I disagree that your quote was used out of context merely for the sake of my argument, but they were your words, so I'll let you have that one. And I feel this has moved on from my thesis, and is now more about straight up opinion. Yes, there are exceptions to what I said, but out of six seasons, there are bound to be exceptions. Everyone would be agreeing with me if there weren't, and THAT was the point of my thesis. Do the episodes that have a more melancholy or anticlimactic ending wear you out? Do you even think there is an abundance of them? How do you percieve the episodes I accuse of this? That was the point of this: to see what other people have noticed. You didn't really start off with what you noticed, and instead went straight for my "argument" that I intended to merely be a statement of opinion to provoke interest, not the topic someone's response. As for Stakes, I felt that I didn't laugh at the comical moments, and felt that they were mostly weak. Episode 1 had a nice feel as an introduction. I felt that the second episode that flashed back was just a summed up version of Marcy's Super Secret Scrapbook. That would be fine if they captured the book well. And even if they didn't want that, if they wanted to do their own thing, which is also fine, then they should have made it a better viewing experienced. Even for its natural 11 minute quick runtime, everything felt rushed with no sense of emotion in there, which we both know Adventure Time can successfully do. The third part I have trouble remembering, so I'm not sure how I feel about it. Episode 4 was fine, I suppose. It didn't stand out to me as a great episode or chapter to Stakes, but it had the most comical moments out of the 8 episodes. The next two episodes were disappointments to me because I didn't like the vampires. The Heirophant was the better of the two, but they wasted the potential to make him an interesting character, and I had guessed from previous episodes that he would die from using the old ways he overly promoted, and it's easy to guess what will happen when you're watching the episode. The Moon just seemed so lame as the "sweet, small looking one who really has a deep voice and is hard to stop" villain. It was the weakest of all of the episodes. The next episode didn't make me upset with much, it was just (sorry to use this word a lot today) underwhelming. It didn't upset me all that much, as it was a lot more enjoyable than the last two more action-packed episodes. Then, the final episode: The Dark Cloud. Everyone knew Marceline was going to become a vampire again, that's fine. But the action didn't seem very action-y, and the coupla jokes made weren't funny. I DID however enjoy Marceline talking to the Vampire King in this episode, as those scenes were thought-provoking. But, this could have easily been a condensed half-hour special. Or at the most, 4 episodes. It felt drawn out when all that was needed was this conclusion. So after all of that, the ending can't be enjoyed (by me) to the same capacity it would be if it felt like a better "complete story" and not a "how can we fill out the next 8 episodes" set up. The episodic nature is fine with things like this, and I was excited for it in an aspect. But the pieces didn't flow, I feel, much at all. They didn't even entertain enough for me to excuse the lack of flow. Finally, I'm sure you've noticed I've skipped over something, and it is my favorite part (but obviously you wouldn't know that, lol) of Stakes: the song! The song was a GREAT closer to it. It summed up the tone the episodes tried to connect with here and there, even though only the first and last parts were successful. But where did the song come from? Why, it came from Marceline's mom in episode 2, who was shown because............... Fan service? To show that Marceline did at one point know her mom? I'm not sure, so what could have emotionally grasped me left me completely confused. Why was Marceline's mom integral to her vampire story? She became a vampire sometime after Simon and Marcy, so shouldn't that time be instead spent showing a bit more of Simon? If you have a good reason for her mom being there, I promise I will gladly change my mind.