Review: Adventure Time Season Eight Episodes 1-2 “Two Swords” and “Do Not Harm”

The dust clears after the events with Dr. Gross and Susan.

Spoilers Below:

Adventure Time’s season eight premiere is a two-parter, combining the episodes ‘Two Swords’ with ‘Do No Harm’. 

It starts with Finn and Bubblegum in the hospital, where Finn recounts the events of the last episode, in which Susan went out of control. After Finn lost the grass sword, it merged with the Finnsword, and transformed into a humanoid grass being. The grass being retained Finn’s impulses and went to help Susan, who was injured. Finn, attempted to protect his friend from danger and attacked the being, but throughout the fight, the being transformed to look like Finn. Grass Finn claimed that he was the real Finn, and the two argued about it. Once Jake crawled to safety, he identified the real Finn, which left Grass Finn wondering what exactly he is. 

There is a flashback about the time the Finnsword was impaled by the grass blade, an action that nearly killed the small alternate Finn that inhabits the Finnsword, and scattered grass everywhere. As the Finnsword slept, a curse taking the form of an ammonite, crept in through the sword’s cracks and began to cover both the interior and alternate Finn in gooey thread. After encasing Alternate Finn in a gooey cocoon, the curse ruminated that when it awakens, it will take the reins of control.  

Finn and Jake get a call from BMO that grass Finn is in the treehouse, and is destroying the inside. Grass Finn is animated but in some sort of trance where he does not respond verbally to anyone. Finally, with Finn recalling that he and Grass Finn are essentially the same, he offers Grass Finn a cupcake that is made only for Finn. Responding to the gesture, Grass Finn accepts the token, and they reach a mutual understanding. Grass Finn then takes up residence on the roof of the treehouse.

The next day, Jake tries to treat Grass Finn the same way he would the real Finn, but it is clear that he finds Grass Finn unnerving. 

In the meantime, Finn returns to the hospital to see how Susan is doing. Susan is severely injured, and when Doctor Princess hears that Finn is technically the one responsible for her injuries, she gives him her coat and puts him in charge of the hospital for the day to teach him a lesson. She also reveals that she does not have a medical license and that the confusion caused by her first name being ‘Doctor’ landed her the position by accident. Finn proceeds to help patients throughout the hospital, which in its own way, is like being a hero. 

Since Grass Finn’s options of mimicking Finn biologically are impossible, Jake suggests that they go out and hunt evil. Grass Finn instinctively says that he knows a place, and leads them to the Grass Wizard’s Grassy Fortress. Once there, Grass Finn has no problem quickly and mercilessly destroying any obstacles in his path. When they make their way to the Grass Wizard, Grass Finn reveals himself to be the grass sword and exclaims how confused he is about his existence. “Am I bad? Am I an eternal curse sent by the globs?”, he asks. Disappointingly, the Grass Wizard admits that he only created the grass sword because he thought it would be cool. Realizing that Grass Finn is essentially his creation, he tries to control him. Grass Finn responds by harshly beating the Grass Wizard into submission. Jake notes that Grass Finn has no sense of mercy, and stops him before he goes too far.

At the hospital, Finn attempts to rouse Susan from her coma by dropping a sword on her in an attempt to awaken her warrior reflexes. Before he can do so, Doctor Princess returns and quickly stops the procedure. Finn realizes that even though he wants to help people, he lacks the medical knowledge to do so, and abandons his position as a doctor for a day. He reunites with Jake and Grass Finn, who have decided to do the right thing and take the Grass Wizard to the hospital.

Grass Finn realizes that he can never be Finn, and decides to become his own person, naming himself Fern the Human. While he has learned a lot, his moral compass is still skewed, and he leaves by stealing a motorcycle and riding off into the sunset. 

In the hospital, a chunk of the ceiling fan above Susan falls, and she catches it, which wakes her up from her coma and proves that Finn’s method would have worked. 

Overview:

The two episodes are largely about self-discovery, especially for Grass Finn, who has a lot of confusion about his existence. As a fusion of the grass sword, which spent a lot of time as Finn’s missing arm, and even though he established first thing that he’s ‘Finn’, he is unable to do what Finn can. And even though the Finnsword is made from alternate Finn, Grass Finn is still technically ‘Finn’. ‘He is filled with Finn’s impulses, but that does not translate biologically. If he cannot breathe he cannot play a flute. If he cannot eat, he cannot enjoy Finn’s favorite foods. He wants to fight evil, but with both halves of him being swords, he can only react violently and does not know when to stop. By the end, it is hinted that he really has no concepts of good and evil, and is only following what he thinks Finn would do. We know how the Finnsword came to be, but when we meet the grass sword’s creator, the Grassy Wizard, the wizard fails to provide Grass Finn with an explanation of his purpose. Since he cannot find an answer, he makes one of his own. 

By the end of the episode, Grass Finn declares his independence and takes the name ‘Fern’. As an independent being, he is not exactly Finn, and he is definitely not as morally sound as Finn, but he seems content to find his own mode of existence. While he does not state what exactly he plans on doing with his life, Jake is confident that Fern will find a way, somehow.

On the other hand, Finn is still struggling with the events of season seven’s finale. He wants to help out and is kind at heart, but he lacks the ability to do so at times. He realizes his limits but is still fueled with the drive to do good. 

While some of the humor falls flat, overall, it is an interesting start to the season, and how Fern will fit in with the rest of Ooo has yet to be seen.