Original Airdate: August 22, 2011
Written & Storyboarded by: Somilay Xayaphone & Kent Osborne
Still is simply one of the funniest developmental Ice King episodes of all time. I can’t think of a single episode I’ve rewatched up to the point that I’ve laughed at as much as this one. There’s a lot of great one liners, gags, character interactions, and just a really hilarious story that carries through till the very end.
It’s funny because this episode could’ve easily just worked as a sequel to the ending of Hitman, and it fits with the general tone of continuing to experiment with Ice King’s admiration of Finn and Jake. It’s funny because, while he’s completely insane and actually comes off as somewhat threatening for freezing F&J, he shows that he legitimately has general knowledge about the duo’s interests and aspirations, including Finn’s love of meatloaf (a recurring character trait of his) and Jake’s incapability to express his emotions genuinely. It actually makes him more sympathetic because, while he has no idea how to be a true friend to anyone, he actually does truly care about Finn and Jake and has more interest in their lives than they would ever have about his. Even though Jake notes that the IK has tried to kill them “like, four times” but of course, that’s only because the two boys are constantly “princess blocking” him. Any guy would do the same!
A good majority of the episode, however, is just the very quirky interactions between the Ice King and the boys that takes place exclusively in the tree house. From this point, it’s a pure romp of nonstop laughs. Ice King dressing like Finn and pretending to be him is both really creepy (imagine if you were witnessing him doing this in real life) and truly hilarious. Actually, creepy and funny are themes mixed quite a bit in this episode. I’m not sure if the IK taking pictures of his penguins’ body parts is more uncomfortable or really funny, but maybe I just have to settle for both.
I really love any episode of any animated series that deals with general annoyance with another character, and Jake’s reaction to the Ice King throughout the episode is just priceless. John DiMaggio does a really standout job of giving Jake a very angry yet deadpan tone, and the drawings coincide perfectly with some really humorous facial expressions. I was literally gasping for air laughing at the breakfast scene: “Well, how ’bout I make us some omelettes?” “That sounds pretty good, actually.” “I’m gonna put my foot in it!”
The other chunk of the episode is Finn trying to connect with an astral beast, which later turns out to be his spirit animal, a butterfly. It’s equally as amusing as the main plot to watch Finn continually shout in an artistically pleasing setting about channeling this beast through his mind. It’s also somewhat of a star episode for Gunther, who was called to “act like a cat” in the outline of this episode (Somvilay even drew him as a cat in the early storyboards). It’s just really cute watching him roam around and play with his surroundings, though I still never know how to feel about the blatant scene where he’s dry humping Jake’s face. The staff jokes about this in the commentary by saying “Gunther’s got some really great dance moves.” Y’all know what you did!!
The episode ends on a perfect note as well. Ice King learns a thing or two about what being a true friend means and the fact that he isn’t going to get anywhere by forcing his two buddies to love him. Considering he never pulls a stunt like this again, I really think Ice King begins to grasp a bit of an understanding of how friendships and love work, and the idea that his misconception is causing him more bad than good. It’s a bit of a crucial moment because of how difficult it is to get through to Ice King. He’s certainly trying to improve his life on one way or another and, despite his craziness, he is learning to be just a smidge more sane day by day. Even though he ruins it in the end by purchasing the wrong unfreezing potion. I really wonder how the three of them got out of this pickle.
My only lingering question from this episode: where is BMO? It seems like a bit of a contrivance that he’s just completely missing because, obviously if he was there, this plot wouldn’t hold much water. I’m just gonna go with the excuse that he was at soccer practice or something, and later came back to unfreeze his friends.
Aside from that minor detail though, this episode cracks me up. It’s continuously funny from beginning to end, and I really just love the consistent characterization of Ice King throughout this season. Season three really is Ice King’s star season of the show, putting him in many of the series’ funniest episodes, as well as some of the most poignant, and those types of episode would only increase in quality from hereon in.
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