Mystery Train

"Mystery Train" is the nineteenth episode of season two of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
On a train ride to Finn's birthday present, he and Jake are thrust into a high-speed who-dun-it where suspects are being murdered one by one.

Plot
While Finn is sleeping, Jake blindfolds Finn with an orange blindfold. When he wakes up, Finn cries out that he is blind. Jake informs him that he is just blindfolded and leads Finn to a surprise to celebrate his 13th birthday. Finn and Jake go to the Cotton Candy Forest, where Jake takes off Finn's blindfold and tells Finn that a train is needed to get to the surprise. While Jake goes to get the tickets to the train, Finn meets the Conductor, a pink-skinned man in a blue suit. Finn gets creeped out by the Conductor because of the Conductor's strange voice, but he and Jake go climb board the train regardless.

On the train, Mr. Candy Cane stumbles and hits Colonel Candy Corn. The Colonel becomes angry, but Mr. Candy Cane apologizes, after which the Colonel requests that it not happen again. At this, Jake goes up to get a train schedule. As he leaves, the Conductor lets them know that train ride is about to get bumpy. When they hit the bumpy track, Colonel Candy Corn gets hit multiple times by Mr. Candy Cane Guy. Finally, when they hit the straight track, Colonel Candy Corn threatens to kill Mr. Candy Cane. The train enters a tunnel, engulfing the train in total darkness. When they exit, only the skeleton of Mr. Candy Cane remains. Finn then declares that he will solve the murder mystery and calls up Dr. Donut to look at Mr. Candy Cane's remains. Finn asks Dr. Donut if he found who did the crime, and the Doctor says he believes that it was the Colonel. Finn haughtily states that the murderer is never the first person suspected, so he asks Colonel Candy Corn if he had any foes that would frame him.

The Colonel says he has one on the train, but before he could reveal who it is, the lights flicker once again, and Colonel Candy Corn is found dead as well. When a Gumdrop says the murderer could be anyone, even Finn, Finn accuses the Gumdrop of saying that to divert suspicion. Before Finn can further interrogate the Gumdrop, the lights flicker, and another skeleton sits in the Gumdrop's place. Finn next accuses a Candy Person who believes Dr. Donut killed everyone as well as the Colonel to protect his alibi. This too is disproved when the lights flicker and Dr. Donut's skeleton falls to the ground. Finn exclaims, "Son of a...," the last part being interrupted by the train whistle as censorship of a cuss word. Finn continues to hunt for clues, gathers the remaining train passengers to the back, and proceeds to iterate each passenger's potential motive. Before Finn is able to reveal the culprit, the lights flicker, and all the remaining Candy People fall to the floor, dead.

Because of this, Finn realizes it must have been the creepy Conductor, who had earlier given his being "awesome and cool" as an alibi. After this epiphany, Finn hugs Jake, the lights go out a final time and return to show Finn hugging Jake's skeleton. Next, the Conductor appears and charges at Finn with a sword, who parries with another sword that had been lying on the floor. The Conductor retreats three times to cars nearer the engine, unlatching the car behind him each time. Finn pursues the Conductor until they reach the engine and swings his sword at the Conductor, who dodges, instead hitting the control panels. Enraged, Finn shouts, "My birthday wish is vengeance! Happy birthday to me!" and prepares a finishing downward slice. The Conductor yells to wait, then falls to the floor, transforming into a pink and blue paint-bedaubed Jake, who confesses that the skeletons (and deaths) were all fake and that the murder mystery was Finn's birthday surprise.

With the control panel broken, the train approaches an area of unfinished track at the edge of a cliff, careens off it, and lands in a giant mound of gelatin, where Finn and Jake join the rest of the Candy People for Finn's 13th birthday party. While eating cake, Jake asks Finn which part he liked most, and Finn tells him that it was the train's falling into the gelatin. He then comments that it must have taken careful planning to execute; Jake responds by saying that the gelatin was actually unplanned and that if it hadn't been there, they would have certainly died. The episode closes with mysterious music while Finn ponders the sabotaged tracks.

Major Characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * The Conductor

Minor Characters

 * Candy People
 * Dr. Donut
 * Colonel Candy Corn
 * Mr. Candy Cane
 * Mr. Cupcake
 * Gumdrop Lasses
 * Pineapple Guy
 * Lollipop Girl
 * Ice Cream Guy
 * Chocolate Bar Guy
 * Dr. Ice Cream
 * Gelatin Man
 * Green Gumdrop Dude
 * Ice Cream Lady
 * Chocolate Malt Ball Kid
 * Candy Heart
 * Snail

Trivia

 * This episode was previously titled "Murder Train."
 * This episode is similar to several mystery stories, particularly Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.
 * The person "riding" above the train in the title card seems to be the Conductor, while Finn and Jake can be seen looking through the window.
 * As for how both Jake and The Conductor could be in the title card, it is possible that Jake's foot is sticking up through the top of the train and that the rest of it is blocked by steam.
 * When Finn said "Son of a...," the scene immediately cut to the train blowing its whistle, implying that Finn had sworn. (Swearing is often referenced in many cartoons and concealed by a background sound.) It is also the second episode where Finn has said it, the first being "The Other Tarts."
 * In this episode, Finn first wields the Root Sword, following the destruction of his Gold Sword in "The Real You."
 * Though the murder mystery on the train is without a doubt Finn's birthday present, the Root Sword left inside the luggage car only appears after every candy person is "murdered", which can possibly mean that Jake left it there when the room went dark as an additional present for Finn, evidenced by the fact that he keeps this sword after the episode ends and uses it in the episodes Belly of the Beast and Mortal Recoil, and carries it into season 3.
 * Above Jake's train seat was a picture of bread with the caption "Yum yum," but when he looks at the train schedule, it is of a UFO, captioned "Watch out for UFOs".
 * If you look closely, when Finn flips to the third bookmarked dictionary page, you can see "Ice King" near the top of the page.
 * The conductor may be a reference to Pops from Regular Show, because they have similar traits.
 * The music that was heard when Finn and Jake were looking for clues was heard in Spongebob SquarePants in a different tone.
 * There is a hidden pancake somewhere in this episode.

Errors

 * When the candy cane is murdered, a pink donut with sprinkles is on a completely different side, and Mr. Cupcake is sitting in his seat, but then, when it shows it again, the donut is in Mr. Cupcake's seat, and Mr. Cupcake is just standing. Then, when it shows it again, Mr. Cupcake is sitting and the donut is completely gone.
 * When Colonel Candy Corn turns into a skeleton, his badge stays in the same place, and didn't fall, but with all the others, their accessories either fell or disappeared.
 * Ice Cream Lady was sitting next to chocolate maltball kid, Mr.Cupcake and the unnamed banana peal candy person but when finn was walking past them she was gone.
 * Jake eats chocolate cake, even though in "Slumber Party Panic," he states that chocolate would kill him.

Clues

 * The Conductor enters the passenger car to wish Finn "Happy birthday"; however, the Conductor should not have known Finn's name.
 * When the Conductor skates away after giving Finn his birthday regards, there is a pink smudge on wall where the Conductor's hand was, evidence of the paint used to disguise Jake.
 * In the flashback of Jake's plan, there was an obvious streak from Jake controlling the Conductor, which is not seen in the original scene.
 * There are numerous instances when the Conductor's winking eye resembles Jake's tail.
 * Each time a passenger is murdered, the Candy People remain uncharacteristically calm, but in "Slumber Party Panic," candy people would explode.
 * When the Conductor says it will be a bumpy ride, he uses a voice very similar to the deep voice Jake has used in previous episodes.
 * Jake is only in the same room as the Conductor once: when Jake's face is hidden behind the schedule.
 * The Conductor says that he heard someone say he was creepy, but Finn only told Jake, and that was in his normal, not very loud voice.
 * When the Conductor enters the passenger car on a skateboard, he states that he's "cool and awesome." Once he leaves, Finn disagrees, but Jake hastily replies, "No way man! The conductor is cool and awesome."