"Princess Potluck" is the eighteenth episode in the fifth season of Adventure Time. It's the one hundred and twenty-second episode overall.
Synopsis[]
Ice King does everything possible to ruin a princess potluck he believes he didn't get invited to, using a variety of tactics in an attempt to do so.
Plot[]
The episode begins as Finn and Jake are walking towards the Princess Potluck. Finn complains that his callus on his ankle, due to his missing sock, is going to ruin his fun and the party. Jake assures him that they will have tons of fun, and that he will get compliments on his make-up. Finn says he looks like a target, after which an arrow whizzes behind Jake's head from somewhere off-screen. The two arrive and Finn gets excited about a bounce house, which turns out to be Bounce House Princess. She invites him in, but he declines. After greeting Princess Princess Princess, Embryo Princess, and Skeleton Princess, whom Finn does not seem to know, they approach Princess Bubblegum. She welcomes them and asks Finn about his leg, who explains that he cannot find his sock and got the shoe rash. She tells him to sit down and relax, and mentions that she is hosting a raffle, the winner of which will receive a secret prize, kept in a cooler. Finn then gives her a soda, confessing that it is warm and that he shook it all up. Princess Bubblegum then buries it in snow, which happens to part of the Ice Kingdom.
The scene shifts to Ice King, who is playing with mini hair teepees on his belly. He then senses that something has been put in his ice. He grabs Gunter and goes to his telescope, through which he sees that his "off-again on-again GF" Princess Bubblegum, his "BF's" Finn and Jake, and "all the fine princesses that want to date" him are throwing a party without him. He gets mad and goes off to create a plan to ruin the potluck.
Ice King flies to a forest, where he captures a variety of rabbits and cats. He returns to the Ice Kingdom and begins to tie lemons onto the cats. Then he checks on his rabbits, who are eating lasagna, and tells Gunter to bake more. Ice King then flies out the window and goes behind a bush near the potluck. He opens one of the bags and sends out the cats. Finn notices them and tells Jake to check it out. Jake proclaims he does not like cats, but does like fresh lemon in his ice tea. Princess Bubblegum notes that LSP does not have to make a lemon run after all, to which Lumpy Space Princess replies, "Yes!"
Ice King, seeing the cats did not work, plans to use the rabbits he fed lasagna to; however, when he opens the bag, he is so disgusted by its contents that he leaves it there. He then plans to dress Gunter up as a princess in order to send her undercover to throw fruit punch on everyone and ruin the party. Ice King mentions how "hot" she looks and begins fantasizing about marrying her, prompting Gunter to pull out a taser in self defense. He then throws and blows Gunter out the window to the potluck below. She sees Jake, grabs a cup of punch and prepares to throw it on him; however, Jake notices her and announces her arrival, after which another arrow narrowly misses him. Slime Princess invites Gunter to party with them, which she accepts. She drinks the punch and begins to dance when the princesses cheer her on. Ice King is shocked, falling to the floor and crying dramatically.
The scene switches to Finn, who asks Gunther for one of her socks. She electrocutes him to make him back off, and continues dancing. Ice King wanders around and checks on what Gunther is doing, seeing that she is still dancing. Ice King mutters that there should be a law against this, suddenly realizing that there actually is one. He calls the Banana Guards to "tattle," saying that the party next door is disturbing the peace. The Banana Guards say they hate him and hang up. Ice King calls again, this time in the guise of an elderly lady. The Banana Guards still think it is Ice King, so he tells them to hold on while he gets his "husband." His voice switches to a thick manly voice, stating they need to shut the party down immediately. His voice continues switching back between the old lady, her husband, a pizza delivery boy, and "George." The Banana Guards cut him off, saying they will take care of it. When they arrive, however, they begin to party, disappointing Ice King.
His next idea is to create another party in order to make them jealous. He creates some snowmen and tells Gunthalina to go serve food to them, who shoves the trays into their stomachs. His radio begins playing another song, which Ice King really likes. He starts dancing with Roger, but the princesses do not seem to notice him. Ice King wishes he could magically destroy their party, suddenly realizing that he can, as he is a wizard. He begins to attack the potluck as he flies into the sky and drops a giant ice lightning bolt near Finn and then rains hail on everyone. Everyone takes refuge in Bouncy House Princess except for Finn, at whom Ice King shoots more giant ice bolts. Finn then runs and falls on the ground, nearly getting hit. Finn takes off one of his shoes, propels himself off of Bounce House Princess to Ice King and puts his shoe on his nose, causing him to fall. When Finn questions him, Ice King states that he did this because he did not get invited to the potluck. Princess Bubblegum points out that she did, in fact, send him an invitation in the mail. Ice King then says he always waits until his mail piles up and falls over, shreds it and made it into crafts. He then asks if he can party with them, to which Finn agrees on the condition that he stop acting "nanners."
The party resumes with Ice King, who is now happy, bouncing with Finn and Jake in Bounce House Princess while Finn makes another shoe for his feet. Princess Bubblegum announces that it is time for the raffle, and that the winner is Finn, who wins a Sea Lard. Jake is then suddenly hit in the head with an arrow, and everyone turns to see the enraged Squirrel. His mouth foams while he screams, "YOU SON OF A BLEEP-BLOB! JAAAAAAAKE!" Jake does not recognize him, saying, "Heeey, yooou…"
Characters[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
Locations[]
Music[]
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first time Finn calls Ice King by his initials as 'IK'.
- It is unknown why Flame Princess was not invited at all despite being a princess, though another global threat may be the reason.
- The promo art shows Ice King coming out of a hat shop, where he may have gotten all the hats he used when impersonating people in the episode.
- This episode introduces a new princess, "Bounce House Princess."
- At some point Ice King makes the sound Princess Bubblegum uses to call her Morrow.
- Finn does his girlish scream from "Burning Low" again, when he gets excited about a bounce house (which turns out to be Bounce House Princess), and when he gets zapped by Gunter's taser.
- The episode reveals that the princesses do not have a problem with Gunter, and are willing to attempt to be civil towards Ice King.
- This episode takes place at the same time as "BMO Noire."
- The can of grape soda that Finn hands Princess Bubblegum is a can of Super Porp, the same brand that young Marceline uses as a pretend remote control in the episode "Simon & Marcy", likely meaning that brand has existed for a over thousand years. This is later confirmed in "Dark Purple."
Episode connections[]
- Aspects of this episode show that this episode occurs at the exact same time as "BMO Noire":
- Finn is missing a sock and Jake has a lipstick spiral on his face and has long eyelashes, which matches up with the events of the former episode as they leave BMO alone in the house.
- By the end of the episode, Jake has an arrow on his head, and Finn is carrying the sea lard, which is how the duo appear when they return to the house just as BMO finds Finn's other sock.
- While Finn is putting on a makeshift tortilla sock, a grape juice stain can be seen on his other sock. This is in reference to the stain that Ronnie points out during the events of "BMO Noire."
- The Squirrel from "The Duke" appears once again, shooting arrows at Jake repeatedly throughout the episode.
- Ice King feeds his "Party Poopers" lasagna, which he mispronounces as 'la-zag-na', instead of the proper 'la-zaun-ya'. This has happened before in the series with other pre-Mushroom War words (bomb pronounced 'bamba' in "Guardians of Sunshine", Mozart pronounced 'maw-zart' instead of 'moat-zart' and Beethoven pronounced 'beet-hoven' instead of 'bay-toven' in "The Eyes", and "Groucho" pronounced "Groocho" in "Gut Grinder").
- Some of the cats Ice King captures and releases onto the party originally appeared in "Wizard Battle," in which they were wizards who had been transformed by Grand Master Wizard.
- Bounce House Princess makes a reappearance in "Astral Plane."
Cultural references[]
- While the Ice King tried to make the others jealous by having his own party, his dancing resembles the Stanky Leg and the famous Twerkin.
- The Ice King translates the common phrases "sour puss" and "party pooper" into live forms hoping they would have the same effect on the Potluck that people who are described as such do for similar events.
- When Princess Bubblegum places the soda in the snow that Finn contributed to the potluck, Ice King "senses" a disturbance in the snow similar to Peter Parker's/Spider-Man's Spider Sense. It is not known if this was intentional.
- Ice King claims that he shreds up all of his mail to use in cascarones. Cascarones (Cascarón) are festive, hollowed-out chicken eggs filled with confetti or small toys, and are very popular in Mexico and U.S. border towns for use in festive events.
- When the Ice King shoots lightning bolt-shaped ice shards at Finn, it is similar to the film, "Yellow Submarine".
Production notes[]
- Although the episode's title is the same as one of Pendleton Ward's proposed episodes in the Adventure Time series presentation, it is not a recreation of the original proposed episode, according to Adam Muto.[1]
- In the real episode, the Ice King sends cats with lemons tied to them to ruin the potluck. This could be a reference to the proposed episode where he sends lemon-headed kitties.
Errors[]
- Bounce House Princess's inside color changes from red in the first scene she appears to blue when Ice King, Finn, and Jake are inside.
- Finn's foot rash inexplicably disappears when they are inside Bounce House Princess.
- Wildberry Princess appears only briefly when the Ice King is watching the crowd cheering for Gunter through his telescope.
- The ice chest disappears when Ice King attacks the party.
- When Princess Bubblegum went to put the soda Finn gave her on ice, it seems close, but when she is about to go back to her stand, the place where she put the soda seems further away.
- The snail is not possessed by The Lich (character) in this episode. However this episode is taking place during the episode "BMO Noire" which takes place before "The Lich (episode)".
- When Princess Bubblegum was holding the Sea Lard her purple stripe was gone.
- The Sea Lard seems to be smaller than it was in "BMO Noire."
- The pictures above Ice King's bed first appear as simple, colorless drawings. However, when Ice King tells Gunter to dress up like a princess, the pictures are fully colored.
- On Hulu, the animated James Baxter the Horse credit sequence plays rather than the regular sequence at the end of this episode.
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Official art[]
Background art[]
Screenshots[]
