‘Adventure Time’s Finale Is Just As Daringly Delicate as Its Legacy

The finale of Adventure Time should feel like a sad occasion. It’s rare for a kids’ show to transcend the limits of children’s programming and become part of mainstream pop culture. It’s even rarer for one to be consistently as analyzed and praised as this one always was. Over 10 seasons, Adventure Time introduced the world to a myriad of surprisingly deep characters, took viewers on hundreds of crazy adventures, and inadvertently changed the world of animation in the process. Its loss will be felt. But despite all of that, Adventure Time‘s super-powered hour-long final episode never feels like a funeral… It’s a celebration.

That’s especially difficult to pull off considering where the series left off earlier this spring. “Come Along with Me” starts on the edge of war as our favorite scientifically-focused ruler Princess Bubblegum prepares to face off against her Uncle Gumbald. Despite all of its silly puns and love of candy people, Adventure Time has always had disturbingly adult themes running through its core. The series’ balance between being cartoonishly sweet and a hauntingly realistic is pushed to its limits as these two angry rulers prepare to battle, even bleeding into how this episode is described. At one point sentient gaming device Beemo describes the war by saying, “She had friends and he had friends, so they decided to have a bad fight.” The description initially feels like a comically flippant explanation for the complexities of war, but the longer we watch these characters and the more they model a real war, the more that simple statement resonates. Adventure Time has always had a knack for boiling down the darkest and most intense human experiences into easy-to-understand lessons.

That balance between childlike and mature is also reflected in the main character, Finn. For years we’ve known Finn as a hero who is willing to sacrifice anything to jump into battle, but over the past few seasons he’s genuinely matured. He’s been forced to confront his dad, gone head-to-head with his doppelgänger, lost an arm, and struggled through a break up. This is a Finn who no longer sees fighting as the only option. In this adventure series’ final moments, Finn is the one begging Princess Bubblegum for peace, not the other way around.

Some of the best moments of the finale are simultaneously unexpected, yet inevitable: the outcome of Bubblegum’s war; what ultimately drives Princess Bubblegum’s friend Marceline to take a side; the consequences of Finn’s self-sacrificing nature; and his partner Jake’s fear. Even the fact that sometimes villain Lemongrab’s best moment is completely silent seems oddly fitting. Adventure Time has been building up to this moment for almost a decade now. There’s a sense of letting go throughout the special. Sure, show mastermind Pendelton Ward and his incredible team of writers and animators created the epic challenges of this finale, but as it ends its up to the characters they created to steer their own destinies.

“Come Along with Me” certainly has more than its fair share of thrilling moments. The episode smartly plays off its status as a finale, dangling the possibility that your favorite characters may very well die by the end of this battle. But there’s also an undeniable sweetness to its conclusion.

Adventure Time has always been a show that argued we’re only at our best when we’re together. Sometimes it made that argument through heart-breaking feuds between friends. Sometimes it made it through unusual relationships with enemies. But no matter what monsters are faced externally or internally, this series has always delicately preached its message that we are stronger together. Adventure Time‘s finale is the epic actualization of that long-whispered message. There’s something both radical and comforting about seeing it unfold.

Adventure Time’s final episode premieres on Cartoon Network, Monday, September 3 ay 6 p.m. (ET/PT).

Where to stream Adventure Time