Betty (episode)

Synopsis
When a ritual changes Ice King back into Simon Petrikov, he enlists the help of Marceline, Finn, and Jake to recontact Betty in the past to tell her he's sorry for everything he has done.

Plot
In a secret chamber in Wizard City, Forest Wizard, Laser Wizard and Bufo meet with Bella Noche, a misshapen head from another dimension, unaware that Ice King is watching them from the shadows. In exchange for bringing the powerful magical items that will allow Bella Noche to enter their realm, he has promised them the lost system of Antediluvian magic, “the tightest of all wiz-bizz.”

Interested in this reward (and in joining the secret wizards’ club), Ice King reveals himself, much to the other wizards’ annoyance. Bella Noche uses this distraction to absorb the power of the magical items, just as Grand Master Wizard breaks in, declaring that Bella Noche must not enter their world, as he is “a being of pure anti-magic.” However, it is too late as Bella Noche strikes, removing the magic from the four congregated wizards, which leaves Ice King’s crown powerless and turns him back into Simon Petrikov.

Grand Master Wizard sends the Wizard Police to attack Bella Noche, to little effect, while Simon escapes the chamber to the streets. He believes he is hallucinating until he removes the crown and finds he is still thinking rationally. He is then confronted by Ash, Marceline’s ex-boyfriend, who tells him to get lost. Simon punches him and knocks him out, apologizing as he takes Ash’s magic carpet, leaves Wizard City to go to the Ice Kingdom. He flies into “The Past Room”, finds an old pair of his glasses, and accesses a secret passage to a library, containing all his research and old clothes.

He finds a book on mystic rituals that he and his fiancée, Betty Grof, wrote together, and finds a picture of a young Marceline inside. He calls her up immediately while she is in a jam session with Finn and Jake; he tells her what’s happened, that he needs her help and to bring Hambo with her. She faints from shock, but when she comes to, she convinces Finn and Jake to go help Simon.

Marceline and Simon are overjoyed to see one another, but Marceline becomes concerned with Simon’s health as he is dying. Simon seems to have accepted this and wants to use his final hours to create a time portal to the past to contact Betty and apologize for driving her away. He gets Finn and Jake to pedal a bicycle-powered generator, and requests Marceline to sacrifice Hambo, as an object that has been loved and tended for centuries would be the spell’s ideal catalyst. She regretfully gives it to Simon, who thanks her for giving him this chance to say goodbye to Betty.

The spell is successful and a small portal opens above Betty before the events of the Great Mushroom War. She has just escaped from the past Simon, who is shooting ice into the streets, screaming for Betty, his “princess.” She sees the portal and the present-day Simon who tells her that he is sorry for what he did and that he loves her and forgives her for leaving him. However, just as the portal begins to close, Betty jumps through it to be with him. She learns that Simon is dying of old age as the crown was the only thing keeping him alive. After she learns that Bella Noche took the magic from the crown, and Simon needs it to live, Betty decides to confront Bella Noche and re-power the crown. She takes off on the magic carpet, with Simon barely hanging on.

Simon begs her to reconsider because he doesn't want to be Ice King again, but she says that that will only be a temporary measure. Once Simon is safe as Ice King, she plans to find a way to keep him alive without the crown so they can be together. He is unsure, especially as Death arrives, flying alongside them, saying that this is Simon’s only chance to die, or else he will be the Ice King forever. Simon is reluctant to go with Betty’s plan, but admits that if he does not at least try, he is nothing. Death shrugs and disappears.

They arrive at Wizard City where Bella Noche has absorbed the power of most of the wizards in the area. An attempt to fight back using a special potion only makes the being stronger. Simon falls off the magic carpet and Betty begs him to stay alive for a little longer as she goes after Bella Noche. Death reappears to Simon, telling him time is almost up. Betty flies inside of the black mass surrounding Bella Noche and finds him in his true form, quickly knocking him out with a punch.

Magic is restored to the wizards, and Death disappears again, apologizing to Simon as he departs. Simon has changed back into Ice King with no memory of what has happened. Later, he kidnaps Muscle Princess and takes her back to the Ice Kingdom. She overpowers him and beats him up, while Betty looks on sadly from the magic carpet before flying away wearing a cloak similar to Bella Noche's.

Main Characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Ice King
 * Betty Grof
 * Marceline

Minor Characters

 * Bella Noche
 * Forest Wizard
 * Grand Master Wizard
 * Death
 * Muscle Princess
 * Ron James
 * Ash
 * Gunter
 * Laser Wizard
 * Wizard Police
 * Bufo
 * Huntress Wizard
 * Snail

Trivia

 * Jake has returned since the episode "Blade of Grass."
 * It is revealed that Ice King has kept a library hidden in the Ice castle with his suit and other items from when he was Simon. It is located behind his The Past Room.
 * It is revealed that Simon chased Betty while first under the influence of the crown, which is what caused her to leave in the first place.
 * Marceline's outfit in this episode resembles a grown-up version of her childhood outfit.
 * Death told Simon that he is going to be Ice King until the sun blows up, which means that he will be Ice King until the sun turns into a red giant.
 * When the crown had no powers, the Ice Kingdom automatically melts.
 * Simon mentioned that as Ice King he retains no memories of what he does and just gets vague glimpses of what's going on.
 * Betty's last name is revealed, her name is an homage to Stanislav Grof, a psychiatrist who's one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology.
 * Death can only be seen when people are in the Dead World or when they are beginning to lose life. In this episode, when Simon was talking to Death, Betty said "What?" meaning that she could not see Death. Hinting that his name "Death" has a meaning and he would only appear to people when they are dying.
 * Betty seems to be immune to culture shock, as she did not question anything about Ooo or react oddly towards Jake or the wizards. Granted she didn't have time to take anything in, since she only had minutes to save Simon.

Cultural references

 * In the beginning of the episode, one of the wizards mentions magic dating back to the Antediluvian period, which is the period of time before the Biblical Flood.
 * The items brought before Bella Noche represent the Minor Arcana: a sword, a stick, a chalice, and a pentacle.
 * The Hambo (doll) and the time traveling is a reference to the movie of 2007 "The Last Mimzy" directed by Robert Shayne.

Episode connections

 * The story of Betty and her connection to Simon Petrikov/Ice King was previously revealed in "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II."
 * Marceline and Simon's past is once again mentioned.
 * Hambo is seen for the final time and is destroyed as of this episode; it was foreshadowed by Maja in "Sky Witch" that it possessed enough love to create extremely powerful magic. The saga of Hambo was previously revealed through "Memory of a Memory," "I Remember You," and "Sky Witch."
 * Ice King is seen again with Bufo, Laser Wizard and Forest Wizard because he still wants to join their group, which was first found out in "Reign of Gunters".

Errors

 * Simon's eyeglasses are fixed when he got his glasses in The Past Room. This could mean that they are different ones (as seen in the black edges of the glasses instead of golden ones)
 * In this episode, Marceline's skin color seems to be white and there were no bite marks on either side of her neck.
 * In Holly Jolly Secrets, Simon says that Betty ran away after he took off the crown (and looked at him "with such contempt"), but in this episode she runs away while he's still wearing it.

Storyline analysis

 * Betty steps out of her time sequence and now lives in Ooo.
 * This event reveals how Betty left Simon.
 * Finn is as of now not the only known official human to currently live in Ooo.
 * Although Simon seemed prior to have not set anything up for himself within the Ice Kingdom, this episode reveals that there is an entire library and even a spare suit and glasses for him for when he returns back to that form after he loses his ice powers; this is hidden away within the castle beyond Ice King's "Past Room", which makes it well hidden due to Ice King's necessities being merely a pile of random clutter with occasional connections to his previous life.
 * Betty's journey to a thousand years in the future creates a bit of a paradox, although not really if one thinks of the theory that states that all past, present and future exist at the same time and continuum. On Holly Jolly Secrets part II, we hear Simon say that he must've said/done something horrible because Betty left him and he never saw her again; the vague way he describes it implies that he doesn't know what really happened to her, he just knows she's gone and probably not coming back. On this episode we come to the knowledge that the reason Betty left Simon was because the Simon from the same timeline further in the future came to her to say sorry, and she enters this Simon's future, leaving past Simon all alone. This means that the events of Simon's past fully depended on future Simon's intervention, which, at the same time, created the road for the present he's in right now (lost Betty forever, went insane and became the Ice King). The problem with this is that it is impossible to explain which caused which, as it is a kind of complicated loop process.