Review: Adventure Time: “Stakes” “Check Mate”

By candlelight, Peppermint B contemplates the vile fiend unleashed on the Land of Ooo, and what it would take to get his autograph. Deep in the woods, Finn, PB, Jake, and Marcy prepare to take on the Vampire King by whittling some mega-“stakas”, eating a ton of food, and doing bat-jacks.

Even after all their preparations, the crew is forced to go with Plan B when the VK finds them. He seeks Marceline for the same reason she sought Bonnibel: to free him from his vampire mantle. He wants to go out like a G, though. He wants to be sent straight into the void on a sick, flaming chariot; he wants the Vampire Queen to kill to rid him of his vampirism, or kill him.

They agree to use PB’s vamp-extractor, but not before Finn lands a dozen-or-so kicks square to the Vampire King’s junk. Pep But blows his chance at getting an autograph, for now, and gets his eyes melted. The procedure works, and the crew gets a new cat.

Pep’s inner vision fails him, and he spills a nasty bucket of reality-altering vampire-essence.

The story is aight, but the genius is in the dialog. The VK delivers a profound plea in the clouds: save me from eternity. Which, sheds light on some of the choices made in the previous parts, and raises the stakes even higher for Marceline.

Awesome episode.