But Jake has been the heart of the show for a while now, dating back at least to when he had his puppies (coincidentally, right around the time AT alums were firing up Steven Universe and Over the Garden Wall). This has been less evident in Jake’s development than in Finn’s, because it’s easier to comprehend a teenage boy’s adolescent growth than that of a middle-aged dog. The show’s not the paragon of childlike wonder it was in 2010-certainly not after Finn’s mind and Ooo itself were almost blown to pieces-but it’s managed to balance its joyful gaze with a serene acceptance of its aging process. The fact that even such a realist can change his view on the world stuns Jake into accepting his own mutability, even while he reaffirms his own spirit.įrom the show’s perspective, “Abstract” serves as a self-referential allegory, an acknowledgement that even in this twilight of Adventure Time’s long run, its underlying values and worth remain steady.
Jermaine, rigid landscape painter that he used to be, served as a rock for Jake, someone for whom shapes would seemingly never lose meaning. But when it comes to more meaningful shifts, in personality and preference and the like, Jake wigs out. In the Land of Ooo, weird visuals are just part of life, and Finn and Jake have always accepted that quite willingly-their full-blown embrace of their country’s weirdness is what makes them Ooo’s perfect heroes, unfazed as they are by absurdity that would cow a less spirited person.
But it’s telling that what bothers him isn’t his physical mutation into a scaly, blue, five-eyed beast, but rather his brother Jermaine’s (Tom Scharpling) foray into abstract art. That’s why, at first, it’s sort of shocking to see him have such a difficult time handling change in “Abstract,” the week’s first episode. Of Adventure Time’s main characters, he’s probably been the most affected by time, having seen his five children grow into adults since their birth in Season Five, way back in 2013. The show’s surrealist hipster vibe and visual playfulness still form the core of its value system, but now more than ever, the idea of time seems to bear on the mind of both the show and its characters. In the aftermath of those excellent, weighty miniseries, a return to Adventure Time’s meandering ways can’t help but take on a wiser, more historically inclined eye.
#BEST ADVENTURE TIME EPISODES SERIES#
Perhaps this is because the sheer kinetic energy of Elements and the shattering revelations of Islands were unprecedented bursts of plot development from a series that has built its world at a tortoise’s pace. And this week’s episodes take on that gray-muzzled feel more clearly than the series has before now. The geezer will sometimes work up the verve to join in for a bit, but then it’s back to sage observation.Īdventure Time, drawing ever nearer to its planned 2018 farewell, is the old dog of Cartoon Network. This development is particularly clear when there’s also a younger dog in the house, frolicking like a maniac and getting into shenanigans the way the older dog used to do. They realize the energy of their youth, if it still exists, can no longer be expressed through their less capable bodies, and their decision to spend their time curled up comfortably with their human friends seems almost conscious.
They’re no longer barking at every passing squirrel or sprinting around the yard aimlessly, preferring instead to chill on the couch or lay their drooling head on your lap (gross, but endearing). There’s a certain wisdom that exceptionally playful dogs develop when they age up into the double digits.
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