Flute Spell | Written and Storyboarded by: Jesse Moynihan & Sam Alden | Aired: March 12, 2016 | Reviewed by Mrs Queequeg

Finn’s got a new lady?

This one’s all about change, with a dash of longing. We open with Jake playing BMO for 72 straight hours, then going for solo-ish adventures for two weeks. Jake misses Finn and Shelby breaks the gossip: Word is that Finn’s been hanging with a new girl. He’s been keeping this on the super DL because he’s trying to be careful this time. 

Jake finds Finn on a treetop, playing his flute. It turns out that Finn’s companion is Huntress Wizard, who we’ve seen before in a handful of background and cameo appearances. She announces that “it’s not working” and jumps down into the forest. Jake is prepared to comfort his buddy on another broken heart, but Finn insists that everything is platonic. Huntress Wizard is trying to reach the Spirit of the Forest, someone that she used to know, perhaps in a mentor-student capacity, and Finn is trying to help her. 

I’m really impressed with Finn’s growth here; he’s also remarkably chill for a sixteen year old. He won’t admit his interest in her for a few scenes, but after desperately trying to make Princess Bubblegum happen, and abusing his relationship with Flame Princess for his own desires; he is content to spend time with HW on her terms. He’s learned that you can’t force love1One of my favorite scenes in Crazy Ex Girlfriend is Trent buying clothes to try and integrate himself with Josh, Hector, and White Josh. The sales associate is disgusted with his attempt to force friendship. He admits that it’s in service of his grand scheme to seduce Rebecca, and the associate gets heart eyes, “Forcing love is romantic!” and he cannot pursue his own wants without considering his partner’s. 

Jake continues to suggest that Finn has a crush, and Finn explains how they met: Finn was playing flute in the stream where he likes to hang out alone, and she was drawn to his song. She initially threatens him, which probably just piqued Finn’s interest, demanding to know what spirit guides his hand. Finn explains that he lets his grass arm shred on the flute, and she announces that he’s what she’s been looking for. Huntress Wizard is a green wizard, one who draws power from nature, so it makes sense that she’s drawn to Finn’s grass arm. 

The boys run into HW when they go to leave, and she invites them to stay over, so they can start a hunt together in the morning. She gives them the grand tour of soft dirt, a broken video game console, and the pantry of previously hunted animals. She goes to her room, shedding her cloak, boots, and gloves as leaves, and then turns into a log overnight. Correct me if I’m wrong, but we have yet to see a being that traverses different planes in this way. She clearly eats but she also rests by transforming into an inanimate object. She’s a fan favorite for a reason, her look and whole thing is very cool. 

The boys have a heart to heart while an adorably small Jake shares Finn’s pillow. Jake is sure that Finn’s failure to summon the Spirit is because the intent is for her not him, but Finn continues to insist that he is only trying to help. He’s choosing to put his feelings second, and his hero instincts first. 

Huntress Wizard leads them to an enchanted spring, where Finn drinks to earn immunity from lightning. The side effects from the enchanted spring are weird dreams, and HW immediately turns into a wolf, as Jake becomes himself from Food Chain. 

The Spirit of the Forest appears to Finn, who announces his presence in the stead of HW. Spirit warns Finn of Huntress Wizard’s single minded focus; he states it without judgement, it’s merely a description. The Spirit talks about eyes facing forward, but the underlying message is that Finn needs to have his eyes open about any potential relationship with HW. He can only accept her for who she is. Spirit asks Finn what he wants, and Finn remembers that this exercise is for electricity immunity. Spirit conjures Finn’s Finn sword, with the instruction to plunge it into his chest. Finn only slightly hesitates and then wakes up. 

Now that Finn has some magic of his own, they take off for the hunt. Huntress Wizard stands astride on a deer, while Finn rides Jake. As they catch up to a giant thunder boar, HW dives under the grass to sprout as a tree and Finn and Jake direct the boar into a collision. The boar is a little exasperated after Finn claims a tusk, “you could have asked!” 

The thunder tusk doesn’t summon the Spirit either, until Jake suggests that Finn and Huntress Wizard play together. She asks why the Spirit of the Forest has drifted apart from her and he says it’s normal, it’s the way of the world. She became more enmeshed with the people in the world of Ooo, and her connection to forest diminished. She thinks of herself as unchanged, but Spirit presses to ask who they played for.

Finn is able to admit his attraction for HW, but she hedges and talks about her fear of becoming soft. There are a lot of parallels with Huntress Wizard and Artemis from Greek mythology, and given that this is a Jesse Moynihan episode, I can’t imagine that is a coincidence. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, wilderness, and wild animals. She is associated with deer, and her twin brother, Apollo, is the god of archery. She chooses to remain a virgin because of her fear that love would make her soft, and here we have a little diversion. Huntress Wizard admits her attraction to Finn and kisses him, but says that they cannot be together. Fear of softness is what drove her to the “mad and sad world of wizarding.” 

Jake is confused about whether or not Huntress Wizard and Spirit of the Forest dated, but Finn is content to have his feelings returned. 

The boys return home to the very boring game that Jake was playing to start the episode, and together they are able to have the patience to complete the level. Jake gives Finn his condolences, but our hero is in a good place, repeating the words of the Spirit, “attracting forces come and go.” 

Stories about the impermanence of life are very appealing to me. Life is change, and I like when we treat that as normal,2This is also why Amphibia’s finale is one of my favorite of all time. Change is normal, we have to embrace it, even when it’s bittersweet. instead of something to be feared. We even get a look at Distance Lands as we see Science Cat without Sword Shark. Life doesn’t stay stagnant, even in a cartoon, especially one in which the protagonist ages. 

Finn’s love life arc is must see tv for me. I love watching him grow through unrequited love, first love, being broken hearted, and then having the maturity to explore what actually works for him. This isn’t a traditional love story, but not everyone feels fulfilled from a storybook romance. It makes a lot of sense that Finn would be attracted to someone who lives freely, like him. He yearns for adventure and new experiences. He is not going to be a partner that’s home every night and he would do well to be with someone who understands that lifestyle. 

There’s something about Jake’s love of music threading through an episode underpinned by music, but that may be a conversation for the comments. 3I considered tagging Grump and then noticed she was the backup for this episode, so I was right

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The Thin Yellow Line | Written & Directed by: Lyle Partridge & KC Green | Aired: March 19, 2016 | Reviewed by Mrs Queequeg

You know what? These are both about change. The Banana Guards are hilariously inept and I love them. They’re so so bad at their jobs, but they were designed that way by their goddess. Here, we get them at full kookiness, but also shaded with humanity to see their talents and individuality. 

Finn and Jake leave game night and Jake is nonplussed because no one ate his guacamole and he’s over playing Pilgrims of the Land. Jake has my full sympathy as someone who hated Settlers of Catan the couple times I played it, and I’m in disbelief that no one would eat guac. The candy people are monsters. 

The boys notice murals on the walls on their way home. As an appreciator of art, Jake loves them, but Finn’s reaction is more harsh. It reflects a Finn from an earlier season, reacting to the perceived desecration of PB’s property. They find the artist and give chase, but he flees into the Banana Guards’ headquarters, and blends into the crowd seamlessly. I love the detail that the artist/vandal wore a bandana to obscure his identity while painting, but that makes him stand out in the crowd. 

Unsuccessful, they report to the Princess who gives a neutral reaction, wanting to know which guard is responsible. She can’t ask the Banana Guards directly because they are terrified of disappointing her. She gives Finn a costume and instructs the boys to sneak in at the guard changeover. Finn and Jake time their entry perfectly, only to watch an absolute shitshow by those in charge of keeping order in the Candy Kingdom.

The gate opens and a group of guards march out to military sounding music, before bumping into the guards keeping watch, and falling. The second wave of exiting guards falls on top of them, as if slipping on peels. Then, a guard carrying ten whipped cream pies walks up and joins the calamity. Meanwhile, the boys just stroll inside. 

The first thing that Finn and Jake get to see is morning calisthenics, led by Colonel Candy Corn. Then the Colonel wheels out a creepy gum statue, and they uncomfortably beg forgiveness from the divine and terrible Princess Bubblegum. While in the gym,4please watch the Banana Guards in the background they game plan how to catch the artistic guard. Jake suggests a trap, and sneaks off to put his plan into motion. 

Jake underestimates how conformist the Banana Guards are trained to be, and when the boys arrive at the scene of the crime that night, they are revealed as agitators. The Banana Guards dump the pair at an exasperated Princess Bubblegum’s feet. She tells them to get back on the inside, but they’re worried they blew their cover. She introduces them as new recruits, and they’re ready to investigate. This time, they’ll split up.

On the inside, Jake is plagued by noises and whispers of guards practicing talents. He compliments someone’s singing in the shower, but only succeeds in driving them out. While Jake is being frustrated by what he can only surmise as a conspiracy, Finn is bored in the office. He writes Jake up for being a wiener, and then starts doodling. Banana Guard 16 gives Finn advice about lighting and perspective and Finn knows he has his banana. Finn asks to see BG16’s own work, for inspiration, leading them down a secret vent into a courtyard with a truly stunning piece. 

She’s an unknowable goddess.

When the first candy people rose against her,

She transformed them into hideous monsters.

Her own brother, Neddy, she imprisoned him beneath the great tree.

And the rattleball boys?

She iced all those guys.

She’s amazing, and she’s flipping scary.

Finn repeats that she’s nice, but BG16 doesn’t believe him. He does, however, trust Finn since they’re kindred artistic souls. Unfortunately, Jake shows up in this moment and captures the rogue Banana Guard. BG16 accuses Finn of setting him up, and Finn can’t argue. For the first time this episode, Finn is conflicted about turning in Banana Guard 16.

It’s interesting that Jake, who was much more forgiving of all the art produced in this episode, is the one who sticks to the mission and captures the artist. It’s a look in at how his enthusiasm can get the better of him. It reminded me strongly of Candy Streets, when he got too invested in their role play.

Finn unties Banana Guard 16 and “accidentally” swaps him with another guard. BG16 courageously meets his fate, and then the Banana Guards have their own Sparticus moment. We know they’re buffoons, but now we’re seeing that they are willing to protect each other. Princess Bubblegum realizes, from her platform, that everyone has misunderstood her interest. She steps down to their level and tells BG16 that not only will he not be punished, but she wants to commission his work. 

Their version of Princess Bubblegum is fascinating because we’ve seen her do all of these things but we also know her as a peer, so it has been downplayed for the most part, except in our comment section. We don’t know much about the early days of the Candy Kingdom, but we know that she didn’t imprison Neddy. We know she did ice the Rattleball boys. The Rattleball boys are the precursors to the Banana Guards, so it makes sense that if they know the worst thing she’s done, they would/could transpose malicious intent to other interactions. Neddy does wear a chain, the misunderstanding is understandable. She is flipping scary, we’ve already seen her at some of her worst moments. But we also know that she has been taking some time to re-evaluate who she is and how she wants to rule. 

Colonel Candy Corn presents her with the gum sculpture from daily worship and PB quietly takes off her jacket and covers it. She insists that she’s just a person and she’s not proud of all her past decisions. She wants to celebrate with her devoted guards. They take turns showing her their talents and she praises them. Lest you think that the guards are better than what we’ve seen, one comes forward to admit his lack of talent. Bubblegum assures him that he’s okay too. She’s never given us a reason to doubt her love for her kingdom, but we have seen her leadership lack support for them. This is the new Bonnibel Bubblegum, one who is working to not be too removed from her idiot constituents who voted in the King of Ooo. 

This is a lovely individual note to end Season 7 on. If it seems anticlimactic, that’s because Cartoon Network decided to cut the season thirteen episodes short. Preboot/Reboot were the intended end of Season 7, but we’ll watch them mid Season 8 instead. Season 8 starts with Broke His Crown and Don’t Look.