The Duke

"The Duke" is the nineteenth episode in season one of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
During a mishap accidentally caused by Finn, Princess Bubblegum becomes green and bald, and blames the Duke of Nuts for it, Thus making Finn think he's a bad guy. Finn and Jake have no choice but to find the Duke of Nuts on Bubblegum's order.

Plot
The episode takes place in the Candy Kingdom, where Finn and Jake are throwing bottles filled with magical spells for their amusement, such as Caturday Surprise. They witness Princess Bubblegum kicking the Duke of Nuts out of the palace and decide to take no part on it. They continue throwing bottles and Finn finds a green one shaped like a boomerang. He attempts to throw it at the wall to see what it does, but it goes the other way and into the palace window of Princess Bubblegum's room. The bottle hits her and she turns green and loses most of her hair. She believes the Duke did this, as he runs away in panic. They come in to find a doctor trying to help Bubblegum, who is distraught in her current condition.

She is wearing a big gray suit filled with medicinal milk, that will change her back in five days. But Bubblegum says tonight is the Grand Meeting of Ooo Royalty and needs to return to normal right away. As Finn tries to clear up what happened, Bubblegum says that she thinks the Duke of Nuts did it and has always been a bad guy, for unknown reasons which are classified, and she would never forgive the person who did this to her. Princess Bubblegum suddenly goes crazy and orders Finn and Jake to find the Duke of Nuts and arrest him for his "crime". Scared that Bubblegum will hate him forever if he tells the truth, Finn agrees to go find the Duke.

Finn and Jake travel to the Palace of Nuts and go inside, to find the Duke's wife, the Duchess of Nuts. She has heard the news of the Duke's "crime" through the nuts and explains to the boys that the Duke was once a wonderful man; he petted dogs, kissed babies and laid with her underneath the cashew bushes. But now the Duchess believes the Duke has gone rancid and the nuts tell her he must be executed. She freaks out Finn by telling him to listen to the nuts, which results in Finn subsequently running out of the palace. Finn wonders why he and Jake are trying to arrest the Duke if he was such a nice guy, and suddenly the pair see someone who looks like a peanut, and chase after him, thinking it is the Duke. It turns out he is the Duke's son, Marquis of Nuts, who vows to kill anyone who tries to arrest the Duke.

The real Duke of Nuts shows up and comforts his son, while Finn still wonders why everyone hates the Duke if he was so nice. Jake explains that tons of people hate him already. The scene then changes to a squirrel reading a holographic newspaper and wonders why Jake won't publish his letters and says he hates Jake. The scene goes back to the boys, and the Duke of Nuts gives them daisy crowns for waiting patiently. The Duke asks if Finn has any pudding, which he does, and so he gives it to the Duke. When he offers the Duke a spoon, he is shocked to see that the Duke already ate the whole thing, including the cup. The Duke explains he has a problem with pudding because he has a pudding deficiency, so whenever he goes to the Candy Kingdom, he always eats the entire pudding pantry and that is why Bubblegum hates him so much. Finn and Jake realize the Duke is too nice a guy to be involved in this crime, and Finn comes up with an idea to save everyone's reputations.

Later that night, when Princess Bubblegum is traveling to the grand meeting in a carriage filled with medicine milk, Finn comes and stops them and tells Princess Bubblegum that an assassin is in the woods trying to stop Bubblegum from reaching the meeting. The "assassin" (Jake) comes and Finn "fights" him. Jake acts as if this is not the real Princess Bubblegum and leaves, with the Duke of Nuts coming out and saying that because he turned Princess Bubblegum green and bald, he saved her life. Bubblegum, however, is not convinced and orders her Peppermint Butler to arrest the Duke, but he is too short to reach his arms. Finn decides to stop this, and confesses the truth to Bubblegum.

She then calms down a little bit, and says she wouldn't remain mad at Finn forever. But she still hates the Duke of Nuts for always eating her pudding supply. Finn then explains the Duke's pudding deficiency, saying he could not control himself around pudding. Bubblegum "forgives" the Duke for the misunderstanding, but whispers into Finn's ear that she doesn't believe this. Bubblegum comes up with the idea to hide her ugliness by sending Finn and Jake go to the grand meeting instead, wearing Princess Bubblegum wigs and pretending to be her, and they are given a list of lines she would say.

Jake discovers the person sitting next to him is Marquis of Nuts, who still wants to kill Finn for trying to arrest his father, and the host is discovered to be the Squirrel, who wants Jake to notice him and read his letters. Jake is still unaware. In a fit of rage, Marquis of Nuts and the Squirrel attack Finn and Jake together. The scene freezes before the episode ends soon after.

Characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Princess Bubblegum
 * Duke of Nuts
 * Duchess of Nuts
 * Marquis of Nuts
 * Squirrel

Minor characters

 * Dr. Ice Cream
 * Balloons
 * Peppermint Butler
 * Lumpy Space Dad
 * Slime Princess
 * Marceline
 * Hot Dog Princess
 * Raggedy Princess
 * Emerald Princess
 * Snail
 * Turtle Chairman

Trivia

 * Rumor has it that the original title card showed blood under the duke and that he was in the forest rather than the royal pudding supply.
 * This episode was originally titled "Duke of Nuts".
 * The episode title card apparently depicts the Duke of Nuts having eaten the royal pudding supply.
 * The pictures in Princess Bubblegum's room include: Finn, Emerald Princess, an unknown princess, possibly a rough draft of Lady Rainicorn, an elderly lady, possibly Princess Bubblegum's mother or older sister, a happy face, a sad face, a star, a cloud with a raindrop, a raindrop, and Princess Bubblegum as a baby.
 * Dr. Ice Cream has a scientific parasite in her right pocket.
 * A running gag in this episode is the squirrel trying to get Jake to answer his letters.
 * This is the opposite of "Ricardio the Heart Guy", where everyone believes the man in question is evil and Finn thinks the man is good.
 * Several characters are revealed as the leading royalty within Ooo in this episode:
 * Lumpy Space Dad appears in this episode, meaning since he is attending the grand meeting of Ooo royalty, he must be the king of Lumpy Space, which makes sense, because LSD (Lumpy Space Dad) is LSP's dad, and LSP is the princess of Lumpy Space.
 * Likewise as the "Vampire Queen", Marceline appears as a representative at the meeting. Ironically, this could have been the first interaction between her and Bubblegum, but Finn and Jake going in her place prevented this from happening.
 * When Finn and Jake are taking Princess Bubblegum's place in the meeting, Finn directly quotes four time American presidential candidate and Secretary of State William Jenning Bryan's famous Cross of Gold speech in saying: "I would be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen."
 * This is the first episode where the Snail appeared twice, in different places; the second was in "Story Telling".
 * When the Marquis of Nuts reveals himself, he is next to Jake, and the squirrel is on finn's side, but when they attack, it's the opposite.
 * On the photo of Finn, it starts where he is smiling then switches to a concerned look
 * It is revealed that The Duke has a "pudding deficency".
 * Ice King was not seen at the meeting, though it maybe because he is more of a villain then the rest of the guests.
 * The way Princess Bubblegum winks her eye may be a reference to Popeye.
 * Jake shows zero fear in the presence of Marceline.