Okay, let me start out saying that this season, the episodes of Adventure Time have been getting farther and farther out, almost as if the show is growing up, maturing and evolving into its own cult cartoon genre. Even for Adventure Time standards, the later episodes are prettty risque and random. Last week’s episode was titled, “Another 5 More Short Graybles”, 5 Short Graybles episodes are a treat, and takes an episode, divides it into 5 segments on different characters, then matches them up in the end, for the audience to figure out a main theme they all had in common.
The layout of the Graybles episodes are very much a parody of classic children’s shows- picture the old man in a knit sweater rocking in a chair by the fireplace with a book in his hands, and a very soothing reading voice meant to put tots to sleep, accompanied by twinkly dream music. Now imagine that but instead of a fire place, the setting is a bizarre space ship and the old man is replaced by a strange bulbous alien cartoon albeit with the same, creepy calming voice. His name is Cuber and he is the narrator and teller of these 5 Short Graybles on his hologram triangle. In the first grayble, we see Jake Jr., one of Jake’s rainicorn pups, who we last saw as a fast-growing kid a couple episodes ago. Seeing that his offspring is glum, Jake asks her what’s up, to which she gives quite a profound answer, which reflects much of this generation’s preemptive paranoia. ”I’m just thinking about the future I guess. We’re like the leading edge of history, everything ahead of us is totally unknown, and there’s no guarantee that things are going to be alright… It’s exciting but it’s also pretty scary. Ya know?” Deep stuff right there, coming from a colorful blob that has no discerning eyes or distinguishable gender. She is voiced by the talented and hilarious Kristin Schaal of Bob’s Burgers. When Jake and Finn attempt to cheer up Jake Jr., she says, “Guys, I’m basically 30. I’m not a little kid anymore.”
The scene transitions to Princess Bubblegum yelling at Cinnamon Bun cowering in his bed, “You’re not a little kid anymore, Cinnamon Bun, you can’t sleep with a night light anymore. You’re basically 30, it’s bumming everyone out.” Some chaos ensues when his night light is confiscated, and Cinnamon Bun goes mad, trying to find a light, only to scream, “too dark!”, or “too bright!” each time, until he starts a fire in his house.
Next, the Ice King is choosing a movie for him and his penguins to watch for the night. In a tribute to continuity, the burning Candy Kingdom props to Cinnamon Bun, can be seen flickering in the distance through the Ice King’s window. To show the Ice King’s absurdity, he gives the penguins a selection of movies to watch, while he really wants to watch “Basic Mortality”. Instead of just watching the movie, he gives the silent penguins a chance to vote, rigging the choices. Needless to say, he still ends up not watching the movie he wants to.
The proceeding grayble ought to come with a warning. Seriously, I would recommend ear plugs and even sunglasses for the sour, blinding, and screeching animation that comes on with the dreaded Earls of Lemongrab. They are just awful. We see them playing with a miniature porcelain doll version of them, in the Castle Lemongrab. One Earl of Lemongrab has the doll in his hand, shaking it around to dance, however his partner has different plans, and takes the doll and tucks it into bed, screeching that their child wants to sleep. He then turns to retrieve a tiny hat on his finger in a cabinet of tiny hats, and when he turns to put it on the doll, his partner is staring at him defiantly with his horrible blank eyes on his lemon head, dancing the doll about out of bed.
They have a tug o war with the doll, ending up in its demise, shattering its horrible little porcelain lemon head. Enraged and upset, one of the Earls devours his partner whole, swallowing him while he is still alive. It is very disturbing and unpleasant. Cut to scene, and we are saved by the soft spoken Mr. Fox. As Mr. Fox walks into his home, he notices a depression on his bed, and he muses that he can almost see his depression. Suddenly, he sees his subconscious materialize in the bed, then get up and draw him a treasure map. Before the treasure could be marked, Cinnamon Bun comes crashing through, interrupting and dissipating the subconscious of Mr. Fox.
Lastly, we return to the first grayble, where Finn and Jake continue their make believe time machine with a bored Jake Jr. who drinks strawberry juice from a box in a wine glass. Beemo goes off in alarm, flashing red all over the place and blaring an alarm loudly, when he sees Cinnamon Bun creeping in their tree house.
Jake Jr. fixes Beemo, the computer robot shaped like a Game Boy Color, and all calm returns as Jake Jr.gives Cinnamon Bun her dad’s own night light.
With that, Cuber concludes the episode and vaguely mentions a theme. To be honest, it was not clear to me what the theme was, but after re-watching the episode, I went back to how the emphasis of the word depression struck me as strange for a kid’s show, in the grayble with Mr. Fox. Turns out, that is not far from the mark, as other key terms are used throughout the episode, Ice King mentions bargaining, Finn writes acceptance on a paper, Cinnamon Bun says he can’t handle a denial of light, Mr. Fox says, “You see that depression?”, while Lemongrab shows his grief in his actions. The theme, I suppose, was the 5 stages of grief. Strange for a kid’s show, but interesting theme nonetheless!
Subject: Another 5 Short Graybles 
Thu Jun 13, 2013 2:32 pm
