“Fionna and Cake” is beautiful follow up to original “Adventure Time”. It is story about disillusionment of early adulthood and making peace with themselves under the guise of surrealist, absurd fantasy that we could expect from “Adventure Time”. Of course, whoever watched carefully original series knows that it was full of serious topics and gut-wrenching moments. But because “Fiona and Cake” move out of Cartoon Network, it was allowed to shape its storytelling and be more outward with its adult themes. And what I didn’t expect, also more outward with its violence. However cartoonish (inevitable with this art style) it is still quite surprising.
It starts with more modern realist world without magic. We know that Fionna’s world supposed to be simple gender-bender mirror of Ooo, so it creates tension with what’s really going on. Even Cake being just simple normal cat. Fionna dreams about more magic and adventure in her life. Although I knew that this state couldn’t just stay like that for long, I was impatient to see more of magic. There was a lot of meeting new old characters in their gender-bender modern human version. That aspect of the show wasn’t completely lost on me, but I feel I still missed some allusions and references to original series, because I watched it just so long ago, so it couldn’t probably resonate enough. I have quite peculiar relation to “Adventure Time”. It was first series I watched fully in English without subtitles, so I missed a lot nuances from earliest seasons and show grew on me alongside my English abilities.
Eventually we also meet Simon Petrikov from original. As an aftermath of later storylines of original series, he lost his ice powers and his Ice King persona. He struggles adjusting now to living as regular human in magic Ooo, even though there is now human futuristic settlement, but he feels out of place there too. Even his personal connection to Marceline doesn’t help him with feelings of being left out and purposelessness.
If Fionna’s storyline is all about fantasy guise for struggling with early adulthood reality, Simon’s is more complicated. He deals not only with growing old, feeling left out by his loved ones living their lives on their own, but also with lose of his beloved. Those issues though are only addition to his main problem of living now mundane life (even if in not mundane world), after loosing his powers. He recognizes that how negatively his powers changed his mind as Ice King, but he still earns to some degree against himself after what he lost. Ice King predilection was variably metaphor for various real life issues. Most famously, depiction of his condition as something analogous to dementia and how it influence his loved ones (Marceline) was for many viewers turning point when “Adventure Time” surprised with its depth. Here, because Simon lost his powers, it’s treated more like tempting addiction. He knows that he shouldn’t, he despise what he was, but still some parts of him wants it.
Those two storylines become intertwined when Fionna and Simon meet and they are pushed towards interdimensional hopping adventure. Both struggle through push and pull with what they really want. Fionna realize costs of adventuring and Simon fights with temptation and learns more about himself. Interestingly, the only who doesn’t struggle at all with new developments is Cake. She get her magical powers and ability to speech and she wouldn’t want to go back, even if their explicit goal is to save mundane world of her and Fionna. It is something that she feels is what she suppose to be. She provides solid (stretchy) support for Fionna, who doesn’t yet now what she really wants.
Season 1 ends up when people of Fionna’s world decides to keep and fight for their identity as something distinct than just mirror of Ooo. Season 2 brings another character from original series to accompany Fionna and Cake. This time it is Huntress Wizard. We get more subtle form of multiverse hopping this time. Fionna still struggles with her messiness and Huntress Wizard doing everything she can to save Finn, who get recently gravely injured. Although Finn is not the main character here, this season in many ways is follow up to Finn’s storylines. Most obviously his romantic life, but also more subtly with his dealing in living in aftermath of his beloved Jake’s death. There are hints that he become suicidal, even with his outward cheerful and adventurous behavior.
It is series that would be hard to recommend for people who never watched “Adventure Time”, but I would say that this is obligatory for whoever has any fondness for original series. Even if you don’t remember it fully, it is enough to recollect the main story bits from later series.