“Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake” just finished airing on MAX, and there is a lot going on in this spinoff series. Series creator Adam Muto took everything fans loved about “Adventure Time” and built upon it. In a way, kids who grew up watching the series can now watch the series grow up with them.
WARNING: There are light spoilers down below, read at your own risk!
“Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake” starts off with a more modern version of the titular characters. Fionna (Madeleinne Martin) is a broke twenty-something trying to keep a job and pay rent. Cake (Roz Ryan) is just a regular housecat and the once gender swapped magical citizens are now regular people. Fionna has dreams of living a more magical life, tired of the boring world she lives in. Yet when Cake starts acting crazy, Fionna finds herself on the adventure of a lifetime.
Meanwhile in the Land of Ooo we are familiar with, Simon Petrikov (Tom Kenny) is having an existential crisis. He is no longer the crazed and magical Ice King, but being a 20th century man in the future doesn’t feel right to him. At the end of the day, he still wants to find the love of his life, before The Great Mushroom War, Betty (Felicia Day). After going on an adventure with a grown up Finn (Jeremy Shada), Simon decides to make a final attempt to see Betty.
Simon’s ritual goes wrong and the back of his head turns into a portal that pulls Fionna and Cake into the Land of Ooo. This causes Prismo (Sean Rohani) to get involved, and we learn the truth behind Fionna and Cake’s creation. We thought Fionna and Cake were just a gender swapped fanfiction created by the Ice King, but that’s not the whole truth. Prismo created Fionna and Cake’s universe for himself and hid their world in the Ice King’s mind. This is where the real story begins as Fionna and Cake’s universe was unauthorized.
Now Fionna, Cake, and Simon must search for a new Ice Crown across the multiverse, while avoiding Scarab (Kayleigh McKee). With the Ice Crown they can turn Simon back into Ice King and keep Fionna’s world safe. Along the journey we are taken to “Farmworld,” the world that came from Finn’s wish that the Litch never existed. We also see a world where Marceline was never found by Simon and was instead raised by The Vampire King.
More Mature Than the Original Series
“Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake” is definitely not meant for young kids. There’s mild swearing, alcohol use, and brief moments of nudity. Nothing too unsavory, but at one point Fionna pulls down her pants in a fit of defiance, showing her underwear. We also see Simon’s naked butt as he’s brought into Prismo’s Time Room from the shower. While all that earned a TV-14 rating for the show, the series also tackles some heavy topics.
One of the major themes of this series is centered around growth. Fionna grows from someone who wants their world to change, into someone who wants their world to exits just the way it is. Simon grows from someone obsessed with the past into someone who lives in the present.
There’s also a lot of easter eggs and call backs to the original series. The few moments we have of “Adventure Time” main characters are mostly flashbacks. We do get to see two versions of adult Finn and he is jacked, he also rocks one hell of a majestic beard. Jake sadly is no longer with Finn during this time period, Finn has a giant tribute tattoo on his chest. We do get to see Finn hanging out with one of Jake’s children, T.V..
Viewers are treated to a scene of Princess Bubblegum and Marceline getting matching tattoos, so their relationship is going strong. We also get to see a world where the fan favorite couple are bitter enemies fighting to the end. It is interesting to note that the worlds Fionna, Cake, and Simon are visiting has an effect on Fionna’s world. Unlike the original, Fionna & Cake didn’t wait until the end to announce a queer relationship. Gary (Andrew Rannells) and Marshall Lee (Donald Glover) confirmed their relationship midseason.
There’s a reason many fans consider this series one of the best MAX originals to date. The animation is clean, and each episode has you hooked. It has all the elements that made “Adventure Time” such a great show, but made them their own. All in all, this spinoff was a total home run and is a highly recommended watch for all fans of “Adventure Time.” Check out the series on MAX.
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