeon that raises some questions. When Lemonhope takes Finn’s flute and begins playing his song, it isn’t exactly what PB had in mind. It’s not, in her words, “something beautiful”.
So what is beautiful? What is brilliant and sensitive and gifted? And who gets to decide? Is it universally understood? Is what’s considered beautiful in Lemon Castle different than beautiful in the Candy Kingdom? Does any of this matter? Or is this just an episode about a tyrannical leader abusing his power and the little ray of hope that we should all nurture so that it can maybe go beyond hope and become salvation? Or maybe it’s an episode about a young boy trying to bury the hurt he’s experienced after damaging an important relationship in his life? Or how as you get older you get more responsibilities? Or maybe it’s something else entirely? Probably it’s all those things, to a certain extent. But what’s the main, most predominant aspect of this episode that stands out to you all? Because I can’t decide! I guess that’s why I love this show, and why I continue to be fascinated by Lemongrab episodes.
Earth & Water | Aired: September 2, 2013 | Reviewed by CedricTheOwl
While the last episode focused on Finn floundering in the fallout of his breakup with Flame Princess, this episode gives us a look at how Flame Princess is holding up. One of the constant throughlines of Finn’s relationship with Flame Princess is that, in contrast to his crush on PB, he is the more experienced and worldly person in the equation. He showed her the world of Ooo beyond the confines of her glass prison, had faith in her desire to defy her character alignment father influencing her to be evil, and in the end took advantage of her trust to put her in danger for his own selfish ends. It’s little wonder she’s so hurt by that betrayal. She’s entering a new chapter in her life, one where she no longer has her guide to the greater world and instead has to figure things out on her own.
We catch up with our girl idly burning some grass as she wrestles with her emotions. She’s been lied to by someone she thought she could trust, which puts her in the mind of the Machiavellian (or Shakespearean) snake pit that is the court of her home kingdom. Between how unpleasant they are to deal with and how much Finn hurt her, she’s souring on the whole idea of secrets.
Flame Princess is then snapped out of her reverie by Princess Bubblegum, Woman of 10000 Secrets, as she tries to observe Flame Princess while invisible. After some initial prevarication, PB gives it to FP straight: she still considers Flame Princess a threat, and her unstable emotional state could result in her losing control of her powers, like back in “Burning Low”. She wants to find a way to neutralize Flame Princess’ volatile rampages by isolating and suppressing her emotions. FP interprets this as completely getting rid of the emotions that are hurting her so much, so she decides to trust PB and help with her research.
Back in PB’s mad science lab, Flame Princess is strapped into an intimidating looking machine that she claims will help her map out Flame Princess’ elemental matrix. Before she can start her test, however, Jake calls her up and asks for her help in subduing the latest threat from the Ice Kingdom: a nest of Snowaconstricters created by an Ice Crown wielding Gunter. Poor PB is forced to rely on Cinnamon Bun to record the results of her experiments while she goes to save Finn and Jake.
I haven’t mentioned Finn and Jake’s B-plot yet, mostly because it’s far from the most interesting part of this episode. The boys find themselves the reluctant host of the Ice King in their treehouse while Gunter rebuilds the Ice Kingdom. Ice King liberally lays the guilt trip on Finn, while Finn is less manipulative and evasive in this episode and more melancholic. To his credit, he also fully recognizes that Flame Princess is in the right for dumping him, sticking up for her when Ice King calls her his crazy ex. It’s a brief look at our boy, but he’s clearly moving on from the rampant denial he was in last episode.
Jake’s shapeshifting still gives us some wonderful sight gags
Back in PB’s lab, Cinnamon Bun immediately botches his assignment and instead enters the test chamber to talk to Flame Princess. The two of them make an oddly fitting pair: Flame Princess, the ingenue grappling with having to be emotionally self-sufficient, and Cinnamon Bun, the oafish Candy citizen who’s if anything even more naive and sheltered than Flame Princess was in her introduction. Princess Bubblegum provides him with all his needs, though she’s growing increasingly condescending and heavy handed about it. They ditch PB’s lab and head to continue their conversation in Cinnamon Bun’s house, where he lays a big truth bomb on Flame Princess: PB is the one who imprisoned her as an infant to begin with!
This moment has been alluded to in previous episodes, but seeing it adds a lot of detail that warrants consideration. For one, I love how nonchalantly the Flame King plays the Shakespearean plot of trying to circumvent a prophecy through child murder. We also see that not only does PB still rule the Candy Kingdom at the time, but she looks exactly the same as she does in the present day. PB’s ability to change her age based on her candy biomass has already hung a question mark over her age, and this episode makes it official that she’s quite a bit older than the late teens she claims to be. No wonder Lemongrab was saying she was “too old” last episode. And finally, while it had become fashionable in the fandom to think of Princess Bubblegum as a villain when these episodes first aired (even Cinnamon Bun agrees), I see her actions in this flashback as more pragmatic than outright cruel. We’ve seen PB employ excessive force against anything she perceives as a threat in the past, but instead of snuffing out the clear and present danger that is uncontrollable baby Flame Princess, she browbeats the Flame King into containing her instead. She’s certainly unconcerned with the repercussions of handing a baby over to the father who tried to kill her once, but she’s also not being actively malicious to FP.
Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze?
That level of moral ambiguity is a bit too much for Flame Princess at this point, though. Incensed at Princess Bubblegum hiding their shared past from her, FP renews her hatred for secrets and lies, while complimenting Cinnamon Bun on his uncomplicated honesty. Cinnamon Bun’s contributions to the conversation are borderline non-sequiturs, but he does serve as an effective sounding board for FP to bounce ideas off of and get her head together.
Meanwhile PB and Finn return to the Candy Kingdom wreathed in victory and snow. PB brought him along because she wants to gauge Flame Princess’ reaction to seeing the guy who crushed her heart, and even for an amoral scientist that’s pretty mean. At least wait a few weeks, girl. Naturally, the lab is empty, and a follow-up investigation of CB’s house gives them cause to believe FP is in danger of being re-imprisoned by her father. Finn wants to rescue her immediately (and by inference, try to win back her favor), while PB wants to recover her test subject to finish her research. PB’s callousness is being exaggerated for comedy here, but it actually does put her and Finn in a similar emotional wavelength. They’re both trying to manipulate FP to their own ends.
Upon arriving at the Flame Kingdom, they find something slightly off. The guards and citizens pepper their usual dialog with uncomfortably frank pronouncements of what would normally be unspoken motivations and justifications for their actions. Normally I would write this off as just more trademark AT weirdness, but we’ve seen that the Flame Kingdom’s schtick is scheming and dishonesty. Something is up here, and after figuring out how to pass the guards (in a subtle callback to “What Was Missing”), they enter the palace to confront the Flame King.
The Flame King is quenched, long live the Flame King
Inside they find that Flame King has been deposed by his daughter, and she’s instituted a new regime based on total honesty. Obviously not being able to tell even lies of omission can have negative consequences, but it’s an understandable way for a girl like her to decide to cope with her breakup with Finn. She can’t force the world to be forthcoming, but she can force her citizens to be so. Meanwhile, Cinnamon Bun stands up to Princess Bubblegum and refuses to return to the Candy Kingdom with her, opting to stay in the Flame Kingdom instead.
Our episode ends with a heart to heart between Finn and the new Flame King. She confirms to him that they’re not getting back together, but that she’s found it in her heart to forgive him. He’s understandably bummed, and even her offer of being able to visit whenever he wants is a bittersweet pill, as being around her is liable to just reopen emotional wounds at this point.
I do think this episode is a bit shaggy, mostly from how many subplots it’s trying to juggle. Flame Princess and Finn, Cinnamon Bun and Princess Bubblegum, Ice King and Finn, Gunter making murderous snow golems, Cinnamon Bun and Flame Princess, that one time Ice King was married to Jake, it’s a lot. Flame Princess’ arc in recovering from her first breakup is necessarily shortened here, but I do like what they do with it. She goes from imitating Finn’s heroic attitude to forging her own imperfect but well-meaning worldview. She even picks up a follower who grows as a result of her, putting her in the role of inspiration that Finn used to occupy for her. This is far from the last we’ll see of this plot, but it does give Flame Princess a much welcome focus episode to let her character grow, and this time by her own actions and intuition, instead of following someone else.
Spoiler Level: Snail
On Cinnamon Bun’s radio when he and FP are talking in his house.
