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"Seventeen" is the fifth episode in the tenth season of Adventure Time. It's the two hundred and seventy-first episode overall.[2]

Synopsis[]

A mysterious knight crashes Finn's birthday bash and presents him with a dangerous gift.[4]

Plot[]

It is Finn's seventeenth birthday, and Princess Bubblegum throws him a party to celebrate. However, it's a rather small party, consistent of only a few of Finn's close friends and a handful of Banana Guards, due to the Candy Kingdom being in lockdown, thanks to the issues with Gumbald. After the gift exchange, a mysterious green figure appears with a proposition for Finn. He comes with an ax for the boy, one that he may only receive given he strikes the green knight on the head with it.

Originally, Finn declines. However, he remembers that his best friend, Jake, who wasn't at the party just yet, loves to prank Finn during his birthday parties. And so, believing this to be one of Jake's pranks, Finn slices the green knight's head clean off. Jake then appears with a small orange gift box for Finn. It turns out Jake's prank for this year was going to be a "fake-out" gift, after which he reveals the gift box was actually part of his body. The green knight's head grows back, and he claims that it's now his turn to strike Finn. Finn decides that a better way of evening the score was to play the carnival games that were set up around the room. It was decided that the first person to three wins was the victor. If Finn won, he wouldn't get hit by the green knight.

The green knight put up a shield, giving the excuse that it was to make the challenge "fair", and all of the partygoers watched from afar. The first game was throwing coconuts at cans. Finn scored four out of five, only missing the last shot due to the green knight's horse blowing air on the ball, causing it to go in a different direction. The man then knocked all five cans down on his turn, via cheating.

The next game was the greasy pole climb. The green knight waits at the bottom of his pole, allowing Finn to struggle all the way to the top, ultimately resulting in Finn's victory. Finally, the green knight declares that the final round will be composed of a game of arm wrestling. At first, Finn is confident that he will reign victorious for the second time in a row, due to having a robotic arm. However, the green knight quickly and easily overpowers him. It is then revealed that the green knight was none other than Fern this entire time! After slamming Finn through the table, he gloats about his victory, and prepares to strike Finn's head. However, a voice from inside of the horse tells Fern not to go through with the execution.

Gumbald, Chicle, and Lolly are revealed to have been commandeering the horse. Gumbald explains that he was upset with Bonnie for keeping them imprisoned as candy people. Bonnie explains that she believed that the three of them were happier that way. Gumbald admits that they were indeed, but plan to change Bonnibel into a candy person, anyway, to show her how it feels. Before he can, Marceline shape shifts and guards Bonnie. She tells Gumbald to back off. He does so, due to finding Marceline to be "legitimately scary". However, he claims that he has access to greater technology than Bonnie, and that while he is leaving for now, he will return. Gumbald, Chicle, and Lolly take their leave, and Fern follows.

Finn sits against a wall, disgruntled by these events. Huntress Wizard consoles him. In an effort to cheer him up, Jake and BMO roll in a massive Finn Cake through the main entrance while singing happy birthday to Finn. Everyone else joins in. However, the Ice King bursts out of the Finn Cake dressed as Flame Princess. Traumatized, Finn looks on in horror as the episode ends.

Characters[]

Major characters[]

Minor characters[]

Flashback characters[]

Music[]

Trivia[]

  • The device Gumbald intends to candify his niece with is based on plasma globes.
  • Chicle and Lolly strangely bear animosity to Bubblegum, seeing as how it was Gumbald's fault that they were transformed.
  • Finn is called "Mr. Finn Mertens" by Ice King. This marks the first time another character has referred to Finn as such. Beforehand only Finn referred to himself as "Finn Mertens" while others called him "Finn the Human."
  • Marcy and Bonnie can be seen holding hands while singing happy birthday to Finn.
  • This episode takes place entirely within one room.

Episode connections[]

  • This is the first episode since "Mystery Train" where Finn celebrates his birthday, the episodes take place four years apart.
  • Upon hearing the sound of hooves approaching, Starchy claims it is produced by zombies, referencing the events from "Slumber Party Panic" and "From Bad to Worse."
  • Finn's suspicion that the Green Knight is actually part of one of Jake's "classic" birthday pranks is a callback to "Mystery Train."
  • Despite the events of the Elements miniseries, Bubblegum is still reticent to use the term "magic," as she called the invisible shield "advanced mystery tech."
  • Gumbald found Fern's remains in "Three Buckets," and in "The Wild Hunt" a creature resembling him is seen in Gumbald's lab. This episode confirms that this is indeed Fern revealing that he has been revived or survived his supposed death.
  • Fern's triumphant "Finally! I win!" references his frustration at perceiving himself as inferior to the "real" Finn, which emerges for example in "Whispers" and "Three Buckets," among other episodes.
  • This episode reveals that Gumbald, Lolly, and Chicle were turned back to their true forms by LSP's anti-elemental effect at the end of "Skyhooks II," similar to Jake and Sweet P. In that episode, Punchy, Crunchy, and Manfried were seen standing together right as the anti-element wave restored Ooo, and none of them have been seen since then, as proven by the "Missing" poster showing Crunchy in "Always BMO Closing."
  • Ice King bursts out of the cake dressed as Flame Princess, indicating he recalls them having been in a relationship but possibly forgetting that she and Finn broke up following the events of "Frost & Fire."

Cultural references[]

  • The kiddie pool with rubber duckies seen at the beginning of the episode is labeled "Duck Soup," which references a 1933 Marx Brothers movie with the same name.
  • The game Bop-a-Vole is a nod to Whac-a-Mole.
  • Fern's line, "How do you like them coconuts?" is a reference to the oft-quoted apple scene from Good Will Hunting.
  • The banner above the door to the castle reads, "felix senescence," which is derived from Latin and means "happy aging."
  • Finn suspecting the thumping sound caused by the mechanical horse's hooves being produced by the elk's heart could be a nod to Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart."
  • The beginning of this episode is a reference to the Arthurian story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
  • The Green Knight's incessant cackling parodies the tendency of villains in many kids shows (and not only) to overindulge in what is colloquially called "evil laugh" or "maniacal laughter."
  • Gumbald, Lolly and Chicle infiltrating Bubblegum's palace disguised as a horse is a reference to the famous scheme of the Trojan Horse.
  • Ice King's line "Happy birthday, Mr. Finn Mertens" may be a spoof of Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President."
  • The Green Knight's armor resembles Alex Mercer's armor from the video game Prototype.

Storyline analysis[]

  • As of this episode, Finn turns 17 years old.

Production notes[]

  • This episode was released early on the Cartoon Network app on December 7, 2017.
  • This is the first episode that aired during the DecemberBomb.

Errors[]

  • Right before Fern takes off the top half of the horse, the top of cousin Chicle's hair could already be seen.

Video[]

Gallery[]

Official art[]

Background art[]


Screenshots[]

References[]

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