Puhoy

"Puhoy" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episode was written and storyboarded by Tom Herpich and Steve Wolfhard, from a story by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and Pendleton Ward. It originally aired on Cartoon Network on April 8, 2013. The episode guest stars Mandy Siegfried as Roselinen, Jonathan Frakes as Adult Finn, and Wallace Shawn as Rasheeta.

The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Finn begins second-guessing his relationship with Flame Princess, so he builds a giant pillow fort. While navigating it, Finn seemingly falls asleep and dreams that he ends up in a pillow world where he marries a pillow woman named Roselinen (Siegfriend) and has two children with her. In the pillow world, Finn grows old and dies, only to wake up in the real world. He soon receives a call from Flame Princess, reaffirming their relationship.

The appearance of Finn as an adult was based on Howard Keel's character from the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which is a favorite of episode co-storyboarder Wolfhard. The episode was viewed by 2.75 million viewers and received a 0.6 rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club wrote positively of the way the episode focused on character development, noting that the episode bore similarities to both The Wizard of Oz and Captain America. Similarly, Colin O'Boyle of Geek Smash compared the episode to the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. For his work on the episode's character designs, Andy Ristaino won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation" at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, making it the series' first Emmy win.

Plot

During a knife storm, Finn and Jake stay in their treehouse and construct a massive pillow fort. Finn, however, is feeling sad, and eventually reveals to Jake that he thinks his relationship with Flame Princess is over because she did not laugh at a joke he made. Jake tries to convince Finn that he is imagining a scenario that does not exist, but Finn does not listen. Instead, he ventures into the pillow fort to let his mind "fester". Finn soon discovers that he has been transported into some sort of magical pillow land. After slaying a pillow dragon, he becomes friends with a pillow person named Quilton, who is revealed to be the leader of the land. He soon meets Quilton's daughter Roselinen.

A long times passes, and Finn grows up and marries Roselinen. They have two children, Bonnie and Jay. Despite being an adult, Finn still wants to find his way back to Jake. He travels to an oracle named Rasheeta, who tells him he will not remain in the land for long. Eventually, Finn grows into an old man and dies. As his spirit flies though some sort of darkened realm, he eventually wakes up in the pillow fort, a child once again. Right before he is able to tell Jake about his other life, Finn receives a call from Flame Princess, who tells him that she finally got his joke. After he hangs up, he cannot seem to recall the life he just lived.

Production

"Puhoy" was written and storyboarded by Tom Herpich and Steve Wolfhard, from a story developed by series creator Pendleton Ward, Patrick McHale, and Kent Osborne.^[2] According to Osborne, this is one of the few episodes that the writers successfully developed by playing the game exquisite corpse.^[3] The episode was co-directed by Nate Cash and Nick Jennings; the former was credited as "supervising director", whereas the latter handled the art direction.^[2] The episode guest stars Mandy Siegfried as Roselinen, Jonathan Frakes as Adult Finn, and Wallace Shawn as the oracle Rasheeta. Herpich noted that he was very pleased to cast Shawn, noting, "Big thanks to [Wallace Shawn] … who I finally got to cast in the show, thus shortening my bucket list."^[4] Wolfhard designed adult Finn to be reminiscent of Howard Keel's character from the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.^[5] Wolfhard explained that the allusion was due to the fact that the musical is one of his personal favorites.^[6] In addition, Roselinen's design was based on Wolfhard's wife, Leslie, according to both Wolfhard and former character designer Andy Ristaino.^[7]

Reception

"Puhoy" aired on April 8, 2013 on Cartoon Network. The episode was watched by 2.75 million viewers, and received a 0.6 rating in the 18–49 demographic Nielsen household rating. Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States, which means that the episode was seen by 0.6 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds at the time of the broadcast. The episode was the 35th most-watched cable program in the 18–49 demographic on the night it aired.^[8] The episode first saw physical release as part of the 2013 Jake the Dad DVD, which included 16 episodes from the series' fourth and fifth seasons.^[9]

Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "B+", and praised the way the entry "focuses on building character".^[10] He compared the episode stylistically to both The Wizard of Oz and Captain America, noting that all three deal with themes of traveling to distant lands and "teleport[ing] to … alternate dimension[s]".^[10] In the end, Sava complimented the episode for dealing with the moral that, when in a relationship, people need to "slow down, don't freak out, and communicate."^[10] Colin O'Boyle of Geek Smash compared the episode to the Chronicles of Narnia, a series of books by English author C.S. Lewis. He felt that the installment was "hilarious" and "pretty awesome".^[11] He cited both "Adult Finn" and the "pillowy world" as highlights, noting that the former was a "badass".^[11]

For his work on the episode, former lead character designer Ristaino won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation" for his character designs, making it the series' first Emmy win.^[12][13]

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

• McDonnell, Chris (2014). The Art of Ooo. Abrams Books. ISBN 9781419704505.