Fionna and Cake is back on HBO Max, and season two of the Adventure Time spin-off arrives right when needed most. Fionna and Cake’s continuing adventures are feel-good and cozy, wrapping around you like a warm sweater borrowed from a friend who knows you forgot to bring one. It’s got your back, carrying over that supportive feeling Fionna Campbell (Madeleine Martin) and her pals all share.
io9 watched the full 10-episode season for this review, so if you want to go in completely unspoiled, here’s your warning.
The more mature tone introduced in season one—the show is set in an alternate-universe world that’s not as fantastical as Adventure Time‘s Land of Ooo—gets a dose of whimsy from its distant lands when Huntress Wizard (Ashly Burch) transports in, needing help from Fionna on behalf of Finn (Jeremy Shada). The Adventure Time hero sustained injuries while saving Simon (Tom Kenny) at the end of season one, and they might prove to be deadly if swift action’s not taken.
There’s an incredibly hilarious parade of princesses who show up to try to heal him that is so silly but played so seriously because Bubblegum (Hynden Walch) is at her wits’ end trying to forge a cure. Even Marceline (Olivia Olson) thinks they’ve gone too far but since it’s Finn, they’ll try anything. While setting up that Finn’s life is on the line feels very high stakes and is a way to allow for crossover world-saving, it’s not the focus of the show centered around his alt-universe variant, Fionna.
Before Huntress shows up, Fionna is already dealing with the more grounded challenges of adulting. She, along with Cake the Cat (Roz Ryan), Gary (now voiced by Harvey Guillén), Marshall Lee (Kris Kollins), Ellis P. (Pendleton Ward), and their normie world friends face being booted off their creative commune thanks to Queenie (Chelsea Peretti) buying the land beneath it.
They band together to raise the funds to get the land back and we get to meet more of the AU versions of characters we know and love. The Acolyte star Manny Jacinto voices DJ Flame, Fionna’s hot ex, and we get a new version of the silent Lord Monochromicorn (Lady Raincorn), who sweeps Cake off her stretchy paws.
The relatable day-to-day struggles of Fionna and friends trying to get their dreams off the ground form the show’s endearing core. Gary wants to open his dream bakery and Marshall Lee wants to help without calling upon his nepo baby funds. Fionna flails at love lost with DJ Flame and love found with Hunter (Vico Ortiz) while enlisting them to assist with their quest against Queenie.
Fionna and Cake‘s powerful moments of introspective existentialism mirror the surreal reality-bending crises from Adventure Time (remember when Finn lived a whole-ass life in a pillow universe and it was just a dream?!). Seeing Fionna and her friends work together to cultivate community care is what makes the show’s conceit work and lays the thematic foundation of how heroes show up even if they don’t have the tools—they’ll figure it out together.
Once Huntress arrives, Fionna and friends help the multiversal being in heartwarming ways that encompass the idea that in every universe, all we have is each other, and that’s the true magic.
Fionna and Cake season two dances between both worlds in a way that’s balanced; you never feel like, “Oh, this is just an excuse for the show to spend more time in Ooo.” The Adventure Time realm never overstays but instead builds out Finn’s B-plot in a way that makes sense to be on a collision course with Fionna’s normie world. This time Prismo (Kumail Nanjiani, reprising his original voice role) has nothing to do with it—but like us, the multiversal watcher is here for the incredible new lore.
Fionna and Cake stands on its own, carving out its own realized world that really explores the importance of community roles. It’s a story about simple mutual aid that works in any reality. It’s a love letter to how friends have each other’s backs, uplifting one another and fulfilling destinies together in worlds that might be bent because of the whims of fantastical nature or grabby capitalism.
As long as we hold each other tight, we’ll be all right. We might have grown up with Adventure Time, but we can’t wait to age and stay magical with Fionna and Cake.
New episodes of Fionna and Cake season two arrive Thursdays on HBO Max.
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