Entering the runner-up spot in the Top 12 Countdown and look who decided to rear it’s head to the countdown after a year-long hiatus from doing a countdown on this very blog page? It’s been two years since the show ended back in September of 2018 and it decided to come in streaming in the year 2020 as the world continued to be burnt to a crisp just as the world needed it most. Luckily there are two and out of the two episodes that were just released during the summer and fall seasons...we already know where this is going if the title of the post already gives it away. Coming at number two in the Top 12 Countdown of 2020 goes to Adventure Time: Distant Lands with “Obsidian”.
Yeah, Adventure Time...back in the countdown after being a part of the previous countdown back in 2018, by the way, if that list would’ve been completed if it weren’t for the apparent trip for the holidays back in the day, the series finale, “Come Along With Me”, would’ve taken the number one spot. Back here again with Distant Lands for 2020 and of course, there were two episodes that aired this year, being both “BMO” and “Obsidian”, if you already read the title, yeah...it’s the episode that got the runner-up spot in the countdown of 2020. And that happened to be “Obsidian”.
And I gotta say, upon watching it back in November, funny that the episode dropped on the same week the Stakes miniseries in the original series just turned five years old and it featured Marceline as the center of attention. With “Obsidian”...it centered on Marceline but rather than taking out five vampires that decided to rear their ugly heads after getting her vampiric powers out of her system, it’s dealing with a monster that was once kept inside a cave within the Glass Kingdom now ready to wreck shit up but also exploring more into Marceline’s past and answering some questions but also bringing up new ones. Whether being how Bubblegum and Marceline broke up? Or what happened to Marceline’s mom? But...let’s rip the band-off first on one of the moments of the episode and that is right at the final minutes of the episode.
Yeah, so Finn’s all grown-up. Our main boy is now all grown-up and out of an RV and came in a little too late in the whole Glass Kingdom monster issue after patching the situation up. Of course, missing an arm since the end of the original series. Gained a few scars around his body and scored a beard which to me, almost feels like he’s becoming more like his biological father, Martin, minus the round body type. Also, have a tattoo of Jake on his chest which...God, I hope the magic dog isn’t like...being put down in the hands of the creators. Hopefully being with Lady Rainicorn during the time skip after the original series wrapped up and not like killed off. But we have Bronwyn as part of the crew. Of course, Bronwyn being the daughter of Jake’s son Kim Kil Whan and his wife Pat, granddaughter of Jake, and the great-niece of Finn. Grunkle Finn, pretty much the title in Browyn’s perspective. So we know that “BMO” happened to be a prequel because BMO crashed landed on Earth and sees a young Finn and Jake. And with “Obsidian”, we’re far into the future with Finn looks like he’s in his either the mid or late 20s since he was 17 in the show’s final season. But yeah, grown-up Finn...our boy’s an adult now. And...hopefully, the upcoming Finn and Jake episode in Distant Lands, “Together Again”, answers that question. It probably won’t but still.
Although, it isn’t a Marceline episode without some importance in Marceline’s life that made a return, and that is, of course, Simon Petrikov. Pointless. Kinda wish that Simon had more screentime and something to do in the episode. Probably to help Marceline out. I mean, he did back when Marceline was little in the aftermath of the Great Mushroom War, though that was before putting on the crown and becoming the Ice King. Though him dressing up as Ice King and opening up the freezer portion of the fridge, probably thinking about Betty since her sacrifice in the finale and of course, his time as the alter-ego, it’s pretty much fanservice and probably for nostalgic reasons, it was nice to see him again but hoping to have him to do more.
Of course, we got the glass people from the Glass Kingdom as support and probably the center focus when it comes to the episode’s situation with the monster, Larvo, mostly with Glassboy, voiced by Michaela Dietz of Steven Universe fame, when getting Marceline to deal with Larvo after possibly a fuck up that may have doomed the kingdom though that wasn’t his fault. Didn’t even noticed that the situation would go downhill. Enough for See Through Princess to go through a bad time tackling the issue. Mostly due to the constant pressure coming from her aides, the douchenozzles, the perfectionist, thinking that See Through Princess is going to fuck the situation, making her look bad...you know, how the leader who is well respected comes crumbling down in popularity that an incompetent individual enters the stage and gets that throne. Of course, karma decided to hit them where the hitting was due once the Larvo situation was dealt with. Both in the mess and also the whole perfection thing when the glass people reveal their cracks under the wraps.
Of course, the main focus of the episode, Marceline. Of course, Bubblegum also in the limelight because it did focus on their relationship. As you know, in “Come Along With Me”, they shared a kiss, and at the end of the episode, seem to be back together as a couple. Though noting that in a 2014 panel for a book signing, if my memory serves me, that Olivia Olson, the voice of Marceline, that both her character and Bubblegum used to date and the series would show that except that it’s so popular, it aired in countries where that type of stuff isn’t not allowed. Yeah, that’s considered bull-bull on that. But we got an episode on these two. It’s the that the Bubbline shippers were yearning over since the episode titles and synopsis for Distant Lands was released around last year and we got it along with answering some questions there way overdue to be answered.
One being the breakup. Their first break up and look at that, it’s over the same situation with Larvo over at the Glass Kingdom with Marceline ready to use one of her songs to send Larvo to the cave and to be locked up until the current situation takes place. Though finding out that the song that worked to send Larvo into the cave happened to be the breakup song and badmouthing Bubblegum, which lead to the breakup. That and also who would handle the situation more, Bubblegum with technology or Marceline with music? And you already know what the glass people have made their choice. Thus, how they celebrated the exact moment at the start of the episode. And when Marceline was about to play the exact song, she at least warned Bubblegum about what she was about to play with her bass, a shame that it’s gone now, RIP to that bass, and she gives the nod for the go-ahead. Unfortunately, the song wasn’t as effective as the last time. Meaning that it’s Bubblegum’s turn to take the mantle, for the time being, as Marceline heads off to find some inspiration. The inspiration being going back to her childhood home.
Thus, answering the second question for the episode to answer, and that is whatever happened to Marceline’s mother? Thus, entering flashback mode as Marceline strolls through her old neighborhood with her and her mother, now voiced by Erica Luttrell (no longer voiced by Rebecca Sugar), on their way to a certain place deep in the neighborhood, only for the mom to get attacked by a coyote, hit by the mutation from the effects of the war, causing Marceline to go to vampire mode and saves her mom from the coyote, and that was after petting the baby version of the animal. Causing Marceline’s Mom to be shocked over what happened. I mean, it’s not like she’s planning on like...abandoning her only child just because of that moment where you almost lost your leg to become that coyote’s chew toy?
Well, not if her sudden illness has something to say while working on the motorcycle, still somewhat traumatized over what happened with Marceline and the coyote, and still trying to their destination...or rather, just Marceline and head over to the destination, which reveals to be a bomb shelter and lived there for like...years. Thus, decades later to Marceline visiting the shelter and tries to find some inspiration, which leads to the flashing light and reveals to be a tape recording of Marceline’s mom giving her last words to her daughter before she dies of the disease. And although the moment was short-lived before Glassboy came crashing into the shelter, it almost feels like we got some closure when it comes to Marceline’s past, and let’s face it...damn. I mean, yeah, she wasn’t abandoned at a young age, it was mostly because her mom was about to die from illness and wanted her daughter, despite seeing what happened with the coyote, and her daughter to continue living through the post-apocalyptic world. Though despite the episode is only like 45-46 minutes long, I don’t mind. We got some answers but I feel like there’s some, in their opinion, wanted more in the questions bin.
Though Larvo, yeah, while menacing because monster and terrorizing the Glass Kingdom, the backstory when Marceline sings her new song and at the last possible moment and thinking that they’re about to die inside the lion’s den, or rather, the monster’s den, it showcases the backstory with Larvo, as a little monster, suffering through a crack and being separated from his kind and ending up inside the molten lava cave right next to the Glass Kingdom and becoming the threat that it is, pretty much there just to set up the theme, if the theme is already there in the episode, is that who gives a shit about appearance. Hence, Larvo with a crack scar on its head. But also Glassboy with his head with a crack and being treated like a minority because of the crack with See Through Princess protecting him. And the song that Olivia Olsen brought up during the Comic-Con panel, “Monster”, may have helped Larvo with the whole scar on its head, being threatening and something. That and also, of course, nothing wrong with being different, thus with the glass people, after the situation is all cleared up and Marceline, Bubblegum, and Glassboy came out of the cave, with See Through Princess’s three aides getting their comeuppance with the glass citizens revealing their cracks and even calling themselves and revealing their cracks with some lost limbs. Yeah, not so perfect now, huh?
Though I do like the ending of the episode where everyone is celebrating that the whole Larvo mess is dealt with and won’t be bothered in any given time, showing one last flashback of the episode of Marceline performing and Bubblegum in the audience with Marcy throwing the shirt to Bubblegum. Hence, the shirt that Bubblegum got back from the Door Master in “What Was Missing” in which Marceline surprised that Bubblegum kept the shirt long after their breakup and wore it as pajamas. And she did in “Sky Witch”, only to give it away to Maja in exchange for Hambo, Marceline’s old toy growing up that Ash, Marceline’s ex-boyfriend done a douche move in selling it to Maja. I mean, he was a weenus. What do you expect?
But yeah, “Obsidian” from Adventure Time: Distant Lands taking the silver medal in the Top 12 Countdown of the 2020 fandom season. I enjoyed it and while it was more questions than answers with some questions from the original now answered like with the fate of Marceline’s mom and the first breakup of Marceline and Bubblegum, I liked the episode a lot and I guess the hype...doesn’t too much downplay the whole episode as a whole whether being the sad moment of Marceline’s mom’s final message to her daughter being shortlived or that we didn’t get too much of Simon since the end of the original series or rather Larvo’s backstory, it was something and it did not disappoint. The songs were good too in the episode, well despite Glassboy’s...uh...mediocre singing from a walking glass figure though when trying to help Marceline out trying to maintain Larvo, out of the two songs from the songs from the soundtrack, and yes, it’s there on Spotify, if I were to choose between “Monster” or “Wake Up”, while I do enjoy “Monster” and not because it was the first song to be performed during the panel during the summer, but “Wake Up” may have to be the fave on this one. Probably a banger at best when the whole breakup happened during the first time Bubblegum and Marceline deal with Larvo for the Glass Kingdom. And of course, surprising yet nice to see Finn again, despite being short and also seeing him all grown-up though Jake’s fate knowing the tattoo on his chest...God, I hope he’s not dead. “Obsidian” from Adventure Time: Distant Lands taking the runner-up spot in the Top 12 Countdown of 2020. Of course, before going to number one in the countdown on the last day of 2020 (and may possibly be the world if 2020 decided to pull one last bull-bull)...
The honorable mentions if we have gone the Top 20 rather than the Top 12 from 20 to 13. Again, Rick and Morty would’ve started off that countdown. A few Bob’s Burgers and Doctor Who on the list. Steven Universe Future as well and even “BMO” from Distant Lands also on the honorable mentions list. And also, a wild card had to be drawn to the table and I have to go with Amphibia as the honorable mention with “Marcy at the Gates”. But yeah, those are the honorable mentions of the countdown revealed.
And so...here we are...tomorrow...New Year’s Eve...the number one spot in the Top 12 Countdown of 2020! Some of y’all already knew what’s the number one spot is when it comes to the episodes that aired this year alone. But if not, well then...here we go come tomorrow. Number one, the series and episode that receive the gold medal of the year. Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, you know the drill by now for the past eleven days. And of course…
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