To expand upon my quick thoughts in the video, Adventure Time: Distant Lands “Together Again” is another decent episode for the Adventure Time follow-up. This episode dives deep into the relationship of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog as they attempt to rediscover their brotherly bond as they embark on the most important quest of their lives years after the finale of the previous show.
To efficiently talk about this episode there will be spoilers so do not continue reading if you don’t want the twist ruined.
So, the episode starts out with the revelation that Finn and Jake are now both dead. Finn dying many years later after Jake. We do not know exactly how much time has passed Finn is an old man when he dies. Jake’s death was alluded to in the previous episode, “Obsidian” when adult Finn appears sporting a tattoo of his brother’s likeness on his chest with Jake nowhere to be seen. Dead Finn then traverses the underworld looking to reunite with Jake after being without him for many years. Along the way, he meets a few familiar faces from when he was still alive. There are also callbacks to his previous lives as Shoko and a butterfly.
The best part about the episode is the relationship between Finn and Jake transcending life. It is wonderful to see how much Finn is willing to go through to find his brother. Even when he sees other important people from his life, they are mere sidenotes in his quest to find the one thing he truly cares about. He doesn’t even bother checking on up his brother Jermaine when he runs into his parents even though they are all living in the same level of the afterlife. The focus on how much Finn and Jake care for each other even in death makes for a truly loving story.
Some interesting details about the show include the afterlife being set up similar to Dante’s Inferno, with different levels depending on how you lived life. The aspect of killing the original Death makes you the “New Death.” Jake being shown as the only member of his family to have reached Nirvana after living a fulfilling life. and Peppermint Butler still dealing in the occult. The episode does have a few issues as well. It’s not explained how the Lich’s hand was able to meet Death’s son and possess him. While Finn being old provides some detail about how much time has passed since we last saw these characters an exact time frame would have been nice. Lastly, there should have been more characters shown in the afterlife unless Simon found a way to become immortal again. Maybe those answers are being saved for a future season?
I give “Together Again” a Good 4/5. It’s a tearjerker of an epilogue for our main characters and serves as a fitting ending. But it does leave one craving more stories set in this universe.
[…] the episode starts out years before the events of “Together Again.” The young Pepper Mint is traveling to Wizard City, a place we learned he was previously banned […]