Henchman

"Henchman" is the twenty-second episode in season one of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
Finn takes the place of Marceline's henchman, and he finds out how hard it is to obey her strange ways.

Plot
Finn and Jake are playing on a monster's skeleton when Marceline appears behind some nearby bushes, spying on them. Finn hears someone crying in the distance and goes to investigate, discovering Marceline and the Old Man Henchman. Marceline is arguing with the Old Man Henchman, who wants to be released from his servitude because he is old and feeble (although given his nimbleness as he flees, but this was all just a trap for noble Finn). When Finn and Jake rush to his aid, she begins ordering the Old Man Henchman to do unusual tasks for her to torment them. Finn pities the Old Man Henchman so he offers to take his place as Marceline's henchman. Jake tries to talk Finn out of it, but Marceline scares Jake and imitates Finn. She then flies off with Finn.

They land at a nearby house, and Marceline orders Finn to open the door. Finn refuses to do so, stating that he wouldn't if innocent people would be hurt. Marceline reminds him that he is her henchman and has no choice in the matter, and so he opens the door for her. Marceline tells Finn to hold down the victim, Eberhardt, and Finn says that he was sorry before doing as he was ordered. Finn thinks Marceline is going to suck Eberhardt's blood and attempts to stop her, but Marceline disables Finn's arms temporarily. Finn is horrified when Marceline sinks her teeth into Eberhardt, but she was actually sucking the red out of his bowtie. Eberhardt is incredibly happy with his new white bowtie and Marceline reminds Finn that she eats the color red, not just blood. During this, Jake is watching through a window, claiming that he has a plan to relieve Finn of his henchman duties. Marceline notices this, and turns into a strange snake-like figure, to scare Jake. He runs into the nearby bushes, screaming "I'm not running away, Finn! This is just part of my plan!"

The two leave Eberhardt's house, and Finn is trying to figure out what is wrong with Marceline. Marceline asks Finn, "Thinking about how that dude's bowtie sort of looked like a bra?" to which he says, "No!". They then stop by a graveyard. Marceline revives all the skeletons to form an army. Marceline exclaims, "Are you ready to lead an evil army of the undead?!" Finn shouts, "Never!" but a skeleton "persuades" him into doing it. While they march toward The Duke and Duchess of Nuts' castle, Finn runs ahead and tries to warn them, but when Marceline finally arrives, it turns out that she was performing for them because it's the Duke of Nuts' second son's first birthday. Finn begins to notice the pattern in Marceline's orders and thinks a little about the situation before being interrupted by Lisby the Cashew Butler. He convinces him to stop thinking and just party.

Marceline then presents Finn with a cute dimple plant and offers him some of the fruit before ordering him to slay it with her ax-bass. Finn attempts to work out the trick to his latest order, unsure as to why she would ask him to kill something so cute. Finn hesitates and the plant grows huge and malicious. He tries to slay the plant but ends up being swallowed by it. Marceline kills the plant and Finn cuts his way out of its stomach. Finn then realizes that all her "evil" commands are really tricks that just seem evil and are only to mess with his head. The next day, the two go out for a walk in strawberry fields out in the sun.

Marceline brings along an umbrella and Finn asks if the sun can destroy her. She answers, "Yeah, it hurts, but I kinda like it. Reminds me of when I'd scrape up my knee as a kid and my mom patching me up afterwards." Marceline then asks Finn if he wants to go strangle some pixies with her and Finn agrees. She is surprised by his casual attitude about it, saying pixie strangling is "hard core evil" and Finn tells her he knew that her evil deeds weren't so evil after all. Marceline jokingly berates him for taking so long to work out that she wasn't so bad. Suddenly Jake (cleverly disguised as a giant strawberry) leaps at Marceline and throws garlic at her, causing her to drop her umbrella and become exposed to the sun. Marceline falls to the ground, weakened and blistered. Finn tells Jake that Marceline isn't as evil as she seems, but Jake believes he is under a vampire spell of some sort. Marceline hides herself under her umbrella and Finn rushes over to it, lifting up one side telling her a plan he just thought of.

Jake leaps forwards and puts a stake through it, lifting up the umbrella to reveal a cloud of smoke. Finn tells Jake he faced his vampire fear and saved him. Jake leaves, happy to have saved his friend. Finn remains for a moment, picking up the umbrella. Marceline emerges from Finn's backpack in her small bat form (this was a part of Finn's plan; he told her this quickly when he lifted up the side of her umbrella) and tells Finn he was fired as her henchman because it wouldn't be fun if she couldn't trick him. They still promise to go pixie strangling the next day. Marceline then picks up her umbrella and flies away.

Main Characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Marceline
 * Eberhardt
 * Duke of Nuts
 * Dimple Plant Monster

Minor Characters

 * Old Man Henchman
 * Duchess of Nuts
 * Marquis of Nuts
 * Second Nut Son
 * Lisby the Cashew Butler
 * Peanut People
 * Skeleton Army
 * Snail

Music

 * Fisherman Song

Trivia

 * This episode was originally titled "Marceline's Slave Story," then "Marceline's Henchman."
 * This is the second major appearance of Marceline.
 * Marceline calls Finn a "Castle Crasher" during the party at the Duke of Nuts' castle, which is a possible reference to the video game of the same name.
 * This is the debut of Marceline's Axe-Bass, which seems to be the favorite of her three bass guitars.
 * The title card (unlike other episodes) doesn't seem to be torn.
 * In the title card, you can see Jake peeking in the window, probably a reference to when he is watching Finn and Marceline in Eberhardt's house.
 * In the beginning, Jake states that Marceline "scares the filling out of my donut." Metaphorically, Jake also refers to his butt as a "powdered donut," meaning that Marceline scares the poop out of his butt. On the other hand, this statement could be literal, because during their first encounter with Marceline in "Evicted!," she actually did suck the filling out of a jelly donut when kicking Finn and Jake out of their house.
 * This is the last episode where Marceline is shown as a villain, though technically she's only treated as evil by Jake with Marceline performing many good deeds and guiding Finn as such.
 * During the Duke and Duchess of Nuts' party, the music that played while the titlecard showed was played.
 * The Fisherman Song played during this episode was originally a song about deciding whether to get a jelly donut or to take a shower, as seen on the episode's animatic.
 * The original beginning of this episode was supposed to have Marceline rescuing Finn and Jake from a sudden fall off a cliff and then Finn repaying her by being her henchman.
 * Marceline's dress is made from Why-Wolf hide.
 * In the title card, her dress is red with puffy shoulders, black belt and short skirt, instead of the torned dress she used this episode.