Death in Bloom

"Death in Bloom" is the seventeenth episode of season two of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
After killing Princess Bubblegum's Princess Plant when left to take care of it, Finn and Jake have to go to the Land of the Dead in order to get its soul back.

Plot
The episode begins with Princess Bubblegum asking if Finn and Jake will take care of her Princess Plant while she is away at a science conference in Veggie Village. She tells them she will be back "on the Morrow", then screeches to summon a giant eagle-like bird to carry her to the conference. Finn and Jake take horrible care of the plant, shoving cookies and pizza into its soil and flowers, not watering it, and accidentally setting it on fire while reading it a story beside a fireplace. As they say goodnight to the plant, they realize it's dead and Finn suggests they go to the land of the dead and reclaim its soul before Princess Bubblegum returns from the convention. Peppermint Butler overhears this and offers to open a portal to the Underworld for a small price "which they can discuss later", which they agree to.

As Finn and Jake go through the portal, Peppermint Butler tells them to say hi to Death for him, and tries to warn them not to drink the water, but can't finish before the portal closes. After viewing the terrifying environment of The Land of the Dead, Jake offers to carry Finn in his paunch while he stretches them down to the ground, but they spot an escalator instead, and both down to the entrance. Finn and Jake then run into a gatekeeper who admits people to the land of the dead. Not believing their cause of death ("because we're awesome"), the gatekeeper tells them to step out of line, but Finn and Jake walk past him, which the gatekeeper is unable to stop. Next, Finn and Jake come across skeletons that try to kill them for their flesh. Finn and Jake try to fight them off in vain, when Jake enlarged and said "I'm not a banana!", the skeletons were shook of for a while. They are able to put themselves back together when knocked apart. They run away and hide in a hole from the skeletons, troubled at their slow progress at getting the Princess Plant's soul back, but Finn is somewhat relieved by the fact that Princess Bubblegum won't return until tomorrow. Jake reveals that PB's statement is that she will be back "on the Morrow" does not mean she will be back tomorrow, but that she will be riding her eagle which is named "The Morrow", which he claims is extremely fast, and would only take them about 20 minutes to return home from the science conference.

Finn rushes out of the hole, sneaking past the skeletons that are still looking for them, and stops on a bridge crossing over some searching skeletons. Finn says to Jake to be very quiet, but suddenly, Jake farts with an extremely loud echo, alerting the skeletons to their position but also triggering an avalanche which double-kills them all. The last obstacle separating Finn and Jake from Death's castle is a river, which a talking skull urges Jake to drink from after he tells Finn how thirsty he is. Sensing the skull is up to something, Finn warns Jake not to drink the water, which makes the skull say "don't drink the water". Reasoning that by Finn's logic this means the water is good, Jake drinks from the river and immediately forgets who he is. Not knowing who Finn is, Jake becomes uncooperative, but since they're running out of time, Finn drags him forcibly to Death's castle. As they enter the castle, Death is tending his zen garden and notices Jake hiding behind a tree. Death asks for Jake's name, but Jake doesn't know, forcing Death to tell him to leave, but Jake replies that he didn't know he was trespassing, leaving Death distracted as Finn jumps out and announces they aren't leaving until he gives back the plant's soul and Jake's memory.

Death challenges Finn to a musical battle for the soul and memories, with Death picking a drum set with double bass pedals as his instrument while Finn picks sleigh bells. Death's performance is a heavy metal show complete with pyrotechnics while Finn's is simply shaking and stomping on the sleigh bells, so when they go to Jake to judge the winner he chooses "skeleton guy by a landslide". Death traps Finn in a magical barrier and informs him that the penalty for losing a musical battle is losing your life.

About to die, Finn tells Death that Peppermint Butler said hi, which makes Death release Finn and remark "What?! You know Peppermint Butler?!" and lets them have whatever they want. He restores Jake's memory with the Kiss of Death and sends the flower's soul back to its body, then transports Finn and Jake back to Ooo just in time to meet PB. She eats a flower, her hairstyle changes, and she thanks Finn and Jake with a group hug. Peppermint Butler takes this opportunity to inform them that the payment for his services will be their flesh, to which the duo think he is only kidding, to which he tells them, as his eyes start to glow eerily, he will take from them as they sleep. Finn and Jake's smiles slowly turn to frowns, and the episode ends.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Princess Bubblegum
 * Peppermint Butler
 * Death

Minor characters

 * The Morrow
 * Gate Guardian
 * Talking Skull
 * Stanley
 * Vegetables
 * Skeletons
 * Halt
 * Lester
 * Death Eels
 * Snail

Trivia

 * This episode was previously titled "Dead Flower".
 * In the title card, Jake's skeleton is reading a book named: Feelin' Fine.
 * The skeleton Jake in the title card resembles Billy's Dog.
 * Princess Bubblegum's Science Convention, takes place at Stanley's house, which is referred to as being in Veggie Village.
 * When Peppermint Butler is crossing his eyes his bow tie is blue instead of red.
 * This is the first episode to feature large portions of death metal/rock music.
 * If you look closely, above Jake is the bee from evicted and the opening credits.

Cultural references

 * In the title card, the skeleton Finn's face seems a bit similar to Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
 * When Peppermint Butler opens the portal into the underworld, this may be reference to Frank Belknap Long's story "The Hounds of Tindalos" (written as part of the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft) in which otherworldly evil beasts can manifest or be summoned via 90° angles and corners of rooms.
 * When Jake drinks water from the river, he forgets who he is. This is a reference to the river Lethe in Greek mythology.
 * Among Death's instruments appears to be either a fiddle or viola. This could be meant to be ironic as Jake can play the viola but has lost his memory, or it could be a reference to the Charlie Daniel's song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" where a young boy beats the Devil in a fiddling contest.
 * When Jake receives the Kiss of Death, just before he reacquires his memory, his leg is bent behind him in a way that is only seen when two people are kissing, and at the same time, "deep in the moment." It is perhaps best seen via image: Note that Jake's leg is bent...

Episode connections

 * Finn says that he is not the musical type but in "Prisoners of Love" he is seen playing the flute. In this episode, Finn he chooses the sleighbells instead.
 * Princess Bubblegum's hair at the end of the episode somewhat resembles her 13 year old form's in "Mortal Recoil", but that episode had yet to happen.