Posted in: Cartoon Network, HBO, Review, TV | Tagged: adventure time, adventure time: distant lands, bctv daily dispatch, cartoon network, finn, hbo max, Jake

Adventure Time: DL Together Again Review: Jake & Finn Welcome Return

This week HBO Max graced us with a new chapter of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, and we were not ready for all the feelings "Together Again" would steer within us. It was amazing in every way possible Adventure Time always is: it made us laugh, scream, and cry and just straight-up joyful. We went on a trip with BMO on the first episode, and on the second one, we went on a trip down memory lane with Princess Bubblegum and Marceline's relationship which helped us understand them more and fall in love with them all over again. At the end of that episode we got a very subtle hint and wild theories I did not want to believe popped up all around, however, the question remained: where was Jake at the end of "Obsidian"?

As I am writing this I tear up just thinking of how much I have missed Adventure Time and how many emotions they brought out just with this one episode. Cartoon Network has always been my best friend, always supplying me with either anime or cartoons just at the right time throughout my life. When I first came across Adventure Time I remember being marveled by this combination of weird I have only experienced in my mind and thinking to myself: wow, someone did this just for me. It felt like a present from life- animating all these characters I could not help but love, hate, and just relate to in one way or another. From the animation to the music, dialogue, to the quirky little characters that were so unique and always exploring all these themes and subjects that meant so much to me without feeling the need to preach whether it was about acceptance, love, relationships, loss, mental health… Adventure Time showed me I was not alone in so many things and that it is okay to be who I am and feel the way I do. That the real adventure is living in itself, how we see things, and the lessons we learn along the way. It holds a very special place in my heart, just like Harry Potter.

Anyway, I was happy we would finally get a new adventure with Finn and Jake. While I love Marceline and BMO, Finn and Jake are the real MVPs in my book. Their relationship and their way of looking at things always get me. I was really hoping we would get some sort of look into the present where "Obsidian" left off… and we did. I was just not expecting the turn. At first, I felt the story felt choppy, like a dream- that is where we got the first hint when Jake tells Finn something along the lines of leaving him behind again. Turns out it was a dream and Finn's new Adventure is finding Jake, but this time in the afterlife in the Dead World; and this time it has a new ruler who is more of a tyrant.

The story is faced paced and just felt like a continuation of the regular adventures Jake and Finn would take on. The animation and dialogue were amazing, as always. The dynamic between Jake and Finn was just as remarkable as always and I was so happy they were reunited. I will not spoil the ending, but I am so happy with it- just the perfect amount of happiness with a dash of feels and nostalgia and hope. The story got my interest from the first second and did not let go all the way until the end. Hell, I am still under the spell and wishing I could see more. We get to see so many old characters we knew along the way while Finn looks for Jake and refuses to accept the loss. The writing in Adventure Time has always been so masterful: despite hitting us rollercoasters of emotions, they always manage to find ways of making you smile or laugh with the dialogue without the need for forced one-liners… ahem-avengers-ahem.

Needless to say, I was crying pretty much since it started. One of the things I liked most about "Together Again" what the representation of so many different Dead Worlds and beliefs of afterlife and reincarnation. I found them so intriguing and as always, refreshing. They make me yearn for more backstory and spin-offs with their intricate worlds and characters. They managed to tie everything up nicely without having to put a hard end to it, but more hopeful. I loved this episode of Adventure Time: Distant Lands so much, it makes it hard to express how much it meant to me. Like the Grinch, it made my heart grow three times its size. I cannot wait for the next one and it makes me wish we could get many, many more.

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