“Marcy & Hunson” is another episode to
focus on the relationship between parent and progeny – something Adventure Time has focused
on quite a bit over the past several seasons, and a theme that has been portrayed with great
variety. We’ve had quite a few negative depictions
of dysfunctional and unstable families [Sweet P: “Was that my monster daddy?”] including Finn having to accept his scumbag
father for who he is [Finn: “Yeah, I met my bio-dad once too. He wasn’t evil incarnate, but he was kind
of a crumby dude.”] Flame Princess dropping her dirtbag dad from
her life, and most recently Bubblegum having to wage combat against her created relatives
who have returned with a vengeance. We also have had positive depictions of family:
while Finn’s mother was extremely overprotective, she was also immensely loving. BMO unknowingly improvised a story about how
much joy Marceline shared with her mother – a story that rang very true to reality
for Marceline. Even in the very next episode after “Marcy
& Hunson,” we are reminded just how much Finn and Jake ultimately loved their parents,
and vice versa. I would love to eventually return to this
topic and explore all the ways Adventure Time explores the bonds between parent and progeny
– but that will be a video for another day. Definitely writing that idea down for later
so I don’t forget it. While “Marcy & Hunson” is another such
episode to explore these bonds, Hunson’s place in Marceline’s life I would say is
much more of a gray area than any other familial relationship we’ve seen. In many ways, Hunson Abadeer shares aspects
of both Martin and Flame King. He was missing for most of Marceline’s formative
years, and he’s a selfish dude who places his enjoyment over the concerns of others
– he has major empathy issues. However, unlike the two aforementioned dirtbag
dads, Hunson Abadeer appears to legitimately love Marceline (though perhaps in his own
unique and somewhat messed up way), although it became a much more, let’s say, healthy
love about halfway through the show, when Hunson stopped trying to control Marcy and
instead chose to support her with whatever she chose to do. As we see a lot in this episode though, Hunson
continues to be a self-centered, oblivious idiot who wants everything on his terms and continues to lack emotional maturity or social awareness. This makes it difficult for Marceline to have
a functioning relationship with her pa, although she sees enough goodwill in Hunson to continue
trying. After this episode, it seems rather unlikely
for us to revisit Marceline’s past yet again. Possible, yeah, but I doubt it will happen. Many people likely expected this episode to
focus more on the past than the present, to offer more details in the timeline that is
Marceline’s early years, perhaps even more information about her mother. These stories may forever remain untold, however,
and open to our imagination. Personally, I think it’s silly to expect
every fine detail in a story’s lore to be inked in; some people demand as much, but
an enthralling work of fiction only needs to offer enough to stimulate the mind. Sometimes, less can be more, although obviously
the reverse can be true – sometimes more details do help build more well-rounded worlds
and characters. Personally, I would still love to know how
exactly Hunson and Marceline’s mother had their relationship start and develop. A goofy scumbag and a kind-hearted person
falling in love is something we’ve already seen, but if anything was to provide a further
character study on Hunson, I think it would probably be the period of his life he spent
with Marcy’s mother. It can be fun to not know everything and to
have pieces missing for our imagination to fill, but that thirst for answers – such
as answers to how Marceline lost her mother (and many more) – obviously that thirst
won’t be quenched when all you got is your imagination to work with. So I guess when it comes to wanting more details
on Marceline’s early years, and her mother, and Hunson’s relationship to her mother… I guess I have a mixed bag of feelings. At this point, it’s really not necessarily
– it’s not vital by any means, but I would love to see it still. As far as the past goes, this episode offers
us very little. However, we do get definitive confirmation
that Simon was in fact the one to summon Hunson after he made the choice to abandon Marcy. [Simon: “I’ll arrange for someone to come
take care of you. I’ll make sure he doesn’t leave.”] I hypothesized as much in my megareview of
the Stakes miniseries: “The pieces all fit too perfectly for anything
else: Simon was the one who somehow found Abadeer, and the one who convinced him to
take care of his daughter.” While even back then I considered a pretty
tightly shut case, this just confirms it many episodes down the road, and that’s rather
neat. Young Marceline chose to remain stationary
at the exact spot Simon split from her, perhaps in the hope that he would change his mind
and return, and she tried to set up a new home. Then demon daddy from the Nightosphere showed
up and wrecked up the place. [Hunson: “Marceline! Long time no see. Some goober with glasses summoned me. What’s that thing? Just gonna put this here, okay? Now let’s go suck some souls!”] Abadeer does say “long time no see,” implying
this is not the first time Marcy and Abadeer met. Although for all we know, Marceline could
have been a baby last time Hunson happened to lay eyes on her. If anything this little remark continues to
raise more questions than answers, true to the typical Adventure Time style. While this episode’s name is “Marcy and
Hunson,” this episode actually begins with Finn, Jake, and none other than Peppermint
Butler. PepBut decided it’s time to craft Finn a
new sword due to the return of Gumbald and crew, and he put his knowledge of the dark
arts to use. The whole reason for Hunson’s summoning
is to imbue the new sword with Nightosphere magic, giving Finn another cursed sword. PepBut claims the new blade will work wonders
to an even greater degree than the Grass Sword, though I personally think PepBut might be
exaggerating a bit. After all, the Grass Sword did take down an
elder god. Although… the Night Sword is able to shackle
Hunson’s powers entirely, at least when paired with Peppermint Butler’s dark art
spellcasting knowledge. How Finn Mertens will utilize the blade against
non-demonic entities is something we will have to eagerly await in future episodes. And it’s very much worth noting this is
the same sword which appeared in the title card for the episode “Orb,” and was also
seen within that episode. The dreams in “Orb” were super duper prophetic,
as if that wasn’t already extremely obvious. I’m still really curious what, if anything,
will be done with that vial of nightmare juice. But back to the episode at hand, Hunson Abadeer
arrives on scene, asks if Marceline was the one who called him, and after finding out
she wasn’t, decides he wants to visit her. [Hunson: “I’m gonna go see my little girl.”] That’s actually really sweet. He missed his daughter a lot apparently, although
his desire to suck souls remains. [Hunson: “Wheeee! Hahahaha! Time to suck some souls!”] The magic cuffs cast by PepBut keep him in
check though, and we’re off to Marceline’s house. [Hunson: Walk walk walk not suck suck suck. Walk walk walk not suck suck suck.” Finn: “Hey, could you stop saying that please?”] Finn and Abadeer share some fun (though for Finn, rather uncomfortable) dialogue about Marcy. I’ll edit this bit to make Finn’s answers
easier to parse. [Hunson: “Is she still all goodie-goodie?”] [Finn: “Yes.”] This bit needs no comment. [Hunson: “Still half vampire?”] [Finn: “Yes, but no, then yes again.”] That’s a fun little callback to everything
that happened in Stakes. [Hunson: “Started dating anyone?”] [Finn: “Maybe?”] Hmm. Could Finn perhaps be catching on to something
that has had a steady slew of hints for ages now? Maybe his answer has to do with tiny obscure
details like the one that happened just 2 episodes ago? Who knows? *nudge nudge wink wink* In addition to Hunson wanting to see Marcy,
I found it sweet how he nearly got cold feet at her door. While Hunson Abadeer is an idiot, he does
have enough self-awareness to realize his actions often anger Marceline. [Hunson: “It just seems like no matter what
I do, I always manage to tick that girl off.”] At least Hunson has more awareness than Lumpy
Space Princess. [Hunson: “I don’t know what it is.”] Though… perhaps not that much more. Marceline is quizzical and apprehensive of
the whole shebang, and knows having Hunson around is unlikely to result in anything good,
but she tolerates her dad enough to let him crash at her place. She’s also wearing Bonnie’s sweatshirt
– it’s the one Princess Bubblegum wore during the Stakes miniseries. Make of that what you will. *nudge nudge wink wink* So Hunson continues being an annoying weirdo;
he wrecks stuff around the house and thinks giving people junk they don’t want makes
up for it. I happen to know what it’s like to be in
Marceline’s shoes here; I know what it’s like to have a parent who thinks their enacting
in goodwill but are actually just being excessively frustrating. Marcy’s patience is simply at an end with
her dad’s shenanigans – even little things will set her off – something I very much
can relate to. It’s aggravation fueled by years of dysfunction,
poor communication, and button-pushing. Although Hunson takes it even further by just
being a dick on top of it all. [Hunson: “I’m gonna need a place to sleep
tonight. Do you have an air mattress?” Marceline: “Yeah.” Hunson: “Great! You can sleep on the air mattress and I can
sleep on your bed.”] Due to Finn and Jake not being great at picking
up on cues, Abadeer finds out about Marceline’s solo gig and the gang takes off to the Ghost
Amphitheater, with Chicle in tow trying to sow discord. Oh yeah, that Sentinel from “Always BMO
Closing” turns out to be Chicle outfitted in a special camo suit that not only grants
him invisibility, but can also disguise him into other classes of beings. In this episode, we get ghost Chicle. [Chicle: “Hey, what you got there? Peanuts?”] I very much enjoyed Marceline’s song in
this episode. “Slow Dance With You” is a smoothly haunting
and incredibly catchy song – I found myself humming it many days after watching this episode,
and even now as I’m composing this review I find myself humming along to the tune. I’d say “Slow Dance With You” has sapphic
undertones, except that they’re really not undertones – the fact that the song is about
a girl wanting a romantic relationship with another girl is overtly in the lyrics. It’s a song filled to bursting with sapphic
overtones. Even the creator of the song stated clearly
what her intention was behind the lyrics. And of course, “Slow Dance With You” generated
a lot of amazing fanart. Just gonna give some breathing room here so
y’all can appreciate these, and so you can pause the video if you want so you can write
down the artists’ handles and look ‘em up later. So, amidst Marceline’s amazing performance,
Hunson acts like a pompous jerk and gets right into Marcy’s face. Acting like your standard overzealous parent
on television isn’t enough for him though, he even jumps up on the stage and makes remarks
anybody would find embarrassing. [Hunson: “I made that!”] Ghost Chicle eggs on some jerk ghosts already
primed to be rowdy, and a fistfight breaks out – a fistfight that Hunson has no chance
of winning with his powers sealed. Marcy tries to save her dad, but in a callback
to the season 2 episode “Heat Signature,” ghosts are the rock to the scissors that are
vampires – that’s a no-go, so it’s up to Finn and his new Night Sword to save the
day. After which, Marceline flies everyone away
to safety, and the gang is joined by none other than Princess Bubblegum at a diner. Her presence makes sense due to Chicle having
been the one causing trouble, but also… y'know, Bonnie had dinner with a debased form of Marceline’s father figure, and now she’s having dinner with Marceline’s biological father. So… *nudge nudge wink wink* Marceline’s ongoing relationship with her
dad is summarized aptly by their last interaction. [Hunson: “I’m bad, but I’m not so bad,
right? So, when are you gonna have kids?” Marceline: “Dad!”] I love how Finn is having none of it based
on the expression on his face; his patience quota for dirtbag dads is also pretty low
after everything he experienced. The episode gave practically no answers regarding
the past, but I think it was a really fun time in the present, and examines a rocky
parental relationship that manages to maintain because both sides still have love for one
another. I really liked this episode; it had the right
amount of heartfelt moments mixed with great humor and fun. As well as what is probably my favorite Marceline song.
