As a youth I hated this episode. I hated it so much that it colored my perception of Finn for the rest of the series and it, along with other upcoming factors, made Adventure Time a rite watch overall. I didn’t realize I fell back in love with it until the finale. Now I’m older. Now I can see how it was built up, how Finn’s been crazy selfish throughout this season at the least like in Jake Suit, and what they were trying to do here. That people make mistakes, especially when you’re young, and you have to own it- truly own up to it. That an apology means nothing when you don’t really know what you’re apologizing for, and that even when you do, you’re not owed forgiveness or things going back to what they were. I see that now.
I still don’t think it’s good.
First off, the episode just isn’t fun to watch. The dream metaphors are not interesting enough for how uncomfortable they are. The message gets muddled when the Cosmic Owl is brought in and Jake compels Finn to do it now out of cosmic obligation instead of just the selfishness the episode is trying to show. F it carries the implication, with Finn as the viewpoint character and an icon to so many boys of that generation, that this is natural. Mistakes are natural. Selfishness is natural,
Manipulating your girlfriend for sexual gratification- and the dreams make it clear that’s what it is- is not natural. That’s a Finn fuck up, not something inherent to all teenage boys. It’s not fun to watch. It’s not something the show is equipped to tackle. And it colors the perception of Finn, if not forever across the show, then for a large chunk of its runtime. It’s a misfire on many levels, and one that doesn’t hold up any better now with time. It’s still bad, and it doesn’t bode well for the rest of this era of AT that I recall as a nadir.
Shout by Caleb PetersBlockedParentSpoilers2024-05-01T07:42:09Z
I've noticed this show has been mostly decent at hiding the underlying themes/messages it's occasionally got, but this episode is a slight exception.
The ending works well too, as recovering from a fuck-up that bad isn't gonna be easy.
I do think the cosmic owl being included felt a bit out-of-place though, but for all I know nickelodeon made them do it to distract from the core message.