Lemonhope Part 2

Synopsis
Though Lemonhope finds refuge from the desert with monster hunter Phlannel Boxingday, he might not be able to escape the ghosts of his past.

Plot
Lemonhope, dehydrated and on fire, lies unconscious in the desert. A cloud comes over and rains on him, putting out the fire on his head. He regains consciousness, and a man who introduces himself as "Phlannel Boxingday" offers him shelter in his flying cloud-ship. Lemonhope accepts, and the two take to the sky. Aboard the ship, Phlannel asks him if he'd read any good books lately, to which Lemonhope replies that he can't read.

On the cloud trawler, the two are pursued by a Greed Lard. Lemonhope, at Phlannel's request, plays his flute, which makes a sour note and angers the bird. Lemonhope then plays his harp, appeasing the bird, which the ship then lures into hitting a rock. Lemonhope, while looking at gold coins falling out of the bird's carcass, thinks that he sees lemon people, and screams for Phlannel to stop the ship. After landing, Lemonhope looks more closely at the objects and determines them to be loot, to which Phlannel explains that he's a monster hunter who kills monsters and then keeps the reward for himself. He then asks Lemonhope if he would like to be his apprentice, and Lemonhope replies by ecstatically repeating that it is 'a dream come true!'

Lemonhope later has a nightmare in which he is a marionette suspended by chains, singing the song he was singing when he first appeared in "Too Old." Walking, he finds a significantly large and fat Lemongrab biting into a cow. The cow greets Lemonhope, and Lemongrab throws up chains to ensnare him. He tries to run, but he cannot move. looking up, he sees himself pulling his "strings." He wakes up and, after talking with Phlannel about his nightmares, he decides he must go back to Castle Lemongrab and help his people.

Phlannel drops Lemonhope off in the Lemon Earldom, and Lemonhope walks towards the castle-fort while it begins to rain. He scales the castle walls and is confronted by Lemongrab, who has put corks in his ears in order to resist Lemonhope's harp. Understanding the situation, Lemongrab's brother reaches out from Lemongrab's stomach and removes his ear plugs, urging Lemonhope to play his harp. Lemonhope does, causing Lemongrab to explode. Lemonhope is knocked out by the blast and has a dream in which he climbs up a stone spire to a bird's nest and sees the sun rising over a mountainous horizon.

Later, Princess Bubblegum is sewing Lemongrab back together from various pieces of himself and his brother, while Finn plays his flute and Lemonhope stands beside him. She explains that Lemongrab will recover in time and asks Lemonhope if he could oversee the earldom while it's repaired. To both Finn and Bubblegum's surprise, Lemonhope declines and says he'll come back when he's tired of being free. After he leaves, Princess Bubblegum expresses her disappointment, and mentions that she had written a song for him. Finn asks her to sing it, to which she embarrassedly replies that it's not that good, but after Finn's urging she starts singing as the screen transitions to a scene of the future, presumably a thousand years later.

An elderly Lemonhope returns to the Lemon Kingdom, though it is now devoid of life and in ruins. Finn's old tree fort is similarly abandoned as he passes it, and the tree now stretches past the clouds and into the sky. Then passes along a bare landscape and finds a futuristic Candy kingdom, but no one is there. He slowly makes his way to the abandoned Castle Lemongrab, where he finds the bedroom that Princess Bubblegum had prepared for him untouched. He climbs onto the bed and smiles as he closes his eyes.

Main Characters

 * Lemonhope
 * Princess Bubblegum
 * Earl of Lemongrab
 * Lemongrab 2
 * Phlannel Boxingday

Minor Characters

 * Finn
 * Snail
 * Lemongrab 3
 * Lemon People

Songs

 * "Lemonhope's Song"
 * "Young Lemonhope"

Trivia

 * This is the first time we hear Princess Bubblegum sing a solo. The other time she sang was very minor in "What Was Missing."
 * In the ending, it seems Lemonhope is in a futuristic setting of a ruined city with what seems to be the castle of the Candy Kingdom in the background. This theory is backed up with the short distance between the ruined city and the Castle Lemongrab.
 * While the destroyed city at the end is run down and damaged, Castle Lemongrab appears to have no damage dealt to its architecture, implied its abandonment at some point in time before the Candy Kingdom's.
 * When Princess Bubblegum started her solo, Lemonhope stared at a very tall tree that resembles Finn and Jake's Tree Fort or the giant tree seen in "Up a Tree."
 * Phlannel Boxingday speaks some German to Lemonhope. "In deinem Kopf" means "In your head."
 * In the end, Lemonhope has a force field protecting a vessel strapped to his chest which most likely is keeping him alive.
 * Among the treasure spilled from the Greed Lard is a crown similar to Ice King's.
 * Zanoits are referenced during the last time we see Phlannel Boxingday.
 * In the episode storyboard, originally the chained-up Lemon people crawled up the wall onto the Earl chanting "Hope" as they did in "Too Old;" they also exploded with the Earl, and were presumably part of what made up Lemongrab 3.  The storyboard also notes that the Candy Kingdom seen at the end is deserted.
 * Jake has been absent since "Lemonhope Part 1."

Cultural references

 * When Lemonhope enters the room that Princess Bubblegum made for him at the end of the episode, a banner reading "Bad Seeds" is seen on the wall, which is a reference to the alternative band.
 * In Lemonhope's dream sequence, he climbs up stairs and goes through doorways, appearing at another area. The stairway he climbs is inspired by the works of M.C. Escher.
 * The song Lemonhope plays when Lemongrab 1 explodes is similar to the song "Hope Rides Alone" by the indie band "The Protomen" played on the harp.

Episode connections

 * Lemongrab talks about the "things" he has in his ears. This is a reference to "Too Young" and "You Made Me," as he refers to Blombo's headphones and the prank Princess Bubblegum and Finn had played on him earlier in the episode.
 * The Ice Kingdom has changed since Flame Princess destroyed it in "Frost & Fire," and later rebuilt in "Earth & Water."
 * The way Finn played his flute was similar to how he played it in "Prisoners of Love."
 * The tree in the ending looks similar to the one in Up a Tree.
 * There are numerous references to the episode "Too Old."
 * Lemonhope returned Finn's flute after taking it in "Too Old."
 * Lemonhope sings his original song in his dream which he first sang in "Too Old."
 * When Lemongrab 2 is seen inside Lemongrab's stomach near the end of the episode, a chicken leg can also be seen in his stomach. This may be the chicken leg he was seen waving around at the feast in "Too Old", seeing as whatever he eats doesn't get digested, like Lemongrab 2 (or it just takes a really long time to digest).

Errors

 * Lemonhope's hair length constantly changes in short periods of time without any knowledge of him cutting it.
 * In the previous episode, "Lemonhope Part 1," the makeshift rope dropped over the wall of Castle Lemongrab was in front of the entrance gate and guard booths. However, in this episode, Lemonhope approaches and climbs the rope, yet the gate and booths aren't there.

Production notes

 * This episode was previously titled "Lemonhope Story 2."

Storyline analysis

 * During Princess Bubblegum's song, we see that Lemonhope has kept his word and returned centuries later. He first passes a very tall tree that, given the background scenery, is probably Finn and Jake's old tree fort. By its height we can see that several centuries have definitely passed. He then walks by what appear to be spaceships or flying cars as he approaches the ruins of a big city.
 * In the center of the city is what appears to be the Princess Bubblegum's castle. The red and white striped streetlamps and candy signs are more evidence of this possibility.