After getting a visit from Ricardio last week, Adventure Time whips out another guest star for “You Made Me,” featuring the return of Princess Bubblegum’s experiment-gone-wrong, the Earl of Lemongrab. Lemongrab is up to his usual creeper ways, sneaking into the Candy Kingdom to watch people sleep because his Earldom is empty, and when PB offers him three candy people to be Lemongrab’s new subjects, she ends up feeding his insanity. Lemongrab is a great character, a Frankenstein’s monster who is struggling to find his place in the world without any sort of moral or mental center. He also really likes to scream. No one understands Lemongrab, and he blames PB because she made him this way. Their relationship has echoes of both religious and relationship crises, with PB serving as the unfair god as well as the ex-girlfriend who leaves her significant other in shambles.
When PB confronts Lemongrab, he jumps out the window, strips off his clothes and screams, “You made me! You’re my glob!” Because PB has a surplus of citizens, Lemongrab demands a donation of candy people to his Earldom, and the only three who are willing to go are the notorious Pup Gang: Jamaica, Toughy, and Blombo. These tween candy gangstas are the closest thing the Candy Kingdom has to thugs, and they gots two demands before they leave: 1) total amnesty for past crimes and 2) a big cash money wad big enough to provide for their delinquent mothers, so that hopefully, they’ll show the Pup Gang the love they’ve dreamed about in their sad young lives. The Pup Gang represent a portion of the Candy Kingdom populace that we don’t get the chance to see, and I hope that future episodes delve into these characters and show us a bit of the hard candy streets.
At Castle Lemongrab, the Pup Gang gets a front row seat to the Earl’s batshit craziness, and he immediately freaks out over Blombo’s headphones, then locks them in an electrocution chamber for “reconditioning.” Lemongrab has the mental faculties of a small child in a fully-grown body, and he just doesn’t know how to properly interact with others. When he returns to stalking the Candy Kingdom, PB tries to teach him that candy people are mad special and need constant affection, but Lemongrab isn’t capable of understanding that different types of people require different types of interactions. “I look in the lemon-heart you gave me and see my lemon-way to act, and that must be right,” Lemongrab says before running back to his home. He’s just like a small child that hasn’t learned how to behave in public, but because he’s not a child, he feels insulted when children are sent to live with him. In order to solve his problem, Lemongrab needs someone like him to keep him company.
PB, Finn, and Jake head to Lemongrab’s castle to save the Pup Gang, and while Finn and Jake look for the kids, PB tries to figure out how to get rid of the Earl’s loneliness. Finn and Jake discover a long hallway full of catcher’s mitts, which most likely symbolizes Lemongrab’s lack of and desire for a father figure in his life. (Or they’re just a bunch of catcher’s mitts.) When Finn and Jake find the Pup Gang, Lemongrab ambushes them and starts to recondition/electrocute them before PB shows up with Lemongrab’s new companion: himself. She created another Lemongrab in his pantry, and now, he has a partner that knows exactly what he wants. Meeting his copy has an instantaneous calming effect on him, and by the end of the episode, he’s downright civil, now able to understand himself a little better now that he has a friend.
Stray observations:
- Finn wants to see Peppermint Butler’s true aura, but Pep But says that’s not a very good idea. I love the idea that Pep But is intensely evil.
- To keep himself from going to the domain of Lemongrab, Mr. Cupcake breaks his arm in front of Princess Bubblegum. That’s some dedication right there.
- PB’s hair this episode is adorable. It’s nice to see the artists being a little more flexible with the designs.
- Finn: “What are we going to do?” PB: “Something totally bum slops.”
- “I grant you the big cash money wad.”
- “A lemon gives by taking and cares by yelling.”