tvdinner&amovie

In the first episode to start out the new year, Adventure Time two strong themes are tackled. The first being that having children can be a horrifying and totally daunting experience for those that are unprepared, the second is that your parents have a tremendous impact on who you become. This is not only terrifying for the people unfortunate enough to be the children of the particularly deranged, but the deranged themselves also have an undo amount of stress placed upon them.

Jake is constantly consulting his parents for advice on how to raise his new pups, even though they do not seem to have had the healthiest of relationships. Jake literally has traumatic flash-backs when he thinks about his father and his abusive tendencies early on in the show. He tries his best for most of the run of the show to not become him. But then, the moment he lays eyes on his new children, he dons his father’s old hat. Even when the kids knock his cap off while playing, the shape-shifts it back.

The decision to make Lady not speak English is especially fun in this episode. It’s terrific fun just utilizing tone and body language to try and ascertain what she’s trying to get across to her children and husband (husband? I don’t think they’re married. The smut we allow our children and manchildren to watch these days.) She comes off as completely motherly and familiar, down to the soft sigh as she watches Jake get mauled by foxes. It felt a lot like watching my mom shake her head disapprovingly whenever my dad would try and tackle something too big for his own good; a mixture of slight contempt with a twinge of happiness and love thrown in for good measure. It was a sweet hot chocolate moment.

Jake’s ability to change forms felt an awful lot like dad as well. When you’re little, they do tend to feel indestructible. You take things like taking the night watch and making breakfast for you for granted. It isn’t until you’re older, when you first “save” them for the first time that you begin to see that they’re human, and soon after that point they’ll see you as older, somehow. Not even equals, really. There will always be a certain sense of respect for the relationship there, but there comes a time when the parent lets their guard down and allows themselves to be taken care of by the person they brought into the world.

I liked the fact that the pups were kind of creepy-looking. I don’t think that one of them even has eyes. All-to-often on television, every single character is perfect and it’s hard to relate to physical perfection. Having them be a tad odd meant that you could relate with one of them. Also do not know why they could become invisible? Disappear? Evaporate? Whatever they did it was dumb in the best way. Just like the moppy-headed one using dog-powers with her hair to make a ducky.

Having the father on TV, for once, love the fact that he was a dad and not go on a HRNG MIDLIFE CRISIS HOW ZANY quest was a breath of fresh air.

Snakes rarely jump out of boomboxes, thankfully.

I don’t think I want to know what the bread-game was…