Review: Adventure Time “Diamonds and Lemons”

Adventure Time Minecraft.

Overview:

Finn decides to try to craft something awesome out of a diamond

Our Take:

This entire episode is a Minecraft episode- almost as if the characters are in the game themselves. Instead of Ooo, they’re having fun on a shared server.

I haven’t played much Minecraft myself, but the episode is pretty reminiscent of what it’s like to play Minecraft with a bunch of friends. Everyone chats, sometimes helps each other out, but usually everyone is involved in their own projects. It has all the usual mechanics, including crafting, building, mining, and of course, the RNG factor.

Finn knows that diamonds are rare, and so he’s disappointed with Jake taking the time to mine all of them, only to throw them into the lava and destroy them. Finn wants to make something fantastic to show that what Jake is doing is pointless- and on his journey, he meets his friends doing their own things. Marceline is building a windmill, Bubblegum is crafting, Tree Trunks is still making pie. Of course, there are Endermen in this game, and they follow the same rules as their regular counterparts. They can also be dispelled by LSP being herself though.

Along the way, Finn comes to realize that there’s no right or wrong way to play- and if Jake wants to throw away his hard work because he thinks it’s funny, then that’s his prerogative. If Finn takes value in the rare items, then that’s fine too. Everyone has a different approach, and that’s okay.

Overall, this wasn’t an episode with much plot, but it did very much capture the spirit of Minecraft, and video games in general.It focused more on showing what everyone else was doing since, naturally, there is no overarching story in Minecraft. Everyone is doing their own thing, and only interact with Finn when he either seeks them out or they come upon him, but ultimately, everyone’s focused on their own projects. As such, everyone is experiencing the game in a different way.  Build what you want, go crazy, have fun, do whatever you want as long as you’re not hurting anyone. As long as you find some joy and validation in the games you play, there’s no right or wrong way to play. Just have fun.

So one episode until the finale! It seems very bittersweet, knowing this will be over in a few months…