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The Bird in the Clock

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"The Bird in the Clock" is the sixth episode of the second season of Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake.[1] It is the sixteenth episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Fionna's latest bid to save the Sweet Spot throws Marshall for a loop. Fionna and Huntress Wizard chase the Cosmic Owl and attempt to save Finn from an impending Croak Dream.

Plot[]

"A long time ago, before the dawn of most things, there were two brothers, and they were inseparable. They were a mischievous pair. And one day, their pranks went too far. They were so proud of eating the Etheric Pizza, which they had been told never to touch. But dang, how good it was. Until... When they found themselves in serious hot water, these tight-knit brothers began quarreling for the very first time. One brother panicked and laid the blame on the other. Judgment was swift. The brothers were separated. The one accused of being the instigator was cast down, never to be heard from again. The other was chastised for betraying his brother and was sentenced to become Fate's messenger." (The remaining brother is seen transforming until it is revealed he has become the Cosmic Owl.)

Fionna leads Cake and several other friends through a cemetery to a surprise destination. They pass Huntress Wizard who Fionna invites to join them, but Huntress curtly declines in favor of her search for this world's heart of the forest. Gary asks who Huntress is, and Cake casually reveals she is an alternate version of Hunter who is stranded in their world. Gary appears taken aback but accepts the answer. The group arrives at the door of a huge mausoleum that causes Marshall to become uncomfortable, and they are all shocked when Fionna joyfully yells "Surprise!" and tells them that they are looking at their new fundraiser venue. Marshall grows more distressed to see his mother Hana appear looking pleased with herself, and when he blurts out "Uh... why?" she says she only wants to help her son. Hana then shows Marshall and Gary two ornate marble sarcophagi, and they are horrified to see on one statue bearing Marshall's likeness and on the other a placeholder statue for his future significant other, which Hana uses as a chance to express her lack of faith in Marshall's relationship with Gary. Quietly, Cake implores Fionna to not work with Hana because she has seen that it could lead to Fionna becoming Hana's lackey in the future (referencing a vision Cake saw within the past and future tree in The Butterfly and the River). Fionna dismisses the possibility and insists she's the one using Hana, not the other way around. Marshall expresses concern to Gary about this situation, but Gary points out some potential good in the situation and Marshall seems soothed.

Outside, Hunter walks to the mausoleum practicing apologies to Fionna for previously hanging up on her, when unusual leaves catch his eye and he curiously touches them. It's revealed that this is Huntress's hair, and she turns to sharply warn him not to touch her. Hunter is surprised by her face and says "You're... me?" but Huntress retaliates by grabbing his face and notes that actually Hunter is just a "soft", "weak" version of herself. There is a confrontation between them ended by Huntress's curt departure, until a quiet gruff remark from Hunter brings Huntress back to headbutt him.

In the Candy Kingdom, surrounded by princesses who had come to try waking Finn from his coma with true love's kiss, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, and Simon are becoming increasingly desperate to find a way to help Finn. Marceline suggests she save Finn by turning hin into an immortal vampire, but Princess Bubblegum rejects this idea and instead proposes trying to boost everyone's morale by injecting Finn with a substance to make him look less sick which Simon argues doesn't address the underlying problem. Meanwhile, Marceline has a vision of the Vampire King urging her to turn Finn into a vampire, which soon makes her give in and bite Finn's neck. However, instead of turning Finn into a vampire, Marceline herself is poisoned, spiting up green blood and falling to the ground.

That night in their beds, Fionna, Cake, and Huntress are falling asleep. Huntress sees Baby Finn enter the room and perform various self-injurious activities around the apartment, meanwhile visibly growing older indicating that Huntress is having a dream. Finn seems to be enjoying himself but Huntress appears tortured watching him accumulate bodily trauma. She covers her head protectively in her hands and begins venting her anger toward real-life Finn for getting hurt because he was a "stupid blundering meat-sack" which resulted in her attempt to save him that ended in her current frustrating situation. Finn eventually grows into an old man and exits out the window, briefly tempting Huntress to follow until she tells herself that he is not real. Suddenly she hears the Cosmic Owl behind her remarking off-handedly what a weird coincidence it was to find Huntress dreaming about Finn since he was on his to give Finn a "Croak Dream". When Huntress hears Finn is to be given a premonition of his actual impending death, she becomes upset and begins shooting arrows at the Cosmic Owl. He protests that "I'm just doing my job!" and flees through a rift into another dream with Huntress following.

Fionna is having a nightmare with a scary alternate version of herself when the Cosmic Owl comes flying overhead with Huntress in pursuit. Huntress tells Fionna she is dreaming, and Fionna, now lucid, follows Huntress through another rift. They go into Cake's dream of giving birth to kittens with M-Cron on a sitcom sound stage. Her babies, however, look eerily off and Cake startles out of bed and stubs her toe, yelping in pain. Fionna runs by and pulls Cake with her to the next dream. After Cake leaves, Ms. Cupcake appears and flirts with M-Cron.

They run through a dream where Ellis P is ibeing tickled on a lab table by Venus Cosmics. Meanwhile, Marshall Lee dreaming of happily running toSimone only for her to turn into his mother, who berates him for having untied shoes, which Marshall apologizes for even his feet are bare. As Fionna rushes past him through the dream, she urges Marshall stand up to his mother. In the next dream, Fionna stops in her tracks when she sees herself receiving romantic gifts from her two crushes,flowers from Hunter and a heart-shaped chocolate box from Phelix. She assumes this is Phelix's dream and concludes that Phelix must therefore still have romantic feelings for Fionna - however, it is unclear if either of her conclusions are correct. Fionna is so distracted that she prevents Huntress from following the Cosmic Owl into the next dream, and Huntress, angered at losing the trail, slaps Fionna which wakes them all.

Startled out of bed, Cake yelps as she stubs her toe, then uneasily notes this event bears uncanny similarity to her dream's. Seeing Cake's confusion, Huntress realizes Fionna and Cake not being from Ooo meant they would be unfamiliar with the lore of the Cosmic Owl, so she impatiently explains that Cake's dream event occurred in real life because the Cosmic Owl's appearing in in a dream makes it come true. Fionna and Cake's faces grow horrified as Huntress harshly tells them she was chasing the Owl in an attempt to prevent him delivering a death dream to Finn, until she was impeded by Fionna's distraction and lost the trail. Cake suggests going into Finn's dream to subvert the Cosmic Owl there. Huntress considers how they might find a conduit to Finn's mind, then realizes Fionna is an alternate Finn, and has also herself been to Ooo and has met a Finn from another universe (when she met Farmworld Finn while visiting Farmworld in Destiny)

With that, Huntress tells Fionna to think of Finn, and then stabs her finger-roots into both sides of Fionna's head. Fionna and Huntress awaken in what turns out to be Farmworld Finn's dream, in a wood-lined room with a large bubbling soup pot (referencing his wife's pot of soup lovingly maintained by her family since the day she died, seen in Destiny) in the middle and a chimney above. Farmworld Finn emerges from the soup and Fionna recognizes him while asking about his head wound. Farmworld Finn tells Fionna he survived his encounter with Scarab yet his heart remains heavy, due to not knowing what happened to his son Jay. When Fionna gives him the news that Jay and Little Destiny are happy and safe in her world, Farmworld Finn relaxes and climbs up the chimney onto a beautiful patio under a blue sky. Huntress and Fionna also reach the patio where Huntress, impatient to find Finn of Ooo, demands Fionna try again to think of the "right Finn". Overhearing, Farmworld Finn remarks he once met another Finn who saved his life, which sounds like the kind of heroic action Finn of Ooo tends to do so Huntress instructs Farmworld Finn to think of that Finn he met while having Fionna touch her hands to his head. This triggers them all to proceed into another dream.

Back in the Candy Kingdom, Marceline sucks color out of Princess Bubblegum's hair to regain strength. Still comatose on the hospital bed, Finn begins to breathe heavily while his vitals monitor briefly displays the outline of Fionna's bunny hat.

Fionna, Huntress, and Farmworld Finn are in a room shaped like Finn's iconic bear hat. There is a TV with Finn running through a clockwork landscape. The trio dives into the TV and end up in a theater. On the stage, clock creatures are being attacked by a kiss monster which Finn enthusiastically fights and defeats. Huntress tells Fionna to keep Finn safe while she and Farmworld Finn prepare for Cosmic Owl. Just as Fionna is remarking that Finn can take care of himself, suddenly Finn is ambushed by a new enemy and killed. Tears well up in Fionna's eyes as she looks at his mutilated corpse, then suddenly there is the sound of applause and the lights go dark. Moments later the lights come back on and they are in a new scene, this time facing a castle with archers shooting arrows at them, a scenario that also soon ends in Finn's gruesome death. Fionna and Finn continue adventuring through numerous similar scenes, gallantly fighting enemies but always ending in a horrifying death for Finn. Throughout these scenes, Finn maintains an unflagging cheerful demeanor, seemingly having no memory of his many deaths, and repeatedly asking Fionna who she is and commenting that she's like a "Girl Jake". Each scene ends with Finn's grisly death and audience applause. Fionna fights valiantly to protect Finn, but over and over she fails and has to watch him die. Clocks, calendars, and various timepieces are prominently involved in all scenes. Huntress tells Farmworld Finn, as long as the Cosmic Owl isn't around, Finn's deaths will not count.

Eventually, a weary and traumatized Fionna asks Finn how he keeps going. Finn responds it's because that's what heroes do. Fionna asks how he knows what he's doing is right, and Finn's answer's that he listens to his "Hero Heart" and trusts the universe to guide him on the right path. Inspired, Fionna yells "Hero Heart!" as she charges into the fight.

Finn is lassoed by a clock monster and is being pulled toward a death trap when the Cosmic Owl finally appears. The Cosmic Owl is hampered by booby traps set by Huntress and Farmworld Finn. The Cosmic Owl defensively tells Huntress that he doesn't have a choice about delivering a Croak Dream to Finn, he is just the messenger. Huntress, unmoved, responds that then she will just have to kill the messenger. The Cosmic Owl, seeing that he will not be able to deter Huntress from doing everything in her power to stop him, accepts that his only option is confrontation and flies directly at Huntress. He is impaled on her spear, just before Finn is once again killed.

Huntress tells Fionna that she was able to kill the Cosmic Owl in time. Fionna, overwhelmed with the number of deaths she has seen Finn die in the dream theater, lets out a hysterical laugh at the phrase "in time" and summarizes her numb horror with the phrase "heckin' heck." There is the sound of audience applause and the lights go out.

The lights come up on the next scene where the four of them are standing in a clock swamp. Huntress holds Cosmic Owl's corpse, and Fionna questions if Huntress has just killed a god and whether this might cause problems in the future, which Huntress does not answer. Fionna and Huntress together squeeze the Cosmic Owl's corpse through a narrow opening into a dream clock. Finn asks Farmworld Finn who he is and observes that "You're like a hot me." Farmworld Finn explains simply that he owed Finn, and the two smile and shake hands. Then Farmworld Finn suddenly turns and uses an axe from his mechanical arm to save Finn from a sneak attack, impressing Finn. Huntress then approaches Finn, and he greets her warmly, but she maintains an emotionless expression. Despite acknowledging that Finn will not remember this dream encounter, she resolutely vows to him that she will save him. Finn smiles gently at her and affectionately says "I love you, Huntress." Her stoic countenance unchanged, Huntress says nothing in reply and merely walks away. With parting words of "Later, Mertens", Farmworld Finn follows Huntress. Fionna stares miserably at Finn for a final moment, then with a bitter face turns to run after Huntress. Behind her, Finn calls out cheerily one last time "Who are you?" before with fateful inevitability a monster emerges from the shadows to bring his inescapable painful death and the sound of audience applause. Fionna catches up to Huntress and chastises her for not repaying Finn's sincere declaration of love with any indication of how much he means to her. Huntress's demeanor remains unmoved and she merely informs them that she will now remove her hands from Fionna's head. As she does so, they all awaken in their beds in their respective worlds.

Back in Fionna and Cake's apartment, Huntress confidently declares that they succeeded and Finn will live "for now", then immediately falls to the floor in a dead sleep. Fionna gives a rueful smile that quickly fades into a pained expression, and with a shaking voice tells Cake that she "just watched a guy get killed like a thousand times." Cake gives her a concerned look and makes her lap into an inviting cushion. After Fionna lays her head on Cake's lap for a comforting moment, Cake gently suggests maybe Fionna should take a day off, but Fionna insists she can't because she has to save the Sweet Spot and be a hero. Cake says reassuring that Fionna is already a hero, and Fionna briefly smiles at her friend then collapses on the floor, sighing "It's just... hard." Cake encourages her to "just get out there. And follow your heart." Fionna echos "My heart..." then blushes remembering the heart-shaped gift she had seen Phelix give her in a dream.

In a radio studio elsewhere in the city, DJ Slime is hosting a late night radio show while Phelix dozes next to him. Fionna knocks on thee window and Phelix steps outside to talk with her. She explains nervously that she saw him in a dream. When he asks her what kind of dream, she becomes flustered and begins to stammerthe start of a question. Before she can get it out, he interrupts to say he knows what she's going to ask, then tells her he'd be happy help her by playing music at her fundraiser. Fionna looks momentarily disappointed that Phelix had not responded romantically, but then happily smiles and thanks him. Suddenly they hear the Ashley yelling at them to keep it down and a potted plant falls off a windowsill directly above them. In the nick of time, Fionna pulls Phelix out of harm's way and he ends up dipped in her arms like they are dancing. They share a charged moment looking at each other, but a sudden vision of a shriveled Simon Petrikov startles Fionna and the spell is broken. Phelix then gets a phone call, and he walks away without saying goodbye.

It is now early morning. Gary listens to Marshall playing guitar. Marceline sleeps beside Princess Bubblegum, who replenishes her pink color with a liquid from a tube. The other princesses of Ooo sleep all around them. Nearby, BMO has been drwaing on Finn's face with marker, and as he looks at his art he exclaims, "He's risen!"

Characters[]

Major characters[]

Minor characters[]

Mentioned only[]

Dreams only[]

Flashbacks only[]

Places[]

Universes[]

Trivia[]

  • Fionna calls Huntress Wizard "HW", which is also what her counterpart calls her.
    • It is shown Fionna and Cake have figured Huntress is Hunter's counterpart.
  • It is revealed that the Cosmic Owl had a brother with whom he was close, but after eating a forbidden pizza, he accused his brother of being responsible. As a result, the Brothers were separated and while the accused brother was "cast out", the brother who betrayed him became the Cosmic Owl.
    • In addition, the Cosmic Owl is killed by Huntress Wizard right before Finn would die in his dream, therefore preventing Finn from having a croak dream.
    • Huntress killing the Cosmic Owl is considered a cosmic crime, as referenced in the episode "Wake Up".
  • It is revealed that Farmworld Finn survived after his encounter with Scarab, who stabbed him in the head near the end of "Destiny".
  • Marceline tries to save Finn by turning him into a vampire, but this plan doesn't work as she also ends up getting poisoned.
  • This is the first time that Gary, Marshall, Ellis P, and Hunter meet a resident of Ooo.
    • Huntress Wizard meets her counterpart, Hunter, for the first time.
  • This is the first time all known versions of Finn - the main universe Finn, Fionna, Farmworld Finn, and Baby Finn - are seen in the same episode.
    • Unlike the former three, however, Baby Finn is only represented in a dream, rather than being encountered.

Cultural References[]

Episode Connections[]

  • Old Lady Princess speaks for the first time since the first season of the original series, when she debuted in "When Wedding Bells Thaw".
  • Marceline once again sees the smaller Vampire King just like she did in the final episode of the Stakes miniseries, "The Dark Cloud", which was part of the seventh season of original series.
  • Before Huntress Wizard decides to take Fionna into Finn's dream since she's technically an alternate version of Finn, Fionna mentions that she met a Finn before, referring to the time she, Cake, and Simon met Farmworld Finn during their time in Farmworld.
  • Farmworld Finn returns to help Huntress Wizard and Fionna save Finn from having a croak dream. He was last seen in "Destiny".
    • Fionna asked Farmworld Finn about his head injury, which occurred after he was stabbed in the head by Scarab at the end of "Destiny".
    • Farmworld Finn also mentions that he owed the original Finn for saving his life in "Crossover".
  • Although Finn had never met Fionna before this episode, he was still familiar with her from the Ice King's stories, as shown in the episode, "Simon Petrikov".
    • Oddly enough, Finn doesn't seem to remember Fionna or Farmworld Finn, though this is likely due to him being in a comatose state.
  • Both Fionna's and Finn's screams are heard again in this episode at the same time.
  • When Fionna and DJ Flame seem to have a romantic moment, Fionna briefly envisions the Winter King when he turned back into the alternate Simon Petrikov after losing his magic in "The Winter King".

Storyline Analysis[]

  • This is the first time Fionna meets Finn, albeit in a dream.

Production Notes[]

  • On November 24th, 2025, Warner Brothers Discovery released seven preview screenshots on their official website prior to this episode's official release.[2]
  • In the scene where Cake tells Fionna to follow her heart, she has marker writing on her face, but in The Season 2 trailer, she doesn't. This was likely added later.

Videos[]


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Background art[]


Screenshots[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/131378-adventure-time-fionna-cake/season/2/episode/6
  2. ↑ https://press.wbd.com/us/property/adventure-time-fionna-and-cake/images
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