Adventure Time: Jake the Dad Episode Review

Hey guys, I haven't posted a review in a while. I have yet to review Adventure Time as a whole, but lemme tell you it's one of my favorite cartoons. That said, I was thoroughly disappointed with the newest episode.

I could tell the writers were trying to keep the show pretty much the same from the moment I found out Lady Rainicorn was pregnant. I mean, she and Jake were never married, which apart from being in a moral grey area for a kids show, was clearly an attempt to keep the actual commitments on Jake's part as small as possible so that he and Finn could keep adventuring and the show wouldn't change all that much.

"But Loomy," I hear you say. "What was so bad about the episode?"

Well my dear blog reader, the problem with this episode lies in the shows inability to take itself seriously or hold any sort of moral high ground. Pendleton Ward himself, the shows creator, has stated that he hates lessons and morals in TV shows, and tries avoiding them in his work.

Now when the episode started out, it felt real. Jake was a father, so he decided to move in with Lady and the newborn kids. Several jokes about parents ensued and it was very entertaining to watch. Jake was very overprotective and idiotic at times, even going as far as to walk his children around on leashes.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Lady Rainicorn and Jake do not have a very good family. Lady Rainicorn and the kids were all aware of what Jake was doing wrong, but instead of trying to help him, they simply stood back and watched him act like a moron.

I feel like Lady Rainicorn's pregnancy was akin to other unwanted pregnancies. They tossed it in for comedic effect at the end of an episode without really thinking about the consequences of their actions. They drew Lady Rainicorn as pregnant for a few episodes, and finally, when they could delay it no more, they drew up five ugly rainicorn-dog puppies and made this episode.

Now the horrible family dynamic comes from the children clearly not caring all that much for their father. Apparently rainicorn-dog puppies grow up incredibly fast, because in no time at all the kids were speaking fluent Korean and English. It's clear Lady Rainicorn knew about their incredibly fast growth, but she chose to keep this information from Jake for some reason.

I'm not gonna lie, I thought this episode was absolutely hilarious until the last twenty seconds. But in the end when Jake returns to live with Finn and Beemo because Lady Rainicorn and the pups "Don't need him anymore," I got a really bad taste in my mouth. It appears that Lady and the pups don't really like Jake that much and it really rubbed me the wrong way.

But hey, I hated Marceline after watching her introduction episode, but now she's one of the funnier characters. Maybe the pups will grow on me the same way she did. And hopefully they'll grow closer to their dad as well.