Lemonhope Part 1 | Boarded by: Tom Herpich and Steve Wolfhard | Aired: March 10, 2014 | Reviewed by CedricTheOwl
What duty do the freed have to the enslaved? What obligation does a survivor have? These are tough questions to ask of anyone, much less an adolescent lemon boy. We haven’t seen Lemonhope or Lemongrab in nearly 20 episodes, the show mostly being preoccupied with the fallout of Finn’s breakup with Flame Princess. That simmering subplot finally pays dividends with the two-part “Lemonhope”, and at the risk of spoiling my feelings on it, the wait was worth it.
Our episode opens on a winged Lemonhope emerging from a nest in what is quickly apparent to be a dream sequence, then flying over a black and white sea towards a series of doors. I love the stark imagery here. The monochrome background makes the colors on Lemonhope and the red door pop. Lemonhope’s reflection in blacks and grays as he glides over the water is evocative, and the way the relaxing music cuts to silence as the knocking starts on the red door does a great job of setting tone. As Lemonhope searches the red door in vain for a source of the knocking, it intensifies in frequency and volume, ratcheting up the urgency until the young lemon child awakens.
In the waking world, his alarm bell is courtesy of Princess Bubblegum, who has taken it upon herself to educate Lemonhope and Finn on the current state of the Lemongrab Earldom. She shows them a black-and-white propaganda film put out by the sour Earl himself, showing Lemonhope’s former home fully in the grip of his tyranny. The scene is grim, but some of Lemongrab’s best line delivery also makes this scene memorably funny. I can’t help but picture the Mystery Science Theater crew riffing this “educational” short before a Roger Corman monster movie.
“Looks like relations have soured with the Candy Kingdom” “Shut up, Mike.”
Lemonhope, however, is too busy doodling himself with a Snake Plisskin level of grizzled machismo to pay attention, frustrating PB’s efforts. She hasn’t just been providing him a more cultivating education than Lemongrab, she’s explicitly trying to instill him with the drive to become the savior of his people, the hero that will one day free them from his tyranny. In essence, she wants him to become the same kind of champion that Finn is for her.
LH isn’t about that biz, though. He says that he has his freedom, and he doesn’t really see the need for him to stick his neck out for anyone else. Even when given an analogy about wealth disparity in the form of cupcake distribution, he’s perfectly fine with having all of them while poor Finn is tragically bereft of cupcups. Not even a field trip to the edges of Lemon Earldom territory to witness Lemongrab’s cruelty firsthand can dissuade him, and he runs away from Princess Bubblegum into the wilderness.
“Have fun storming the castle”
It’s very easy to hate on Lemonhope for his clearly selfish attitude. PB is right to point out that he only has his freedom thanks to the efforts of the other Lemon peeps, an act they’re explicitly being punished for in Lemongrab’s propaganda video. In her mind, a hero like Finn would take that sacrifice as a call to action to return their kindness. But Lemonhope isn’t Finn, no matter how much Princess Bubblegum tries to mold him as such.
And you know what? I don’t really blame the kid for that. He’s not cut from the same heroic cloth that Finn is, but Finn also grew up in an environment that encouraged that kind of derring-do. Lemonhope grew up being made to feel like he was an embarrassment to Lemonkind; he’s bound to have some lingering resentment. He talks a big game about personal freedom in class, but he’s also avoiding eye contact with PB and Finn most of the time. He’s trying to convince himself that his stance is right, as much as he’s trying to sway PB. He’s a reluctant hero, and reluctance is something Finn has never had to contend with.
Free of PB’s influence, Lemonhope takes it upon himself to free him of all constraints: expectations, restrictions, obligations, and even clothing. He cuts a rug in the desert, wreaking havoc on the nests and reading habits of the local wildlife as he strums out an ode to his own liberty. Upon encountering a burning village, he is naturally drawn to a pirate ship as a symbol of freedom on the high seas sands and hops aboard. Golden Age piracy has a long history of being romanticized as the epitome of freedom from civilization’s rules, but there’s also an underlying irony there. Crewing a ship, even a pirate ship, requires a great deal of cooperation and discipline among the sailors. If everyone isn’t doing their jobs exactly when they’re needed, the entire operation falls apart. Lemonhope’s sense of obligation-less freedom would be even less tolerated on a pirate ship than it would under PB’s tutelage.
Fortunately, Lemonhope is never discovered stowing away by the rest of the crew; unfortunately, it’s because the ship is attacked and sunk by a Greed Lard, leaving him stranded in the desert. Lemonhope now discovers the big downside of his brand of freedom: he needs help, and there’s no one around to give it. His rat friends are long-dead, his supply of weird green lemons is dried up, and even that weird loitering cloud doesn’t have the decency to spot him a little rain.
In the meantime, we’re treated to another Lemonhope dream sequence, wherein he’s a horse whose rider (the half-eaten Thin Lemongrab) has fallen off and is asking for help. He steps on a piece of bubblegum, which turns out to be a piece of Bubblegum, who expresses her disappointment in him in a way that only lemons can. It’s another excellent piece of dream imagery, a real strong suit of these episodes.
With his options exhausted, Lemonhope strikes out into the desert in a desperate bid for survival, but he finds only more sand, sun, and severe dehydration awaiting him. At the end of his endurance, he collapses in a heap, makes one last plaintive cry for freedom, then expires, the sun lighting his hair on fire as one last indignity. The End. I can only assume the next episode consists entirely of watching his body decompose and create a small patch of acidic soil in the vast wasteland.
Looney Tunes ending theme “That’s all, folks!”
As with most first parts of a two-part episode, there’s a lot of setup going on here, but unlike something like “Holly Jolly Secrets”, “Lemonhope Part 1” has a lot going for it on its own. The dream sequence animation is evocative and occasionally chilling, the setup to the threat Castle Lemongrab poses to Lemonhope is both grimly effective and darkly hilarious, and Lemonhope is effectively given a lot of characterization with his interactions with PB and Finn. Thematically, this episode also gives a handy illustration of the political compass.
The political compass is a thought experiment that posits political alignment on a set of perpendicular axes measuring tendency towards social and economic freedom. Princess Bubblegum is both socially and economically authoritarian, exercising near-complete control over her people but also advocating for an equal distribution of resources. Lemongrab, by contrast, is socially authoritarian but economically libertarian, using his unmatchable power over his people to amass resources for himself at the expense of his people. Lemonhope is of course socially and economically libertarian, rejecting any social obligation to everyone but also unable to blame anyone or anything else when they do the same to him. By process of elimination, this leaves Finn as socially libertarian but economically authoritarian, albeit a weak example. He’s all about freedom of choice and opposing tyranny, but he also pays his taxes to the Candy Kingdom. The political compass is high school level political theory, but this episode is an effective way to illustrate it.
Fig 4: Serious political theory for serious people
Spoiler Level: Snail
No cupcakes for Finns or snails.
Notable Quotes –
- “Hello and Keep Away from Castle Lemongrab” is a top tier parody educational film title
- “Law! Order! Harp smashing! We’ve have it all!”
- “Morale has never been higher since we got rid of hope.” Do I even need to highlight the parallel to current events?
- “Oh man, that thing just looks lousy with freedom. Straight up right out the diddle-doo. Comin’ at ya right straight up”
Lemonhope Part 2 | Aired: March 10, 2014 | Reviewed by Grumproro
Princess Bubblegum explores the importance of different learning styles, and we finally get an answer to the question of “How do you solve a problem like Lemongrab?”1 Kind of. The episode also further explores the question of obligation posed in the previous episode, which Cedric did an amazing job of detailing.
We start with the appearance of a mysterious stranger named Phlannel Boxingday.
Phlannel Boxingday is a name I’d make up if I looked around the room in a panic while running a D&D game. Image from the episode’s storyboard.
Okay Princess Bubblegum, we see you. But Lemonhope doesn’t, so the story progresses. What’s fun about this little journey with Princess–I mean, Phlannel is we get to see a contrast to the learning style PB tried with Lemonhope in the previous episode. This time, we get a more hands-on approach. Lemonhope gets some “in the field” experience when the Greed Lard attacks their ship. Lemonhope must play his harp to help Phlannel fight off the creature. They work together, and they succeed. Hooray! But, oh no, Lemonhope thinks he sees a bunch of Lemon peeps falling to their death. STOP THE SHIP! It turns out to just be loot, naturally, but Lemonhope is clearly preoccupied with something, so much so that he would hallucinate. So much so that he has recurring nightmares. He is haunted by Lemony guilt. Should he be? That’s not a question I feel capable of answering. That’s a question for the philosophers. But Phlannel makes a lot of sense, telling Lemonhope that sure, he is technically free. Free to strum, free to toot, free to help the Lemon peeps, free to leave them to their own fate, free to have nightmares until the end of time, etc. Freedom!
Super, duper FREEDOM!
After teaching Lemonhope through showing, not telling (or yelling), Phlannel is able to guide Lemonhope to make a choice. It’s a significant shift in thinking for Lemonhope, but I think the episode does a fantastic job of showing us why he’d make this decision. During his time with Phlannel he’s learned a little about cooperation, but most importantly (I think), he’s been given choices. Rather than simply telling him what to do, or what he should want to do, Phlannel is always asking Lemonhope. Does he WANT to be an apprentice? Does he WANT to help the Lemon people? How does he WANT to help them? Learning style unlocked!
So Lemonhope returns to Castle Lemongrab and explodes Lemongrab real good, using the power of music! Remember, a million years ago, when I said that Adventure Time understands that music is a powerful storytelling tool? And that music can be a way of expressing vulnerability in a way that can break through barriers?2 I think we’re seeing that again here. Music has always been an important part of the Lemongrab story. The lemons don’t seem to hear music the same way others do. They like what you think they shouldn’t like, and they don’t like what you think they should like. Lemonhope knows this, and Phlannel already showed him how to use music to defeat a foe, so he pulls that skill out and boom! There goes Lemongrab.
When Lemonhope wakes up we see PB has sown the Lemongrabs back together, as a single unit, after determining that this is the only way they can function. She expects Lemonhope will stick around to keep assisting Castle Lemongrab but…nah, he’s got other plans. He’s outta here!
Will anyone other than Ralph get this? I don’t know. But I made it because I always think of this when Lemonhope leaves, and it makes me laugh because I am a simple person.
PB is surprised, but Lemonhope was pretty open about his main motivation for action. He wants out of this mind prison. He needs to be released from these chains of guilt and obligation. Once he defeats Lemongrab, he dreams of being a bird, back in the nest. But he wants to leave the nest. And now he can. Because his body (and mind!) are free like a little baby bird, caw!
But the episode isn’t over yet! We get one final sequence. With a sweet, gentle song sung by PB about the future she hoped for Lemonhope. The song is her Lemon-hope, really. But in the images of this far distant future, we do see the Lemonhope eventually returns. And I think he lives up to many of the qualities in PB’s song. The ending has a somewhat melancholy feeling to me, and it always makes me feel like crying, but it isn’t because I’m disappointed in Lemonhope. I honestly think he’s heroic, in his own way. Maybe his motivation isn’t 100% pure. But he gets the job done. And I’m moved by PB’s lyrics. There’s an interesting self-awareness, at least that’s how I interpret the opening:
Young Lemonhope, born from candy and glue
Creator of beauty and ugliness too
The Creator here is PB, I think. Maybe. I like it. Do you agree? I’m curious. I think she recognizes that she, the one using candy and glue, is a creator of beauty and ugliness too. And she now sees what Lemonhope values, and she accepts that as part of who he is, while also appreciating that he risks what he hold most dear by returning to face Lemongrab, which was very brave:
Lost Lemonhope, longed for freedom above
Compassion or friendship, wisdom or love
Strong Lemonhope, risking freedom and health
Came back for his brothers and for himself
And now, he can live his life. When he’s ready to rest, he will have a safe nest to return to.
One more music note, perhaps? –> Lemonhope and the Bad Seeds
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