Elements Miniseries Megareview (Adventure Time S9E2–9)

Elements might just be my favorite Adventure Time miniseries, although it feels the least like a miniseries of the three. By that I mean it felt like these episodes could be integrated into the season as regular episodes without feeling the least bit out of place, whereas Stakes and Islands both

Felt more like focused side-stories. Elements felt very in-tune with the standard sort of storytelling Adventure Time usually deploys. I had an amazing time with Elements due to all the fun and whimsy it packed. Also, the comedy was off the hook. Off the sky hook!

I’m sorry for that terrible joke, let’s jump into my discussion and analyses of all the events that transpired. Our heroes return to Ooo trying to ignore that everything is pink… and candy, that is until they see that their own treehouse has been transformed.

We quickly become acquainted with the candyfied versions of multiple characters, and the theme of complacency vs resistance to change emerges. Finn is troubled and frustrated that everything and everyone is different, while Jake and BMO are quite receptive to it. [Jake: “I think I’m OK with candy world.”

BMO: “I’m going to start treating him as an equal.”] I enjoyed that the episode made a fairly compelling case for things being better off as candy. I mean yeah, at the end of the day it’s a creepy sort of utopia that strips individuality and a wide range of emotions from the people infected…

But it wasn’t an entirely one-sided scenario. I legitimately pondered whether certain characters are truly happier as candy; would their lives be better off if they stayed this way? Initially, the candyfication was troubling because people lost their memories. [Fun: “Welcome strangers. It’s so cool that you’re inside our house.”]

In my opinion, that initial bit of information remains the strongest reason for candyfication not being a net positive. If you lose memories of those you used to know and past experiences you had, it essentially means that part of you has been erased.

However, clearly the characters still do have some recollection of what used to trouble their past selves. [Fun: “Well, I’m candy now, and I’m in control of my emotions.”] [Lemonpink: “I used to have a lot of fear and sadness, but now I’m fiiiine!”]

They are able to compare and contrast how they feel now with how they used to feel before, though, to be fair, it does seem like a bit of a biased perspective. Nevertheless, this detail does give at least the illusion of choice.

While their brains were rewired to prefer their current existence, they are indeed happier this way. It doesn’t seem like a facade – while it’s possible there may be some negative emotions being suppressed under these goofy smiles, they are still legitimately happy, for the most part at least.

Jake, using his wise tone of voice, provides the strongest argument in favor of candyfication. [Jake: “Lemongrab’s always been a weirdo. At least now he’s helping people. And Fern is like laughing and joking around. Maybe they don’t need you to fix them.”] And really that’s the frightening aspect to the whole thing.

Masked by the silliness, bright colors, and literal sweetness, the concept is rife with psychological horror elements. Nonstop happiness is uncanny and creepy, but if it’s legitimately bringing people joy, should you just leave it be? Are you actually rescuing people if they were better off this way?

Adventure Time is hardly the first to do play with such concepts, and I think the first thing it reminded me of was Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs. [“Talking ‘bout the tentacle!”] The thing that makes candyfication harmful, just as with other similar concepts in works

Of fiction, is that it’s essentially an infection. You don’t get a choice, and when you’re infected, you don’t want others to get a choice. [“Sours get the tower! Sours get the tower! Sours get the tower!”] BMO was fine with becoming candy; he was eager to have it happen.

[BMO: “Goodbye boys, it’s better this way!”] But not everybody desires it, so it’s the violation of autonomy that makes the magic-charged Princess Bubblegum a monstrous wad… of gum. Princess Bubblegum’s deranged goals actually line up a whole lot with her character and

Desires – she just took it completely over the top in her transmogrified form. Let’s recall that the whole reason Bonnie created the Candy Kingdom was to feel a connection to others. [Princess Bubblegum: “I was formed in the Mother Gum.

My mind and my gum were in touch with dozens of others, like a crowded womb. I guessed I missed that.”] This is also not the first time Princess Bubblegum has been portrayed as something that wants to be connected with others. [Pond-PB: “Hello friends!”]

Princess Bubblegum always longed for a personal and intimate connection to the point that she created and cultivated entire lifeforms. The flip-side of PB being a tyrant is that she’s a mother… more or less. As a magically supercharged Elemental, PB wanting to feel connected to as much candy

As possible is simply an extension of desires her character already had. Speaking of desires, Marshmeline the Campfire Queen stays by Princess Bubblegum’s side for the entirety of the miniseries. I’m rather curious how Marceline became candyfied in the first place; she’s capable

Of flight and should be able to escape the infection, and I doubt she willingly became a marshmellow. Though, being able to scare folks as a giant smore is pretty hilarious and sweet. Perhaps when she first saw PB as a giant gum-tower, she was worried and came right over, and PB

Tricked her by giving her a supposedly innocent hug that actually transformed her. Or maybe it was as simple as Marcy being asleep in her cabin when the infectious gum we saw in the intro spread across the land. I already made a video discussing the relationship between Marshmeline and PB and what I think

Marshmeline humming the song Greensleeves means, so check that video out for discussion on that topic if you haven’t already. Ice King saves Finn and Jake from being candyfied with his trusty skyhooks. This does mean, however, that Ice King broke a prior ice promise he had made to Finn and Jake.

[Ice King: “I need all these hanger guys to help me snag them. When I’m done I’ll return ‘em all. And that’s an ice promise.”] Granted, he was able to save the day by keeping those skooky wooks on hand, so sometimes stealing coat hangers is okay… I guess.

The second episode of the miniseries is Ice King retelling how Ooo came to be a four-way Elemental pizza, and I loved it. I both impatiently wanted to know what happened, but I was also enamored by the events in Ice King’s life that preceded the spell cast by Patience.

Even when it’s just mundane stuff; moments with Ice King are just too damn fun! The comedy bits with him were just great! Then Betty shows up out of the blue, which would have been a big surprise if she wasn’t already featured in the new introduction. [Ice King: “You a toucan?”]

I usually make an effort to try and call her Magic Woman, but since even the introduction referred to her as Betty and it’s quicker to say “Betty” than “Magic Woman”… I’ll stick primarily to Betty for the purpose of this video.

While Betty’s exasperated rap about her failure to bring Simon back was fun, I wish we could have had more of a show not tell approach. All we’ve actually seen Betty do is try to reprogram the Crown once, and while she

States she’s exhausted nearly every approach she could think of, it doesn’t feel that way to the audience when all her attempts apparently occurred off-screen and haven’t had any noticeable effects. Part of this may simply be that Adventure Time is coming to an end, and originally a

Few more Betty episodes were planned that will never occur, but whatever the reason, I felt a bit of dissonance when Betty was so wound up despite us witnessing only a single penguin-napping from her. I did squeal a bit at Ice King’s reaction to getting a date. He’s so adorable!

Ice King hitting up Life Giving Magus on the phone to gossip was really cute, and looks like Life Giving Magus had a date scheduled himself. LGM informs Ice King of all the benefits of getting a bespoke suit, and this provides the name for the episode and many many jokes to come.

I really gotta stress how amazing the date preparation comedy was. Life Giving Magus and Ice King hanging out together is just great, and I was having so much fun watching them. [Finn: “What is going on?”] Ice King looked so dapper for his date, and Betty’s outfit was… interesting.

If it’s a reference to something that I failed to pick up on, somebody out there please let me know. Betty’s current attempt to bring back Simon was in fact very direct, she tried to reenact events from the past to try and trigger his memory.

Clearly, Betty wasn’t trying to have a real legitimate date with Ice King and was not interested in interacting with him; all her actions revolved around trying to jog the memories she hoped reside somewhere in Ice King. Her Magic Woman persona has very little patience and is prone to emotional outbursts, however,

And Ice King’s obliviousness drives her mad. It was really well done; it’s very easy to empathize with Betty’s anguished torment and it’s tragic that being afflicted with MMS (Magic, Madness, and Sadness) has prevented her from keeping a level head about her ordeal.

Tiny Manticore, who apparently now lives in Magic Man’s former dirt house with Betty, provides some excellent words of wisdom. [Tiny: “Maybe you’re going after someone who doesn’t exist anymore. Why not take him as he is? After all, you’ve been through a lot of changes yourself.”]

Adventure Time often has thought provoking sentiments but this one really took me aback. At that moment, I really wondered if perhaps the Ice King and Betty story line might end on a happy note after all; could the two manage to have a mostly happy life together as the new people they’ve transformed into?

The two were really sweet together when Betty tried to treat Ice King like his own individual. On normal occasions, referring to Ice King as Simon in this show was seen as something tender and sweet – it was something that supposedly humanized Ice King. [Jake: “That’s how you see him? That’s beautiful.”]

This perspective was cultivated and popularized by Marceline who still very much sees Ice King as Simon. [Marceline: “I wish you’d call him Simon. He’s actually kinda sweet and funny.”] But personally, I’ve always had a hard time referring to Ice King as Simon because, after all, the two are different characters.

And Ice King himself isn’t even cognizant of who Simon is. [Ice King: “Yeah, who’s this Simon guy you keep yakking about?”] It was actually rather refreshing to see what we’re used to flipped on it’s head, because by Betty using the name Ice King [Betty: “They’re all for you Ice King!”]

What she’s doing is she’s trying to accept that he is a unique individual who has his own humanity; he’s not just the husk of a person from the past; he is his own person. It was a really nice sentiment, and of course wonderfully set up for the tragic event that

Would occur toward the end of the miniseries. The current episode I’m talking about isn’t without tragedy either though, since at the exact moment Betty tried her best to be a friend and companion to Ice King, Patience connivingly split them up to use Betty as a magic battery.

Which, if that had not happened, perhaps then Betty would never have hatched the ploy later to travel back in time and prevent the Ice King from coming into existence in the first place. Also in hindsight, had Patience just used those low-grade fairies for her magic battery,

Perhaps the result would have been closer to what she desired anyway. As we all already know though, too much magical power resulted in the elementification of Ooo. [Jake: “All we needed was a little patience.”] I’m rather embarrassed to say, that joke flew over my head on my first watch of this miniseries.

In the next episode, “Winter Light,” we see why Ice King lacks his crown in the new intro. [Ice King: “With me, it’s like, who’s that hot guy? The Ice King? No it’s not.”] So much for all the various speculations; the answer was merely that he shrunk it and

Was continuing to wear it the whole time. You got me, Adventure Time crew, you got me. He also gets Finn and Jake sweaters that he claims are bespoke meaninghe knows their measurements. That’s a little weird, Ice King. To penetrate the ice barrier, Finn channels Rattleballs and shows that he’s actually

Learned a whole lot from the gumball warrior. As soon as we’re inside the ice dome, the mood was wonderfully established. The dark interior feels lonely and desolate; it reminded me of the deep sea. And then Finn even says that himself! [Finn: “It’s like being at the bottom of an ocean.”]

So yeah, considering I thought something a character ended up saying, job well done on the set design. It ties in wonderfully to the somber feelings associated with the ice element. The joke about two Finns was a little weird for me; it didn’t quite hit the mark.

Ice King’s reaction was just a tad too intense and prolonged for such a simple gag; I’ve seen a lot of people get somewhat confused and wonder if there was supposed to some sort of additional meaning, which, no, I don’t think so. Just a gag with a disproportionate reaction.

Carroll from the episode “The Tower” makes an appearance in this episode. Recall she once used to be water but hated people swimming in her, so she evaporated and became a cloud person who dwelt on the anger and frustrations of her past existence. Apparently though, she also hated being a cloud.

[Carroll: “I’m a woman! Ice Carroll!”] She did manage to find contentment as an ice person though – unlike everyone else who turned moody and sullen. An interesting detail is that Caroll remembers specifics about her old life and remembers Finn, whereas Fern and other characters that were candyfied did not.

Does this mean that getting iced doesn’t block most of your memories like getting candyfied does, meaning that the transmogrified Princess Bubblegum was responsible for wiping the minds of those she turned into candy? From my memory, there’s no crystal clear indication one way or the other whether people

Who were slimed or fired lost the memories that they used to have. I’m rather fond of the idea that this aspect was indeed specific to Princess Bubblegum though; it makes her even more fearsome and highlights the extremely manipulative nature of candyfication that she performs.

I’ll discuss Peebubs some more later toward the end of this megareview, let’s return to the Ice Kingdom for now. [Ice King: “Looking good, pengy.”] God… that’s… horrific. Once our heroes are inside the ice fortress, there’s another fantastic mood-establishing set piece as the foxes perform the song “Blue Magic.”

This was a wonderful, haunting, gloomy, and beautiful song choice that fit the moment really well. It was powerful enough to initiate Jake’s conversion to the depressing ice side, and whether this was because Jake gave Finn his sweater or has a predisposition to giving

In to the bleakness of life, well, I think it’s probably a bit of both. When you really dig into it, Jake is actually quite a complicated and multifaceted character with a fluid personality. While he tends to be happy with himself and rarely suffers from self-esteem issues

[Finn: “How would you change yourself on Dead Mountain if only the legends were true?” Jake: “I wouldn’t change anything! I’m the whole package!”] He’s not always necessarily happy with life or what’s going on around him.

Jake tends to go with the flow, but in scenarios where he can’t, it can get pretty bad, this was a characteristic of his even back in the first season. [Jake: “Ugh, I can’t swim that river, dude! My subconscious says it’s too hard. Check out this hat though!”]

As we see in later episodes of Elements, Jake admits to bottling his emotions, and he can perceive potential bleakness even in moments that appear happy. [Jake: “Well, you don’t wanna stare at happiness too hard, y’know?” Finn: “Why?” Jake: “Cause it stares back, man!”]

Considering all these character traits, I can definitely see how Jake could be extra susceptible to the influence of the ice element. Carroll’s betrayal leads to the appearance of Patience St. Pim, who is notably the least monstrous-looking of the elemental bunch. Perhaps this is because she’s essentially a human, whereas the others are physically

Composed of their respective element. Patience has become completely apathetic to her current state of existence. Her spell failed; the magic used was far too strong. [Patience: “I had distilled them into something monstrous.”] Although why she thought the other Elementals would want to be friends with her if she applied

The proper amount of elemental magic boosting is beyond me. Patience is a character that, to put it crudely, has her head up her own ass, so the fact that her logic might not make sense… well, that makes sense for her character. Ice King makes an amazing escape after finding Betty.

[Ice King: “Best friends gang, retreat!”] And Jake, afflicted with the ice condition, mentions painful memories regarding his father. [Jake: “I remember father made me stay at the table until all the eggs were eaten.”] This is further focus on Jake’s parents hot off the heels of “Orb,” and it may

Foreshadow that the relationship Finn and Jake had with their parents will be an factor at play in future episodes when they try to figure out why Jake’s appearance changed. I personally liked how Patience doesn’t care enough to stop anybody from leaving her domain.

Her apathy is absolute and despite the episode resolution being pretty much an anti-climax, I found it fun and fitting. Achoos Goose could have had a better rhyme though. [Achoos Goose: “There’s no point in having friends, because in the end, everything ends.”] Not quite catchy enough, sorry.

And I think the transition shot to everyone being on a could have taken a bit more time; the fade was too abrupt and messed with the otherwise great flow of the episode. Finn nabbing The Enchiridion from the Farmworld Dimension…

I went back and rewatched “Crossover” to see if this was secretly hinted at and… there’s not really a point in time where Finn doing that would have fit super cleanly. If anything, Jake was the one in a better position to grab it off-screen.

However, the last time we see the Enchiridion, Ice Finn removed his jewel from it, and we don’t see the Enchridion at all for the remaining portion of the episode. Perhaps Finn’s grass arm nabbed it off-screen around the time Ice Finn got whacked.

So this is definitely not a plothole, though also not the best retcon Adventure Time has pulled. I’m quite sure it was a retcon, because if Finn stealing the Enchiridion from the Farmworld dimension was planned back then, the storyboarding could have been done differently to better allude to this event occurring.

Finn pulling the Enchiridion out of his backpack at the exact moment Betty mentioned it was a bit too abrupt for my liking, but it’s not that big of a deal. Since it apparently was in Finn’s backpack the whole time, I would have loved if it had

Been one of the items Alva tossed around during the Islands miniseries. Sure, it would have spoiled the eventual reveal for eagle-eyed viewers with great memory, but I also think it would make the reveal feel less out of the blue.

As is, it felt just a tad too convenient and contrived, but not by too much. Betty performs a maniacal laugh as soon as she’s holding the Enchiridion in her hands, but I actually doubt she had any nefarious intentions of undoing the past at this point

In time; I think that plan developed as she read through more of the book while Finn and Jake were away trying to collect jewels. When Betty first was looking through the Enchiridion in the episode “Cloudy,” there is the elemental symbol in the schematic she pulls up, meaning she was initially researching

How to reverse the elemental spell. Betty and Ice King shared such an adorable moment of throwing trail mix at each other at the start of the episode “Slime Central,” and maybe it’s just my naivete getting the better of me, but I have a hard time seeing Betty deadset on undoing Ice King’s existence

At this specific point in time. When Finn returns to the cloud at the start of the episode “Happy Warrior,” that’s where everything changes though. Betty is absolutely giddy and in a rush to grab the jewel, and then flips to a page in

The Enchiridion where there is an hourglass, foreshadowing that she wants to cast a spell related to time in some manner. [Betty: “Just two more of these sweet princess jewels, and I’ll be able to fix everything.”] This maniacal laugh is about her new plan, which I think she developed while Finn and

Jake were in the Slime Kingdom rollerskating. I think this interpretation makes everything even more tragic, because it means that Betty was intent on trying to live in Ooo with Ice King, but by happen-chance found a way to redo the past, and was unable to resist the allure of such a scenario.

I think that’s far more interesting than her having such intentions right from the get-go. Let me rewind a tad though, and talk about the episode “Cloudy,” because wow, what a phenomenal episode this was. “Cloudy” is my favorite episode of Elements.

It stands out the most from the other episodes because it feels like it could have potentially been a stand-alone episode, and in fact, there’s a pretty interesting reason as to why that is. Much of what occurs in “Cloudy” was thought up as a potential episode during the first season of Adventure Time.

Let me read Patrick McHale’s pitch for this concept: “First season of Adventure Time we talked about doing an episode that took place entirely on a cloud. Finn and Jake would get stuck up in the sky and just talk for the whole episode; relationships,

Finn’s past, Jake’s dog side, where their lives will lead, singing songs, etc. I’m not sure why we never made it, but here are some old notes/storyboards I roughed out for a possible start to the episode. I think it was pretty much stream of consciousness.”

So, a lot of these storyboarded panels actually ended up in the episode “Cloudy”, albeit slightly modified. Check it out! [Jake: “Hey, turn around! I can’t go with you looking at me!” “Can’t go when I’m gliding. Feels weird.” Finn: “Cloud with a small door, Jake!” Jake: “Dude, face the other way!”]

I absolutely loved how this episode idea was recycled into Elements, and I think it works wonderfully. Finn and Jake are just so damn cute together – it’s way too adorable! I especially loved the way Jake got giddy when they tried his idea out. [Jake: “The haircut therapy is working!”]

Haircut therapy was something the two brothers used to do when they were still pups, and it’s such an amazing and heartwarming thought that the two developed this system to deal with troubled feelings when they were still little. It’s so precious that the two had methods of therapy and self-care where they rely on

Each other; my eyes are tearing up. I wonder what sort of subjects Finn and Jake talked about to each other as pups; Joshua’s expectations for the both of them I’m sure came up often, but I keep wondering what else they could have discussed.

I would absolutely love a brief flashback of one of their sessions from their childhood in a future episode. In “Cloudy,” the two let their insecurities and guilt surface, and it’s beautiful. You really get a detailed understanding of how the minds of Finn and Jake operate and

How their feelings form, and really all I can complain about is that I wish there was more therapy dialogue. That’s not real a complaint by the way, I loved what I got, it was just so good I wish it had gone on for longer.

Finn and Jake get a moment of respite where they temporarily drop their worries and enjoy the endless blue sky and each others company, and perform a silly duet. They rejoin Ice King and Betty by making use of the angler lard that hunts in a very traumatizing manner.

The episode ends on an absolutely amazing line from Ice King. [Ice King: “Hey, did you guys get haircuts? Without me?”] Oh Ice King, so ridiculously perceptive with those wizard eyes of yours. Seriously, this joke cracked me up, but it also captures so much about the mystical and

Perceptive nature of Ice King that he can notice these little things that so few others can. What a wonderful ending to a wonderful episode. In the next episode, “Slime Central,” our heroes travel into the Slime Kingdom where the streets are empty of people.

It appears that practically everyone, or at least everyone who happened to be near Slime Princess’ lair, is hanging out at the roller skating rink. While it’s not all that crowded inside the rink, that’s probably because Slime Princess already absorbed a ton of people.

Slime Princess is basically the Blob, except she only absorbs people after skate battles, and everybody who’s slime-ified actually wants to become a part of the Blob. It’s hilarious and also a little frightening, which honestly is the description for most Adventure Time scenarios in general.

Lumpy Space Princess makes her appearance in disguise as Lumpy Slime Princess, and I’m going to get this out of the way now, WOW did I completely fail to anticipate the extent of her involvement in this miniseries. Some of you may recall that I didn’t even mention LSP’s appearance in my breakdown

Of the Elements intro, where I speculated on what I thought Elements might be about. That’s because I made the extremely erroneous assumption that her role wouldn’t be much larger than that of the, let’s say, the ice golem who’s also featured in the intro.

I simply assumed LSP would have a brief appearance at some point, very similar to what she had in Stakes, and not be a big player. Turns out, LSP stayed a main character for half of the episodes; she got nearly as much

Exposure as Jake and a decent amount of character growth at that it seems! In “Slime Central,” while her and Finn’s brazen performance ended up being a bumpy ride, LSP does manage to save Finn from being assimilated, because let’s be honest, Finn’s plan was a little half-baked.

[Finn: “We’ll just believe in ourselves too much. She can’t absorb us if we’re self-absorbed.”] Completely hilarious, but not the greatest plan in terms of practicality. Part of that is probably due to Jake’s go-with-the-flow nature making him a bit too susceptible to the slime element.

I mean, Jake even partook in the chant earlier in the episode. [“Skate to assimilate! Skate to assimilate!”] And wasn’t too phased by the concept of assimilation either. [Jake: “It might be comfy. Like a hug that turns you into a hug.”]

So Finn should have probably realized that his brother would not be able to fight against the warm snot bath. LSP being completely unaffected by being inside Slime Princess is the first clue that LSP holds the secret to solving the elemental mess, but on my first watch-through of this

Episode, I did not catch on to this bit of foreshadowing quite yet. Maybe Finn’s comment about being self-absorbed did make a bit of an impression on me and since LSP is the most self-absorbed person in all of Ooo, it made sense for her to resist the slime.

Or maybe I just never considered LSP would finally be given the spotlight to save the day in an adventure of this magnitude. Nevertheless, LSP takes Jake’s place for the rest of the miniseries, an event I was really happy about due to just how unpredictable it was for me.

Finn has to finish the quest without his best friend by his side. It adds some weight and seriousness to the rollicking good time roller skating shenanigans would normally qualify as. LSP continues being self-absorbed as her and Finn depart from the Slime Kingdom. [LSP: “Stop being so selfish, Finn! I’m the one hurting here!”]

While her lack of empathy is alarmingly callous as usual, Finn manages to get a boost of morale from her careless words. [LSP: “You and Jake always win! Always!” Finn: “You’re right LSP, we do!”] Throughout the entire Adventure Time series, Finn has always been capable of putting up

With LSP’s rudeness and antics extremely well. It’s almost kind of sweet in a way, how he is able to find the motivating elements in her insensitive words. If I was in Finn’s shoes, I would find LSP’s behavior hurtful and abrasive and not respond

To it kindly, but Finn has always been adept at looking past the self-absorbed characteristics of LSP. To clarify a little, Finn ability to look past the flaws of others and be kind-hearted is what’s sweet; LSP’s behavior obviously remains that of a jerkwad and a character filled to bursting with flaws.

The dynamic the two have when they interact is rather unique though and I appreciate the focus and consistency given to it. The episode “Happy Warrior” begins with LSP demonstrating she does at least have some empathy, since she is trying to cheer Finn up, though in her standard insensitive manner. [LSP: “Cheer up Finn.

So what if Jake got absorbed into Slime Princess’ rocking body. He’s probably having fun, and doing way better without you.”] She does legitimately care for Finn, that much is obvious, though she’s terrible at expressing it in an effective and caring way. [LSP: “Don’t torture yourself!

And don’t drop your phone into Fire Kingdom, dummy.”] While Finn and Gunter are lowered into the Fire Kingdom, Betty has this peculiar fixated gaze on Ice King. Ice King is clearly focused on managing his friends’ descent, but Betty’s mind appears elsewhere and her smile is a bit unnerving.

As I already discussed, I think Betty developed her plan to jump through time while Finn was in the Slime Kingdom, so here I figure she’s looking at Ice King and imagining how soon she will be able to undo his existence and have him remain as Simon.

LSP doesn’t want to hang with these old people though, and decides to tag along with Finn and Gunter. [LSP: “I’ve been in, like, all four zones without a scratch.”] It’s this line of dialogue, along with the fact that LSP is going to remain a prominent

Presence in more than just a single episode, that made me realize she’d play a part in solving the elemental crisis in the conclusion. Her involvement in the finale was definitely plenty foreshadowed, as it’s already acknowledged that she’s a unique presence that completely resists the effects of all elemental magic.

So as our heroes wade through the Fire Kingdom, it becomes obvious the magnified fire element fills people with rage and fuels them with a lust for combat. Even Lady Rainicorn [Finn: “Er, Flamicorn.”] turns on her former friends, and Finn himself has to consciously rebel against the invigorating feeling of the fire element.

Finn and company get saved by none other than Cinnamon Bun, whose constantly activated flame shield allowed him to resist the transformations that occurred in the rest of the kingdom. Despite CB’s fire wolf also having been affected since it’s colored blue, it remains

CB’s trusty steed and does not succumb to the bloodlust, showcasing just how strong Cinnamon Bun’s bond with his canine must be. Based on the intro, with CB seemingly confronting Patience, I thought he would play a larger role in this miniseries, but his appearance was very brief.

He leads the heroes to Flame Princess and then takes off, letting them do the rest. [Cinnamon Bun: “My wolf is also a loner. We are both loners!”] That felt a little out of character for me, especially since he should realize Flame Princess

Only said hurtful things due to the elemental transformation, but since we don’t know exactly what happened off-screen, I can mostly let it slide. Plus Cinnamon Bun has been a hero enough times already I guess, he can sit out on this adventure.

So yeah, the character I thought would have a fairly prominent presence had just a brief appearance, while the character I thought would have a brief appearance had an extremely prominent presence. Funny that. On the topic of LSP, while she remains her standard irritating self, I still loved watching

Her the entire time she was on-screen, mostly because she delivered great knee-slapping comedy on many occasions. [LSP: “Do you do squats?”] [LSP: “Dramatic boys. Never again!”] I really appreciate the focus given to Finn’s worry about being overcome by the fire element.

This is a really cool shot, and highlights the effort it takes for him to mentally overcome the desire for combat. Finn ends up panting from reversing the partial transformation; it’s exhausting to resist the urge. Finn is a warrior after all and no stranger to combat; he often engages in hacking and

Slashing for the fun and thrill of it. It makes sense that the kind-hearted side of his persona would have a difficult time overcoming the amplified lust for violence. I also loved Finn’s dialogue on his relationship with Flame Princess. [Finn: “FP and I are just friends. And I’m really proud of that friendship.

Getting there took a lot of trust building and emotional growth.”] Every time Finn says something mature like that in the series, it nearly brings a tear to my eye. One of the things I adore about Adventure Time is the characters age and grow as the

Show goes on, and lines of dialogue like the one I just featured really demonstrate Finn’s growth and how far he’s come over the years, and his greater understanding of interpersonal relationships. I’m going to give even more praise to Finn because he managed to recognize Flame Princess by looking into the dragon’s eyes.

FP’s design, by the way, is my favorite out of all the transformations; she’s so cool looking. And she was in the new opening after all; the only Elemental to have her entire form show up in the intro! And that move definitely got me, I completely failed to speculate such a possibility – well

Played Adventure Time crew, well played. Flame Princess pushes Finn over the edge and makes him turn by swallowing her jewel. The rage Finn feels from now being unable to save Jake was too much to handle when already being affected by the Fire Kingdom environment.

[LSP: “Honestly, I can still see those two working out.”] As for Gunter, who merely turned by wanting to fight, well, Gunter was always a rather mischievous, and unruly penguin. One especially prominent instance of chaos and destruction was with the Demonic Wishing Eye, where Gunter nearly ended up smashing up the Gumball Guardians.

And of course, Hunson Abadeer himself has called Gunter the most evil thing he has ever encountered, because Gunter is a compressed form of Orgalorg, destroyer of worlds. So yeah, I’m honestly surprised it took Gunter as long as it did to transform into a fire penguin.

Lumpy Space Princess trying to give a dramatic speech and it backfiring, giving Flame Princess the idea to purge the Candy Kingdom of its denizens, that was a great ending to the episode. So now that I’ve covered all four kingdoms, I want to discuss the primary personality

Characteristics associated with the four elements, or more specifically, what they remind me of. I’m sure there are plenty of potential comparisons and parallels that could be made, but the one that came to my mind was the four temperaments, which stem from the ancient medical concept

Of humorism, which in the modern day is known to be outdated nonsense. Way back in the day, it was thought that the four humors could have specific negative effects on emotions when they are in excessive amounts. An abundance of something causing negative consequences to the body and mind – yeah,

That sounds quite familiar, doesn’t it? So let’s cover the elemental personality characteristics again real quick. Candy is saccharine – overly sweet and annoyingly friendly. Fire is irritable and angry. Ice is moody and depressing. Slime is fun and carefree. This fits really well when overlapped with the four temperaments – for three of them

It’s essentially a direct match. The only comparison that doesn’t fit quite as well as the others is slime being akin to the phlegmatic temperament. While phlegm obviously makes one think of mucus, which is slimy, the personality traits associated with the phlegmatic temperament include relaxed and peaceful, but also encapsulate

A level of apathy and calmness. Heck, even the modern-day definition of the word is “not easily excited to action or display of emotion; apathetic; sluggish” and another definition is “self-possessed, calm, or composed.” Yet as we see with the various roller skaters, they are definitely quite emotional, they

Have a desire to win the skating contests, and while Slime Princess herself sits in the rink sluggishly, everybody else is actively skating about. Well, one could say once the people are assimilated into SP, they become calm and sluggish, but they also cease to exist, so…

I guess the full personality traits of the slime element are only truly fulfilled when you become a part of Slime Princess. Who may I remind you got a violin bow in the face, and didn’t react violently in any manner.

She just declared LSP’s team the losers… which, yeah, their routine was a mess, so that call was pretty damn deserved. I will argue that the slime element definitely has the characteristics of being relaxed and peaceful. While there are conflicts in the form of skate-offs, these are actually really really really mild

Conflicts, and in the end are meant primarily for the purpose of entertainment anyway. While the losers lose their skating privilege, that doesn’t really matter since they still get assimilated into Slime Princess, shamefully and through the rear, sure, but they end up relaxed and at peace in the end regardless.

When Finn and LSP aren’t absorbed by Slime Princess and are rejected, all that happens is they’re told to leave the club. I’d qualify that as a very peaceful resolution. So yeah, I think the comparison to the four temperaments works really well, and it’s

Quite possible that the Adventure Time crew drew inspiration for the elemental characteristics from humorism. Then again, when deciding on personality types, you only have so many categories to divide into, so maybe it’s just that. Either way, I found the comparison to humorism interesting, hence why I decided to discuss it.

Now let’s move on to the episode “Hero Heart.” [All: “Nerds, nerds, smash the nerds! A nerdless world is the best kind of world!”] I gotta to say, that chant is extremely catchy, and I found myself reciting it for fun at random on several occasions after watching Elements.

It’s all up to LSP to save the day now as the invasion of the Candy Kingdom initiates. I mean, Simon and Betty do try to help at one point, but get knocked out of the episode until the end.

LSP actually does a really good job of trying to talk Finn into regaining control of himself, but despite her words holding a lot of meaning, they are not enough. [LSP: “Dang it Finn. Becoming a crazy firey bad boy has made you even more of a babe.”]

I just love LSP’s dialogue so much – she gives Ice King a run for his money when it comes to having the best one-liners in the miniseries. [Ice King: “We have to rub soothing lotion on Guntsy!”] I didn’t really care for the scene with Fun, Lemonpink, and NEPTR.

The scenario just didn’t hit comedically for me, probably because it took too long for the setup, so it ended up feeling like filler content to extend the episode into the 11 minute mark. Also, the visual punchline of the carriage being stopped on the spot felt a little flat.

There was minimal animation, the framing for the shot wasn’t great, and the collision itself was really bland rather than intense and over-the-top, which I think diminished the potential physical humor that could have been captured. So after stomping through Lemonpink’s carriage, the fire brigade finally reaches the tower

That is Princess Bubblegum to launch their assault, and Marshmeline appears via what I first thought was teleportation, meaning she would have been using the Vampire King’s power. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall a single time she’s teleported in the series before.

However, I also realized she could simply be using her invisibility and simply deactivating it, and we’ve her invisibility multiple times in the series. However she got there, she ends up playfighting with Flame Princess and matching her in power, that is until Flame Princess blasts her in the face.

LSP’s worry about Marcy was really sweet, the two are quite close friends after all – stealing a car and leaving its owner abandoned in the dessert really brings people together. LSP confides in Marceline and cries about her incapability to save the world.

While her reasons for not being an actual hero might have been a little bit off, OK, really off, I’ll give LSP some credit for at least being able to realize she is lacking somewhere. I mean, she definitely does lack field experience, among a slew of other things.

Marshmeline feeds her face to LSP, allowing LSP to find her happy place and be invigorated. Finally acting like a true hero, and using the recently acquired knowledge that eating faces can be soothing and calming, LSP slaps a bit of Princess Bubblegum onto Finn, who

Inhales the aroma of fried gum and is sent to his happy place. This scene reminded me a whole lot of Fern in his debut episode, where he snaps out of his chaotic state and regains his sense of self by inhaling the scent of a Finn cake.

Makes sense that a similar move would also work wonders on Finn, and I found the resulting vision of his really interesting. It basically summarizes the history of his relationship with Princess Bubblegum, and in my opinion, it paints holding onto the past as very dangerous.

It begins with the early days of the show where Finn was developing his first crush on PB but the interactions between the two were still innocent, and after a brief interruption from a memory where PB was possessed by the Lich, we see Bonnie as she was in “Too Young”

Where she physiologically matched Finn’s age. The two flare up; which I interpret as the fire-afflicted part of Finn’s mind feeding off this memory and desire of the past. Finn is trying to find his happy place to resist the flames of war, to resist the fire

Transformation, but dwelling on the agonizing desires of the past only serves to fuel that fire further. When Finn actively snuffs the fire out, when he stops this thought from burning through his mind, he still has both his arms rather than a prosthetic.

This also happened in Finn’s dream in the episode “Orb,”, where he lacked his new automail. This likely represents that Finn’s sense of self still includes both arms, he’s not had his prosthetic long enough to integrate it into the mental image he has of himself.

Alternatively, perhaps Finn is so content with a prosthetic arm that to him it’s equivalent to having a regular arm, and he doesn’t even see it any differently. [Finn: “Honestly though, this doesn’t even feel that weird now. I mean, maybe it’s cuz it already happened once before, but, I dunno, it feels like normal

I guess… But for me, I guess it’s like, I dunno, it feels right or something.”] Or of course, perhaps it’s a bit of both. Anyway, back to that vision of his as he’s trying to find his happy place, Finn snuffs

Out the fire, and what results is him and Princess Bubblegum happily hanging out as close friends, in the same outfits as when they bonded in the episode “Pajama War.” This is Finn’s true happy place with Princess Bubblegum, and I found that really sweet.

Finn has overcome his past and the complicated feelings he used to have, and can simply enjoy Bonnie’s company. Finding his happy place allows Finn to regain his senses and put out the flames of war that afflicted him. Finn manages to snag the final jujubee, as he calls them, and Princess Bubblegum grows

Tired of the charade, and transforms everyone on the scene into candy by performing a cover of a classic song originally published in 1910 called “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Well, she turns almost everyone into candy. [LSP: “Let my impervious bod be your shield!”]

“Let Me Call You Sweetheart” being sung by all the candyfied people after Betty betrays Finn just goes to show how with the right touch, practically anything can become creepy as hell. It was wonderfully done and delightfully unnerving for such a bright and colorful scene.

I want to discuss why Princess Bubblegum seemed to be so much more powerful than the other transformed Elementals. Or at least, so much more powerful than Flame Princess, since Patience decided to just freeze herself rather than seeing how the situation ends, and Slime Princess didn’t seem to interested in putting up any resistance.

Still, since her amplified song spread into the other kingdoms of Ooo and began transforming them, I think it’s pretty safe to say even if the other Elementals did try to fight back, they most likely would have still succumbed to candyfication eventually.

My explanation for PB’s might has to do with how closely the characteristics of the four elements and how closely the the characteristics of the four Elementals themselves match. Let’s start with Flame Princess. While she was chaotic at one point in her life, being raised sealed in a lamp and all,

She quickly grew up and developed into a kind-hearted ruler who actually cared about the beings in her kingdom. Her becoming a rampaging dragon hellbent on combat is quite contrary to what her pre-transformed personality was like. Patience St. Pim was animated and zany, brimming with over-the-top energy and plans to get what she wants.

When transformed, she’s reserved, apathetic, and downtrodden, and would rather just give up and give things another shot than trying to formulate a potential counter-measure in the present. Again, there’s some striking contrasts between her normal personality and when she’s transformed.

Slime Princes… umm, I got nothing decent on this one actually when it comes to making contrasts or comparisons, slime as an element comes across to me as being a bit of a wild card that’s off doing it’s own thing. [Slimy D: “Yo, yo, my name’s Slimy D and I’m here to-”

Chatsberry: “Slimy D stands with us.”] Also, Slime Princess never actually had a reaction to the candyfication of her kingdom, and I guess was just ignoring what was going on, so we can’t really judge how powerful she is because she doesn’t seem interested in engaging in anything.

But in the end, this brings us to Princess Bubblegum, who of course we know as having a sweet exterior when it comes to personality, but having some, let’s say morally and ethically ambiguous character traits beneath that deceptively sweet exterior.

Multiple times throughout the series Princess Bubblegum has tried to keep order in her kingdom by ways of surveillance, deception, and the like, and although she’s gotten much better when it comes to respecting the autonomy of others recently, those characteristics no doubt still linger in her at least to an extent.

Princess Bubblegum does tend to be manipulative when it comes to acquiring what she wants, and… well, I think this falls quite closely inline with her personality when transformed into a giant gum tower. The Bonnibel-tower is superficially sweet in her tone and mannerisms, but wants to control

Those around her, to change them to suit her wants better, and she even wiped their memories to achieve this goal, though left just enough recollections for them to remember the problems they used to have when they weren’t candy.

I think the characteristics of PB as we’re used to her and her as a transmogrified gum tower match up fairly well, at least moreso than with the other Elementals, and this is why she’s able to exert her powers to a greater degree than the rest.

Or that’s my idea at least, let me you know if you’ve got some differing opinions in the comments, I’d love to hear more interesting discussion on the topic. [LSP: “Finn, it’s me! I’m saving your tight butt!”] LSP comes through to save Finn yet another time, and by now Finn is pondering the significance

Behind LSP’s complete resistance to elemental afflictions. Turns out, lumps are a really freakin’ important metaphysical component in the Adventure Time world. [LSP’s mom: “Lumps are the subspace molecular lattice that binds together the scientific and magical forces of Ooo… it’s the source that orders reality into its true shape.” Basically, lumps stabilize reality.

This was probably inspired by the fact that simulated depictions of molecules often appear lumpy – and, I can dig it. I think it’s a pretty neat idea. As for lumps actually being a proper fifth element as opposed to just being an anti-elemental

Force, well, it seemed a bit like conjecture on Finn’s part, but I think we can probably assume that his conclusion is accurate. What’s interesting is that I’m nearly 100% sure this concept for LSP wasn’t thought of in the early seasons, and yet there are a couple events we can certainly retcon into

Fitting this new lore. In the second episode of the show, “Trouble in Lumpy Space,” LSP can actually lumpify people by biting them, which is sort of in-line with magically-amped Elementals being able to turn others into their respective element. It’s quite similar; LSP has the ability to physically transform others into the substance

She’s made of and the transformed people will take on the associated personality traits. Another interesting instance that occurred in the past happens in the season 2 debut, “It Came From the Nightosphere.” When Hunson Abadeer is sucking out everyone’s souls and collecting them in his neck thingy,

LSP just appears there fully intact – her soul could not be extracted. While I seriously doubt soul sucking has any elemental component to it, it still highlights how LSP can reject magic utilized on her body in general.

So before I get to discussing the resolution to this miniseries, we of course have to talk about Ice King and Betty. I love how Betty was legitimately conflicted and tortured by the path she chose. [Betty: “No, I’m doing the right thing. Can’t go around it, gotta go through it.”]

Betty was suffering from an amalgam of conflicting emotions. While she’s clearly extremely excited to return to the past to save her beloved, she also understands that she would be undoing the existence of the world as it is, and erasing who Simon became.

While she’s angered and saddened by the person Simon turned into, Ice King still is Simon in many ways. From her perspective, she has to erase the debased version of Simon that is Ice King for classic Simon to exist, and that’s not an easy task for her.

The thought of having Simon back and preventing the catastrophe that was the Mushroom War fills her with manic glee, but having to face Ice King while she’s trying to undo his existence is tormenting her. [Betty: “Just, shh. It’ll be over in a second.”]

I think it’s extremely hard not to empathize with Betty; it’s an incredibly tragic scenario, and Betty’s words brilliantly capture the heartache of it all. [Betty: “I thought I could do it, but I can’t. Being with you is like looking at my old life through a funhouse mirror. It’s driving me mad!”]

She truly tried her hardest to accept Ice King for who he was and live happily with him, but she couldn’t do it. That is heartbreaking. It’s a very powerful sequence of scenes, made all the more captivating by the manner in which Ice King responds to Betty’s declaration that she will obliterate him.

[Ice King: “I… I guess I’m a special person. And I am worthy of respect.”] Oh my goodness, that line of dialogue is so powerful coming from Ice King, who I feel has grown and matured as much as Finn has throughout the duration of Adventure Time.

Ice King embraces his own individuality and self-worth with those words, and this scene marks the moment where my emotions were at their absolute peak while watching Elements. I gotta wonder about the intense reaction Prismo and Cosmic Owl had to Betty claiming she will prevent the Mushroom War from happening.

I don’t think their existence would be threatened; Prismo’s Time Room exists outside of time after all and I sorta doubt the Mushroom War somehow lead to the existence of Prismo or the Cosmic Owl. Is their reaction based around the fact that Jake and other pals they’ve partied with will no longer exist?

If you’ve got any interesting ideas in regards to this, please share them in the comments. And I just have to mention how I think it’s so wacky and awesome that Betty’s device to return to the past was based around a gas-powered generator that she kicks into action.

Just something about this image entertains me so greatly – how a magical spell needs a noisy machine that releases gas fumes to work. But yeah, due to Ice King’s interference, the generator explodes before the spell can be cast, and I busted out laughing when it was revealed that Ice King was wearing his

Muumuu under his suit the entire time. So great! So, now onto to the resolution. LSP saving the day was imminent and everyone should have foreseen her involvement by this point if not much much earlier, but my only criticism with the episode is that LSP’s involvement triggered too spontaneously and quickly.

Yes, the jewels to undo the elementification were the exact same jewels Betty needed for the time spell, I’m well-aware. My issue though is these jewels simply flying toward LSP on their own accord and instantly granting her the power to undo everything.

It was just too sudden and made the resolution feel like a cop-out when it actually wasn’t. I get that LSP’s stubborn attitude is what was supposed to have saved the day, that’s how she supposedly attracted the jewels to her and activated them I guess, but I honestly

Would have preferred if LSP had to take one final hit for the team so to say, and temporary stifle her cranky attitude to figure out how to activate the spell by looking through the Enchiridion. Or by any other scenario really; I just wish something had to be done to activate the jewels

Rather than them simply activating on their own. As is, the flow of events just blew by way too quick for me. Honestly, I was still recovering from that interaction with Simon and Betty, and was not sufficiency prepped to enter the final phase of the miniseries quite yet. But what a phase it was!

We got so many mini-cliffhangers, ohmygoodness! Sweet Pea’s horn grew back, and him saying “Excuse me.” felt really ominous and filled me with unease. What does this mean? Does it relate to the Lich appearing as a MO in “Orb”? I really hope this leads somewhere – the Lich’s hand fell into every dimension, is

That going to play a role as well somehow? Did BMO stash the Lich’s hand away somewhere – is that the reason there was a Lich-MO in “Orb?” What is going to happen!? Not to jump ahead of myself, but when Slime Princess returns to normal, we can actually

See Jake’s new form at the corner of the screen. One of the jewels on the Ice Crown pops out. The creature we saw in the episode “Graybles 1000+” which takes place in Ooo’s future was missing this particular jewel. Is this creature what Ice King turns into?

Is this actually a transformed version of the Crown which is now its own mobile sentient being? What is going to happen!? Betty ends up being blasted onto Mars and it seems like Normal Man might want to help her? What is going to happen!?

And last but certainly not least, Jake’s new form that resembles that interdimensional being that impregnated his father, what the hell is going happen with that!? Agh! So much stuff! So much intrigue! So much mystery and surprise and wonder! So many new adventures to tackle!

And so few episodes left for the series to cover it all. I really hope all these loose ends can be followed up on and given justice, because dammit I am so invested! Alright, so it’s time to wrap up this review and call it a day, but I hope you all speculate

About potential story routes and what all those cliffhangers might mean in the comments. In the end, LSP got to experience being a true hero and the responsibility and burdens that comes with it, and hopefully she grew a little bit and matured in her own lumpy way from the experience.

Elements ends on the love Finn and Jake have for each other, and what a touching and tender final scene that was – definitely a perfect spot to roll the credits. Elements sets up a lot of things to come, and I’ve never been more eager to see where

The series heads for its quickly-approaching final act. This was a hell of an Adventure, and I found it thoroughly entertaining throughout. Kudos Adventure Time crew, Elements was a fantastic miniseries.