Gut Grinder (episode)

"Gut Grinder" is the twenty-sixth episode in season one of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
A horrible monster that resembles Jake has been stealing the gold of various Ooo races. Is Jake actually the Gut Grinder...or is he psyching himself into thinking he is a monster?

Plot
The episode begins with Finn trying to look for Jake and stumbling across Jake's viola. After Finn plays it badly, Jake appears and takes his viola back, proclaiming Finn is horrible at playing the viola. A cry for help springs the heroes into action, leading them to the village of the Soft People. When Finn and Jake appear at the village, the Soft People cry out frightened. One soft person cries out, " I'm gonna wee wee!" They appear sad because a creature named the "Gut Grinder" ate their gold, but they did not know what it looks like because they covered their eyes in fright. Jake comes out and explains he is not the Gut Grinder, much to the Soft People's relief. Jake then jokingly states he is the Gut Grinder in order to scare the Soft People for fun. That same soft person said "I'm gonna wee wee!". Finn then says these soft people wee wee weird. Finn announces he will search for the Gut Grinder.

Later, Finn and Jake start to make fun of each other as they travel. They are led by another cry of help to the village of Cube People, where similarly the Gut Grinder has eaten their gold. The Cube People believe Jake is the Gut Grinder, much to his dismay. They then tell the Cube People that they are hunting the Gut Grinder and take off again.

Another cry for help alerts the two to the Spiky People's village. Finn was worried that the Spiky People will believe Jake is the Gut Grinder so they attempt to disguise him. After the Spiky People show a picture of a Jake-like creature, Jake begins to shiver in fear and the disguise fails. The Spiky People imprison Jake for his crimes, leading Jake to further believe he is the Gut Grinder. Finn attempts to calm him but to no avail.

Finn then devises a plan to lure the Gut Grinder out into the open using an old prisoner's gold tooth. The plan works and the Gut Grinder appears out of a sewer hole to take the tooth. Jake, convinced he is the Gut Grinder, adopts its persona and breaks out of the jail. Both Gut Grinder and Jake battle, with Jake emerging victorious. Jake then turns on Finn to take the tooth. Jake gets the tooth and starts to leave Finn behind, luckily, Finn remembers Jake's viola and plays it badly, knocking Jake back to his senses.

The Spiky people approach the Gut Grinder's corpse and discover it is actually the Spiky Chief's Wife, Sharon, in a costume. She stole the gold because she wanted to go shopping, and used Jake as a disguise because he was "hot" (a running gag throughout the episode). With the mystery solved, the Spiky People give Finn and Jake a hug, ending with the both of them screaming in agony.

Main Characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Gut Grinder
 * Sharon

Minor Characters

 * Soft People
 * Cube People
 * Old Man Prisoner
 * Spiky People
 * Spiky Mayor
 * Snail

Trivia

 * This is the sixth episode that has a character's name for a title, the others being "Tree Trunks", "Donny", "Ricardio the Heart Guy", "The Duke", and "The Jiggler."
 * "Gut Grinder" is the last episode of season one.
 * A running gag is that the Soft People, Cube People, and Spiky People think that Jake is cute. He says "I'm not cute! I'M HOT!".
 * This episode shows a close up of Jake when he screams "IM HOT!" which was a wallpaper on Cartoon Network's website.
 * If one were to look closely at the title card, three girls inside the Gut Grinder's eye can be seen.
 * The back of Jake's viola says "toots'.
 * After Jake takes the gold tooth from Finn, a note from his backback (that was previously torn) reads "DO NOT LOSE THIS PAPER --PB".
 * The Groucho glasses that Jake wears for disguise are mispronounced as "Groocho glasses." This is likely due to possible miscommunications throughout the passage of time, as the story takes place over 1000 years in the future. It is possible though that Jake forgot it with certain aspects of the past remembered and others not as well.
 * If one listens closely, one Soft Person said the phrase "kawaii". "Kawaii" is a Japanese word meaning "cuteness".
 * While Jake was thinking he was moonlighting as the Gut Grinder at night, Finn told him, " You can't be stealing gold in your sleep. I WATCH YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP."
 * The part where Sharon says that she thinks Jake is 'hot' was cut out of Australian viewing for sexual references.