Adventure Time: Sad Face
May 13, 2014 11:28 AM - Season 6, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Aren't you glad we came back for the second show?
Definitely an experimental feel this week - not surprising, since this one was written and storyboarded by Graham Falk, who previously gave us Season 5's 'Ssh!' and 'Root Beer Guy', both fantastic episodes which played with the show's already super loose conventions.
So... Jake's tail apparently becomes independently sentient - if faceless and voiceless and still connected to its sleeping host, but able to stretch out across Ooo like a furry yellow snake - for one night every month. Or maybe it's just Jake's subconscious taking over. Either way, BMO is aware of this and has told no-one but NEPTR. Naturally, the tail works as a clown at a circus for bugs, and gets into a dispute over the zoo's main attraction: the terrifying, gigantic monster Goralina, actually a miserable captive chipmunk.
For some reason the scene with Bluenose just reversing through every location when it was time to go home, because of course there was this criss-crossed hose of stretchy Jake-stuff running around the circus and through the big top multiple times, was inexplicably hilarious to me.
"Too much artsy, not enough fartsy!"
Definitely an experimental feel this week - not surprising, since this one was written and storyboarded by Graham Falk, who previously gave us Season 5's 'Ssh!' and 'Root Beer Guy', both fantastic episodes which played with the show's already super loose conventions.
So... Jake's tail apparently becomes independently sentient - if faceless and voiceless and still connected to its sleeping host, but able to stretch out across Ooo like a furry yellow snake - for one night every month. Or maybe it's just Jake's subconscious taking over. Either way, BMO is aware of this and has told no-one but NEPTR. Naturally, the tail works as a clown at a circus for bugs, and gets into a dispute over the zoo's main attraction: the terrifying, gigantic monster Goralina, actually a miserable captive chipmunk.
For some reason the scene with Bluenose just reversing through every location when it was time to go home, because of course there was this criss-crossed hose of stretchy Jake-stuff running around the circus and through the big top multiple times, was inexplicably hilarious to me.
"Too much artsy, not enough fartsy!"
"Too much artsy, not enough fartsy!" might be the best line of the season. A great really oddball episode, I loved the long rewind of his tail traveling through every single scene as ridiculous as the premise of the episode was, that totally worked.
posted by mathowie at 1:06 PM on May 13, 2014
posted by mathowie at 1:06 PM on May 13, 2014
I really liked this episode. I wonder if Neptr hanging out with BMO is a sign that Finn has started showing more interest in his "son" after recent events.
posted by drezdn at 2:56 PM on May 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by drezdn at 2:56 PM on May 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
It was kind of fascinating to see NEPTR again, as I just saw the episode where he's revealed to have been engaged in one heck of a long hide and go seek, this being where Finn first meets the Flame Princess. (A'ight, so I've seen Seasons 1, 2, 5, and have to pick up smatterings of 3 and 4!).
I could definitely see the tail being part of a subconscious Jake. Being a tragic, artsy clown seems like something Jake might consider being, and likewise, having pity on the chipmunk. The crowd was a fun part of the episode, 'Don't worry son, it's all part of the show!" as half the crowd get shoved into the mouth of a rampaging chipmunk (nice ode to King Kong with a giant chained monster breaking free after it's taunted).
I have to admit, when the tail was in the ringermaster's / boss' wagon and he poured drinks, I sat there wishing that the tail would somehow take a drink.
Other random thoughts...
- The praying mantis knife thrower throwing a knife to act as acupuncture to take down the chipunk.
- The awesomeness that it appeared they went ahead and animated many parts of the retreat of the tail, when they could have just shown the footage in reverse.
- Jake examining the blue face paint in the morning, then licking it.
- BMO's desire to respect the privacy of the tail.
posted by Atreides at 6:49 AM on May 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
I could definitely see the tail being part of a subconscious Jake. Being a tragic, artsy clown seems like something Jake might consider being, and likewise, having pity on the chipmunk. The crowd was a fun part of the episode, 'Don't worry son, it's all part of the show!" as half the crowd get shoved into the mouth of a rampaging chipmunk (nice ode to King Kong with a giant chained monster breaking free after it's taunted).
I have to admit, when the tail was in the ringermaster's / boss' wagon and he poured drinks, I sat there wishing that the tail would somehow take a drink.
Other random thoughts...
- The praying mantis knife thrower throwing a knife to act as acupuncture to take down the chipunk.
- The awesomeness that it appeared they went ahead and animated many parts of the retreat of the tail, when they could have just shown the footage in reverse.
- Jake examining the blue face paint in the morning, then licking it.
- BMO's desire to respect the privacy of the tail.
posted by Atreides at 6:49 AM on May 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
I keep thinking that this show has to have reached the limit in the number of oddball discursions that they can pursue. Like, the creative territory has been charted out, and all that remains will be variations and modulations on characters, themes, plot elements, and tones that they've already discovered. And I wouldn't even necessarily have a problem with that...you can get perfectly respectable results from working entirely within the lines.
And then we sat down to watch this and discovered that it's an episode focusing on Jake's tail's adventures as a circus performer. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice...won't get fooled again.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:48 AM on May 14, 2014 [9 favorites]
And then we sat down to watch this and discovered that it's an episode focusing on Jake's tail's adventures as a circus performer. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice...won't get fooled again.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:48 AM on May 14, 2014 [9 favorites]
Ipsifendius: I keep thinking that this show has to have reached the limit in the number of oddball discursions that they can pursue.
The episode that shattered that wall for me was "BMO Noire". It was just a hint of the really rich and fascinating life that BMO lives around the fringes of Finn and Jake's more adventurous lifestyle, but that hint was enough to reveal that there are whole other caverns of story hiding in the shadows of Adventure Time.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:41 PM on May 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
The episode that shattered that wall for me was "BMO Noire". It was just a hint of the really rich and fascinating life that BMO lives around the fringes of Finn and Jake's more adventurous lifestyle, but that hint was enough to reveal that there are whole other caverns of story hiding in the shadows of Adventure Time.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:41 PM on May 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
"She's red hot like pizza supper!"
posted by JHarris at 1:48 PM on May 14, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 1:48 PM on May 14, 2014 [4 favorites]
I think that's definitely one of the draws of the show for me. It seems like the stories, characters and plots that exist in Adventure Time are simply like doors recessed behind door after door...open it up and there's another door and so on and so on...I'm thinking of that episode where the Ice King hides in a horse costume so he can watch Finn and Jake. I mean, did someone in the writer's group just shout, "What if the Ice King hid inside a horse that was watching Jake and Finn while they were trying to sleep and it drove them crazy?"
... it kind of blows my mind if that popped out fully grown out of someone's head.
posted by Atreides at 3:00 PM on May 14, 2014
... it kind of blows my mind if that popped out fully grown out of someone's head.
posted by Atreides at 3:00 PM on May 14, 2014
What is more, the horse in question is an homage to Kate Beaton's Shetland Pony.
posted by JHarris at 3:20 PM on May 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 3:20 PM on May 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
"Too much artsy, not enough fartsy!" might be the best line of the season.
A Simpsons reference, perhaps?
"Homer: Marge, we're missing the chili. Less artsy, more fartsy."
posted by Paragon at 8:30 PM on May 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
A Simpsons reference, perhaps?
"Homer: Marge, we're missing the chili. Less artsy, more fartsy."
posted by Paragon at 8:30 PM on May 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
... it kind of blows my mind if that popped out fully grown out of someone's head.
That's exactly what I love about the show. If I'm honest, whenever I watch fantasy stuff a big part of what appeals is the naivety of it all. I don't mean to be disparaging by that at all, it's just a good fantasy film is like the best game I would have played with my friends when I was ten, which is great fun in a way that doesn't really happen that often in adult life.
It feels like adventure time is really aware of that, and it's written as if it is still just a few kids playing a game, especially with the way that they mix in things that actual kids would do: the language (totes amazeballs), Finn's nicknames for people, Finn and Jake beat-boxing together, the struggles with talking to girls et cetera, it all adds up to them playing with the genre in a really interesting way. I re-watched the episode when they're in the library last night, and they smashed Finn's credibility as a narrator, with him even having to shout 'I don't make up adventures' at one point. I'm not sure I can quite put my finger on what is in all of that that I enjoy so much, but whatever it is, it's really great.
posted by Ned G at 11:50 AM on May 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
That's exactly what I love about the show. If I'm honest, whenever I watch fantasy stuff a big part of what appeals is the naivety of it all. I don't mean to be disparaging by that at all, it's just a good fantasy film is like the best game I would have played with my friends when I was ten, which is great fun in a way that doesn't really happen that often in adult life.
It feels like adventure time is really aware of that, and it's written as if it is still just a few kids playing a game, especially with the way that they mix in things that actual kids would do: the language (totes amazeballs), Finn's nicknames for people, Finn and Jake beat-boxing together, the struggles with talking to girls et cetera, it all adds up to them playing with the genre in a really interesting way. I re-watched the episode when they're in the library last night, and they smashed Finn's credibility as a narrator, with him even having to shout 'I don't make up adventures' at one point. I'm not sure I can quite put my finger on what is in all of that that I enjoy so much, but whatever it is, it's really great.
posted by Ned G at 11:50 AM on May 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
There's a theory that Ooo is just a conventional post-apocalyptic landscape and Finn is a delusional boy trying to survive on his own. The magic and wonder of Adventure Time are just his imaginary embellishments. Jake is just a normal dog, the Ice King is a scary old man, Princess Bubblegum is a pretty girl who gave him some gum once, etc.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:27 PM on May 16, 2014
posted by Rock Steady at 4:27 PM on May 16, 2014
That's exactly what I love about the show. If I'm honest, whenever I watch fantasy stuff a big part of what appeals is the naivety of it all. I don't mean to be disparaging by that at all, it's just a good fantasy film is like the best game I would have played with my friends when I was ten, which is great fun in a way that doesn't really happen that often in adult life.
Yes. What struck me when I first started watching the show was that it had the rambling feel of those battered D&D modules from the '70s, before they had become serious about getting taken seriously and "making sense" and balance and consistency. If it's amazing or intriguing, it can happen, world-building be damned!
This episode, the ringmaster mentioned that the show had brought in three whole pennies thanks to the exploitation of the chipmunk. I was thinking, does that mean the equivalent of Ooo pennies in smaller units of easy-to-carry flea currency? Most shows just mention something like that in passing and forget about it, but Adventure Time usually does that, then slyly reiterates, yes, we really meant that later on. Here, they show that, yes, the fleas pay in giant (human-sized) pennies.
Of course, that leaves open the question, does that mean just a few wealthy fleas cover the rest of the crowd? Which is an amusing tease.
posted by ignignokt at 12:41 PM on May 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yes. What struck me when I first started watching the show was that it had the rambling feel of those battered D&D modules from the '70s, before they had become serious about getting taken seriously and "making sense" and balance and consistency. If it's amazing or intriguing, it can happen, world-building be damned!
This episode, the ringmaster mentioned that the show had brought in three whole pennies thanks to the exploitation of the chipmunk. I was thinking, does that mean the equivalent of Ooo pennies in smaller units of easy-to-carry flea currency? Most shows just mention something like that in passing and forget about it, but Adventure Time usually does that, then slyly reiterates, yes, we really meant that later on. Here, they show that, yes, the fleas pay in giant (human-sized) pennies.
Of course, that leaves open the question, does that mean just a few wealthy fleas cover the rest of the crowd? Which is an amusing tease.
posted by ignignokt at 12:41 PM on May 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
%n: Of course, that leaves open the question, does that mean just a few wealthy fleas cover the rest of the crowd? Which is an amusing tease.
Reminds me of the Problem Of Ningis.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:08 AM on May 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Reminds me of the Problem Of Ningis.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:08 AM on May 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by JHarris at 12:08 PM on May 13, 2014