Review: Adventure Time “Ketchup”

Three stories.

Spoilers Below:

Marceline looks for her bass case when BMO knocks on the door, looking to hunt vampires. Marceline says that BMO can help in a different way, in trying to access data on an old USB. It’s a long time to download, so Marceline suggests that they catch up.

BMO discusses the trip; they crash land on a giant cat and float through the clouds.

In return, Marceline puts on a puppet show for BMO. She tells the story of Lollipop Girl and Rockstar Girl and their journey to Weekend City. One day, a Blue Tranch comes to the city and turns everyone into potato-heads. Lollipop Girl ends up turning into a potato stack, but Rockstar Girl fights back the curse. She travels to Potato Town to confront the Blue Tranch and forces an antidote out of her. Rockstar Girl wasn’t sure if she’d been given a real antidote, and climbs the potato stalk, only to realize that Lollipop Girl became a completely different person. She embraces her fate and explodes into stardust.

She admits that she cops out on the ending because she’s not sure if she can admit the reality to herself.

The hard drive finishes processing, and in it is a slideshow of young Marceline and her mom. BMO tells a story about the two; about a moon lady and a little girl. The two became best friends, but the moon lady has to leave as soon as the lunar eclipse is over. BMO asks how the story was, and Marceline says that she’s heard something similar to it, a long time ago.

Overview:

A story about stories. BMO and Marceline both frame their memories through storytelling, which slightly removes them from the situation. By doing that, Marceline is allowed to confront memories that make her uncomfortable. The first is her take on the Elements story, where she failed to save Bubblegum before she was fully taken over by candy. The second is to her and her mother, something not explored in depth yet, but a memory that Marceline isn’t ready to fully discuss.

The animation varies a lot in the storytelling sequences, which makes the episode a lot of fun to watch.