Adventure Time 6.07 “Food Chain”

Like the title suggests, it’s a trip through the Food Chain with guest writer, director and storyboard artist, Masaaki Yuasa. I must admit that I didn’t know who Masaaki Yuasa was so I looked him up on IMDb. Never seen anything he’s done. I feel like a fool because “Food Chain” was absolutely beautiful. Going to search out the rest of his work now.

This season has been deep and dark. Still fun, but dark. “Food Chain” was plenty deep but darkness can’t stand glitz, a great musical number, and a message of rebirth. This episode was more of an animated poem than a tried and true continuity mover. A breather before things change again.

Change is the central idea of the episode, however. At the Museum of Natural History, Princess Bubblegum introduces a ride that teaches us about the food chain. Children go through a winding slide passing through every stage of the chain. At the end is The Caterpillar Family. Finn doesn’t care about caterpillars so the Magic Man decides to teach him a lesson by transforming them in ever-reincarnating stages of the food chain. Small bird, large bird, bacteria, plant, caterpillar and all over again. The transitions are mesmerizing and none more so than the first as Finn and Jake flap their arms and change into a small bird to an electronic version of “Queen of the Night’s Aria” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Clever choice of music, as Magic Man plays a flute. It’s the little details that amuse me sometimes. As a matter of fact, at the point of transformation, Finn and Jake are animated in a classic, 1930’s “rubber limb” style, walking down a rolling landscape. It’s a circle of animated life as the new repeats the old.

The story, though told in a linear style, continues back on itself as Finn consumes each incarnation of himself. Small bird, large bird, bacteria to soil, plant, caterpillar, an endless cycle of nothing and plenty as each transition takes Finn from desert to oasis and back.

Time was beautifully expressed during Finn’s plant stage. To a flower, time moves so rapidly that he sees all stages of the food chain repeated over and over. Flowering was Finn’s transcendence as he saw the interconnectivity of all life.

Finn finally found interest in caterpillars when he became one, crossed the desert and fell in love. Erin the caterpillar had the best line of the episode as Finn vowed to find her again in the next life and she admits, “When we’re bacteria, I might see other people!” True poetry. Seriously, that was brilliant.

And we end with a dance number leading back to the Food Chain ride at the Museum of Natural History. An Adventure Time Ouroboros. Outstanding episode.

Masaaki Yuasa, you’re next on my list!