The More You Moe, The More You Know

Storyboarded by: Tom Herpich and Steve Wolfhard

Originally Aired: December 5, 2015

Review By: CedricTheOwl

“Stakes” would be a tough act to follow for any episode of Adventure Time, but a two-parter focused on BMO is as good a way as any.  In fact, “The More You Moe, The More You Know” is the middle part of a short run of BMO-centric episodes, starting with “Football” and ending with “Angel Face”.  BMO could have just been the show’s cute mascot character who shows up for some funny lines every now and then, but they have received a number of focus episodes over the course of the series, and they’re consistently strange and inventive.  “BMO Noire” was a fun film noir pastiche that took at turn for the surreal and psychological, while “Be More” opened up a brand new facet of Ooo’s post-apocalyptic history.  But with this run of BMO episodes in close proximity to one another, we get to compare how three very different storyboarding teams interpret BMO as a character.

The episode opens with Finn and Jake preparing a birthday surprise for BMO, while Jake laments that BMO has to share their birthday with the winter holiday.  Finn clarifies that it’s not actually around Christmas (or Ooo’s version of it, as established in “Holly Jolly Secrets”) and the snow outside is merely Princess Bubblegum’s weather control machine malfunctioning.  “The More You Moe, etc.” was clearly requested by Cartoon Network to be a Christmas tie-in episode, and Adventure Time definitely put the least amount of effort possible into complying with their corporate overlords.  Bless them for that.

Since PB is stuck in a valiant but futile effort to prevent the release of the 2017 film Geostorm, she will be unable to attend BMO’s birthday party.  But there’s only one guest BMO cares about:  Moe, their human (or humanoid) creator from “Be More”.  Moe arrives with more surprises than just a present though, as he is now inhabiting a robot body reminiscent of the other MO units.  Actually, let’s not beat around the bush here:  as revealed later in the episode, this is actually AMO, Moe’s first robotic creation and the only predecessor to BMO in the MO line.  It’s a fine reveal once it happens, but for the sake of this review it’s better to go through it knowing the twist so we can properly characterize the episode’s villain.

Forever Young

As revealed later, AMO is not just BMO’s older sibling, they’re also the mirror image of our precocious little Gameboy.  BMO was created to give love, and has the capacity to grow and change with time.  AMO was created to receive love, presumably as a surrogate child for Moe, but lacks the ability to be anything more than a perpetual needy child.  To paraphrase ALLMO later in the episode, AMO was programmed to desire love, but in such a way that it inevitably drives away those who would potentially love them.  Adventure Time has a knack for making its villains into tragic monsters, and AMO is no different.

For now though, AMO claims that Moe’s previous body gave out and this one is a replacement, and BMO and co. buy it.  However, from their first lines we already see foreshadowing as to AMO’s motivations.  “Moe” says that BMO “got all his love and affection”, which sounds sweet and paternalistic in the moment but has a much more sinister connotation knowing their true identity.  There’s even a musical sting over the line in a scene that’s otherwise devoid of background music.  Our heroes suspect nothing, and invite “Moe” in for cake and merriment.

Over dinner, “Moe” gives BMO their birthday gift:  a special mission to visit the MO factory, and the promise that doing so will make them an adult.  Finn and Jake are unsure, reasoning that BMO is too young and helpless for such a dangerous-sounding mission.  BMO just seems overwhelmed.  They’re less afraid of the physical danger and more afraid of being lost and forgotten by Finn and Jake.  Even with reassurances from “Moe”, BMO still looks pensive.

There is (1) imposter among us.

Worried but undaunted, BMO takes up the quest.  On the hike to the factory, BMO speaks to Air, the final form of the bubble that BMO befriended in “BMO Lost”.  They convey their concerns about growing up, how they’ll have the ability to fulfill their own needs and desires, but also the responsibilities maturity puts on them.  They speak of how changing may result in their loved ones becoming unrecognizable, and gradually drifting away.  They contemplate the possibility of refusing to grow up, and just staying as they are forever.  Air, still possibly a figment of BMO’s overactive imagination, has no answer.

Upon arriving at the factory, BMO encounters DMO guarding the door.  Too late, they notice the damage DMO has taken, and fall into a trap door that sends them into the belly of the factory.  BMO narrowly avoids being crushed several times over thanks to some quick thinking, but still ends up with one foot caught in the spiked smashers.

Meanwhile, Finn, Jake, and “Moe” are out playing in the snow.  Finn and Jake get a little rowdy while office chair sledding and end up bonking “Moe” on the head.  To their surprise, “Moe” starts throwing an uncharacteristically childish tantrum, crying and demanding they go back inside and do what he wants to do instead.  Despite pretending to be a wise old man, AMO’s needy, childish personality can’t help but shine through, another bit of foreshadowing at who they really are.

BMO, still stuck in the smasher, takes some time to ruminate on the state of the mission.  Clearly things are not going to plan… which prompts BMO to wonder if being an adult means knowing the plan, or just realizing that there is no plan.  Self-determination is an empowering but scary prospect, much more so than just doing whatever you’re told.  BMO doesn’t get long to contemplate this though, as the smashers open up and send them hurtling deeper into the factory.  In the lowest areas, they meet a new and unfamiliar MO:  ALLMO.

ALLMO explains who they are and how they got there:  a virus of unknown origin infected every MO in the factory, forcing them to leap into the trash compactor.  Instead of killing them, it instead formed them into this new gestalt identity, alive but helpless to escape.  But with the arrival of BMO, they finally have hope.  Time for BMO to be the hero.

No one can say no to this free hug

After returning to ALLMO, they quickly put together AMO’s ruse happening back at the treehouse.  Speaking of, as Finn and Jake return from getting some time away from AMO, they make their move.  They fake losing their legs, then frame NEPTR for stealing them, demanding they get rid of him.  Demanding they get rid of the competition for their affection.  As AMO’s true nature gradually asserts itself, they reveal a ball weapon that knocks our heroes out, leaving them at AMO’s mercy.

Just then, BMO arrives to make the save, with ALLMO in tow.  They pursue AMO to the edge of a cliff, where AMO reveals they have Moe’s final remains:  a backup drive of all his memories.  BMO charges AMO to get it back, weathering a hail of shots from AMO’s ball cannon, and in the scuffle AMO is knocked off the cliff to their destruction.  When Finn and Jake check on BMO, they confirm that they’re not doing well after all that.  The physical damage to BMO can be repaired, but they have a lot of thinking to do before that.

If “Football” used BMO to explore concepts of gender and self-image, “The More You Moe, The More You Know” uses BMO to comment on coming of age stories.  BMO is tasked by what he believes to be his creator to go on a journey to prove their worth and become an adult.  That journey turns out to be a fraud, and over the course of the quest BMO ends up killing their equal-but-opposite being, a robot that craves love but is perpetually trapped in a state of immaturity.  Then we arrive at the theme of the episode:  many coming of age stories involve the hero having to take a life, either as a rite of passage (usually hunting) or because their foe leaves them no other choice.  This episode’s release wasn’t that far removed from Superman himself being made to just that in Man of Steel.

But BMO rejects the notion that killing AMO has matured them; whether destroying AMO left them feeling stunted or emotionally aged them too quickly isn’t a question they’re prepared to answer, but it certainly wasn’t the key to self-actualization.  In recognizing this, in refusing to accept a simple lesson from all this, BMO shows that they have indeed matured somewhat.  Growth and change is clearly the dominant theme of Season 7, whether for Princess Bubblegum in “Varmints”, Marceline in “Stakes”, or BMO in this episode, and in all those cases it’s a long journey, but it beats stagnation.

Happy birthday, BMO

Notable Quotes –

• “Is this Bur-guess Meredieth again?!”
• “Such is the cruel physics of love:  that those who crave it most will repel it. And the dang rich get richer.”
• “I’m not grown up now.  Or I think I’m too grown up now.”

Stray Observations –

• AMO is voiced by Thu Tran, an entertainer of Vietnamese descent known at the time for Food Party on IFC and Late Night Munchies, a webseries on MTV Other.  I’ve never heard of either one, but both seem to have a surreal tone that undoubtedly made it easy to work on Adventure Time
• When AMO dies, we see that they have a golden heart similar to BMO’s.  Were they actually capable of growing and changing as BMO could, but never believed they could simply because they were told they couldn’t?  There’s a lot of ambiguity to AMO that makes them a compelling character for how little screentime they get.