In the "Adventure Time" Finale, Does the Girl Get the Girl?

In its last ep, Adventure Time confirmed what so many have known for years.

After ten glorious seasons, the team behind Adventure Time is finally hanging up the pencils and keyboards and calling it a day with the four-part finale, "Come Along With Me".

This 13th and final episode of Season 10 is a monster 44-minute affair, and it's now streaming on Stan. (It's confusingly listed as the 13th episode of Season 9 on the streaming service, however.)

The adventures of Finn and Jake in the Land of Ooo were, for many, a spiritual experience. It was a light-hearted oddball tale on the surface, with a dark lore simmering beneath. What started out as an unusual show set in a candy-filled land about a princess, a boy and his dog/best friend ended post-apocalyptically, with theories suggesting that the magic hides the kingdom's true darkness and that the weird creatures are the result of nuclear radiation.

Bleak.

(Here's where some major finale spoilers kick in.)

The finale takes us to the (anti) climax of the Great Gum War. It begins in the distant future, with new characters Shermy and Beth who, after finding a robot arm, head to Mount Cragdor to figure out its purpose. At the top of the mountain, they encounter BMO, the now "king" of this future land. BMO explains the history of how the "world ended" when Princess Bubblegum and her army of bananas went to war with her Uncle Gumbald.

In actuality, that war fizzled out after a 10-minute dream scene, where both sides made friends before the battle even commenced. It's then that the episode's real Big Bad, GOLB, appears and threatens to take out the entire kingdom.

After much fighting and failing, it's realised the only way to defeat the huge, evil entity is by singing in harmony. They all begin singing "Time Adventure" and GOLB is eventually defeated and leaves Ooo.

Sadly, during the battle, the treehouse was destroyed, but they plant the remains of Fern and a new one grows in its place. It's a fitting ending for a show that doesn't really seem like it's ending.

For some fans, however, it was the confirmation of a relationship that's been heavily hinted at for years that made this episode so important. 

Back in 2010, when Adventure Time first debuted on screens, there wasn't a huge collection of LGBTQIA+ characters in cartoon series' that weren't an offensive stereotype (see South Park or Family Guy) or had more than a minute of screen time.

So, when fans started to pick up on some serious tension between characters Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen, it looked like that was about to change.

Nicknamed "Bubbline" (a portmanteau of their names), Marceline and Princess Bubblegum's affection for one another became obvious after several innuendos hinted that the two were (or are) more than just friends. 

But it was Finn who seemed to achieve more success in gaining Princess Bubblegum's romantic attention (despite her many rejections). His obvious crush and subsequent heroic actions to impress the princess resulted in a short kiss (S3, E8: "Wizard Battle").

In any other show's finale, Finn's ten-season adoration of the princess would be rewarded with her kissing him back and confessing she's madly in love with him too. Instead, Adventure Time showed us that they weren't about to undo "Bubbline". So in the end, it was Marceline who "got" the girl instead.

Fans were certainly grateful that the show's writers finally made the relationship official and resisted a cliche trope.

bubbline are living the rest of their immortal lives together like in marceline's dreams THE ADVENTURE TIME FINALE SAID YOU CAN'T STOP THE GAYS pic.twitter.com/1tQ5Vq2y72

— saddy the bubbline warrior (@lesbihayley) September 4, 2018

While LGBTQIA+ characters still aren't abundant in recent animated shows, we're witnessing a step towards having more diverse characters who aren't defined by their sexuality. Take season three of BoJack Horseman, in which Todd realised he's asexual, adding that he's labelled himself as "nothing" for years.

Rick and Morty, while not always known for touching on personal subjects in the way that BoJack might, also reveals Rick is pansexual after he sleeps with avatars of all genders and species.

The fact that these arcs can exist without being the punchline of a joke (like they might've been, previously) is what makes them so important, and while it's unfair to attribute that change completely to Adventure Time's legacy, it is, perhaps, partly due to "Bubbline".

While we say goodbye to our old friends from the Land of Ooo for now, rest easy that the legacy of Adventure Time's casual progressivism will continue to live on through future shows.

You can watch all ten seasons of Adventure Time, including the finale, on Stan right now.

Header Image: Cartoon Network