James (episode)

Synopsis
Finn and Jake suspect Princess Bubblegum's new assistant James is a saboteur ruining an expedition into dangerous territory.

Plot
The scene opens with Finn looking for Jake and finds him in a storage room. He asks Jake if he is still thinking about James then says Princess Bubblegum is waiting for them. Jake says that he isn't ready but Finn suggests him to just plays it off with a normal face. Jake tries to, but ends up crying with Finn. They go out to the balcony where Princess Bubblegum announces she will begin the ceremony.

Then the episode flashes back to a week before, where Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum and James are heading towards a pit in the Desert of Wonder, on a mission to collect samples to see if the area can be colonized. Jake is bummed since he wanted to explore all the great sights they were passing, so when PB asks James about the fuel, he says they have enough to go sight-seeing after they finish collecting samples, to Finn and Jake's delight. When they arrive at the pit, James reports high levels of radiation and suggests that everyone puts on their radiation suits. After landing, PB tells them to collect any surface samples they can. She then picks up a rock which uncovers a hole filled with goo. She picks up a nearby stick and pokes the goo, revealing it to belong to one of the goo monsters from "Simon and Marcy", who appear to have buried themselves.

Princess Bubblegum, Finn, Jake, and James all rush back into their mode of transportation for safety. The Goo Monsters trap them inside the ship by breaking off it's legs and and crowding around the sides. PB asks Finn if he can think of a plan for escape he suggest they radio for help. After she explains that the radio is broken James offers to fix it with help from his "lucky coin". Jake exclaims that James isn't helping but PB assures him that James is very resourceful. While Jame is fixing the radio, Finn, Jake and PB head to the inventory room. Jake finds a box of flares right before James notifies the three that he fixed the radio. PB goes to check on the radio and tells that it's still not working. Finn checks the radio's inside and finds that its wires have been cut but James says that it was working a while ago and tested it himself. Finn tells James to pass him the flares, but when he opened the container, the flares were gone. Distraught, Jake tells Finn and PB to talk to him in the other room. Jake claims that James is a saboteur but PB denies it before finding that James is with them, asking what they were talking about. Finn gets an idea and gets PB and James to make a diversion while he and Jake look for a safe path out the place. Out of nowhere, somebody fired the missing flares which attracts the monsters towards their ship. Jake is terrified, mentioning Lady Rainicorn and their five kids thinking he'd outlive atleast one of them. James hands his lucky coin to Jake to help him calm down. Finn asked James if he shot the flares but PB says that they don't have time to blame each other. Finn tells his last plan, to distract the monsters while the others run to safety but PB knocks him and Jake out with a wrench. Finn wakes up for a while, seeing James hand over a part of him to PB then falls unconscious again. He wakes up again to see Jake and himself being carried by PB to safety while James distracts the monsters shortly before being devoured. After they got away, PB explains to Finn that she was the one who sabotaged their escaped plans. She explains she calculated every chance of escape plans they had and none of them were going to work so she had James do Finn's last escape plan. Saddened, Finn asked why PB didn't let him. PB explained that she could clone another James using the candy part from James.

Back to the present, PB tells the candy citizens of James heroism and honored him with the new James she made then gave him an award for bravery. Finn is unsure whether it was right or wrong before Jake gave the new James the lucky coin.

The scene goes to the pit, where the original James, now zombified,  is seen climbing up and is seemingly leading the goo monsters out of the hole.

Major Characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Princess Bubblegum
 * James

Minor Characters

 * Snail
 * Goo Monsters
 * Banana Guards
 * Candy People

Mentioned

 * Lady Rainicorn
 * Jake and Lady's offspring
 * Charlie
 * T.V.
 * Viola
 * Kim Kil Whan
 * Jake Jr.

Trivia

 * This episode takes place in a previously unmentioned area of Ooo, the Desert of Wonder, which may be located in the Desert Lands. It seems to contain an assortment of objects and buildings dating from before the Mushroom War. Princess Bubblegum says that she wants to "start colonizing this area by the end of the year" indicating it is unclaimed by any other Kingdom.
 * James' lucky coin features an engraving of Princess Bubblegum and reads "Science is A-Ok" on one side, and an engraving of the Candy Kingdom on the reverse side.
 * The ship's blast door countdown timer also happens to be counting down to the end of the episode. When the timer first appears, it reads "6:45" when there are exactly 6 minutes and 45 seconds left in the episode.
 * The idea that James could fix the radio using a penny is similar to the old idea where people would replace fusebox fuses with coins to restore power when nothing else was available.

Cultural references

 * Princess Bubblegum accidentally discovering a hidden threat, and then the group being surrounded by said threat is likely a reference to the 1979 movie .
 * James is wearing a red radiation suit, which is likely a reference to in . They are known for being characters that will die soon after being introduced.
 * The way Princess Bubblegum's Tripod descends the hole and lands may be a nod to the classic video game .

Episode connections

 * The Goo Monsters make another appearance, their first since "Simon & Marcy."
 * When PB states that the Goo Monsters are "from another time" the exact time would be 996 years ago.
 * Princess Bubblegum didn't trust Finn's plans and knew it will fail as seen in "Too Old."
 * Finn cries after James' death, which supports his claim in "Dad's Dungeon" that he only cries when people die.
 * Princess Bubblegum starts speaking in German again as seen in "What Have You Done?" and in "Frost & Fire."

Errors

 * At 2:54 and 2:55 at the split second before Finn turned into Princess Bubblegum the ear holes in his suit distorted making a little wiggle.
 * When Finn and Jake were running up to James, their arms were short and Finn looked pretty small.