LEMONGRAB: A Character Study

Lemongrab is one of the most overlooked characters in Adventure Time most simply discount him as one-dimensional comic relief but his abusive relationship with his creator his inhuman treatment and his tragic de-evolution into something unrecognizable create a character that is anything but one-dimensional a character so bizarre and devastating that he could only really exist in the world of Adventure Time [Music] Lemongrab first appears in the episode too young Princess Bubblegum lost some of her candy parts and now she is a child and because Lemongrab was the first candy person he becomes the temporary ruler of the Candy Kingdom some important facts about Lemongrab Lemongrab is the first candy person Princess Bubblegum describes him as a failed experiment this is the first of many parallels he has with Frankenstein's monster Lemongrab lives in a remote and isolated location consisting of just him okay so to summarize the rest of this episode Princess Bubblegum and Finn do not like the fact that he is in power so they try and get him out by pulling a prank on him the prank involves Princess Bubblegum leaving him mean notes and lemon grab reacts by performing Collective punishment and locking everyone in a dungeon for one million years Princess Bubblegum thin the candy people and everyone else combine their powers to turn PB back into her 18 year old self and together with the power of friendship blah blah blah they basically kick lemon grab out of the castle so let's break down some of lemongrab's character Lemongrab reacts really intensely to things not going the way he intended but he understands and reacts positively to rules in order he took control of the Candy Kingdom because it was in his legal right and when it was no longer in his legal right he accepted the feat throughout the episode Lemongrab seems to have a hard time feeling or expressing positive emotion when pifferman Butler shows him the prank may have been a joke for Laughs Lemongrab tries to to imitate what a laugh would be like as if he is incapable of laughing [Laughter] another interesting thing to note is when walking away from the Candy Kingdom he mutters something inaudible to himself in the Latin American dub he says nadesh mccurdi todos miordian which translates to nobody loves me everybody hates me this is our first hint into lemongrab's desire for connection him locking everyone in a cage may have you believe he doesn't want to connect with others but this line indicates that he desires some kind of love or at least interaction he's just unsure of how to achieve it this could be his motivation for taking over The Candy Kingdom lemon grabs second appearance is two seasons later in the episode you made me the episode starts off with Finn and Jake realizing that lemon grab has been sneaking into random candy people's houses and watching over them when Princess Bubblegum finds out about this she immediately locates Lemongrab and tells him that yes it is his right as Earl to look over his citizens but it's creeping her out Lemongrab why are you stalking my peeps I am moving my rights yeah but what are you doing it's creeping me out I am the earl the Earl of nothing what do you mean nothing Castle Lemongrab has no citizens you have excess candy you must donate but you don't get along with others I don't understand you Lemongrab no one does this dialogue reveals that Lemongrab has a desire to be around people here's a desire to be understood the end of desire to lead these desires conflict of the way he is and he blames this conflict on his creator I am alone and you made me like this you are my God Lemongrab saying you are my God is an allusion to the theme of playing God in the book Frankenstein Frankenstein's Monster's first words are I ought to be thy Adam as Adam was God's first creation and Frankenstein's Monster's worldview Frankenstein is God this could give us some insight on how Lemongrab treats bubble gum seeing someone as God dehumanizes them and gives you something to bestow your problems onto Lemongrab doesn't even try to emphasize with PB because it's pretty much impossible to emphasize with God after this interaction Princess Bubblegum understands that Lemongrab feels alone and sends free candy citizens to Castle Lemongrab for him to rule over but a week passes and Lemongrab is back in the Candy Kingdom watching over the citizens again what happened to your candy citizen they didn't like my lemon Styles I like this way better since bubblegum tries to explain how to properly treat the candy people but lemongrabs seems literally incapable of understanding I look in the lemon heart you gave me and see my way to act that must be right Lemongrab lacks empathy he can't see someone else's way of life and tries to force his own way onto others the problem isn't in his way of living it's his inability to understand other equally valid ways of living PB tries to teach lemongreb how to tend for Candy People by bringing one of them to him but his inability to understand them makes them very uncomfortable the spirals into Lemongrab becoming outrage and physically harming the candy person since bubblegum suddenly remembers the Candy People she donated to Lemongrab lemon grab Kingdom's entrance is completely empty except for a statue of himself upon entering its area there are many rooms containing baseball gloves and nothing else this is a representation of his longingness for his mother since bubblegum to relate to him via the metaphor of a father playing catch of her son I think now is a good time to talk about Princess Bubblegum's neglect of Lemongrab her creating him and never trying to understand him or love him shaped his character and is a reason for a lot of his problems is Princess Bubblegum a bad person for creating the sentient life and leaving it with no attempt to understand it or help her PB actually has a history of tinkering with sentient life and then disregarding it another example of her doing this is in the episode rattleballs where she creates sentient robot law enforcement decides they are too dangerous to exist and crushes all of them into square boxes she seems to Discount the moral wrongs and playing with life for the greater good although Princess Bubblegum has obviously neglected Len and grab Adventure Time never outright betrays her negatively for this but with that being said Lemongrab trying to get his mother's acceptance could be a motivation for Lemongrab taking over The Candy Kingdom and wanting to have his own kingdom as Finn and Jake are exploring the rest of the rooms of lemon castle one is different a large class screen splits the room into two there was a control panel on one side and the other side contains three small candy-like bodies that seem to have been electrocuted until a loss of consciousness this is how Lemongrab has been treating his citizens torturing them relentlessly for thinking differently to him Finn and Jake rushed to help the candy citizens but as they are entering the electricity room the door closes and Lemongrab reveals himself just when he is turning up the voltage Princess Bubblegum enters the room Lemongrab stop please I can help you you're the one who made me this way how can you Lemongrab believes that his crater his God is incapable of helping him but this idea is tested when Princess Bubblegum reveals what she brought with her wait Lemongrab H hello am I in the right room [Music] this is everything Lemongrab wanted someone that can understand him and that accepts him for who he is something he has lacked his entire life this is the first time we see Lemongrab happy it's a universally agreed upon psychological concept that people are product of the environment plus their genes the new Lemongrab I often now on refer to him as lemon white is a technical copy of the original Lemongrab the difference is lemongrab's upbringing from this we can see exactly how much Lemongrab was affected by his neglect from Princess Bubblegum lemon white has the same mannerisms as leningrab but seems nicer he isn't immediately hostile to Finn and Jake upon meeting them and it was his idea to free the prisoners he hasn't had a life of terrible treatment and isolation and although he is extremely similar to liningrad and the way he acts and thinks he is a positive influence on him lemon white is where Princess Bubblegum and Frankenstein differ Frankenstein never made a mate for his monster because he didn't want to spawn a race of horrible demon people but PB saw that giving Lemongrab a partner would make him happier and she did it regardless of any future risks all your fault is the Third Time Lemongrab shows up in Adventure Time a lot of canonical time has passed since you made me and the episode starts off with Princess Bubblegum receiving a letter from the lemongrabs we are starving send us your candy how dare you this is a very strange letter for Pb to receive because she had already given them a little lifetime supply of candy she sends Finn and Jake to deliver the lemongrabs candy seeds so they can have a sustainable source and tells them to be on the lookout for anything weird when they arrive something is off the kingdom is filled with life hungry life these weird lovecraftian horrific demons are crawling around every inch of the Kingdom Finn and Jake make their way to the center and admit with a giant lemon person lemon John Lemon John directs them to the residents of the lemongrabs they have been in the dungeon for three weeks the waste of the lemongrabs is teeming with more disturbing lemon people when Finn and Jake reached the Earls they are told that Princess Bubblegum left the secret formula behind by accident and so naturally the lemon grabs experimented with her and created life but creating life got addicting they couldn't stop creating life and ended up using all the food in the Kingdom to create life which is why they are all starving they blame PB for this entire situation there's a lot to unpack here the lemongrabs were essentially saying it is Princess Bubblegum's fault for them starving because she left the Suka formula behind in their minds they have no accountability for their own actions their creator created them so she should have full responsibility for everything they do this way of thinking is a fundamental problem of how they are made and is why I disagree with Princess Bubblegum making lemon wipe accidentally making one sentient being and realizing it has problems that will cause it to be an outcast and almost incapable of enjoying life is one thing knowingly putting into the world more of these obviously tortured beings is a blatant disregard of any moral principles the lemongrabs should feel responsibility over their own actions but their literal and capability to is Princess Bubblegum's problem as their creator this reality is what Frankenstein was worried about Finn and Jake showed that lemon grabs the seeds they brought and they immediately use them to create more life you really really are gonna die Finn suggests that they go to the Candy Kingdom and ask Princess Bubblegum for help instead of doing that the lemongrabs tell all the lemon people that the hard times are over and that they will now take all the candy from the Candy Kingdom it's your fault we warned you we warned you about us turns out the whole Lemongrab kingdom is held up by Lemon John Lemon John begins traveling towards the Candy Kingdom as he is making his way there Finn and Jake come up with a plan to kick his heart until he dies they locate the heart and Jake stretches and kicks it but he doesn't die instead Lim and John does something unexpected he becomes the first lemon person to feel empathy if I act the candy people will suffer if I don't act the lemon people will suffer this contradiction makes Jon come to the conclusion that he must die for the betterment of his society and an ultimate act of selflessness he devolves himself into smaller candy pieces to create food for the lemon population this interaction actually proves that it is possible for lemon people to feel empathy it just takes a lot in lemon John's case it took him being kicked in the heart after Finn and Jake come back to the Candy Kingdom they tell PB that lemon John got kicked in the heart and was capable of feeling empathy they suggest this could mean that there's something wrong with the lemon grabs as Hearts oh no no they're hard to are fine they're just like this the next sighting of the lemongrabs is in the episode five short grables if you don't know what a grebel's episode is it's basically Five Short episodes put into one but we're just gonna focus on the Lemongrab part it starts off with the lemon grabs entering a dimly lit room wait uh trigger warning cannibalism skip to this time stamp if you don't want to see cannibalism okay so now I've weeded out the week let's continue the lemongrabs are playing with a dressed up lemon candy called lemon sweet what would you like to do now out what a man no he wants to dance this seemingly insignificant disagreement between the lemon grabs actually holds a lot of weight remember how I said the lemongrabs would set copies of each other while they still are and them disagreeing on something means that it's entirely environmental lemon white is more empathetic and cares about lemon sweets feelings and well-being this is represented by him wanting lemon sweet to vest I'm going to grab on the other hand is more focused on his personal entertainment which is represented by him wanting lemon sweet to dance this difference in personality is likely due to the fact that lemon white has had someone that understands them to hang out with his entire life whereas Lemongrab has not thus making lemon white have more Security in his relationships and being more likely to be empathetic the lemongrabs get into an argument about this and lemon white gets angry at his brother and hits him causing lemon sweet to break on the ground let me grab uh [Music] [Music] this disagreement broke lemon grabs perception of lemon wire to him he was someone who was exactly like him and would always agree with him on every ground and for this to no longer be true makes living grab view lemon white as someone like Princess Bubblegum who he doesn't feel any personal responsibility for affecting this marks the beginning of the decline of Lemongrab in the episode too old a significant amount of time has passed since the uh pbn Finn are going to a diplomatic dinner in Lemongrab Kingdom when they arrive something feels different the living people are all wearing clothes and drinking wine when Lemongrab arrives PB and Finn realized that he has changed he is now overweight and next to him is lemon white who has half of his body missing this physical difference goes in hand with further personality differences that lemongrabs have when they go to dinner Lemongrab is hungry and takes food from the person sitting next to him lemon white says that they have no food and gives them half of his own the lemongrabs now have fundamentally different outlooks on life lemon white is empathetic and Lemongrab only cares about himself they also now hold different Power statuses previously the lemongrabs had an equal position in leadership but now there was a very obvious power Dynamic Lemongrab at this point is gross and impossible to emphasize with his total disregard for his own people contradicts them being the only thing that gave him purpose all your fault Princess Bubblegum wanting to get away from this Dynamic stumbles upon a lemon boy that seems different from the others Lemonhope instead of being weirdly mutated and screaming he looks quite normal and plays a harp this form of normality is seen as being an outcast in the lemon Society just like how women people would be seen as outcasts in the Society of PB asks the lemon grabs if she can take the boy home but they say no and imprison him Lemongrab likely rejects her from taking in Living Hope because he is jealous of his mother accepting someone that isn't him Finn and the princess are now determined to break out lemon hope so they get intentionally imprisoned Finn gives lemon hope his flute and because he is so bad at playing the flute the lemongrabs come to dance to it [Music] this is the final straw for Lemongrab how dare you release my prisoners you've gone soft lemon grab Lemongrab eats the rest of his brother as Finn Princess Bubblegum and lemon poke make an escape as the fear trying to climb the wall to exit are now significantly bigger Lemongrab sees them and this is when we're revealed to the most horrific thing Lemongrab has ever done you see these middle things on the lemon people these are actually dog collars placed around every lemon person's neck in order to torch them into compliance this complete dehumanization of his citizens is disgusting and shows how far Lemongrab has fallen the lemon people are knowing closer and closer to Finn and PB it seems like nothing can be done but just as hope is almost lost lemon white vomits his body from lemongrab's mouth lemon Brothers stop stop and listen lemon need not squeeze lemon to survive lemon hope go forth grow strong and return for us everything is put onto lemon hope to save the lemon civilization he must return to Lemongrab Kingdom and free his people from this corrupt dictator but what does he want okay so in this next bit Focus shifts away from Lemongrab and over to Lemon hope which I promise is going to be relevant to the overall Lemongrab narrative but we're following this guy now lemon hope is taken back into the Candy Kingdom to be educated Princess Bubblegum starts off by showing him a video of how terrible The Lemon Kingdom has become hmm but lemonhub doesn't really care about the video he's more focused on a drawing he's doing of himself you see although lemon hope is definitely more normal than any other lemon person he is still a lemon person a result of a failed experiment it's not that he doesn't want to care about other people it's that caring about other people is not in his programming this is best summarized by a conversation he has with PB one day it will be your responsibility to save the lemon people I don't know I've always just thought about me I've got me and they have them you know this is the contradiction of sorts because without the help from other people living hope would still be in the Candy Kingdom suffering Princess Bubblegum again tests lemon hopes lack of empathy but him two cupcakes and asking if he would give one defend no I want both cupcakes Finn can get his own cupcakes PB takes lemon hook to the outside of lemon grab Kingdom and shows him that because the people saved him they are now suffering lemon hope says that this is true but he is free he alone decides what he doesn't doesn't do PB tells him that this way of thinking is unacceptable causing him to associate hoe of Lemongrab and instinctively run away freedom to run away lemon hope begins traversing terrain and decides to stow away on a ship the ship enters some kind of battle and moves rapidly bashing a barrel into lemon hub's head and knocking him out when he wakes up he is on a desert with his only source of food and water being limes from the ship week's pass of lemon hope living life inside of the ruins of the ship during his time in the desert Lemonhope has many disturbing dreams one of which depicts Lemonhope as a horse moving across the floor underneath him are pieces of bubble gum which he is avoiding stiffing on when he accidentally steps on one he pulls it up to look at it and Princess Bubble looks back at him this stream represents how lemon hope feels as if he is free but only if he does what bubblegum says in lemonhope's mind this kind of restrictive freedom is not Freedom at all another common theme in lemon hope streams is Lemongrab and the Lemon Kingdom he can't seem to get the debt he has to them out of his head lemonhope's obsession with freedom continues eventually his limes run out and he is dying of first I guess if there's no juice I have freedom to go and find water he looks at a cloud in the distance why won't you rain cloud feed him to not Reign I guess lemon hope becomes completely dehydrated and starts crawling aimlessly in the desert he utters his final words freedom and falls to the ground you fool you thought he was dead lemon hope will wakes up to water being sprayed in his face by a pink man riding a cloud now I'm not saying this is Princess Bubblegum but his name flannel boxing day has the same initials as the name Princess Bubblegum he has the same amount of letters in his name is Princess Bubblegum and the same amount of syllables he speaks German just like Princess Bubblegum he has an understanding of science his skin in the storyboard of the episode is referred to as PB skin uh there's more there's more stuff the non-frincess bubblegum man tells lemon hope he can help him not die if he wants it's his choice wow so much Freedom the two get into flannel's cloud ship thing they catch a bird together and flannel asks lemon hope to be his Apprentice days pass flannel boxing day and lemon hope are going on Wacky Adventures but Lemonhope is still getting these unsettling dreams one dream involves a dull version of lemon Hub travel the void in Chains and seeing lemon grab eating a cow the cow says it's happy to see lemon hope lemon grab then throws chains at lemon hope which miss the camera is then panned to reveal that the person controlling lemon hoped this entire time was himself the stream is about how lemon hope is no longer a prisoner to Lemongrab he is a prisoner to his mind flannel reinforces this idea it's true you are free free to help the lemon people or to leave them be but a debt unpaid is not easily forgotten so you are still a prisoner in Dane of comp ignoring the fact that flannel just spoke German a language Princess Bubblegum can also speak this is the moment where lemon hope decides he has to help the lemon people lemonhub didn't change his views or morals or anything he is still only acting in his best interest he's not helping the limit people because he feels empathy for them or because he cares he's helping them to stop himself from feeling terrible all the time flannel tells lemon hope that he can't interact with the limit people because of packs and treaties to prevent him from entering so lemon hope must go alone as he's entering the kingdom he climbs a conveniently placed rope to get into the lemon castle and is immediately confronted by Lemongrab looking for something well you found me fat Lemongrab Lemongrab is blinded by his own ego and doesn't fear him at all he shows lemon hope that he has things in his ears so lemon Hope's harp will not be able to do anything as he is explaining this to Lemon hope lemon white vomits what's left of him from his stomach and takes the things out of lemongrab's ears the lemon people create a wall and hold Lemongrab down oh wow the lemon people are generally irritated by nice sounds but Lemongrab is so detached from anything remotely good or nice that lemon hopes harp actually kills him killing lemon white inside of him lemon hope now has his final dream he is in a dark building and here's a knocking to which he responds I'm coming when he reaches the door he walks up to a buzzness and sits with the birds he is not one of them but they accept him the birds are a metaphor for the lemon people and the stream signifies that lemon hope is now truly mentally free he is then awoken by Princess Bubblegum she tells him she made a room for him and he can stay in the living Kingdom and be a hero to the lemon people no that's okay oh but I thought I mean you guys are cool and all but I mostly came back here so I could stop thinking about y'all all the time lemon Hope's way of existence isn't necessarily bad he won't go out of his way to harm anyone but he also won't go out of his way to help anyone he is completely neutral and just wants Freedom it's sad to see that lemon hope didn't end up changing but some people just don't change or do they in a fast forward to the future we see a much older lemon hope living in a land that resembles a broken down post-apocalyptic ooh Lemonhope makes his way through the uninhabited Candy Kingdom past Finn and Jake's treehouse into a deserted Lemon Kingdom he lays on the bed Princess Bubblegum made for him or those years ago and closes his eyes smiling although lemon Hope's story has concluded lemongrabs hasn't after lemon hope defeated Lemongrab Princess Bubblegum realized that the Lemon Kingdom needed a new ruler and rebirth lemon grab from pieces of did Lemongrab and lemon white it's important to understand that like how a child is in either of their parents this is the lemon grab or lemon white the final lemon grab episode The Mountain takes place a season after lemon hope part two so a lot of time has passed since new lemongrabs conception he is ruling the Lemon Kingdom by himself and seems to have a good idea of what his people want maybe the combining of the two lemongrabs created a more well-rounded individual capable of better understanding his citizens everyone in living kingdom are cogs in a machine to produce food for the whole system to survive on they seem to be happy like this or at least far happier than they were under rule of a original Lemongrab Lemongrab calls lights out and everyone in the Kingdom goes to sleep as he is going to bed he looks up at the Tapestry on his roof the tapestry cracks and this makes Lemongrab uneasy and he leaves this Castle to go to the mountains seen in the tapestry this could represent how Lemongrab feels his own mind is broken because the crack was on one of the people in the Eyeworks heads as Lemongrab is entering the mountain Finn and Jake who are stargazing see him from a distance and decide to check out what he's doing the mountain only lets Finn in and leaves Jake outside to wait this part will make sense later the episode then Cuts back to Lemongrab who has traveled deep inside of the mountain he enters an opening containing three doors a voice in the background says to reach me you must choose correctly the first door contains Princess Bubblegum wearing a catcher's mitt come Earl of lemon grab let the second door contains lemon hope ruling over the lemon people and destroying all of the order lemon grab have bestowed upon the Lemon Kingdom and the third door contains lemongrabs past selfs fighting over the lemon sweet these food doors represent desire fear and self Lemongrab chooses self and falls into a lemony Terrain increase taste the grease Lemongrab okay Lemongrab looks up to realize he's climbing on himself I am grease he is looking into himself for the first time and seeing himself for who he is he is Greece Finn also chooses self which is represented by his past Reincarnation of a butterfly he rides the butterfly into a clearance and meets Lemongrab who is talking to a cloud Matthew the meat bodies who've journeyed to this mountain have distilled themselves to their original Source materials and now exist in Oneness Matthew is asking Finn and Lemongrab to join him he takes in people who feel like they have something missing and gives them meaning Matthew is comparable to a cult or church is this why your hair Lemongrab to merge with Matthew it is one option to know the Ecstasy of my ego death an ego death is a complete loss of self-identity Lemongrab is no longer himself he is someone made of parts of others who have memories that are not his becoming one of Matthew is an option because it would give him the meaning and purpose he desires in his new form here's my other option you see these lemon Johns these lemon Johns are me and I wonder if they can destroy you Matthew is a living being made from others a sanctuary for those living in fear who could not find peace in themselves waiting to live in unforeseeable future a selfish creation lemon John is dead but lives on as a memory and found peace by dissolving himself to assure the survival of others living in the present a selfless creation I'm not 100 sure on this one but I think this is why the lemon Johns have the power to destroy Matthew if you are the head that floats atop the ziggurat then the stairs that lead to you must be infinite Lemongrab is saying that if Matthew represents the Perfection of oneself which is portrayed by a zugurat a type of Ancient Temple that the way to get to this Temple the staircase is infinite because Perfection is impossible he instead chooses to accept the imperfections in himself and froze the lemon Johns into the mouth of Matthew destroying him up when Matthew explodes lots of people wearing white cloaks come out of them they aren't perfect or part of something greater they are lost confused Souls devoid of any personality one of them immediately uh and the others just attack Lemongrab for destroying the purpose these people all used to be individuals but they had that individuality stripped away from them by Matthew Lemongrab and Finn escape and leave the mountain this is a big evolution for Lemongrab it marks the end of him screaming to Princess Bubblegum about how she made him like this he isn't perfect he has flaws he is unique and he finally accepts himself this is the end of lemongrab's Journey and it proves that people can change even if they are lemon people who don't fit in and scream at their problems this lemon population of Adventure Time represents all their outcasts and types of people that Society don't accept there's so much Beauty and color to be found in every type of living thing this story is to be told and experiences to be had lemongrab's story is something that evolved from a person who is the result of a failed experiment into a population of different Unique Individuals who live their own independent and interesting lives without him there would be no lemon hope or lemon John when coming back from the mountain Lemongrab falls into his room and onto his bed he is met with the crack in his roof he simply chews a lemon John and spits it into the crack flowing the whole problem solved yo yo you [Music] in my video thanks for for doing that you can you can like the video if you liked it I put a lot of work into it so that would be good I also made a different video about Jake and the episode Ocarina so please check that out click click it right now you can click it right now

Channel: Lavaman

Views: 558,732

Keywords: Adventuretime, Adventure time, Lemongrab, Character Study, Video essay, Marceline, Finn and Jake, Analysis

Id: Y8O6CwJEJng

Length: 30min 40sec (1840 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2023