Goliad (episode)

Synopsis
Princess Bubblegum is concerned over her mortality, and reveals her designated successor to Finn and Jake. However, things get out of control when the heir turns against Princess Bubblegum.

Plot
While Finn and Jake are doing activities near the Candy Kingdom, Peppermint Butler informs them that Princess Bubblegum wants to see them. The princess explains that after her brush with death at the hands of the Lich, she realized she can't live forever, so she used science and some of her DNA to create an heir that could live forever. The heir is Goliad, a pink Sphinx with a mound on her forehead and the voice of a young British child. Finn and Jake introduce themselves to Goliad, who takes a liking to them. After Princess Bubblegum plucks one of Finn's hairs, he notices that she's extremely exhausted. She explains that she's been awake for 83 hours straight, teaching Goliad about being a ruler. Finn and Jake volunteer to look after Goliad while the princess rests, and she agrees.

The two friends take the curious sphinx to a preschool, where Finn builds an obstacle course. Jake introduces her to the other children, but is dismayed to find that they are extremely unruly and poorly behaved. Jake is forced to yell at the children to make them stop assaulting him. Later Goliad imitates Jake's harsh discipline, yelling at the children in an attempt at being a leader. Finn rebukes Goliad, and suggests that she use her brain to lead instead of force. Goliad reveals that her mound concealed a third eye, and proceeds to psychically control Finn and the obstacles in the course for a perfect completion. She explains that with her in control, everything would be perfect. Worried about Goliad's behavior, Finn and Jake take her to the princess for help.

Princess Bubblegum tries to teach Goliad that compromise is the best way to rule, citing how a bee and a flower help each other. Goliad counters by explaining that the bee doesn't care if it hurts or kills the flower because the flower is weaker. Goliad states that she is the strongest so she is in control. Princess Bubblegum thinks to herself that her creation has been corrupted and would need to be disassembled and started from scratch, but Goliad reveals she can read minds and begins to destroy the castle. Princess Bubblegum tells Finn and Jake that Goliad is too powerful to be defeated by them. She instructs them to distract Goliad long enough to create another Candy Sphinx to fight back, and that they need to not think about the plan or Goliad will find out.

Finn and Jake confront Goliad but are beaten by her psychic powers. Goliad tries to read Finn's mind, and Finn narrowly avoids revealing the plan by interrupting his memories with nonsense. The new creature; another sphinx with an eagle's head, white feathers, and golden hair; rescues Finn and battles Goliad. Goliad tries to convince her brother, named Stormo, that they should work together, but Stormo refuses by screeching. They engage in a psychic showdown, but with their powers matched the two creatures are eternally locked in a mental stalemate. Princess Bubblegum tells Finn that Stormo was created using DNA from the hair she took earlier, and thus inherited Finn's heroic qualities. That was why he saved Finn instead of controlling them, and why he sacrificed himself to keep Goliad in check for all eternity. Finn realizes that Stormo is like a son to him, and wishes him a Happy Birthday.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Goliad
 * Stormo
 * Princess Bubblegum

Minor characters

 * Candy People
 * Candy Nanny
 * Candy Children
 * Peppermint Butler
 * Cinnamon Bun
 * Chet
 * Marshmallow Kids
 * Mr. Cupcake
 * Sugar Cube
 * Pineapple Guy
 * Chocoberry
 * Donut Guy
 * All Castle Staff
 * Candy Heart
 * Jam Jam
 * Ice Cream Lady
 * Candy Man
 * Ice Cream Guy
 * Gumdrop Lasses
 * Gumdrop Lass 1
 * Gumdrop Lass 2
 * Chocolate Bar Guy
 * Lollipop Girl
 * Mr. Cream Puff
 * Grape Popsicle Guy
 * Mr. Candy Cane
 * Fat Bee
 * Butterfly
 * The Lich (mentioned)
 * Snail

Trivia

 * The ingredients to create Goliad include: various candies, amino acids, "algebra," and Princess Bubblegum's baby tooth (DNA). Cinnamon Bun also fell into the vat, but escaped immediately after.
 * The algebra Princess Bubblegum uses to create Goliad is "A+B=C." What actually gets added to the vat is simple chalk dust.
 * Princess Bubblegum told Finn and Jake that Stormo saved them because he was made of Finn's DNA and inherited Finn's heroic traits. Since Goliad was made out of Princess Bubblegum's DNA, there is some speculation that Princess Bubble can become a megalomaniac like Goliad did.
 * When Princess Bubblegum, Finn, and Jake are walking to the underground lab, fossils of strange animals can be seen.
 * On Princess Bubblegum's chalkboard, she has drawn something similar to Carbon trioxide.
 * Princess Bubblegum did not wear her royal crown for the entire episode. However, it was seen on her in Finn's mind when Goliad was trying to read it.
 * When Finn and Jake enter the preschool, one of the Candy Kids climbed through a window up into the roof.
 * This is the first time Princess Bubblegum wears glasses.
 * In the fight between Finn's mind and Goliad, Princess Bubblegum says, "She's far too powerful," although she did not say that in talking about the plan when Goliad stormed into the castle.
 * In the preschool, when the small marshmallow child is stuffing his mouth with blocks, a doll that looks like Princess Bubblegum can be seen in the cubbyhole on the left of him.
 * The candy people Jake spit up at the end are Chet, a marshmallow kid, and Peppermint Butler.
 * Goliad's fur is the same color as Princess Bublegum's hair and skin color.
 * In the lab where Goliad is introduced, there is a poster on the wall with a similar layout to the Periodic Table, but it is labeled "Fructology."

Episode connections

 * Princess Bubblegum refers to the events of "Mortal Folly" and "Mortal Recoil" in this episode when she talks about her close call with death.
 * When Finn tries to block Goliad out of reading his mind, he distracts himself by remembering Baby Finn singing the Baby Finn Song from "Memory of a Memory."
 * In "Princess Cookie," both Goliad and Stormo are shown as a cameo.

Errors

 * When Princess Bubblegum was recalling the event of taking Finn's strand of hair, she was dressed in her night gown instead of lab coat.
 * Princess Bubblegum's hair tie changes colors from blue to pink.
 * There was no orifice on Stormo's forehead, but when the psychic battle starts the orifice appears.
 * When Goliad was mind controlling several candy people, some of them appear repeatedly.
 * On the August 1, 2012 airing, it ended with the credits from fellow Cartoon Network show MAD.
 * When Princess Bubblegum takes off a bit of Finn's hair, Finn didn't make a slight move, but when the scene reappears later, he does.

Cultural references

 * "Goliad" is the name of a town in Texas where the second battle of the Texas Revolution took place. Tom Herpich thought the town had a cool-sounding name, and he decided to name the character after it.
 * Both Goliad and Stormo resemble sphinxes, creatures that in legend possess attributes of three creatures: the human, the lion and a large bird. While Goliad and Stormo both have lion-like bodies, the bird and humanoid features vary between them.

Videos
Adventure Time - Goliad (short preview)|The short preview. Adventure Time - Goliad (long preview)|The long preview.