Holly Jolly Secrets Part II

"Holly Jolly Secrets Part II" is the twentieth episode and the second part of the holiday special in the third season of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
In the conclusion, the Ice King pulls out all stops to prevent Finn and Jake from discovering his most shocking secret....

Plot
The scene opens up with Jake screaming (from the finale of the previous episode) but he was actually singing "Alouette". Jake is wearing a yarmulke and scarf. Then they decide to watch the Ice King's secret video, thinking that it might show his evil plans. The first video reveals that his life is stagnating, so he weeps, and BMO discovers a "code" in the pattern of his tears. Through a strange, random process, the code forms a picture of Gunter. The second video is of him recording the Wildberry Princess while in a cage in his palace. He was asking Wildberry how she felt about an event, and it turns out that Ice King was talking about why Gunter was standing in the corner (Gunter tried to eat the Ice King's socks).

In the Ice King's attempt to stop Finn and Jake from watching his secret tapes, he makes an army of snowmen. The Ice King breaks into the Tree Fort through the chimney. In the process, his blue robes become covered in soot, so he takes them off and covers himself with Finn and Jake's red tablecloth. Once inside, the Ice King lets the snowmen in through the front door. Finn and Jake rush to finish watching the videos and determine the Ice King's evil secrets. The snowmen attack, but they are easily defeated, and BMO begins to play the final tape.

The third tape reveals that a long time ago (possibly prior to the Mushroom War), the Ice King was a human named Simon Petrikov, who had a fiancée named Betty. He was an antiquarian, and purchased a strange crown from a dock worker in Scandinavia. He took the crown home to show Betty, and when he put the crown on his head for a laugh, he started to see visions and hallucinations. He fought with them, shouted at them before realizing it was the crown sending the visions into his head. He quickly took it off after his realization, he had no recollection of his actions, but what transpired during that time eventually caused Betty to leave him (Simon noted, after taking off the crown, she was "Looking at me with such contempt.") As the video progresses, Simon begins to look more and more like the Ice King as we know him. His skin takes on a blue tint, his hair begins turning white, his nose starts to be pointy and a beard slowly appears on his face. He is increasingly distraught about the loss of Betty, his "princess", and his actions while under the influence of the crown. In the background of the video, we see an airplane flying over modern buildings, evidence of his life before the Mushroom War. Toward the end of the video, the city in the background was covered in snow. this may have been the beginning of the Mushroom War, as the broken down subway in Mortal Folly was littered with dead bodies that were supposedly they were "bundled up for the winter." Simon is aware that he is losing his mind, yet is unable to control it. In the end, he is accepting of his fate, and he begs for forgiveness for his actions to anyone who might come across his tapes.

When the video ends, it is revealed that the Ice King wasn't afraid of them finding out that he was once a human, rather, he was merely ashamed of having once worn glasses. This shows us he has completely lost and forgotten any trace of his human, past-self, yet his desire to have his beloved Betty back lives on in his obsession with capturing Princesses.

Finn and Jake feel "a fleeting moment of empathy for the biggest weirdo in Ooo," and from that time on they gather together once every year and wear Christmas sweaters and watch videos.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * BMO
 * Ice King

Minor characters

 * Snow Men
 * Betty (Mentioned and shown in picture.)
 * Wildberry Princess
 * Skunk
 * Gunter

Christmas party participants

 * Shelby
 * Princess Bubblegum
 * Peppermint Butler
 * Lady Rainicorn
 * Marceline
 * Small Snow Golem
 * Mini Snow Golem
 * Candy Cane Guy
 * Lumpy Space Princess
 * Booger
 * Gumdrop Lass 2
 * Cinnamon Bun
 * Royal Tart Toter
 * Punchy
 * Phil
 * Tree Trunks
 * Pig
 * Two-Headed Duck

Songs

 * Alouette
 * Fry Song

Trivia

 * This episode aired as part of a two-part Holiday Season Special.
 * This is the only episode with a title card remotely similar to its predecessor. Part I's title card had Finn, Jake, and BMO setting up various traps by a fireplace. Part II had Ice King and several of his penguins successfully sneaking in through the fireplace, although Ice King is covered with traps.
 * Though the title card depicts penguins in the house, only Snow Men are inside in the episode.
 * Despite having ice powers and being able to form ice/snow creatures from purely his magic, he chose not to use it, and instead brings them to life using magic after he had built them one by one.
 * In the scene where BMO tries to break the code, there is a pop-up card indicating what viewers are currently watching. It's not from Cartoon Network's control room but is a part of the episode. This is probably a joke on the fact that during this scene, the Ice King can be heard crying and nothing particularly funny or interesting is happening (A departure to what you normally find on Cartoon Network).
 * Simon said his body temperature was 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). This means he was about 7 degrees Celsius or 13 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, at the time.
 * The picture of Simon and Betty has an unknown cryptid figure in the background.
 * When the Ice King first sees Finn and Jake from the side and in Christmas sweaters, Finn is left of Jake. But when the camera views Finn and Jake from the front after Ice King shapes his first Snow Man, the two have swapped places.
 * Simon said that he bought the crown, but in "What Have You Done?" Ice King said he made the crown with gems he stole
 * Phil is the only one who isn't wearing a sweater but he is wearing decorative underwear and a scarf.
 * BMO states that the third tape was the final one but in the previous episode there are six tapes in the case.

Cultural references

 * The tale of Ice King is similar to that of Gollum of J.R.R. Tolkien's works: a humanoid being who gains power by way of a precious artifact but becomes twisted in mind and body into an immortal yet strange state. There is also some similarity to the depiction of Batman villain Mr. Freeze, particularly as depicted by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini in Batman: The Animated Series episode "Heart of Ice".
 * Ice King resembles Santa Claus a couple of times, first by having a big white beard, then coming down/through the chimney to get in the house, wearing a red tablecloth as clothes, and later having a big red nose from an apple. Also, the Ice King comments to the Snow Man with the apple on its face refer to the Christmas tale "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer".
 * The snowmen explore the kitchen and become fascinated by the icebox, and one uses an apple from a bowl of fruit as its nose; these are likely in reference to classic Christmas short "The Snowman" in which the titular character behaves similarly.
 * When the old Tart Toter turns his head around and clings to the ceiling, it is a reference to a scene in the movie Trainspotting.
 * When the Ice King breaks through the chimney, a painting in the background appears to show a person in a Star Trek outfit.

Episode connections

 * This is the first episode where a song was sung, for the second time in another episode. The Ice King is seen singing the "Fry Song", sung previously in the episode "It Came from the Nightosphere" by Marceline.
 * The hallucinations and visions caused by the crown may be the "Stanky Old Wizard Eyes" the Ice King spoke about in "Mortal Recoil."
 * When Jake says "Drama bomb!" it is a reference to when Lumpy Space Princess says it in "It Came from the Nightosphere."
 * Natasha Allegri stated that the reason Marceline was outside the window was that it was supposed to be a reference to her very first on-screen appearance in "Evicted!".
 * This is the second time that an ice creature attacked the Ice King. The first one being in, "What is Life?"

Storyline analysis

 * In the tapes, a Scientific Parasite can be seen in Simon's chest pocket on his suit jacket. This implies that he was an intellectual being, which makes sense, since he was an antiquarian. This is also an indication that either: Scientific Parasites existed before the Mushroom War, or that Simon Petrikov did in fact live in the Land of Ooo.
 * The Ice King's Crown was revealed to give ice powers in exchange for your sanity in this episode, though Jake has been seen wearing it in "Thank You", and Cake has been seen wearing the Ice Queen's Tiara (and using it) in "Fionna and Cake". But Jake and Cake are magic; therefore, they are not affected by the crown's powers, and Cake doesn't really exist.
 * It is also stated by Fionna when Cake wears the Ice Queen's crown that Cake may "Catch her crazy" by wearing the crown. The fact that the Ice King wrote this story means that he may be aware on some level of the crown's mind changing powers.

Errors

 * In the episode "Too Young", Finn states he doesn't bathe, but in Holly Jolly Secrets, BMO has an alarm saying "Finn's Bath Time."
 * Ice King takes off his robe because it's dirty, and his beard is also dirty, but in the next scene, it is spotless.
 * In the episode "What Have You Done?" Ice King states that he 'made the crown with the magic he stole.' but in this episode, it is revealed that he found the crown.