What the Adventure Time Finale Reminds Us about Parenting
By Jason P. Burnham
I was in my mid 20’s when I saw my first episode of Adventure Time. I can’t recall now which episode it was, but it had to have been an early season, perhaps even the first. I was visiting a friend in Austin, Texas, and we watched it my first night there. I remember giving the episode a “10/10” rating, no notes. I was childless (which is to say I should have had more free time than my child-having epoch), but nonetheless felt quite busy with school and was without means to watch further episodes (I didn’t have cable). Despite this, an ethereal joy remained with me of the few episodes I’d seen of Finn and Jake’s loving, playful relationship. I knew I would come back to the show, given the opportunity.
Over the subsequent years, seasons of Adventure Time would appear on Hulu and in my limited hours, I would catch a few episodes here and there. It held up well to my memory of those first episodes, but despite my continued fondness for the show, life had gotten even busier—I had a job and a child now. As a point of reference, my wife and I were watching season nine of The Office (the final season for those who are unaware) when her water broke for our firstborn—it has been over eight years and we still haven’t finished it. Needless to say, I didn’t routinely keep up with Adventure Time (or much of anything outside family and work).
I’m certain there exist a group of Adventure Time fans who consider themselves superfans. I’m not sure what the entry criteria for this superfan group might be, but I would bet that it includes having watched the show in its entirety multiple times. From that standpoint, I would not qualify—I’ve only watched it once. But if the definition of a superfan is someone who absolutely loves the show, then I absolutely qualify. More on why I’ve only watched it once later. Here, I bring it up because I didn’t even know the show was on hiatus until after I heard that it had ended for good in 2018. At that point, our firstborn was sleeping through the night, walking, talking, feeding himself, all the usual things a toddler does. I was finished with job-related training. Things had gotten less busy. I had some time. I decided to pick up Adventure Time again now that it was over. It was a great idea.
Even though things had slowed down in life, consuming media still went pretty slowly—I’ve never been much of a binge-watcher. I would watch an episode or two here and there, sometimes falling asleep from the fatigue of parenthood. I’d rewatch the ones I slept through. Forward progress was slow.
Somewhere in this parenting fugue, probably in a sleep-deprived state, a couple episodes in a row just didn’t do it for me. I think they weren’t centered on Finn and Jake and the absence of that wonderful relationship temporarily derailed my enthusiasm. I stopped watching for a while.
I’m a bit of a completionist, generally speaking, though sometimes I will not finish a book or movie or TV series or video game if it’s just not doing it for me. The non-Finn-and-Jake episodes that derailed me were in either season 9 or 10, and that was so close to the finale that some part of my brain said, “Just finish it, c’mon.” So I did. In late 2021, I finished Adventure Time.
And I cried. Not a lot, but some. It was sad to see Finn and Jake end. I loved that the last episode wrapped some things up, but also showed us that there was a lot more for Finn and Jake to experience, parts of their lives that we just wouldn’t see so intimately, but could know they would happen and be hopeful for.
For the parents out there, you may already see where I’m going on the parenthood connection. For the rest, we’ll get there shortly. The finale made me cry, but I didn’t make the strong parenting connection until months later.
I was home with my now two children. My wife was out on a run or at a work event or something—the reason she was gone is irrelevant. What’s important is that I was alone with these two children without another adult to talk to, only my own thoughts to ponder and reflect on, whether I wanted to or not.
As one does, I had the Adventure Time theme song stuck in my head. Come along with me…
I was singing it to my youngest and dancing around with him in my arms. It’s a great song, and you know it. I pulled up YouTube on my phone and searched “Adventure Time theme.” The first result was the full song as played during the series finale.
I sang along with the song, peripherally watching the images flashing by on the phone. It was sweet a moment with the little guy.
Until the tears started falling.
I can’t pinpoint an image or a lyric or any one thing in particular that started the cascade, but they were flowing. It was because I suddenly realized that the series finale of Adventure Time encapsulates everything to come in my parenting future. The kids will move on, their lives will have more adventures. They will meet people and see places I’ve never seen and may never hear about except in story, if I’m lucky. In that way, the Adventure Time comic books are like children returning home from college or their new lives to relay entertaining stories to their parents. The stories (comic books) won’t be the same as having the kids at home all the time (watching new episodes of the show), seeing everything they do, knowing their friends, but it will be a small slice of a former glory, a small slice to know that they’re thriving, seeing it through the lens of the good old days, remembering all the fun times. And we will be happy knowing their adventures will continue, even if we don’t get to see or hear about all of them.
So, no, I haven’t watched Adventure Time multiple times. I watched it all the way through once, and it was lovely. I can’t imagine going through the emotional arc again, knowing what’s coming, knowing the separation is coming. But like parents do when their nest is empty, I suspect that some day I’ll come back to the memories again, look through the photo albums, recount the stories to make things feel like they used to, to remember the good times when the little baby birds still needed us all the time.
Until then, fly baby birds, fly.
AUTHOR BIO
Jason P. Burnham (he/him) loves to spend time with his wife, children, and dog. A butterfly once landed on his shoe. He is writing a cosmic horror bureaucracy game for Choice of Games.
Angry Gable Press 