| This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the character Jerry. |
"Jerry" is the eighth episode of Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake.[1]
Synopsis[]
Stranded in a desolate wasteland, Fionna, Cake and Simon must resort to desperate measures to escape.[2]
Plot[]
In a flashback, Simon Petrikov and Betty Grof traverse a creek, with Simon taking a cautious approach by walking on some slippery rocks. Betty simply removes her boots and socks and walks through. Simon removes his shoes, only to slip on a rock and fall into the water. The two share a good laugh. In the present, Simon, Fionna and Cake walk through a new alternate universe in search of the crown, but find no sign of it nor the Ice Kingdom, much less any sign of life whatsoever. Cake is still angry at Fionna for transporting them out of Vampireworld before she could steal the crown from Vampire King, despite Fionna insisting she saved Cake. With the remote broken, Simon foresees they will likely be stuck in this world unless they can find a way to jumpstart it. Meanwhile, Scarab is met by Orbo, his boss.
While Cake storms off, Simon and Fionna converse on their encounter with the alternate version of Marceline, with Simon remarking on his regrets of hurting his Marceline when he used the crown, only to see she likely would have been worse off without him. Fionna sadly connects this to her own choice to save Cake even though it has harmed their relationship. Simon cheers Fionna up by telling her about his relationship with Betty, relating how they first met at the library, and revealing (through flashback) that she was one of the only people who believed in his research into magical artifacts, and eagerly agreed to join his expedition to find The Enchiridion, though she gave up on a planned trip to Australia to look for petroglyphs by doing this. The story is interrupted by Cake's screech at encountering something in a decaying Tree House. That something turns out to be this universe's version of BMO, who is oblivious to where everyone is. Meanwhile, Orbo scolds Scarab for ignoring their calls. Scarab tries to report Prismo's illegal alternate universe, but Orbo does not believe him and refuses to let him contact his own boss.
BMO leads the group to the location of the Ice Kingdom in this world. Cake, who has grown fond of BMO, blows off Fionna to hang out with him instead. Simon continues to share his story at Fionna's request, describing how he and Betty bonded on their trip with an encounter revealing his cautious approach to exploration and her more brute-force methods. They arrive at the former location of the Ice Kingdom, it having completely melted and no sign of this universe's Ice King. They find some of Ice King's tapes, which BMO plays. Discomforted by seeing a version of his past self, Simon walks off to keep looking for the crown, while Fionna and Cake watch with amusement. Gradually, however, they grow disturbed as they see the depths of his madness and his abuse of Gunter (and just missing a mysterious moment on the tape where both suddenly turn into skeletons). Simon reports no luck in finding the crown and their only hope is fixing the remote: BMO declares Princess Bubblegum can fix it and starts leading them to the Candy Kingdom.
Noticing Fionna's dour mood, Simon continues the story of him and Betty, recalling Betty declined an offer to join him in taking credit for discovering the Enchiridion, but before he can get to the "best part" they arrive in the Candy Kingdom. Not finding the Princess, BMO instead puts on some of her old clothes and crown and presents himself as Bubblegum, to everyone's bewilderment: BMO-as-Bubblegum mysteriously claims that one day everyone turned into a skeleton, followed by the arrival of "Jerry". Refusing to elaborate, he inspects the remote and claims it is beyond "her" ability to fix. Cake throws a tantrum, blaming Fionna for their troubles, prompting Fionna to tearfully run off. Simon follows her to the balcony and continues his and Betty's story, talking about how even after they went their separate ways, he could not stop thinking about her. Later, he discovered a note she left for him praising his research, as well as admiring him as a person after their expedition, expressing a wish to stay by his side. Learning she was planning to leave on another expedition, Simon intercepted her at the bus stop and declared he felt the same way, marking the beginning of their romantic relationship. This succeeds in cheering Fionna up, and she asks if they subsequently went to Australia to find petroglyphs. Simon, surprised, denies this, but they are interrupted by BMO, who is moved to tears by the story. Resolving to help them however he can, he offers to use his own robot heart to jumpstart the remote at the risk of his own life. He connects the remote to his heart and tries to jumpstart it, but the attempt fails, resulting in his death, and when Cake tearfully grabs his body it turns into the normal alarm clock from Fionna-world.
The group bury and eulogize BMO outside the Candy Kingdom, with Cake ultimately turning to Fionna for comfort. She then suggests finding "Jerry" and delivering the bad news. On their way, Fionna and Cake cheer each other up by singing the Cheers theme, prompting Simon to ask if they know any other songs: unfortunately, Fionna only knows the closing theme to Cheers, but Cake starts singing the same tune that she sang when she and Simon first met. Simon reveals it was actually his and Betty's song, their favorite which they felt symbolized their relationship.
They eventually come to a pit, supposedly the home of Jerry. Upon entering, they find several skeletons and Jerry himself – whom a horrified Simon realizes is actually The Lich, who immobilizes them before they can run. Meanwhile, Orbo teleports Scarab to a different room and allows him to speak his mind. Scarab describes all of Prismo's actions and makes the case that he should be allowed to finish his job. Orbo is prepared to attack Scarab anyway, but his boss intervenes via phone.
The Lich dryly observes "Ice Wizard"'s return and how he would have killed them in the past, but simply releases them and returns to his dormant state. Simon informs Fionna and Cake on who Jerry really is, and realizes this is a world in which the Lich succeeded in killing all life, but the Lich himself is depressed because his purpose has been fulfilled, with nothing left. In turn, there is no way for them to continue surviving in this world without any life. Fionna reluctantly reveals she has been carrying the crown, having found it in this world's Ice Kingdom: however, after seeing what he was like as Ice King, she did not want Simon to become him again, so she kept it hidden. She also fears what may happen to her world once the crown is put on. Simon assures her things will be fine, and that he is prepared to sacrifice himself for their sake.
Simon begins the ritual so Fionna and Cake can return to his mind, which piques the Lich's interest. The portal reopens and Fionna and Cake enter it, just as the Scarab arrives (having been allowed to interfere by his boss). Simon bids farewell to his sanity while Scarab prepares to strike, but just as Simon starts to put the crown on, his memory of Betty causes the initial purpose of the ritual to finally succeed, teleporting him and a surprised Scarab into GOLB's world, as the Lich watches in awed silence.
Characters[]
Major Characters[]
- Fionna
- Cake
- Simon Petrikov
- BMO (Extinct World) (debut)
- Betty Grof (flashbacks)
- Scarab
- The Lich (Extinct World)/Jerry (debut)
Minor Characters[]
- Orbo (debut)
- Ice King (Extinct World) (debut; seen in recordings)
- Gunter (Extinct World) (debut; seen in recordings)
- Billy (Lich-possessed carcass)
Referenced[]
- Finn (name written on note)
- Football (mentioned)
- Princess Bubblegum (Extinct World) (mentioned)
- Jake (mentioned)
- Prismo's Boss (mentioned)
- GOLB (mentioned)
Music[]
Places[]
Universes[]
- Extinct World
- Pre-Mushroom War Earth (main universe; flashbacks)
Trivia[]
- It is revealed that the Lich's wish-altered reality still exists after the events of "The Lich", "Finn the Human", and "Jake the Dog". Finn's wish-altered reality, Farmworld was revealed to still exist in the episode "Crossover" despite the fact that Jake changed The Lich's wish in "Jake the Dog", undoing both The Lich's and Finn's wishes which brought Finn back to Ooo, left The Lich stranded in the Time Room and brought everyone back to life.
- While it was briefly explained by Prismo in a cut line from the original storyboard of "Crossover" how Farmworld still exists (Jake still being in the Time Room caused his consciousness to split Ooo and Farmworld into two realities instead of Farmworld replacing Ooo, creating a paradox after making his wish), it's unknown how The Lich's wish-altered reality still exists.
- Orbo has the same voice actor as Bandit Heeler, and lots of viewers were reminded of the latter.
- The tape revealed that this universe's Ice King's crown was preserved inside of his drums after he turned into a skeleton, which Fionna secretly took after looking in the direction of the drums.
- The crown can be seen inside the drum set just as the group leaves the ruins of the Ice Kingdom.[3]
Episode Connections[]
- Simon tells the story of how he and Betty met and how they found The Enchiridion. It contains references to the episodes, "I Remember You", "Broke His Crown" and "Temple of Mars".
- "I Remember You": Simon and Betty in the car for the newspaper photo about the discovery of The Enchiridion.
- "Broke His Crown": How the two met each other through her note in the same book in the library.
- "Temple of Mars": Betty's cancelled travel to the Outback (Australia) to study ancient petroglyphs and the same decor of her bedroom.
- Betty's glasses in the flashback are the same pair seen when she interacted with a projection of her past in "Temple of Mars", which makes perfect sense given the very near time frame from both flashbacks. This also implies she changed her glasses to the classic pointed cat eyes some time later.
- The magic relics that Simon mentions in his presentation are the Armor of Zeldron from "Blood Under the Skin", the Wand of Dispersement from "Sons of Mars", the Lamb Relic from "Beyond this Earthly Realm", and The Enchiridion.
- Simon's presentation also features the triangular-shaped wizards known as the "usurpers of Wizard City", who hid Coconteppi's body in the flashback from "Wizard City".
- Several items in the remains of the Ice Kingdom were previously seen in multiple episodes of the original series. Ninja weaponry and Ice King's Diary from "The Chamber of Frozen Blades", the Demonic Wishing Eye from "When Wedding Bells Thaw", the machine that powered up Neptr in "What is Life?" and the Ice King's tapes collection from "Holly Jolly Secrets Part I" and "Part II".
- The alternate version of BMO from the Extinct World also plays the Ice King's video tapes the same way they did in the aforementioned episodes.
- The Lich simply refers to Simon as "Ice Wizard." Similarly, a Lich-possessed Princess Bubblegum states "The ice wizard is a weak fool" in "Mortal Recoil."
- After BMO dies trying to make Prismo's remote work, Cake picks him up and causes him to turn into the alarm clock Fionna has in Fionna-world.
- This is an effect of Fionna and Cake virus-like "powers", in this case causing them to shape-shift to what would be considered the normal in their world.
- This was also subtly foreshadowed in "Destiny" when her new weapon was turned into a butterknife[4] as well as in "The Star" when one of the garlic bombs turned into a clove of garlic, "Cake the Cat" when one of the Hot Dog Knights turned into an ordinary hotdog, and "The Winter King," when the crown's magic disappeared.
- This is an effect of Fionna and Cake virus-like "powers", in this case causing them to shape-shift to what would be considered the normal in their world.
- Fionna and Cake sing the Cheers theme song together. Cheers was previously referenced in the episodes, "Simon & Marcy", "Fionna Campbell", "Simon Petrikov" and "The Winter King".
- Cake also sings the song that Simon angrily asked how she knew again in "Cake the Cat". It's revealed that the song used to be Simon and Betty's song.
- "Jerry" was revealed to be The Lich who was wearing Billy's body, although it had decayed and rotted significantly in that reality. In the original series, The Lich previously wore Billy's body in "The Lich", "Finn the Human", "Jake the Dog", "Wake Up" and "Escape from the Citadel".
- Simon calls The Lich "The last scholar of GOLB". The Farmworld Lich previously called himself this in "Whispers".
- Simon does the ritual again to send Fionna & Cake back to their world but ends up opening a portal to Betty/GOLB's world, piquing The Lich's interest.
- Fionna calls a kingdom made completely out of candy as one of her top three fantasies. The first of these fantasies (Cake talking) was achieved in "Cake the Cat."
- In the background of the dead Tree House, a "BRB" sticky note from the Extinct World's Finn can be seen. The main timeline Finn leaves the same note before going to Mars to find Jake in "Temple of Mars."
Errors[]
- When BMO refers to himself as Princess Bubblegum, the green button on BMO's console appears red for one shot.
- In the library, when Simon is shushed by a patron, Betty's note becomes a book in his hands for one shot.
- While The Lich has Fionna, Cake and Simon in a trance, the white streak in Simon's hair is missing for one shot.
Gallery[]
Official Art[]
Production Art[]
![Visual development by Jesse Balmer - Extinct World Tree House[5]](/wiki/File:Jesse_Balmer_visdev_Jerry_tree_house.jpg "Jesse Balmer visdev Jerry tree house.jpg (115 KB)")
Background Art[]
Screenshots[]
