"Bad Little Boy" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

''. The episode was written and storyboarded by Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar, from a story by Sugar, Patrick McHale, Adam Muto, Kent Osborne, and series creator Pendleton Ward. The show follows the adventures of Finn ( Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother

Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach * Jake, a member of the band Enhy ...

(

John DiMaggio John William DiMaggio ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the ''Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...

), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. In this episode, Marceline ( Olivia Olson) tells the Ice King (

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...

) a

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...

involving her genderswapped form Marshall Lee (

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

). "Bad Little Boy" originally aired on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

on February 18, 2013. It serves as a sequel to the third season episode " Fionna and Cake", and sees the return of characters Fionna ( Madeleine Martin) and Cake ( Roz Ryan), genderswapped forms of Finn and

. Glover and

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received List of awards and nominations ...

guest star as other genderswapped characters. The episode was a ratings success, being viewed by 3.1 million viewers. In addition, it garnered mostly positive critical reviews.

Plot

Fionna and Cake go after Doctor Prince for stealing the Enchiridion when he is caught by the Ice King (

) and forced to return it and leave. When the Ice King introduces himself to Fionna and Cake, Slime Princess interrupts the scene, revealing it as part of a story told by the Ice King, and that she and several others are being forced to listen to it. As the Ice King deflects their criticisms, Marceline the Vampire Queen ( Olivia Olson) comes out of invisibility and shows herself to the Ice King while unlocking the princesses from captivity. She tells him that she had been listening to his story for a couple of hours and claims that she could tell a better story involving the characters of Fionna and Cake. She begins her tale with Fionna and Cake at their Tree Fort, playing a game that involves hurling an axe at an apple resting on the head of BMO ( Niki Yang). Prince Gumball interrupts their game and invites Fionna on another "mission". Suddenly, a blurry figure rushes past them, and they hear knocking on the roof of the Dome. When Fionna, Cake, and Gumball approach the roof, they find Marshall Lee the Vampire King, who invites Fionna and Cake to a party held by Lumpy Space Prince. At the party, Marshall Lee sings a song to Fionna, to which Fionna sings along. When Fionna is pulled away to talk to Marshall Lee, Cake takes over the song. In their discussion, Marshall Lee asks Fionna why she wants to spend so much time with him. This leads to playful fighting between them, followed by actual pushing and shoving, until Cake breaks up the two. After Marshall Lee verbalizes his inherently evil nature, he grabs hold of Cake and takes her to the nearby graveyard guarded by an army of

beatboxing Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a Roland TR-808, TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.ice sculptures of Fionna and Cake, telling that, one day, he will reach them.

Cast

Taking place in a fan-fictional, genderswapped universe, "Bad Little Boy" likewise features genderswapped versions of the inhabitants of Ooo. A list of the major characters featured in the episode follows: * Fionna ( Madeleine Martin), a genderswapped Finn, is a brave and adventurous girl, who throughout the episode runs into conflict with Marshall Lee. * Cake ( Roz Ryan), a genderswapped

, is sarcastic and boisterous but also Fionna's loyal friend. Much like Jake, she possesses the power to stretch her body into a myriad of convoluted shapes. * Marshall Lee the Vampire King ( Donald "Childish Gambino" Glover), a genderswapped Marceline, is a half-demon vampire king, who, through the episode, teases Fionna by trying to convince her that she has a crush on him. * Lumpy Space Prince ( Pendleton Ward), a genderswapped Lumpy Space Princess, who has the personality exact same as his Ooo counterpart. * Prince Gumball (

), a genderswapped Princess Bubblegum, who appears to harbor some sort of grudge against Marshall. His appearance in the episode is limited.

Production

"Bad Little Boy" was written and storyboarded by Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar, from a story by Sugar, Patrick McHale, Adam Muto, Kent Osborne, and series creator Pendleton Ward. Martin and Ryan respectively return as Fionna and Cake—genderswapped versions of Finn and Jake introduced in the eponymous ninth episode of the third season. The characters were at first designed by Natasha Allegri out of fun, but Ward suggested they have their own episode. It was a success, but during the nine-month production schedule he only considered it an experiment. After the success, the writers had to pause and reflect whether a sequel should come from "a personal fire, something to give it real worth", or from audience demand; Ward considered the former reason mostly followed. He praised Sanchez and Sugar for their work as "turbo-talented writers and drawers". The episode introduces Marshall Lee, voiced by Donald Glover (of ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

'' fame). His character delivers a performance in both melody and

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

. Regarding his role, Ward said, "Donald is the bomb. He's got awesome funny chops and singing chops and we spotlight all his chops in the episode. I was super stoked when he came in, and he's told me he's super stoked to have worked on it, which makes me extra stoked". Harris (of ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

'' fame), guest stars as Prince Gumball, also introduced in "Fionna and Cake".

Broadcast and reception

"Bad Little Boy" first aired on February 18, 2013, on Cartoon Network. The episode was watched by 3.1 million viewers, receiving a

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the #Nielsen TV ...

of 0.7 for adults in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic. According to ''

TV by the Numbers TV by the Numbers was a website devoted to collecting and analyzing television ratings data in the United States that operated from 2007 to 2020. It was a part of Nexstar Media Group's Zap2it television news/listings site. History An Internet an ...

'', it was the 26th most-watched cable television episode of its air date. The broadcast followed the release of an

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

game titled ''Fionna Fights'' featuring Fionna and Cake, as well as a ''Fionna and Cake'' DVD including 16 episodes from various seasons. Critical reception was generally positive. In ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', Darren Franich graded it an A−, designating it as a "brilliant sci-fi", "fantasy", and "musical mash-up". He highlighted the "passion, betrayal, a spoken-word interlude, and a beatboxing skeleton" as contrasting the 11-minute running time. Oliver Sava of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' gave it the same grade, writing that because of the short running time, "Fionna and Cake's episodes are filled with what makes this show great". He said that it reflects a shift from "the sunny whimsy" of the early seasons to "the darker, melancholic elements" as it "further explores the history of Ooo". '' Geekadelphia'' writer Dan Tabor gave a more mixed review, calling the exchange between the world of Fionna and Ooo "a bit too much" and made it "seem a bit unfocused". He lauded the songs, which he felt were similar to the original Fionna and Cake episode, and ultimately opined that it was "still enjoyable". '' AXS'' contributor Justin Cecil listed Glover's song in the episode as his tenth best work. Krutika Mallikarjuna picked out twelve of the most "what the fuck" moments of the episode for a list article in ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

''.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* {{Adventure Time episodes, 5 2013 American television episodes Adventure Time season 5 episodes Television episodes about cats Television episodes about princes Fan fiction Fiction about skeletons