I Remember You

Synopsis
Ice King visits Marceline to ask for help in creating a song to attract princesses, but Marceline struggles to deal emotionally with his presence.

Plot
The Ice King performs a cover of Marceline's Fry Song to Gunter, and he gets the idea to ask for Marceline's help to write a song to impress princesses. Ripping some pages from his scrapbook so he can use them as inspiration for lyrics, he flies to Marceline's house. Finn and Jake notice him and think that he is up to no good.

Marceline refuses to help him at first, but the Ice King flies into the house and tangles himself up trying to set up his instruments. Finn and Jake arrive, assume that Marceline has subdued him, and offer to take him away, but Marceline tells them that they are writing a song together. Accompanied by Marceline, the Ice King sings a song addressed to Princess Bubblegum and other various princesses of Ooo, revealing that he's "so alone" and needs "pretty much anyone" He starts "acting crazy" shooting ice bolts at the ceiling, and becomes apologetic for pushing Marceline when she tackles him. He flies into the kitchen, and Marceline finds him hiding on the fridge. Despite calling the Ice King an "annoying...pitiful old man" she admits that she's glad to see him. The Ice King is surprised to find out that she "likes" him and asks for a hug, which Marceline gives him. When he misinterprets her feelings and tries to kiss her, Marceline angrily confronts him and asks if he really doesn't remember his past or who he is, calling him by his name, Simon.

The Ice King proclaims that he is a lyricist, taking out the pages from his scrapbook to prove it. Marceline shows him a newspaper clipping with a photo of himself before he was the Ice King, holding the Enchiridion before the Mushroom War. She also finds a photo of herself in the pile which he took. On the back Marceline finds a message from Simon directed at her, revealing his anguish at losing himself as his magic crown transforms his mind, and his fear that Marceline will lose him as a friend as he continues to transform. The message also indicates that the crown's magic is what's let him survive the Mushroom War, and that he knows he has to protect Marceline in this destroyed world, but that he's torn between his need to protect her from its danger and from himself as he loses his mind.

The Ice King has no memory of writing the note, but tells her to sing the words as lyrics while he plays the drums. After Marceline sings the message on the back of the photo, she becomes frustrated that he doesn't recognize his own words and shows him something that he wrote. He sings the message, expressing regret and asking for Marceline's forgiveness. As they sing, Finn and Jake watch from outside with binoculars, not knowing what's going on.

A flashback reveals a ruined city in the aftermath of the Mushroom War, and a young Marceline standing alone in the wreckage crying. A not-yet-fully transformed Simon finds her and wipes her tears, cheering her up with a stuffed animal, Hambo.

Major characters

 * Ice King
 * Marceline

Minor characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Gunter
 * Snail

Mentioned

 * Slime Princess
 * Flame Princess
 * Wildberry Princess
 * Princess Bubblegum
 * Jay T. Dawgzone

Songs

 * "Fry Song" (Ice King's "Gunter" version)
 * "Oh, Bubblegum"
 * "Nuts"
 * "Remember You"

Trivia

 * In the Ice King's "The Past" room in the bottom left in a box, there is a picture of a meteorite heading for Earth. You can also see one of Betty's scarves hanging from a box, which could have contained other things that belonged to her.
 * This episode marks the first time Marceline refers to Ice King as Simon.
 * This also marks the 3rd time anyone has refered to Ice King as Simon, with the first being Finn in "Beyond This Earthly Realm" and the 2nd Ricardio in "Lady and Peebles".
 * When the Ice King lifts his tunic, he is shown to be fatter than in prior episodes.
 * When Ice King climbs on the fridge, he says "someone," still thinking about his song.
 * While he is crying about being alone, Ice King says, ..."Grod in the sky, please tell me why!" referring to Grob Gob Glob Grod.
 * As Simon Petrikov moves towards a young Marceline to comfort her, a Scientific Parasite can be seen in the breast pocket of his coat, meaning that Simon's intelligence and sanity was still that intact that time.
 * In the corner of the picture of Simon Petrikov holding the Enchiridion, part of Betty's face can be seen.
 * In the episode's ending flashback, as Ice King discovers her by herself, Marceline appears to be muttering "daddy" as she cries.
 * Ice King's keyboard has a sticker of a red Rainicorn with a blonde mane.
 * In the original storyboard, when Ice King is ashamed of himself for pushing Marceline and decides to "just stay out of [her] way," he climbs into Marceline's freezer instead of just on top of her refrigerator.
 * On Simon's news article, when the saturation is turned up, the Ice King's tears mentioned earlier in the episode become more visible.
 * On the newspaper, it is said it is written by Bruce Guese.

Errors

 * While attempting to untangle his cords, Ice King's drums are to the right of the ladder behind him, but when Finn and Jake bust in, his drums switch to being on the left side of the ladder.
 * When Finn and Jake bust in, Ice King's head is positioned away from his drums, yet when Jake is chastising Ice King for harassing females, his head is next to his drums. Ice King's head is positioned away from his drums when Jake picks him up only seconds later.
 * When Marceline was singing "Nuts" it zooms to a ceiling view, and the window that looks into the living room is gone.
 * In the same scene, Ice King's crown has six points, instead of the usual three to four.
 * When Marceline and Ice King are singing Remember You, the window that looks into the kitchen has mysteriously closed.
 * When Marceline was playing her ax bass on the couch, the two candles over-top the couch were not lit. However, when Marceline was standing in the door way yelling at Ice King to get out, one of the candles was lit up.

Cultural references

 * Marceline is wearing a No Smoking T-shirt.
 * Ice King mentions prog (progressive) rock, a genre of music that became popular in the early 70's. Innovative prog rock bands include Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Rush, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
 * Before Jake picks up the Ice King, he speaks in a similar way to Batman, from the series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, to tell Ice King, "Your constant harassment of the female gender makes me sick!" The storyboard calls for him to speak "Batman style"; this is reflected in the closed captions. Jake's voice actor, John DiMaggio, has also worked on Batman: The Brave and The Bold voicing Aquaman, Gorilla Grodd and many other characters.
 * Multiple shotgun shells can be seen on the last scene of the episode scattered on the floor.
 * The instrument that Marceline and Ice King play throughout the episode is an omnichord, a keyboard like harp that was made popular by the Suzuki company in the 80's. This is also what Rebecca Sugar uses to play the background melody for Oh Bubblegum, Nuts, and I Remember You.
 * The colors and the letters of the destroyed logo of the shop Simon takes the teddy bear from matches the Toys"Я"Us logo.

Episode connections

 * Ice King sings a variation of the Fry Song in this episode; he was revealed to know of the song in "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II." In this version, most of the song's verbs and a few words are replaced with the word "gunt," as he was singing this variation to Gunter.
 * Marceline's stuffed toy, Hambo, that she received in this episode, was first shown in "Memory of a Memory" when Marceline was replacing its missing button-eye.
 * Little Marceline appears to be wearing the same clothes she wore in "Memory of a Memory," although not torn and faded.
 * There is a newspaper clipping with the Ice King (then known as Simon Petrikov) discovering the Enchiridion, from the episode "The Enchiridion!"
 * Simon Petrikov's speech in "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II" mentions that the power of the crown will save him. In this episode the letters to Marceline mention that the magic is keeping him alive.
 * The book Mind Games by Jay T. Dawgzone from "Reign of Gunters" appears again, advising Ice King that "Chicks dig bros with tortured pasts."
 * Ice King's ruined bass drum from "The Chamber of Frozen Blades" and the "EAT" sign that appears outside of the diner in "Memory of a Memory" can be seen in his "The Past" room.
 * When Ice King goes to the "The Past" room, the stairs look like the stairs Finn and NEPTR fall on in "What is Life?"
 * A sticker on Ice King's keyboard resembles the Rainicorn on Princess Bubblegum's shirt in "The Real You"
 * In the newspaper article, it says that the newspaper is written by "Bruce Geuse," which sounds similar to the name Choose Goose (the goose who speaks only in rhyme and trades goods to the people of Ooo). It is also the name of the trader in the Farmworld Universe, who is supposedly the non-mutated version of Choose Goose.

Production notes

 * The original title for this episode was "Help."

Storyline analysis

 * Marceline states while singing Nuts that Ice King always eventually finds her no matter how many times she moves, referencing her many homes.
 * Notes in the storyboard suggest that Simon Petrikov and Marceline had met prior to the scene shown in the episode, but Simon had left her alone for some reason.
 * The lyrics to "Remember You" were taken from letters written by Simon Petrikov to Marceline, explaining why he does not remember her, and that he needed the crown to stay alive even though it was making him insane.
 * When Marceline yells at him and calls him "Simon," Ice King replies with "What-mon?" demonstrating that he has forgotten that he was Simon Petrikov.
 * It can be seen that Marceline is younger in the flashback at the end of the episode than she was in the first memory from "Memory of a Memory." In the former, she is a toddler, and in the latter, she appears to be closer to 7 to 10 years old. More evidence that time has passed between these two points is that Hambo's color has faded in the latter time point, along with Marceline's clothes appearing to be tattered.