As a note, unfortunately, this article discusses spoilers for last night’s Adventure Time premiere. Please do not read further if you’ve not yet watched the episodes.
Last night on a popular hit television show, some major and shocking events took place. First, a popular character was killed by a nefarious villain in a rather gruesome fashion. Following this, an important stronghold was destroyed, allowing hordes of despicable villains to escape out into the unknown to come back for a future menace. Then, after being betrayed by his estranged father, a popular blonde young warrior had his limb severed unexpectedly and was left for dead in an unfamiliar land.
If what I’m describing sounds at all like an episode of Game of Thrones, then good job — you read the title of the article and saw where I was going with this. But we’re not talking about Game of Thrones at all here; we’re talking about Adventure Time, Pendleton Ward’s hit award-winning television program.
Debuting in a new time slot with the double-sized episode “Wake Up/Escape from the Citadel,” Adventure Time fans were treated to some major developments within the timeline of the show. We not only met Finn’s father Martin, apparently a criminal, but we also witnessed the death of Prismo at the hands of the Lich and the loss of Finn’s arm as a result of his father’s continued negligence. Prismo’s death was sad and gruesome, though not all that outside of what you’d expect to see on the program; Finn’s dismemberment, however, was unlike anything we’d seen on the show — a dark and violent moment that was as visually engaging as it was conceptually sickening. It seemed like an homage to the finale of Akira, but at least Akira had an R-Rating slapped on the film.
I’s not unheard of for this show to throw a curve ball at it’s viewers and get weird. I know that. But man, what a somber way to start this new season off. Even Shelby cried. Check, please!
And I’d also point out that what immediately followed this was an episode of Regular Show where the gang re-formed Mordecai and the Rigby’s and sang a song about how they wish they had air conditioning. It was quite jarring, to say the least.
However, what’s most important to realize about Adventure Time’s rather brutal premiere is that this is very much something the show has earned. And, all things considered, it was pretty much the best way the premiere could’ve gone.
Over time, Adventure Time has built itself quite an incredible mythology. For the most part the show remains accessible to anyone who might just casually tune in, as long as you’re ready for a particular brand of humor, but it has slowly instilled a sense of continuity between the episodes. It never lost the ability to be taken in random bite sizes, but it began to reward those who care. When you first learned the truth about the Ice King, for example, it was pretty mind-blowing to see how this bit of knowledge impacted other characters in how they treated him; it was a complete reinvention of the show’s classic villain, and it’s been one of the most earnest revisions since. And we began to notice that as other bits and pieces were thrown out there — Finn’s fear of water, the ghost in the mansion, Marcy’s fries — the show began to steadily create an actual form of always accessible canon.
As such, the deeper you get into the show, the more of a rabbit hole you find. The show has an impressive set of writers and lead animators, all of whom clearly have input into how they design their particular episodes (Natasha Allegri’s episodes stood out, for example) as well as the various guest creators who come on (“A Glitch is a Glitch”) to mess up the status quo, but all of it remains focused somehow. An episode of Adventure Time may come along that doesn’t progress the overarching character narrative, but it’ll always give you little glimpses into things you may not have considered about a particular character. The amount of theories that spin out of any one Adventure Time episode is on par with that of television’s most popular adult-oriented dramas, and the insane theories make those surrounding True Detective look like child’s play.
Continued belowSo, for people that have latched onto the show, seeing Finn lose an arm is surprising — but also, in a weird way, satisfying. The show has spent a good deal of time teasing the idea that Finn would lose an arm, although the general implication was that he might just generally be into it, choosing to upgrade. It was omni-present, though; he lacked an arm in an alternate dimension, his past-self was missing an arm and his future-self usually comes adorned with some kind of special arm, whether it be of pillows or some kind of mechanical device. We’ve seen it so many times in the show that while, yes, you can’t help but feel some pain for this poor character, a character who is a child, but it feels like a symbol of the show’s growth. Finn’s loss is tragic, but it’s also something he’s been working towards in a weird way. He kind of earned it.
Finn was always going to a lose his arm. We were always inevitably going to reach this point. But now we have, and it’s a testament to the show’s world-building and character development that we can arrive here at all, and for such a failure to still feel almost triumphant.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Taking myself out of the equation, removing the aspect of me that is an unapologetic fan of Adventure Time, I do sort of question who this show is for now. Adventure Time is certainly one of the most popular programs of its kind currently on television, but it definitely has a massive cult following with an older internet-accessing audience. You can obviously see its appeal with the target audience of kids, and kids certainly eat up the show and all the merchandising that spills out of it, but an episode like tonight’s does make you wonder if Adventure Time really is still for them? Wouldn’t this sort of thing upset or even frighten certain age brackets?
After all, this was probably the most mature episode of the show to date. The themes in it was clearly aimed towards an adult understanding of the consequences and the ability to process death and loss and abandonment with a more developed mind. Finn’s relationship with his father is in an incredibly dismal place, as not only does he have to deal with the fact that a villain is his father, someone who abandoned him for no reason, but Martin caused Finn to lose an arm when all Finn wanted was someone to care about him — this is Martin’s fault. The show threw a lot at the audience last night and, generally speaking, you just don’t see on a lot of kid’s programming anymore; most great tragedies on television geared for younger audiences are tempered with at least a somewhat positive finale. Adventure Time was just content at ending on a low note, like Empire Strikes Back or… well, Game of Thrones.
Really, if George RR Martin wrote a guest episode of Adventure Time, you’d almost expect it to end like this, right? (Oh, who am I kidding. Martin would’ve killed Jake.)
And not only that, but if this was your first time with the show, man, were you at a loss. Earlier I praised the show’s accessibility and there’s still plenty to understand in terms of context clues, but all of the impact would be entirely lost. This isn’t like “All the Little People,” an episode that can show an outsider how fun and weird the show can be while also rewarding the avid fans.
What I would perhaps suggest, though, is that Adventure Time has simply reached the point where its intended audience is really that obvious: it’s a show for everyone.
It’s not something we have a lot of anymore, but Adventure Time is all-ages television. The idea of all-ages programming usually is defined by programming for children, but that’s pretty much a misnomer. No, Adventure Time is a show that is made to be consumed by children primarily, but adults as well; it’s sort of under the premise that, well, if we’re going to make a show for children, there parents should want to watch it too, right? And it just so happens that by walking that balance, the show has created something that can be celebrated by people of all ages.
Continued belowAnd Adventure Time is certainly conscious of its younger audience. Where it excels, though, is that it doesn’t speak down to them; it never has. The show has always delivered episodes that could be perceived as challenging for a younger audience (“Lemonhope”) or with references that would go over their heads (“What Was Missing”), but the best episodes are the one with strong moral centers that are perfect for younger audiences and heartwarming for adults (“Thank You”).
This show is a challenging program. It really is; for both its older audience and its younger one, albeit on different levels. But that’s what makes it great, what makes it so unique and noteworthy.
So when we start a season premiere with death and severed limbs and forces of evil and abandonment… Well, it’s still something to be excited about. The show never forgets this, and neither should we, that even in the darkest of times there is still room for flowers to bloom.
Adventure Time ventured into newer, stranger, weirder, darker territory last night, but I imagine it’s for the best. It’s not all doom and gloom, of course; the premiere had some funny moments, as it always does, and the animation of the show continues to improve. The influences of the animators are peeking in more and more and the ever-present element of limitless imagination is still easily visible in both episodes that speak volumes to the highs we might see this season. Plus, the Baby Lich thing is pretty adorable.
But now, with its sixth season, Adventure Time has grown up a bit, and that’s a good thing. The four-year old program is ready to try something different, to challenge its audience — all of its audience — with something new.
I’m incredibly excited for where it’s going to go next.
