Cinemagic: Adventure Time - "What Was Missing"
For this week’s “Cinemagic,” I’m bending my own rules a bit. Instead of examining a film, I’m going to talk about a cartoon. No, not a feature-length animated movie; this is “What Was Missing,” an eleven-minute episode of Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, otherwise known as The Greatest All-Ages Television Series of All Time.
I decided to spotlight “What Was Missing” for a couple of reasons. First, the Season Three finale just aired, and I wanted to celebrate. More importantly, the episode’s musical theme makes it a logical follow-up to the previous installment of “Cinemagic.” Like Fish Story, “What Was Missing” demonstrates how a song can bring people closer together—though Rebecca Sugar, Adam Muto, et al. approach this idea from a slightly different angle.
The premise is rather straightforward: a mischievous Door Lord steals a possession from each major cast member (Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline the Vampire Queen, and Beemo) before ducking into a magically-sealed room. Scrawled above the threshold is a challenge: “This door shall yield to no command save for a song from a genuine band.”
So there’s the conflict: if they want to reclaim their stuff, they’ll have to compose a song rockin’ enough to shatter the enchanted barrier. Marceline makes the first attempt—and here, the story’s true brilliance begins to emerge. As she sings about “burying [Bubblegum] in the ground” and “drinking the red from [her] pretty pink face,” she acknowledges the unspoken tension between the princess and herself, and inadvertently reveals some heavy emotional baggage:
“I’m sorry that I exist / I forget what landed me on your blacklist, / But I shouldn’t have to be the one that makes up with you, so / Why do I want to?”
The door responds to Marceline’s passionate lyrics, but she quickly backpedals, causing the locks to clamp firmly shut.
Repression and miscommunication become the driving forces behind the conflict. Marceline butts heads with Bubblegum over some perceived transgression. Finn is embarrassed to admit that the Door Lord stole his prized lock (or wad, I suppose) of Bubblegum’s hair. Even Jake’s goofy “band jerk” subplot ties into this theme.
When bottled-up bitterness and resentment push the band to the breaking point, Finn admits that, despite the circumstances, he treasures this time they’ve spent together. As his sincerity weakens the magical seal, the solution dawns on him: “That’s what was missing: the truth!”
He proceeds to pour all of his pent-up emotions—including his feelings for Bubblegum—into “My Best Friends in the World,” a “song that feels so real it makes [the] magic door break.” It also dissolves the barriers of dishonesty that have impeded the adventurers all along. The music empowers Finn to express himself, convinces Jake to stop pretending to be something he’s not, and even (indirectly) inspires Marceline and Bubblegum to reconcile (sort of). The power of art strengthens the bonds of friendship. This, they realize, was the Door Lord’s objective all along.
Of course, they still beat the crap out of the jerk for taking their junk. Thank God; that pinch of self-awareness is what makes Adventure Time so special.
