The Five Best Adventure Time Episodes

Adventure Time is ending today; by the time you read this, the finale will have already aired (UPDATE: I just watched it and it was terrific: large scale, emotionally satisfying, and extremely gratifying).  Losing this show is a big loss; there’s no other show as fantastic, as emotionally honest, and as unpredictable as this one.  Disenchanted is fun but not nearly as emotionally honest or impactful.  Ducktales is, well, too disinterested in actual adventure to replace this show.  Adventure Time is going to truly be missed.  It felt familiar to gamers and to fans of other fantasy series.  It could be hilarious and genuinely moving, often in the same episode.  Each episode was fun in itself while often contributing to building a larger, more mysterious mythology.  With that in mind, here are my favorite five episodes of Adventure Time.

This is the perfect episode for gamers; I think it takes place in one of the dungeons from the Dark Souls series (how awesome would it be to have the Demon Cat of Approximate Knowledge turn up as a boss in at series?).

Dungeon

Dungeon was one of the first episodes I watched and does a pretty good job laying out the basic themes of the show.  Finn and Jake are working for the princess setting up warning signs for a nearby dungeon.  To prove he doesn’t need Jake’s help, Finn decides to investigate the dungeon (promising to finish within 11 minutes, no less) and gleefully runs through a variety of references gamers will love (fake treasure chests, random armed enemies, and The Bucket Knight).  The best, of course, is the Demon Cat of Approximate Knowledge (voiced by the incredible Clancy Brown) who taunts Finn while accidentally misidentifying him as Jim and Frank throughout their battle.  Finn struggles without Jake but later learns Jake also struggled without Finn (his challenges included a spitting contest and a troll with a laser pointer).  The two learn mutual respect in a episode that establishes the basic themes of the series.  If you need a series to onboard a friend, this is the one.

I’m really going to miss these title screens.

Goliad

Goliad is a fascinating little episode.  Princess Bubblegum uses her DNA  to create a psychic creature she intends to watch over the Candy Kingdom in her absence.  Jake and Finn are asked to teach Goliad right and wrong, which they attempt to do by taking him to a nearby school.  Instead of leading, though, Goliad realizes that he can simply force others to his will which leads him to attempt to take over the kingdom.  Princess Bubblegum outsmarts him by cloning another psychic creature based on Finn, whose sincere goodness and heroism make him a perfect match for Goliad.  There’s a lot to enjoy in the little moments, like when Jake tries to stop Goliad only to have Goliad choke him with candy kingdom residents.  Or when Finn struggles to explain why psychically controlling others is immoral.  This was also the first episode to suggest that Princess Bubblegum might not be as altruistic and benevolent and she appears, a theme that would resonant throughout the series to the finale.

It’s like a much funnier version of The Cube.

Mystery Dungeon

Adventure Time started as a show fairly focused on its leads, Finn and Jake, and their battles with the Ice King in service of Princess Bubblegum.  As the series expanded, it began to incorporate an increasingly diverse cast of supporting characters, and Mystery Dungeon is the first episode that really let these characters fly.  Ice King, NEPTR, Lemongrab, Tree Trunks and Shelby find themselves trapped in a mysterious dungeon filled with traps that seem to coincidentally require each of their unique talents to solve.  This episode is Adventure Time at its funniest, with each character delivering hilarious dialogue and a punchline that is one of the funniest twists I’ve seen in any episode of television.

Funny how so many of the best episodes of this show keep Jake and Finn on the sidelines.

Thank You

This is probably the best episode of the show that requires no actually background with the show to appreciate.  The show features a Snow Golem accidentally befriending a young Fire Wolf.  While the two species don’t usually get along (Snow Golems are very vulnerable to fire), so the Golem struggles to care for and then return the Fire Wolf pup that follows him home.  For me, I really enjoyed the Snow Golem’s resigned determination to do the right thing throughout the episode.  He agrees to care for the Fire Wolf when it won’t go home.  He resolves to return the Fire Wolf to its fiery kingdom despite how dangerous the journey is to himself (he stoically melts as the journey progresses).  In the background, Jake, Finn and Ice King watch the entire story play out and resolve to work a little harder to get along with each other.

Of course this is number one. What even comes close?

I Remember You

I was going to write that there is no other animated show that backs as big an emotional punch as I Remember You (though here’s two contenders), but the reality is that there’s almost no episode of any TV show anywhere that can bring you to tears as easily as this one.  This was actually the episode that hooked me on the show years ago.  The episode has Ice King seeking out Marceline for help on his song writing.  This episode reinforces dramatically the tragic character of the Ice King; his erratic and ridiculous behavior is a result of the effects of his crown which gave him his power but cost him his sanity.  It was a price he was willing to pay to protect a young Marceline after the Mushroom War (there’s a lot of backstory here) and here Ice King reveals notes he wrote her as his sanity slipped away, apologizing for his behavior that he was increasing unable to control.  It’s a painful, beautiful song about living with a loved one suffering through a psychological disorder.