Goliad (episode)

"Goliad" is the tenth episode in season four of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
Princess Bubblegum is concerned over her mortality, and reveals her designated successor to Finn and Jake. However, things get out of control when the heir turns against Princess Bubblegum.

Plot
While Finn and Jake are doing activities near the Candy Kingdom, Peppermint Butler informs them that Princess Bubblegum wants to see them. The princess explains that after her brush with death at the hands of the Lich, she realized she can't live forever, so she used science and some of her DNA to create an heir that could live forever. The heir is Goliad, a pink Sphinx with a mound on her forehead and the voice of a young child. Finn and Jake introduce themselves to Goliad, who takes a liking to them. After Princess Bubblegum plucks one of Finn's hairs, he notices that she's extremely exhausted. She explains that she's been awake for 83 hours straight, teaching Goliad about being a ruler. Finn and Jake volunteer to look after Goliad while the princess rests, and she agrees.

The two friends take the curious sphinx to a preschool, where Finn builds an obstacle course. Jake introduces her to the other children, but is dismayed to find that they are extremely unruly and poorly behaved. Jake is forced to yell at the children to make them stop assaulting him. Later Goliad imitates Jake's harsh discipline, yelling at the children in an attempt at being a leader. Finn rebukes Goliad, and suggests that she use her brain to lead instead of force. Goliad reveals that her mound concealed a third eye, and proceeds to psychically control Finn and the obstacles in the course for a perfect completion. She explains that with her in control, everything would be perfect. Worried about Goliad's behavior, Finn and Jake take her to the princess for help.

Princess Bubblegum tries to teach Goliad that compromise is the best way to rule, citing how a bee and a flower help each other. Goliad counters by explaining that the bee doesn't care if it hurts or kills the flower because the flower is weaker. Goliad states that she is the strongest so she is in control. Princess Bubblegum thinks to herself that her creation has been corrupted and would need to be disassembled and started from scratch, but Goliad reveals she can read minds and begins to destroy the castle. Princess Bubblegum tells Finn and Jake that Goliad is too powerful to be defeated by them. She instructs them to distract Goliad long enough to create another Candy Sphinx to fight back, and that they need to not think about the plan or Goliad will find out.

Finn and Jake confront Goliad but are beaten by her psychic powers. Goliad tries to read Finn's mind, and Finn narrowly avoids revealing the plan by interrupting his memories with nonsense. The new creature; another sphinx with an eagle's head, white feathers, and golden hair; rescues Finn and battles Goliad. Goliad tries to convince her brother, named Stormo, that they should work together, but Stormo refuses by screeching. They engage in a psychic showdown, but with their powers matched the two creatures are eternally locked in a mental stalemate. Princess Bubblegum tells Finn that Stormo was created using DNA from the hair she took earlier, and thus inherited Finn's heroic qualities. That was why he saved Finn instead of controlling them, and why he sacrificed himself to keep Goliad in check for all eternity. Finn realizes that Stormo is like a son to him, and wishes him a Happy Birthday.

Main Characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Goliad
 * Stormo
 * Candy People
 * Princess Bubblegum

Minor Characters

 * Candy Persons
 * Candy Nanny
 * Candy Kids
 * Peppermint Butler
 * Cinnamon Buns
 * Chet
 * Marshmallow Kids
 * Mr. Cupcake
 * Sugar Cube
 * Pineapple Guy
 * Chocoberry
 * Donut Guy
 * All Castle Staff
 * Candy Heart
 * Jam Jam
 * Ice Cream Lady
 * Candy Man
 * Ice Cream Guy
 * Gumdrop Lasses
 * Gumdrop Lass 1
 * Gumdrop Lass 2
 * Chocolate Bar Guy
 * Lollipop Girl
 * Mr. Cream Puff
 * Grape Popsicle Guy
 * Mr. Candy Cane
 * Fat Bee
 * Butterfly
 * The Lich (mentioned)
 * Snail

Trivia

 * The ingredients to create Goliad included PBG's baby tooth, "algebra," and several colorful chemicals mixed into a vat for 83 hours. Cinnamon Bun also fell into the vat but escaped before he could be dissolved into it.
 * The algebra Princess Bubblegum uses to create Goliad is "A+B=C." When it's added to the vat, it becomes simple chalk dust.
 * When Princess Bubblegum, Finn, and Jake are walking to the underground lab, skeletons of strange animals can be seen trying to eat other animal skeletons.
 * On Princess Bubblegum's chalkboard, she has drawn something similar to Carbon trioxide.
 * Princess Bubblegum did not wear her royal crown for the entire episode. However, it was seen on PB in Finn's mind when Goliad was trying to read Finn's mind.
 * When Finn and Jake enter the preschool, one of the Candy Children climbed through a window up into the roof.
 * In "Princess Cookie", both Goliad and Stormo are shown as a cameo.
 * Due to his anger, Jake's color turns red-orange for the first time.
 * This is the first time Princess Bubblegum wears glasses.
 * In the fight between Finn's mind and Goliad, Princess Bubblegum says, "She's far too powerful," although she did not say that in talking about the plan when Goliad stormed into the castle.
 * In the preschool, when the small Marshmallow Child is stuffing his mouth with blocks, a doll that looks like Princess Bubblegum can be seen just before the green Candy Child lands in front of him.
 * The title card for this episode may have been a scene of Goliad successfully coming out of the mixed creation.
 * One of the Candy People Jake is spitting up at the end is Peppermint Butler.

Cultural references

 * "Goliad" is the name of a town in Texas where the second battle of the Texas Revolution took place. Tom Herpich thought the town had a cool-sounding name, and he decided to name the character after it.
 * Both Goliad and Stormo resemble sphinxes, creatures that in legend possess attributes of three creatures: the human, the lion and a large bird. However both appear to possess attributes different from typical sphinxes: Goliad possesses no bird attributes except the feathers around her neck, and has a head similar to a human child; while Stormo has the head of a bird, even though it was created from the DNA of a human.

Episode connections

 * Princess Bubblegum refers to the events of "Mortal Folly" and "Mortal Recoil" in this episode.
 * When Finn tries to block Goliad out of reading his mind, he distracts himself by remembering Baby Finn singing the Baby Finn Song from "Memory of a Memory"
 * Finn's mind is seen again since "Memory of a Memory"

Errors

 * When PB was recalling the event of taking Finn's strand of hair, she was dressed in her night gown instead of lab coat.
 * PB's hair tie changes colors from blue to pink.
 * There was no mound on Stormo's head but when the psychic battle started the mound appeared.
 * When Goliad was mind controlling several candy people, some of them appeared repeatedly or the body had changed in some way.

Videos
Adventure Time - Goliad (short preview)|The short preview. Adventure Time - Goliad (long preview)|The long preview.