The Ice King attempts some hostile bonding time.
Finn and Jake wake up frozen, and no, it’s not because of sleep paralysis. Ice King is desperate for their friendship, so he freezes them with Freezing Potion A. Now everyone’s favorite princess-pining stalker finds himself forcing Finn and Jake to bond with him against their will. Now Finn must use his other heightened senses to summon an astral beast.
You know, most writers would reconsider their sanity when writing a summary like the one above, but once you realize you are writing about Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time, it all makes sense. Since the whole Princess Bubblegum-age-change debacle, Ice King has kept his focus on befriending Finn and Jake. This new idea actually fits organically into the development of Ice King’s character. He’s an old man who lives with penguins and as it is revealed in this episode takes artistic pictures of them.
This man is desperate for stable friendships and a support system in his life. And just like any normal geek, Ice King channels his social alienation by cosplaying…as Finn. The transformation sequence will have you begging to watch Sailor Moon. In addition to Ice King’s apparent psychosis, we also see a cuter side of Gunter and his obsession with breaking bottles. Gunter’s adorable fascination with seeing broken glass carries much of the conflict in the episode when Jake must rely on Gunter’s cute OCD in order to obtain Unfreeze Potion A. Ice King scolds his penguin-slash-life-partner constantly and ruins Jake’s plans. Seeing Ice King and Gunter’s weird relationship reminds of Finn and Jake in a weird way.
Ice King and Gunter seem to be the polar opposite of Finn and Jake. Ice King is the socially crippled hermit to Finn’s aggressive butterfly. Jake is the voice of reason to Gunter’s capricious characterization. In this respect, the episode makes the two duos look like each other’s opposites. They have no choice but to oppose each other, even if it does mean that Ice King ends up princess-blocked a lot.
In typical Adventure Time fashion, Finn finally summons the astral beast he spoke about in the beginning of the episode (praise be to Chekhov’s gun!) With the power of a hyper 13-year-old, he summons… butterflies! Seeing Finn swept up in a caravan of insects that do his bidding just brings home the analysis mentioned above. Ice King literally feels the power of insect-beauty when smacked by the butterflies and decides to free Finn and Jake. In his rescue attempt, he ends up frozen as well and Gunter finally gratifies his need to smash things by shattering the potion bottle that could help them. Aren’t sad endings great?
Some stats and info about Adventure Time, “Still”
TV SHOW – Adventure Time
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3 Episode 7
AIRED ON – August 22nd, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Cartoon Network
GENRE – Animated Shows, Comedy
CREATED BY – Pendleton Ward
CAST – John DiMaggio, Jeremy Shada, Tom Kenny, Hynden Walch, Niki Yang, Pendleton Ward, Dee Bradley Baker, Maria Bamford Lumpy Space Princess seduces Finn with her lumps.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.