Hug Wolf

Synopsis
After an encounter with a Hug Wolf, Finn goes through a Jekyll and Hyde-like transformation, becoming a hug wolf himself.

Plot
The episode begins with Finn and Jake exploring the woods and trying to find and slay the Tree of Blight. When they find the tree, a Hug Wolf jumps out of the forest and attempts to give Finn a hug. As Jake goes to kill the Tree of Blight, the Hug Wolf latches on to Finn and roughly hugs him. Jake sets fire to the tree as flaming seedpods burst from the tree and hits the Hug Wolf on the snout causing it to flee. The two protagonists return home.

Later, at their tree house, Finn starts to act strange by hugging BMO. Jake asks Finn if he is alright and checks his temperature with his paw noting that Finn has a fever. Finn then hugs BMO harder causing BMO to state that he was hurting it. Jake tells the feverish Finn to go to bed as it could help. He goes to bed and starts moving around, hugging his pillow, and acting uncomfortable. The camera pans to show the window which shows the full moon, and a howl is heard.

The scene shifts to the next day, Finn (who is feeling better) and Jake are picking up candy litter in the Candy Kingdom, which they plan to eat for lunch, when suddenly, Cinnamon Bun bumps into Finn and begs him to not hug him again due to the discomfort caused to his "love handles." Finn, confused, states, "I didn't hug you last night." Finn and CB laugh as Finn makes fun of "crazy old Cinnamon Bun." Cinnamon Bun leaves and Finn and Jake finish their candy.

Jake starts to wonder if the hugging started because of the hug wolf that hugged Finn, so they go to a library and Jake gets a book out and reads a page explaining about the hug wolf. They discover that an alpha hug wolf can create new hug wolves by hugging someone under a full moon. They learn that every night a hug wolf must fulfill a crazy hug lust and there was no known cure for the transformation. Finn tries to hug Jake, but he stops him exclaiming "No Hugs!" Finn apologizes and comments how he felt hot and begins to hug himself.

Later that night, Finn and Jake are in the Tree Fort. As Finn is sitting down, Jake places bags of frozen peas on Finn to cool him down. They notice that BMO is hiding behind a potted plant and quivering at the sight of Finn and stating "I am terrified of Finn." Jake tries to get Finn to overcome the urge of hugging by shouting, and later by imagining of hugging a cactus. Despite his efforts, Finn begins to lust for hugs and Jake is forced to chain up Finn to a chair. Jake then hides behind the plant with BMO as BMO states they need a "silver baseball." Finn then transforms into a hug wolf and breaks free from the chains. Finn walks up to Jake and BMO to hug them, but Jake tells BMO to use his "strobe light mode," which causes Finn to jump out of the window and run towards the Candy Kingdom. In the Candy Kingdom, Finn runs around and hugs Mr. Cupcake and then breaks into a little gumdrop girl's room and attempts to hug the girl when her dad walks in with a Candy cane rifle and attempts to shoot Finn, but he gets away.

The next morning, Finn wakes up in a stream in the Candy Kingdom with Jake over him. Finn asks what happened when Jake replies "You hugged everyone!" Various Candy People are on the bridge over the stream and are yelling at Finn, with a small green ice cream man saying "We're mad but﻿ we're not gonna go down there..." after the candy people stop yelling. Finn then apologizes to the Candy People and requests for them to lock him up in the Candy Dungeon. They lock him in the dungeon while Jake and a few Candy People form a mob to go after the Alpha Hug Wolf. Cinnamon Bun is put in charge of keeping Finn locked up.

After they leave, the moon comes out, and Finn changes into a Hug Wolf again. Finn asks Cinnamon Bun if he wants a hug, and he replies, "I can't man." Finn then inquires, "Not even a little one?" Then Cinnamon Bun replies, "YES!" and starts opening the cage. After opening the door, Finn jumps out and gives Cinnamon Bun a huge hug, hurting him. Finn then runs away. It scene cuts to the mob finding the alpha hug wolf where the incident took place. Jake says, "I smell someone being hugged right now," and sees a deer being hugged by the wolf. Jake and the mob start yelling. The hug wolf then confronts the mob as Jake apologizes to Finn for failing him. Suddenly, Finn appears and jumps on the alpha wolf, and starts hugging it. The two hug each other until they both started to glow and bright light bursts out from their hugs. The aftermath reveals that the two hug wolves hugging was the cure as Finn is back to normal and the alpha hug wolf turned into a humanoid woman. Jake notices the beauty of the girl and asks "Can I get a hug?," then Finn angrily calls on Jake's rudeness, "JAKE!". The episode ends with the girl turning into a Tree of Blight causing Jake to scream in fear at her actual appearance.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Beautiful Lady (Alpha Hug Wolf)
 * BMO
 * Cinnamon Bun

Minor characters

 * Candy People
 * Princess Bubblegum (cameo)
 * Gumdrop teenager
 * Gumdrop dad
 * Mr. Cupcake
 * Dr. Ice Cream
 * Candy Mother
 * Candy Baby
 * Tree of Blight
 * Antelope
 * Cat
 * Snail

Trivia

 * Finn and Jake mentions about "Hot to the Touch" as there catchphrase which is also an episode.
 * This is the first time BMO said the line, "Oh my Glob."
 * When Jake pulls out a book to look up hug wolves, it is titled Bestiarium Vocabulum which means "Compendium of Beasts."
 * BMO has a strobe-light mode.
 * This is the first episode in which someone other than an antagonist tries to kill Finn.
 * Princess Bubblegum makes a cameo and seems to be chasing a black cat. It was likely a reference to Natasha's black cat Pancake, the creator of the Fionna and Cake series.
 * The video game Jake plays in this episode is called Portender Defender.
 * After Finn breaks the curse on both him and the Alpha Hug Wolf, the music from the title card plays.
 * Mr. Cupcake refers to Finn as a lycanthrope when he is being attacked, another name for a werewolf.
 * At the end of the episode when Jake is screaming after the Beautiful Lady turns into another Tree of Blight, one can see that Jake is missing a tooth.
 * Even though Gumdrop dad makes fake gunshot and shoot sounds with his mouth, the candy cane he uses can inflict real damage.

Cultural references

 * When Finn transforms in front of Jake and BMO, BMO tells Jake that they need a silver baseball. This is a reference to a silver bullet being the only thing that can kill a werewolf. It's also referencing Portender Defender.
 * The table in the library where Jake found the book has a symbol somewhat like the Millennium Eye from the Japanese anime Yu-Gi-Oh!

Errors

 * Right when Finn and Jake walk up to the Tree of Blight, Finn's head splits between scenes.
 * After BMO turned on strobe-light mode, Finn as a Hug Wolf jumped out of the window and Jake and BMO looks down, BMO is miscolored yellow like Jake. This could be meant to be an effect of the moon light, though it should've been white instead.
 * There are continuity errors regarding the vinyls on Gumdrop teenager's room floor.
 * One of the candy bullets the Gumdrop dad shot with his candy cane gunshot goes through the wall without causing any damage or making any sound.
 * The Candy Mom and Baby disappear from the Candy Dungeon when Jake starts to talk, though they could have left off screen.
 * At the end, when Jake noticed the beauty of the girl and asks "Can I get a hug?," Finn abruptly calls on Jake's rudeness, "Jake!" but his mouth did not sync.

Episode connections

 * After Jake tells Finn he burned the tree, they say "Hot to the Touch," which was the title of the season's opening episode.
 * In her cameo, Princess Bubblegum is wearing the same outfit that she wore at the end of "Video Makers" and in "The Real You."

Storyline analysis

 * It is unknown why the Beautiful Lady turned into another Tree of Blight, though it could've been caused by the piece of tree that landed on her face; its evil juice could've infected her and the reason why she didn't right away turn into a tree might be because the Hugwolf curse was more powerful.