‘Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake’ Episode 5 Review: Destiny’s Cursed Calling (2024)

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake has already grown into something much more than your usual Adventure Time storyline. With Fionna (Madeleine Martin), Cake (Roz Ryan) and Simon (Tom Kenny) being thrown into the multiverse, their journeys are going to get a lot more insane and serious.

After Fionna and Cake were caught by Prismo (Sean Rohani), the duo had finally discovered that their magical adventures were real all along, though hidden in the Ice King's head. However, they're now on the run from a cosmic auditor who wants nothing but to get the position he deserves: Scarab (Kayleigh McKee).

Related: ‘Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake' Episode 3 Review: Cat's Out the Bag

Now given the ability to travel the multiverse with the universal remote, Fionna and Cake now embark on a mission to save their world by turning Simon into the Ice King again. To do so, this episode gets the ball rolling by exploring a world where the Ice Curse has become a fabled myth: Farmworld.

Fionna & Cake Episode 5 Recap Review

The episode opens up with a family trying to quietly escape someone called “The Snowman”, which turns out to be none other than an ice magic-cursed Farmworld Finn (Jeremy Shada), who freezes them.

In a way, this opener serves as an unsettling reflection of the madness Simon once had as the Ice King. Much like Farmworld Finn, Simon, in his beginnings, was trapped in this chaotic mind, but now both are freed from the Crown's curse (this Finn got cured in the episode “Crossover” from the original show.)

Following Fionna's little nap to recover her energy from the previous episode's mess, Fionna, Cake, and Simon decide to make their way towards any sign of civilization, which they do soon enough.

Related: ‘Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake' Episode 4 Review: Explanations Galore

This sequence helps to further give insight into Fionna's personality: she knows the ins and outs of survival because of all the video games she's played and books she's read.

Given the fact that she knows her true purpose, Fionna is finally able to use her skills in a beneficial way even if Simon urges her and Cake to fit in. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned as she gets tricked in exchange for a fake Crown.

With Cake being the only magical mortal there, the trio get put at risk of being caught, which they eventually do by some of Big Destiny's (James Kyson) gangsters. Luckily for them, a blonde rogue named Jay (Tiffany Wu) saves the three, but not before she's cut off by Little Destiny (Mickey Zacchilli).

While it isn't made obvious at first, this sequence drops a few hints of some relationship between Jay and Little Destiny, whether it be loving or otherwise. In doing so, the episode adds a nice touch of worldbuilding to Farmworld while also inserting a dynamic, mostly subtle side plot that old Adventure Time fans will love.

Soon enough, Jay brings our trio to her dad and the only person who really knows about the Crown: Farmworld Finn. Despite his middle-aged aggressiveness, Jay manages to persuade him to let the trio in, inviting them to dinner with a boiling soup for Finn's family of four (plus an old Jake!)

Related: Kumail Nanjiani Reveals Why He Isn't Voicing Prismo in ‘Fionna and Cake'

The scenes between our trio, Finn, and his family are very interesting. Thanks to Prismo, Finn is no longer cursed, but the memories still haunt him similar to how Simon remembers his time as Ice King. Farmworld Finn and Simon were destined to have these curses, yet Finn is the only one who's let go of it, albeit by masking it.

Because of this, Finn has been able to survive and raise his own family. However, he holds reasonable, if enraging, reservations for those who want to find the Crown much to the adolescent curiosity of his children.

Meanwhile, Scarab, who's captured Prismo (Sean Rohani), continues his hunt and eventually finds his way to Farmworld. With a thorough investigation, including intimidating the vendor who tricked Fionna, Scarab makes his way to the Mertins household.

Thankfully, Finn doesn't let him in and tries to warn our trio instead, but finds them missing as Jay has brought them to the crater where the Crown once sat. Sadly for Fionna, Cake, and Simon, this world's Crown was destroyed (due to Prismo's re-edits in “Crossover”), leaving no other choice for them.

Related: ‘Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake' Episode 2 Review: A Sincere Look Into Handling Grief

Here, the episode drops a sizzling bombshell after a few subtle hints: Jay and Little Destiny have a secret relationship with one another! Ever since their initial encounter in the crater, the two have been in love with each other, though Little Destiny has been suffering from some harsh cold. Unfortunately, Big Destiny finds all of them with his gang and wants Little Destiny to prove her worth to him.

Soon enough, the cause for Little Destiny's cold is discovered: one of the Crown's shards, which is still infused with the magic that cursed Finn. Though Big Destiny believes this was a trick by Little Destiny, he's the one who gets deceived as Little Destiny turns her back on them in a satisfying moment while our main trio fix Prismo's remote.

The intense build-up to the episode's climax wonderfully ties these two winding storylines together. Though this episode feels more of a world-builder to satiate old Adventure Time fans, it also adds bits of emotional brevity thanks to Jay and Little Destiny's relationship even if they are relegated to tidbits.

Plus, Finn gets to join in on the fight by stopping the Destiny Gang in their tracks, but not before he gets interrupted by Scarab, who's just out for Fionna, Cake and Simon. Sadly, this may be one of the hardest things to watch as Finn gets fakeout-ed by Scarab, resulting in his untimely demise. Luckily, our main trio escape, but not before Scarab gets the close jump on them.

Related: ‘Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake' Episode 1 Review: A Fun “Normal” Day

The parallels between Finn and Simon in this episode add a nice complexity to what we've seen from their interactions previously. Though Simon couldn't fit in with his version of Finn, he's able to closely relate with Farmworld Finn thanks to their shared experiences under the Crown's curse.

Given Farmworld Finn's heroic sacrifice, it may be catalyst for what drives Simon to fully embrace his past even if he doesn't want to and that is what makes him intriguing as a character in the end.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cakeepisode 5 showcases an interesting parallel perspective of how Simon views Ice King through a continued exploration of Farmworld.

Though this episode's pacing did feel like it relegated a handful of its time to build upon this universe that Adventure Time fans are familiar with, it made this emotional side story amazingly connect back to this fantastical retrospective on Simon and the idea of self-discovery in its own unique way.

Rating – 4 out of 5 stars

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cakeepisodes 5 and 6 are now streaming onMax– two new episodes are released every Thursday.

This review was written during the 2023 WGA (now resolved) and SAG-AFTRA (ongoing) strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series/movie being covered here wouldn't exist.