Come Along With Me

2021 Golden Stake Winner
GoldenStake This article is a winner of the 2021 Golden Stake Awards. It won for the following category: Best Season Finale. It was also nominated for the category, "Best Serious Episode," but it didn't win.

"Come Along With Me" is the thirteenth episode in the tenth season, the two hundred and eightieth episode overall, and the series finale. It is the length of four of the show's standard eleven-minute episodes combined.

Synopsis

The fate of Ooo is revealed to two adventurers in the distant future; Princess Bubblegum gathers her allies while Finn and Jake look for a way to prevent the coming Great Gum War against Gumbald and his army; An evil and powerful deity is unleashed upon Ooo.

Plot

In the distant future, roughly one thousand years after the outcome of the Gum War, two friends named Beth and Shermy recover a rusty old mechanical arm that once belonged to Finn after it is unearthed by a Prize Ball Guardian. In their home, formerly known as the residence of Marceline the Vampire Queen, the two decide to visit the "King of Ooo" in order to inquire about its origins. They visit the King in his hideout at the top of Mount Cragdor and are greeted by BMO and their many artifacts and keepsakes of old. After Shermy and Beth accidentally break a few items, BMO asks them to leave. When they present BMO with Finn's lost mechanical arm, however, BMO agrees to tell the two the story of the Gum War.

In the past, according to BMO's retelling of the events, Finn and Jake are out on a reconnaissance mission for Princess Bubblegum when they discover Normal Man, Betty, and Maja hovering silently above Bonnie's army camp. Jake stretches the two of them to PB's command tent, where she is going over her battle plans with her allies, including Marceline, Flame Princess, Huntress Wizard, Lemongrab, Lumpy Space Princess, Duke of Nuts, Cinnamon Bun, Colonel Candy Corn, and Lady Rainicorn. Finn and Jake tell PB of Normal Man and Betty's sudden appearance, and they are interrupted by one of Gumbald's spies listening in to their plans. After Huntress Wizard incapacitates the Gumbaldian, PB decides that they must attack at once and prepares to sound the warhorn. Before she does, Marceline asks her to reconsider, having suffered through the Mushroom War herself, but PB is resolute and sticks to the warpath. Feeling that PB is wrong in her intentions, Finn decides to hatch a plan in order to stop the conflict.

After PB sounds the war horn, Finn tries to convince her to give Gumbald one last chance to surrender before the fighting starts. PB agrees after being reminded of her old friend Shoko. As a last-ditch attempt to stop the war, Jake unleashed the nightmare juice given to him and Finn by Nightmare Princess, forcing him, Finn, PB, Gumbald, and Fern into a hallucinatory slumber. Inside the dream realm, PB and Gumbald continue to be hostile towards each other. PB attempts to attack her uncle and Fern using an imaginary "love bazooka," but is interrupted by a singing Poodle Woman allowing Gumbald to escape. Jake pulls Jermaine into the dream with them, and despite Finn's protests, PB decides to pursue Gumbald. Fern transforms into a bird/pterodactyl-like and flies away, while Finn decides to follow him after turning into a butterfly.

Before Gumbald can wake himself up so he can gain the upper-hand on PB's forces, PB confronts him inside a nightmare version of one of the Gumball Guardians. The two begin to fight each other using giant toothbrushes but are suddenly rendered immobile by some unseen force. Meanwhile, butterfly Finn tries to calm Fern down, and two plummet to the ground. Finn attempts to appeal to Fern by reminding him that they are "two sides of the same coin" and that they share the same torment. PB and Gumbald recreate a nightmare version of the moment that PB defeated Gumbald by dousing him with his own dum-dum juice, only this time with the roles reversed. PB is doused and is transformed into Tiny Taffy- a smaller, less intelligent version of herself.

Jake and Jermaine work together to find Finn's vault, where all of his repressed memories reside. They are able to find it after Jake hallucinates Lady Rainicorn and their children. PB and Gumbald are brought to tears after both witnessed the Candy Kingdom turn into a pile of goo. Finn and Fern continue fighting but are able to find common ground after Jake brings them Finn's vault. Together, they dive in and confront the Grass Demon. Fern kills it, ridding himself of its influence once and for all. However, with no Grass Demon to control him, Fern can have no physical body and begins to disintegrate. The singing Poodle Woman flies by who is revealed the be the Cosmic Owl in disguise. After the four of them wake up from their dream Fern begins to deteriorate in the real world and is returned to his original form. PB apologizes to Gumbald for not respecting his vision for the Candy Kingdom. Gumbald fake-accepts her apology and agrees to end the conflict, intending to betray her, but is tripped by Aunt Lolly and once again doused in his own dum-dum solution, turning back into Punch Bowl. Lolly accepts the peace agreement in his place, and PB proclaims that the two kingdoms shall live in harmony. However, they are all interrupted by the sudden arrival of Normal Man and GOLB.

Upon seeing the malevolent entity, Ice King has a flashback from before the Mushroom War, Simon and Betty discuss GOLB as described in one of Simon's many books while making ice cream sundaes. Simon states that GOLB's presence is felt in "every crevasse where chaos lurks." In the present, GOLB unleashed from his maw a dark green energy, which transforms a large portion of Gumbald's army into a hideous four-legged monster. Marceline tells PB that the beast must be stopped, or it could mean Ooo's destruction. PB orders her Banana Guards to run away, but Finn, Jake, Marcy, Flame Princess, Huntress Wizard, LSP, Lemongrab, Lady Rainicorn, and Fern stay behind to fight GOLB and defend Ooo. The Gumball Guardians attempt to stop the monster, but one of them is destroyed. Lolly tries to convince Gumbald's army to stay and fight, but they run away instead. Finn, Jake, Normal Man, and Ice King attempt to snap Betty out of her trance until she can help them banish GOLB. The remaining Gumball Guardian attempts to restrain the monster but is mutated into another monster instead. PB uses her elemental magic on the beast, releasing a hoard of evil bird-like creatures from the turned Guardian's mouth. Amidst all the chaos, LSP gets romantic with Lemongrab and the two kiss.

Ice King is able to reach through Betty's trance and awaken her by singing "Oh, Fionna" from his fanfictions. Realizing that he is trying to stop her, Betty becomes angry and releases an emotional supercharge that destroys Maja and hurls her and Ice King into GOLB's mouth. Finn follows them, but GOLB's jaw closes on Finn's mechanical arm, which falls off and hits to the ground below. Flame Princess is incapacitated by the mutated Gumball Guardian, and Marceline attacks it. The other mutated monster attacks PB and Fern, and although Fern tries to protect her, he is knocked aside leaving PB vulnerable. The creature stomps PB, and in retaliation, Marceline temporarily releases her vampire essence, transforming into a more monstrous form, and is able to destroy the mutated creature before it can cause further harm. PB, protected by her armor, is embraced by Marcy. Marcy confesses that she never wants to lose PB again. PB answers to Marcy that she is "a tough gum," and that "nothing never happening to me, never." Marcy says she knows, and notes that the way PB had phrased her previous statement was "so weird", to which PB admits she might have a concussion. The two laugh and the two kiss each other lovingly.

Inside GOLB, Ice King and Betty are slowly digested and broken apart into their "essential forms." Ice King reverts back to Simon, while Betty reverts back into a human. Reunited once again, Simon and Betty embrace each other as the space they are trapped in begins to shrink. With the bulk of PB's forces defeated, the mutated Gumball Guardian and revived mutated Gumbaldian army begin to wreak havoc on the rest of Ooo. Jake, transforming into his blue alien form, tries to stop them, but the treehouse is destroyed with BMO inside. Jake is devastated after seeing the wreckage but is comforted by BMO, who has suffered damages to his face screen. BMO begins singing "Time Adventure," which creates an invisible force field that prevents GOLB's mutated creatures from touching them. Eventually, realizing that GOLB's essence is vulnerable to music, Finn and Jake's friends and allies join in on the song. Jake is able to amplify the sound of their voices and help Finn and Simon escape from inside GOLB, although Betty decides to stay behind as a sacrifice and use the Ice crown (which was restored to its essential wishing form) to wish GOLB out of existence. When this doesn't work, she wishes instead that Simon is protected at all costs. As a result, Betty is fused with GOLB and the two become one singular entity. Devastated at Betty's decision, Simon cries out for her as the new Betty-GOLB leaves the planet through another portal, and is comforted by Marceline. Before the portal closes, the Ice Crown falls to the ground. Gunter decides to wear it, prompting Jake to call for someone to stop him before he turns back into Orgalorg, his true form. Instead, Gunter fuses with it and is transformed into Ice Thing after wishing to be more like Ice King, as well as having his own drum kit. Jake immediately decide this is fine.

Fern begins to disintegrate, and Finn promises to plant him in the remains of the Tree fort before he dies, leaving Finn a small seedling in the shape of the Finn sword. That night, Finn and Jake plant the seedling together, which causes a massive new tree to sprout with a remade Finn Sword lodged in the top. They are then visited by PB, who thanks Finn for convincing her to stop the war and disobeying her orders giving him a kiss on the cheek. PB comments that Finn is getting taller, before bidding them a good night. In the future, BMO concludes his story. Beth and Shermy ask what happened to Finn and Jake afterward, to which BMO replies that they went on and "lived their lives." Shermy says that he "thought the story was all about the ending of OOO," in which BMO replies with a "pretty much." As they exit, a giant, adult Sweet P passes by holding the Night Sword. After departing Mount Cragdor, Beth and Shermy go looking for Finn and Jake's tree fort, or what remains of it.

In the past, Finn and Jake are relaxing with the Music Hole, reflecting on the outcome of the war. Jake comments that music is indeed a powerful tool, to which the Music Hole agrees. She then sings them a new song that she had been working on, about a really specific feeling that is hard to describe. As the Music Hole sings the show's end credits theme, a montage plays showing what many characters get up to - Jake and Lady Rainicorn explore various dimensions together; Lumpy Space Princess is crowned queen of Lumpy Space; Ice Thing and Turtle Princess get married; T.V. becomes a private detective; Sweet P graduates from school; PB and Lolly continue taking care of Neddy; Simon enlists Prismo's help in reviving Betty, only to learn that this is impossible, much to his devastation; Flame Princess and Neptr become a musical duo; Marceline and PB live happily together as a couple; and the last of the humans, including Minerva, come to live in Ooo, to name a few.

Back in the future Beth and Shermy can be seen exploring the remnants of Finn and Jake's old tree fort. They climb the massive tree that has sprouted from Fern's seedling, and after pulling the remade Finn Sword, strike a very familiar pose similar to Finn and Jake's at the end of the show's opening sequence. After Shermy says "oh yeah" with Beth lying next to him, the sword shines, ending the episode, and the series.

Characters

Major characters

Minor characters

Music

Main Article: Adventure Time: Come Along With Me (Original Soundtrack)

Trivia

  • Finn and Jake refer to King Man as "Normal Man" despite the fact that King Man revealed his new name to Finn in "Temple of Mars".
  • Many major things happen to the characters in this episode:
    • Uncle Gumbald turns back into Punch Bowl.
    • Aunt Lolly reconciles with Princess Bubblegum.
    • Maja explodes.
    • Both Gumball Guardians die: One of the Gumball Guardians gets turned into a monster, and is later destroyed. The other has its head shattered in combat.
    • Marceline and Princess Bubblegum kiss and become a couple again.
    • Lumpy Space Princess and Lemongrab kiss.
    • One of GOLB's monsters destroys the Tree House, leaving Finn and Jake homeless.
    • Ice King turns back into Simon.
    • Betty turns back into her normal sane self, but then uses the Ice Crown to become one with GOLB.
    • Gunter fuses with the Ice Crown and transforms into the Ice Thing.
    • Fern is freed from the Grass Demon's control, dies, and his remains become a sword-shaped seed, which is planted where the Tree House ounce stood, and grows into a tree with the Finn Sword stuck inside it.
    • BMO becomes the new King of Ooo in the future.
  • This episode premiered on Labor Day during a marathon known as the "Adventure Time All-Day Marathon".
  • One of the ending shots showing what everyone is doing after the show is heavily inspired by the subscription cover for Issue 51 of the Adventure Time comic series.

Episode connections

Cultural references

  • The structure of the episode involving the final continuity story being told long after it is over resembles two other notable works of fiction:
    • The 1939 MGM cartoon Peace on Earth, which tells of humanity's extinction by way of a massive war, similar to the Gum War and the GOLB incident bringing an end to the final status quo of the series.
    • The 1971 Dr. Seuss book The Lorax, about a massive ecological disaster associated with the destruction of trees and the hope of replanting them to restore balance; similar to Fern's final fate and the destruction of the Treehouse Fort and Fern "returning" as the massive willow tree in the final scene.
  • In BMO's hideout, between the door and a window, there is a sign saying "TRUST NO ONE," which is a notable text of Journal 3 from the animated cartoon series Gravity Falls.
  • The scene of Fern dying and telling Finn, "I'm not doing so well," is similar to Peter Parker's death in Avengers: Infinity War.

Storyline analysis

  • In the introduction, before seeing the new fire elemental, what appears to be a large sculpture of the figure of Finn and Jake, collapsed on the valley. Near the sculptures lie the remains of some stones with what appear to be two incomplete words in which "FIN…" and "JER…" are read.
  • It is revealed that the crack in Simon's glasses wasn't a consequence of the Mushroom War, but simply of Betty throwing a jar of cherries.
  • According to Steve Wolfhard, every Elemental is "accounted for in the intro."
    • Ice Elemental: Patience St. Pim's ice-sphere can be seen in the Ice Thingdom.
    • Candy Elemental: Pink hands can be seen holding the bars of an ice-jail in the Ice Thingdom.
    • Fire Elemental: X, the new Fire Elemental, can be seen on a tank-like vehicle-fighting O.
    • Slime Elemental: O, the new Slime Elemental, can be seen taking shelter from X.
    • Lump Anti-Elemental: The new Lumpy Space Princess can be seen watching Shermy and Beth in the abandoned Candy Kingdom.
  • The nightmare sequence explored the interpersonal conflicts between Finn and Fern and Princess Bubblegum and Uncle Gumbald.
    • The sequence saw the roles of Princess Bubblegum and Uncle Gumbald switched. The first part was similar to the events of "Bonnibel Bubblegum" but it was Bubblegum threatening Gumbald with the dum dum juice as well as the one succumbing to its effects when Gumbald destroys its flask. It is also here where Gumbald assumes the role of "Princess Bubblegum" and builds up the Candy Kingdom, eventually becoming paranoid of its destruction and failure.
    • Fern continues to insist his tormented situation in contrast to Finn but is offset when Jake unleashes their repressed fears. Fern reaches an understanding with Finn as he realizes that they have the same fears. With their newly fixed bond, they set out to free Fern from the Grass Sword Demon which he kills. Fern (Finn Sword Finn) is freed from the curse but without the Grass Demon, he no longer has a body and starts to wilt in the real world.
  • When Finn and Fern's vault opens, evil, grass demon versions of Princess Bubblegum, Martin Mertens, Susan Strong, and Lich-possessed Billy emerge.
    • Martin likely represents Finn and Fern's fear of becoming him (via "Don't Look"). It also could relate with their traumatic experience of losing an arm at the hands of their own father.
    • Princess Bubblegum could represent their embarrassment of their former romantic feelings for her. It also could be their internal concern on some of the questionable things she's done in the past similar to the concerns of people like Rattleballs and Banana Guard 16 who judged the princess for her need of control. Though Finn did simply tried to talk both of them out of it, he likely began to question Bubblegum's actions which is fitting with Finn's concerns about the Gum War.
    • Lich-possessed Billy likely represents their general fear of The Lich along with their sadness of losing Billy. It could also relate to how Finn and Fern's relationship started going bad after their previous fight with The Lich in "Whispers."
    • Susan might represent their "soul-searchiness" and "weirdness" of supposedly being the only human in the world. It also might relate with Finn's trauma from the fight they had in "Reboot" when Finn almost choked Susan to death with his grass arm. This is also the events that led to the formation of Fern which was also a difficult situation.
  • Inside GOLB's stomach, due to digestion, Ice King was reverted back to Simon, Betty was reverted back to her sane self before the events of "You Forgot Your Floaties," and the Ice Crown was reverted back to its pre-wish state.
    • Since the Ice Crown was reverted to its pre-wish state, it was able to grant its first wearer its truest deepest, deepest wish. Betty wore, intending to wish GOLB away, but her truest wish was to protect Simon. GOLB and Betty were fused into one being and left Ooo through a portal.
    • The Ice Crown was quickly reverted back to its pre-wish state again after the new Betty infused GOLB left. It landed near Gunter, who was able to grab and wear it despite Jake's alarm. Gunter was then transformed into the Ice Thing, as his truest wish was to be like Ice King, similar to Gunther the dinosaur who wished to be like Urgence Evergreen.
  • While Gunther's wish to be like Urgence in "Evergreen" transformed him into an insane caricature of his master, Gunter's wish in this episode turned him into a much more accurate replica of Ice King. This is likely due to the differences between Evergreen and Ice King's respective upbringings of the dinosaur and penguin: while Urgence constantly berated and abused Gunther, insisted he wasn't his father, and never taught him any magic, Ice King was much more fatherly towards Gunter, showed moments of compassion for him and worry for his wellbeing, and even gave him temporary access to the Ice Crown after the events of "Frost & Fire."
  • Fern's disintegration parallels Finn's dream after first obtaining the Grass Sword in "Blade of Grass" in which his body was consumed by grass and he disintegrated.
  • The tall willow tree seen in "Graybles 1000+" and "Lemonhope Part 2" is actually from a seed from Fern's remains, grown in place of the destroyed Tree Fort.
  • In the ending sequence, there is a montage of events that follow:
    • The willow tree from Fern's remains grows from the remnants of the Tree Fort.
    • Lady Rainicorn and Jake (in his shapeshifter form) explore a dimension.
    • Lumpy Space Princess is crowned by Lumpy Space Dad and Lumpy Space Mom.
    • Gunter (as the Ice Thing) and Turtle Princess get married.
    • Some Banana Guards, Colonel Candy Corn, Rattleballs, and some Candy People from Gumbaldia watching television in a living room.
    • Some Water Nymphs along with Carroll, now in her water form, and a Sea Lard from the alternate dimension from "Beyond the Grotto."
    • T.V. moving into Joshua and Margaret's old office where he opens his own investigation service, "Detective T.V. Investigations."
    • Sweet P graduating.
    • Princess Bubblegum and Aunt Lolly singing a lullaby to Neddy within the Candy Castle.
    • Simon visiting Prismo in the Time Room where he presumably wishes to bring Betty back, only to have a similar result to when King Man wished to bring Margles back.
    • Jermaine painting a new mural in Lemongrab's quarters.
    • BMO launching Moe's memory drive from a rocket with help from Banana Man and ALLMO.
    • Shermy and Beth arriving at the tall willow tree in the future.
    • Neptr and Flame Princess rapping.
    • A modded Tiffany in presumably the Badlands.
    • The Jiggler from "The Jiggler" grown up with a suit and suitcase.
    • Crabbit Familiar performing in a theater.
    • Susan and Frieda exploring a town in a boat and encountering Lemonhope.
    • Starchy, Crunchy, Punch Bowl, and Dirt Beer Guy sharing toasts.
    • Tree Trunks offering an apple pie in a crop circle, presumably to her alien family from "High Strangeness."
    • King Man looking at a picture of him and Margles in his office on Mars.
    • Princess Bubblegum, Lumpy Space Princess, Marceline, Slime Princess, and Flame Princess hanging out.
    • Huntress Wizard meditating.
    • Simon making popcorn with Turtle Princess while Gunter (as the Ice Thing) tells a story to Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, and Peppermint Butler who is reading about dark magic.
    • Finn and Jake witnessing the arrival of humans (including Finn's Mother) in Ooo from a beach.
  • The final scenes of the series-parallel back to the original animated short.
    • The original short begins with Jake teaching Finn a new song he learned from the internet, and the final scene with Finn is him learning the ending theme from the Music Hole.
    • The final shot of the entire series is Shermy and Beth enacting the title card of the entire series, which was also the very first shot of the entire franchise with the title card of the short.
  • The Korean Lady Rainicorn says in Jake's dream are as follows:
    • "그래." (Yes.)
    • "이런 어두운 지하굴에서는 살살 걸어야 돼." (You have to walk carefully in a dark cave like this.)
    • "걱정하지 마, 제이크! 내가 처치할게!" (Don't worry, Jake! I got this!)
  • Jake is shown to be able to hear the Music Hole, while he couldn't in "The Music Hole." Since the Music Hole can only be heard by those who see the world with childlike wonder or those who have experienced great loss, it can be assumed that the destruction of the Tree Fort or the belief that he had lost Finn in this episode have now allowed Jake to hear her.

Production notes

  • This episode is the series finale of Adventure Time.
  • The episode features an alternate version of the intro sequence sung by Willow Smith, who also plays Beth in the episode.
  • This episode is the longest episode of the show with a length of 44 minutes.
  • The episode was promoted with the title "The Ultimate Adventure," instead of using the episode's official name.
  • According to Adam Muto, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline's kiss wasn't in the original story outline. The scene's direction was left to Hanna K. Nyström's discretion, as the outline simply said they "have a moment." When the scene was storyboarded, there was a note in the margin simply saying "Come on!" with a large exclamation point.
  • The title of this episode is derived from the Adventure Time ending theme:
Come along with me
And the butterflies and bees
We can wander through the forest
And do so as we please.

Errors

  • Ashly Burch's name is misspelled as "Ashley Burch" in the opening credits.
  • Finn's height is inconsistent throughout the episode, as he was much shorter than Bubblegum during the war, and is almost as tall as her before she leaves him at the Fern tree.
  • For a split second, while Jake and Jermaine are searching for Finn's vault, the outline of one of the doors is shown over them.
  • When LSP comes running over yelling "They're dead" just before everyone wakes up; Gumbald's eyes are already open as his wake up state was accidentally done backwards to everyone else.

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Official art

Background art

Screenshots

Storyboard panels

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