Original Airdate: November 21, 2011
Written & Storyboarded by: Adam Muto & Rebecca Sugar
The title card concept originates from an actual drawing created by fourteen-year-old (at the time of its debut, that is) Gunnar Gilmore, as Pen Ward himself loved the drawing so much that he wanted an entire episode based around the character Me-Mow. It’s an ambitious concept, but the idea of Jake being pitted against some cat seems especially ludicrous and fanfiction-y for the Adventure Time world. However, the episode is taken in a much, much different direction that actually makes for a genuinely compelling plot.
The character of Me-Mow is actually what I consider to be a more engaging version of the Cute King. Me-Mow is legitimately cute, with her voice be provided by Kyla Rae Kowalewski (also the voice of Anais on The Amazing World of Gumball). In addition to being cute, Me-Mow is a very competent villain, and one that is never downplayed for her size or charm. The show doesn’t pull some manipulative trick by making Me-Mow’s cuteness her strongest weapon, but instead creates a villain that’s able to be so effective as an opponent because of her small size. The scene where she attacks Finn builds a great deal of tension and actually makes some valid points. Though her dagger isn’t able to make very effective dents, it’s pretty evident that she could pretty much just slice Finn’s eyeballs at any point and render him blind. It’s rare that you actually get to see tiny enemies in any animated series that aren’t purely comedic, so I’m glad Adam and Rebecca were so graceful not to fall into any generic cliches.
I mentioned how sympathetic Jake’s character was in No One Can Hear You, and this one really continues the trend of gut-wrenching Jake-centric episodes. It’s incredibly hard to watch the pain he endures in this episode, from the various times he’s brutally injected with poison to all of the psychological burdens he’s probably bearing. You gotta wonder what it’s like from his perspective. There’s points where he literally considers killing Wildberry Princess, and it sounds fucked up, but wouldn’t that thought cross your mind at least once if you were in that position? It’s obviously morally wrong, but Jake simply has his hands tied and there’s not much that he can do to save himself besides the only known solution in front of him. It’s a dark road for the series to cross, but one that doesn’t make Jake seem like he’s bordering psychosis or generally unlikable in the slightest bit. Of course, it’s handled with humor as well. Jake’s “maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be killed!” gets a big laugh out of me, and all of his attempts to get Me-Mow out of his nose, in addition to anytime he tries to act completely normal around Finn and WBP, are really amusing.
Finn’s sort of an idiot in this episode, but again, I don’t think the writers go too far with his stupidity that it’s completely unbelievable or irritating. His side of the story is still handled with much humor and likability too; I’ll never understand why the hell he started shouting “meow” when Jake shushed him, but it’s something only Finn would do, and it’s just silly enough that it works for me. It’s also a sweet one for him too: not only does he share a moment of emotional turmoil towards the end when he threatens to kill Me-Mow for what she’s done and watch his best friend nearly die, but there’s the scene where he sings his mother’s lullaby (written by Rebecca, of course!) that she used to sing to Finn and Jake , and maybe even Jermaine, when they were babies. It’s a brief, out-of-nowhere bit of poignancy that really builds a connection we rarely ever see, that being between Finn and Margaret, and just adds a bit of quiet enlightenment to and otherwise suspenseful episode.
And yes, this one really makes use of the element of suspense. It’s such a small-scale episode, but the many ways we empathize with Jake and are so concerned for his well-being, in addition to the anticipation in regards to whether or not his plans will work out, really kept me at the edge of my seat the first time I saw it. In fact, I’m still able to be fully enthralled by the events of this episode despite knowing the actual outcome of the situation. The resolution I think is really clever, and something I actually didn’t think of once during the duration of the episode. My reaction was pretty much the same as Finn and Jake’s when Jake increased the size of his liver. Biiiiig liver, YEAH!
If there’s one minor criticism I have, it’s that the title is a bit misleading. The original title for this episode was An Assassin in Jake’s Nose, which is much more fitting in my opinion. There’s very little of Jake and Me-Mow facing off, in fact, Finn actually engages in combat with her a lot more. Like I said, though, the contents of the episode are better than what the title suggests, I just wish it was slightly more fitting with the tone and plot of the episode.
Besides that slight nitpick, I do really enjoy this one. The stakes feel really high, and even if we know that Jake isn’t going to legitimately die, it still feels like a very real conflict that’s engaging from beginning to end. There’s a couple of nice gags throughout the episode, like I really enjoy the fact that the people of Wildberry Kingdom eat meat for some reason. I guess they can’t eat berries or fruit, so they must be pretty extreme carnivores in that regard. The backgrounds from Ghostshrimp are really nice in this one; I love that it’s very similar to the setting of the Treehouse, but adds a bit of a unique spin with the many layers of tree branches and berries that gives the Wildberry Kingdom its own separate feel to it. There’s a lot of nice character moments, between Jake’s anxiety of choosing between murder and being murdered, and Finn’s obliviousness, but all-around devotion to his friend. Definitely another high-point in an already above average season.
And if you think it takes Susan Strong a long time to return, let’s just wait and see how many episodes it takes Me-Mow to come back. I’ll start counting now.
Adventure Time Reviewed 