I don't think the finale makes sense. I explain why. Do you see it differently?

TL;DR finale tries to simultaneously say "chaos is evil" and "chaos is fine" at the same time. Before the last episode, nothing about the show makes a god of chaos a meaningful "final boss."

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  1. GOLB as a bringer of chaos doesn't work as an ultimate evil for Adventure Time

GOLB is a bringer of chaos, and super duper evil. That's basically his shtick. The two thoughts combined obviously convey "chaos is evil." But nowhere in the show do you see any theme of order as a good thing. Finn is pretty clearly Chaotic Good. Certainly not lawful good. PB is lawful neutral. I was going to call Lemongrab lawful neutral, but he definitely goes Lawful Evil at times and never really lawful good. There's really no solid Lawful Good in the show, leaving a pretty clear overall theme of lawful evil, chaotic good. Lawfulness would need to be in a better light for the final boss to literally be the god of chaos. Or at least you would expect a chaotic evil bad guy to bring about some soul-searching and self-doubt in the chaotic good hero.

  1. I think the message is confused even within the scope of the finale

Not even considering the ethos established by the show before the finale, consider that the final boss is beaten through order (harmony), everyone doing what they're supposed to do to achieve a commonly-accepted cause, in this case, survival. It is absolutely evil to want to bring about the end of these people and they must work together to prevent their demise. While at the same time, the other song "Time Adventure" is the exact opposite message. Don't be sad that it's over, be glad that it happened sort of message. It's totally fine that between Finn's time and Shermy and Beth's time the Candy Kingdom is destroyed or whatever because Time is an illusion and we will be together back then. But then what's wrong with being destroyed by GOLB? Time Adventure is a pro-chaos song. Come Along with Me is a pro-order song.

I'm sure the takeaway is supposed to be something like "Try your best while you're alive to make the world a good place like Finn does. But accept that you are a drop in the ocean and no one lasts forever." But you sort of have to draw that meaning out in spite of the big loud theme of order good chaos bad.

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These are just thoughts I've had this evening. I totally appreciate that there's more than one way to read a story and frankly I'm hoping for someone to put it in a more enjoyable light. At times the show is amazing in the way it takes complex experiences and philosophical questions and turns them seamlessly into workable plots (mountain of matthew, hall of egress and others) which is why I find it shocking that (I think) they completely failed with the finale. I just don't see how they didn't realize what they were doing didn't make sense during Simon's completely cringey description of GOLB "His presence is felt in every crevice where chaos lurks." I think the writers felt that they needed to quickly convey to the viewer that hey chaos is bad btw i know we haven't primed you on this at all but here's some spooky words to make that clear. It's like the opposite of a deus ex machina. An unearned villain.

Posted Mar 12, 2020, 6:18 AM UTC

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