Unlike the first season of "Fionna and Cake," the second is much more clearly part of a sequel to "Adventure Time," and involves a lot of characters that I'm not familiar with, not having watched most of the later seasons and other spinoffs of that show. However, "Fionna and Cake" is such a fantastically weird and wonderful animated fantasy, full of characters and concepts that are so endlessly inventive that I was completely entertained and invested in what was going on anyway.
Fionna continues to struggle with her life and relationships after saving the world, especially dealing with her feelings for DJ Flame (Manny Jacinto), and potentially disappointing her other friends. We get a second protagonist in the universe-hopping Huntress Wizard (Ashly Burch), who is on a quest to save a mortally wounded Finn. This involves traveling to Fionna's world and tracking down the "heart of the forest." At this point there are so many different versions of Finn and friends running around that I can't keep them all straight, but Huntress Wizard is a distinct, memorable character who isn't quite like anyone else. She's a mysterious magic user who has plant-based powers and is very brave, but has trouble connecting to other people.
"Fionna and Cake" is aimed at an older crowd than "Adventure Time," dealing with more mature relationships and concerns. Fionna is riddled with anxieties and can never quite seem to get her life together. She wants to help, but often her efforts end up hurting her friends due to her impetuousness and mistakes in communication. Her troubles are often tied into her mental and emotional health - jealousies, self-doubt, guilt, fear of failure, and being overwhelmed. Hunter Wizard's adventures are more externalized, a life-and-death struggle against all manner of impossible creatures, some of whom we've met before and have history with, like the Cosmic Owl. Nearly all the major characters from "Adventure Time" appear here, including the crew from Ooo, though their current storyline is very somber and emotionally fraught.
I don't quite know how to describe the particular aesthetics of this season, currently being showrun by Adam Muto, based on the characters and concepts created by Pendleton Ward and Nathasha Allegri. There's a darker, more primal sort of feel to the universe, where the rules of how the magic and mysticism work are never outright explained, but follows a crude sort of dream logic. I always liked the way that "Adventure Time" had an undercurrent of existential horror to it, and "Fionna and Cake" leans into that vibe heavily. Hunter's magic always seems to involve some brutal transformation or sacrifice, but abstracted heavily through the cartoon style. Death is very present throughout the show, though revival and rebirths are common. Some of the wordless sequences showing the origins of certain characters, or revealing past events, reminded me strongly of "Scavengers Reign" in the way that very simple animated forms convey complex systems and cycles of power. However, the visual language is folk horror instead of science fiction.
The juxtaposition between the two storylines is very effective. Fionna's world is essentially our own, populated by young adult city-dweller versions of the "Adventure Time" cast, so it presents a stark contrast with the other worlds that resemble fanciful variants of Ooo, or Jungian projections of the unconscious, or darkest timelines, or the backstage of reality. Our heroines are fighting cosmic beings and nightmare monsters one minute, and trying to nail down a venue for a fundraiser the next, and both trials require comparable amounts of emotional labor. The silliness and playfulness of the original "Adventure Time" is still very apparent, especially in the way the humor works. However, the franchise has grown up along with its original audience, and its lessons have expanded and deepened. I find that so miraculous and so poignant.
I have no idea who I could recommend this show to, except for the people who might have grown up on "Adventure Time" and drifted away from the franchise over the years. In its own way it's just as inventive and involving as any dramatic prestige series made for adults that I've seen over the past year. However, this one has a translucent giant earthworm that lives in a garden that processes people's traumatic experiences. And he's a very good singer.
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