Hey guys, with this video suddenly getting a large influx of views, (thanks algorithm,) I'd thought that I'd address some of the repeat comments that I've been getting. 1 - The Chinese Story I kind of gloss over is "The World Inside a Pillow" 2 - I'm not a huge Star Trek guy, so when I learned about this episode's connection to "The Inner Light" while researching for this video, I didn't think it was worth diving into for time's sake. I was probably wrong in this choice, as evident by the comments pointing out that the connections run deeper than I thought, but I still think everything I said in this video is accurate. 3 - I'm 100% gonna do a Hall of Egress video in the near future, just need to watch it a couple (dozen) more times, because I know it's such a special episode and deserves all the analysis I can give it. Anyway, thank you so much to anybody who stuck around and watched the video, and I'll have one about one of my favorite Regular Show episodes next week. Also, just a small reminder to check out my Twitter (twitter.com/amplesamuel_ ) if you want to see my terrible takes on animation that don't make it into video form.
I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this video. All you did this video was summarize the plot (taking up the majority of this video's runtime) then draw two very mundane conclusions: that pillow world was probably real because there was one scene where Finn looked like he was afflicted by something a little worse than post-nap grogginess, and that the Golb appearance was only foreshadowing. You could have at least reinforced the first conclusion by mentioning that memory deterioration (evidenced by the misremembering of Jake) wouldn't be something that happens in an hour-long dream. As for the second conclusion, at the very least try to expound motives or possible symbolism. For example: what if Golb was trying to devour Finn (proven by Finn literally bouncing off of Golb's open mouth, then Golb having a closed jaw when looking back) because he's an incarnation of a catalyst comet, and doing so would add to Golb's influence? Or, consider @Camile's conclusion, that "Golb appeared because Finn died somewhere where he wasn't supposed to be, so Golb was there to have him devoured to erase his existence in Ooo permanently". While these scenes might not be all that deep, the writers of this show were HIRED to write though-provoking plots, and your conclusions are kind of a buzzkill. Analysis videos should delve deep into theories and provoke thought among a fanbase. Don't be afraid to look deeper. What you did well in this video was describe how the A and B plots diverge, how this divergence allows two different approaches to the episode's theme, how the plots specifically relate to the theme, and how the plots coalesce at the end. However, while this is good, I'm hesitant to call this any deeper than surface-level analysis because a theme cannot exist without a plot. If an episode is critically acclaimed, of course it will have a theme that the plot(s) make evident. Drawing out a theme from a plot is something children learn in middle school. Now, I'm not asking for a scholar-level video essay, but with a title like "A Surrealist Masterpiece", I feel that at least comparisons to other surrealist works should be present, to demonstrate how this episode matches other surrealist works or maybe even outdoes them. A comparison to Star Trek's "The Inner Light" would have gone a very long way in provoking thought and interest. Or, maybe even a comparison to one of Spongebob's surrealist episodes or that one episode in ATLA where appa and momo can talk. Something to demonstrate why puhoy is actually a "masterpiece" would be very interesting. I'm not sure if you felt constrained to a roughly 10-minute runtime because of youtube algorithms or you just didn't want to spend time going deeper than surface level, but personally I'm not satisfied walking away having only learned that one line at the dance scene was an innuendo. If you are constrained by runtime, I'd say to cut down on plot synopsis (since viewers are probably familiar with the episode) and expound more on the things I mentioned above. I worry my wording is a bit harsh, but I hope you can take this comment as constructive criticism. Good luck on your next video!
@Salvo hey, first of all, thank you for taking the time to write this comment. while my immediate reaction to reading a comment like this is to obviously get defensive, I know that comments like this are ultimately more beneficial than just ones that say "great video!" to address some of things you said, i'll start with what I disagree with. The ultimate reason behind this video is to talk about the thematic elements of the episode, and the characterization of Finn through his journey in the episode - not to theorize about a decade old episode. Claiming that "drawing out a theme from a plot is something children learn in middle school" feels unfair when your alternative is talking about the optics of a space demon baby eating a pillow world. but really, i fundamentally agree with everything else you said. while the middle section of the video is more than summary, drawing out a lot of the character moments that I address at the end while also serving as a quasi-review, the ratio of summary to analysis is higher than any of my other videos, and that's something that I should have addressed before release. As you could probably guess, after the Fionna and Cake video blew up, I was in a bit of a hurry to get this one out as well, and if I knew that this one would do even better, I would have made a more in-depth video. ultimately, I think a lot of your criticism is derived from the title, which has definitely been a double-edged sword for me these last couple of days. while I think that it's obviously a "good" title, 207k views on a >5k sub channel is clearly evident of that, it does a crappy job describing the video. it's a title I made after I wrote the video, and adding in the word "surrealist" makes it seem like I'm gonna dive into that element of the episode, which I ultimately fail to do. (your suggestions of surreal episodes are great btw). honestly, i understand that clicking on a 200k video with the title "Puhoy: A Surrealist Masterpiece" and getting this video would be somewhat disappointing, especially if you are in the group (which I believe is smaller than you imply) that is deeply familiar with the episode. my next couple videos are more review-y than analytical, but when I eventually do a video on Hall of Egress, I'll definitely try and dive a bit deeper into the episode, or at least have a more fitting title. anyway, I really appreciate your comment, definitely more constructive criticism than hate :)
@@AmpleSamuel @Salvo What beautifully written comment and response. You both made valid points, backed those points with examples, and kept the conversation civil without going defensive yet still showing genuine emotion. I know that's a DEEP reading between the lines for UA-cam comments, but it's a breath of fresh air from what you commonly find on the internet. It can be hard to keep composed emotionally without overthinking your comment/response (at least for me anyways as I'm working to overcome that), but you two are professional at it. Hope you both keep at it!
I like that old pillow world fin has a pillow version of the robot arm you see later in the series like losing the arm was always inevitable or something
Every iteration of Finn shows him eventually losing an arm, past, present, or future! I don't really know what it's meant to represent, but it's consistent for sure.
@@psychotophatcat I think it shows inevitability in life. No matter how smart or tough we are, some things will always hurt us. And it’s meant to happen that way.
on god i thought for the longest time that his arm was just always fake, that PB made one for him that looked like his real arm until hed eventually grow out of it. Also the scene when his arm just pops off effortlessly in the Lich's return and the grass arm grows in its place cemented that fact for me. Finns arm was never really flesh, therefore him getting a different looking robot arm was simply inevitable later on.
My theory is that knife storms in some way have some link to imagination powers, and that Finn conjured up the whole pillow land from his subconscious.
@@charliewu3416 I mean, in the original imagination game it's shown that only jake can imagine things, but maybe finn's imagination has grown since then, or perhaps jake actually subconsciously imagined a situation to teach finn, or maybe... I dunno, jake imagined that finn could imagine so that he imagined?
@@MattHerrema Well i would says it's more a play on the outside storm making people curl inside into their imagination. It raining knife is simillar to "raining cat and dog" or in my language "raining ropes". So if there i would says it isn't a magical thing more than a metaphorical one
I thought it was a great touch how Jake was drawn off-model in elderly Finn's imagination. Sadly, we really do slowly forget what our lost loved ones look like.
@@remuslebeau6570 Not so much, I don't think. The inclusion of Golb was, I believe, to indicate that the events actually happened, but in another reality, as Golb is beyond a singular universe. Finn not remembering the events that took place I theorize to be because, as paralleled by our real life, dreams are often forgotten despite the fact that science has determined that we dream every night. Our minds tend to make us forget our dreams because our subconscious recognizes them as events that haven't actually happened. Finn, for a moment when he returned, noticed that his world had not progressed much time and considered pillow life as a dream, and was going to relay the events of the dream to Jake, but before he started getting into it, he was interrupted. Thus, his subconscious was not directed to see that the memories weren’t important enough to be kept; it was a dream, wasn't it? Not worth remembering. When you wake up tomorrow, Write, or at the very least say, as much as you can remember from your dream, and you'll find that you'll remember more and more of it as you bring back the events from memories. If you don't, you'll likely just forget. Just like Finn, you may have lived a full life in those few hours you were asleep.
I know it's sad, but the mental trauma of living his whole life and then dying? Might be too much for his 13 year old brain to take. Imagine being 80 then getting booted back to middle school. I think of this as more like a reincarnation. He lived a fulfilling life and now he can live another one unburdened by his past.
I never took the ending as Finn forgetting about the whole Pillow Universe. I took it as him taking Jakes advice perhaps too much to heart and moving on from it immediately. Deciding to not dwell on it and look forward in life.
The sad thing about this episode is that Finn not only found someone to spend his life with but have a family too, he also lived a full life only to forget his family and the life he lived through
i’d rather live an entire happy life and not remember it after the fact than to not have that happen at all. in fact, i feel like i’ve had several incredibly long term dreams that i’ve almost entirely forgotten about. wouldn’t you want this as well?
@Viola-Kazooie i only remember dreams when im about to wake up from them, everytime without fail i remember my very last dreams tho, my brain always guesses when im about to wake up
I'd like to think that's the reason finn never got a family after jake's dead, he already experienced so he didn't had this desire in him. He maybe don't remember them but that feeling stayed with him the rest of his life
I always thought that Golb appeared because Finn died somewhere where he wasn't supposed to be, so Golb was there to have him devoured to erase his existence in Ooo permanently. The dimension leap was so illogical and incomprehensible it summoned him to take care of it. Finn letting go of coming back home and instead adjusting to the new world saved him, I think, that he was able to make that jump. It may not be that deep though lol
Fin bounced off Golb's tounge, his mouth was hanging opening as if waiting for food to fall into it. Fin was definitely about to be eaten. Maybe pillow world is one if those universes that is only linked to others by rare temporary portals and is particularly disconnected from the rest of the multiverse like what if it isn't even connected to the dead worlds? We never see a pillow person outside of pillow world even in the dead worlds and Golb's presence proves that pillow world was real so I think there are some universes that are either naturally very separate from the rest or they have been artificially sectioned off by Golb (or maybe it was done by the Scholars of Golb that the litch claims to be that last of) so that all who born there are funneled straight into Golb's mouth after they die instead of being sent to one if the 50 dead worlds. Since Golb consumes a beings entire existence and there are digestive enzymes in saliva I think when Fin bounced off of Golb's tounge his entire life in pillow world was consumed and that's why what little was left of his memory of it faded like a dream after he got back to Ooo.
I think it’s that deep. Golb has a really significant meaning for his presence even though it’s not explained. I think it wasn’t a coincidence that Golb was there with his mouth open. He was probably waiting for Finn the entire time to devour him. Which is honestly creepy. It’s a neat thing to think about
I honestly think the events in pillow world did happen. When the encharidian was explained they talked about parellel dementions having connection. Also Globs apparence cements this idea for me because is it was truly all Fins imagination where would he come from? While it makes sense for Finn to dream about a relation ship, lifting in the moment and family it doesn't make sense for him to dream of Glob.
I think it's incredibly tragic and horrible that Finn just forget about the full life he had in pillow word. There's something incredibly scary about forgetting things you love and hold dear.
Isn’t it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Losing something includes forgetting about it…. Those beautiful moments remain in time and can never be changed, even if you don’t remember them they still happened.
@@maddieb.4282 All that we have and are is memories. To forget all that we hold dear is to lose ourselves. We don't know the true nature of time and space but as far as humans know, once a moment passes memory is all that is left.
The golb being on his way to destroy pillow world would actually make complete sense. The pillow world only existed in Finn’s dream so when he “died”(woke up) the pillow world ceased to exist and therefore had to be destroyed. We’ve already seen in adventure time dreams are tangible real things not just thoughts. Prismo is literally the physical manifestation of a dream and only exists as long as an old man is dreaming. So it’s completely plausible the pillow world was 100% real but only existed as long as Finn kept dreaming it.
Also we can see the power of the imagination of Jake. Like in the episode where he transforms the world with his imagination, there is a knife rain. Also, he literally dreamt Prismo to bring him back to life! The pillow world must have a link with the power of imagination in AT
This is the correct analysis, and this video's conclusion that it's simply a coincidence is pretty lame. They wouldn't tease him if it was a coincidence. The adventure time writers are too interested in the long game for that
I was so sad for Finn, dude. Bro just wants to be happy the whole series and everything that could go wrong went wrong in his life, so when he just wanted to find someone to love everytime he found someone, something happened and that's practically how they FORCED him to be alone and accept it, but Finn never said "no" to love
I mean to be fair he really fucked up with Flame Princess. He basically lied to her for his kink. And in the end he had the best relationship with Hunter Princess, when he stopped focusing on the romantic aspect so much.
@@Broeckchen Oh yeah, he did, he was a teen, but she really let him know he fucked up and he learned his lesson. Now, he didn't stay with Huntress Wizard at the end, did he? To be completely honest their relationship gave me some weird vibes lol
You don’t need romance to be fulfilled and happy. Finn took time for himself. They also made fun of people saying this with Jakes commentary in the Huntress episode 👀 besides, the saddest part is how he wasted his life waiting to see Jake again in the afterlife and didn’t actually LIVE after Jake died. They were reborn together though! So there’s a plus.
@@lilwabbit659 Meh, i still think it was poorly handled. Like, you can make a character realize they're NOT interested in romance without giving them so many romantic interests that it becomes overwhelming everytime a new character shows romantic interest in them, cuz that's what they did with Finn.
The thing with the mug is interesting; there's an actual book called The Enchiridion, wich means The Guide written by Epictetus. On the third chapter, he says that your favorite ceramic cup is going to break, meaning that everything can happen, even if you love them, it can break, and sometimes you cant do anything about it.
The enchiridion is also, if i remember well, commonly an object of power within the world of adventure time so it would make sense that this line is a reference to that
I dont think they planned Golb to be the final antagonist, it intended to represent some kindof extraplanar being that lives in a void between dimensions
I never realized how stupid finn thought why they might be over Also how foreshadowish this episode is Finn being the only one left and Jake is gone Finn old man design his pillow arm looking like his robot arm Glob being there
I mean its like the first time we see Glob our of around 2 and we dont get a name. I do love how this series trowes so much bs at you that you pretty sure none of it matters but plot twist most of it ends up actually mattering. and thats what i love about adventure time. ... but then there is the stuf i dont like especially in the ending of the goinal world (have not seen the new world stuff, should get on it at some point maybe) I love how this show knew how to nail nostalgia feelings, the content reminder than life is a moment is such a big part of this show.
This episode hit me so hard when I watched it as a teenager and it hits harder now, the fact that he lived a complete life that we only see a glimpse of is pretty out there. Anyway I just discovered your channel and wanted say that it was an awesome video hope to see more of your channel in the future.
Finn chooses to fester. He surrounds himself in the comfort of his own sadness and confusion, like stuffing his face into a pillow and wallowing. He has the key to leave. What's really to stop him from slicing open the "sky" or border of the pillow world with his sword? We never see him try that, so that's what leads me to this conclusion. This is my favourite episode of the series and I'm so glad you took the time to make a video about it.
This episode is one of my favorites. It's the only episode I can think of that is intentionally derivative of an episode of a different show ("The Inner Light" from Star Trek: The Next Generation), and how it adapts that concept is really cool. Also, Jonathan Frakes voicing adult Finn is epic.
Perhaps should have, but I’m not a Star Trek guy and only knew about the connection through doing research for this video - didn’t want to accidentally say anything incorrect. Still though, nice catch!
@@AmpleSamuel The Star Trek connections don't stop at this one episode. Levaar Burton (also a regular on TNG) guest stars in the very next episode as the bubble that BMO befriends. Two consecutive episodes with guest performances from Star Trek regulars. It's weird.
In season 1, we learn about the multiverse and how portals to other universes randomly appear sometimes. I think pillow-world is one of these universes, and that Finn found himself in a randomly appearing brief portal. Golb's appearance signifying that he is now returning to his home universe.
Always loved this episode. Adventure Time excels at making some truly interesting and layered stories while confined to the 11 minute episode format It's something I've always admired about the show.
This episode is definitely one of my favorites. Mainly because I once had a similar dream (way before knowing about adventure time) where I lived a whole life and in the end of the dream I needed to get back to my real life, leaving behind a family. This dream gave me some real existential crisis at the time.
I had a dream that felt like it lasted centuries, I even made my own language and lived for like millennia with some random little girl in slave. Woke up, forgot the language, remember the dream.
Yo dude! Good essay. Your last line was my favorite analysis, and finally I can have some peace in my head about this episode. I was exactly Finn’s age and “grew up with him” as the show went along, and Puhoy made me so uncomfortable. Having the theme of present-ness being “fully concluded by forgetting his past life” makes for a nice satisfying completeness. Thanks. :)
did anyone else get the feeling this was inspired by DMT? a DMT trip last a couple minutes but it feels like hours, you see things and beings from another dimension. You see fractals that look like a kaleidoscope and when you come back it's really hard to remember what you saw.
I've heard some massive dose LSD stories where someone has lived out multiple lives within a few hours. Not recommended! Thing is if its a 'bad trip to some place worse than hell' and you forget you ever had a life before, this is why psychosis or suicide attempts happens on it. I feel like DMT would be in some weird geometric pattern space with some alien fractal beings because things get weirder and completely indescribable?
@@jorgepeterbarton I did 30 tabs of acid in a month once and let me tell you that the grip on reality is very much still intact even in higher doses if you just tell yourself that your visuals are wacky due to lsd. Most of what it does is change the way you think while you're on it. Great for ponderings once youre fully comfortable with the effects. What you might of referred to was salvia or datura, the latter being a very dangerous substance.
I remember watching this episode during a really confused point in my life. Questioning where to go, what to do with my time on this Earth. Finn's whole life and family in the Pillow World felt like a glimpse into a possible future for me - a road not yet taken, but still open. Finding a partner, getting married, settling down, having children, growing old... was that really the life for me? That interpretation fucked me up at the time. Genuinely brought me to tears, thinking about such a future. The episode has stuck with me ever since, and has made it kinda hard for me to engage with what the episode is actually talking about, haha.
The fact that Finn saw Golb would suggest that he actually did live a whole life and die. The fact that he didn't remember his past life in the pillow world would suggest that the life he is currently living with Jake and B-Mo is just another "dream" from which he will someday awake into yet another higher reality. In this way the episode is very philosophical in that it juxtaposes living a real life with living a life inside of a pillow fort. The pillow family is real, just as Flame Princess is real. Both are temporal and both must eventually be let go. Both will be forgotten. I thought the ending of this episode with Finn having no clue about his past life and reacting to Jakes questions about it with complete ambivalence was perfect.
“According to the Chinese philosophical classic Zhuangzi, the great Daoist thinker of that name fell asleep one day and dreamed that he was a butterfly. When he woke up, he did not know whether he really was a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly or whether he was a butterfly now dreaming he was a man.”
This episode to me appears to be about attachments just like how Adventure Time uses Buddhist themes like enlightenment when Finn and Jake were dead to tell a story. The message of this episode is to remain in the present moment and to let go of attachments. I think Finn “forgets” the pillow world because he isn’t attached to it just like his revelation about his past with Jake in the pillow world. Finn learns to be in the present rather than focusing on the past or his future with Flame Princess
Aside from the forgetting part, this episode feels eerily similar to a Salvia trip, like I've heard storys of people taking a hit and having a multi-year experience containing meaningful relationships while it all took place within a couple minutes real-time. I've heard of a few times where people would take it and have a spouse and children for what seemed like a lifetime, only for it to be ripped away from them by the high ending and the reality that the family they had was never real in the first place. That is true horror to me.
I also think that Finn forgetting a few seconds after leaving the pillow world could further prove the theory that it really was just a dream. This is because the human mind tends to forget dreams pretty easily once they are over since it subconsciously knows the dream is gone forever, is not real... ... _...so it does not care about it anymore..._ *...very clever, Adventure Time.*
Actually, I think not. In one of the very early ones (I think the one that introduced the Lich), he envisions himself with a robotic arm, although it looks different and I’m pretty sure the creators at that point did not plan to go with that and it was a one-off gag or artistic decision.
yeah the first time was in "mortal folly" when finn envisions himself w/ a robot arm. they also did it in a couple other times, mainly w/ farmworld finn
I don't know when exactly the earliest ep showing it was, but it showed farm world Finn in the mirror in the King Worm ep. That was before Finn even wished for Farm World. So it seems to be something they thought of early on.
It's also foreshadowed in "The Vault" with Shoko as she's one of Finn's past lives, Fun losing an Arm is a constant thing that happens to him as would be the case for an adventurer/Hero.
I remember how much this episode affected me as a child. I don’t know how but it altered my brain chemistry, I felt different after those 15 minutes. I don’t know why, but it just changed me? I was 10 when it came out and it left me with so many questions, so many answers and a whole lot of confusion and sadness. Grief almost? Anyway all that to say that episode means a lot to me
[SPOILERS FOR THE NEW FIONNA AND CAKE SERIES] New Fionna and Cake series pretty much confirms that GOLB did indeed consume Pillow World. In it Prismo explains that he made up Fionna and Cake which led to the creation of their universe. However since Prismo isn't actually allowed to make up new universes, he planted memories of their universe into Simon's brain, thus allowing their universe to continue to exist. This shows that memories may very well be linked to alternate worlds. So with that said, when Finn lost his memories of Pillow World, it shows that it has been destroyed completely. The only slightly vague aspect of this theory is that we don't know for sure what GOLB does and why he does it. We know he's some sort of embodiment of chaos, sure, but we don't know the specifics on how he operates.
One of my favorite episodes. Season 5 was excellent. I really enjoyed the Star Trek TNG cast coming on as voice actors. The show was really popular and influential at this point and got to have a lot of great guest actors and animators.
My idea on Golb is that he indeed came, and succeeded, in destroying Pillow World. Never before is it mentioned that the world exists, and it's never talked about after this episode. The mind can do crazy things when the situation is right, like when sitting in a sensory deprivation tank. Finn was in that sort of situation inside the fort, no light, no sounds (because the pillows would absorb all the sound due to the sheer number of them), no touch (because it would probably feel like you're floating with all those pillows), no smells (just the same pillow smell), and no extreme temperatures just room temp. With all this going on Finn, or Finn's mind, would want something exciting, so it creates Pillow World. Now because Finn is the creator of this world when he "dies" the world would die with him, because it's just a figment of his imagination, but because it's still technically a world Golb shows up to get rid of it. But Finn is not of Pillow World, he is of Ooo, so he is therefore able to ignore Golb because he was never born of that world and also it's creator somewhat. And despite Finn going on a pretty big journey in Pillow World he doesn't remember it, even after his pillow wife asked him to remember them, because Golb did what he does, he destroyed the world, aka removed it from Finn's mind.
Personally, I interpret this episode as a lesson on how we should learn to enjoy the moment and appreciate life as a whole. The themes are not dissimilar to the story of Lao Tzu dreaming of being a butterfly and then waking up from that dream to his human reality, leading him to question what the true nature of the "present" and the "now" really is (I think that was the story briefly alluded to in the video as well). After Finn's visit with the pillow in the mountains (I think he was meant to be an allusion to the monks of Tibet or something like that), he has a moment with his family where he realizes that what he has in front of him, the love that he and his present family members all share together, is all that really matters, and that the past is meant to be accepted and moved on from so that life can persist. I believe understanding this, that the meaning of life is about being integrated with the present moment, is what allowed him to defeat "death", who came in the form of Golb, who is the emanation and personification of chaos and dissonance (the antithesis to life). At the end of the episode, when he returns back to Ooo, he is able to reconcile himself with his present reality- something he was having trouble with at the beginning of the episode (though a layer of heartbreak is added in that his past family was forgotten). This means that the lessons he learned in pillow world were now solidified, allowing him to move forward with his true and original life.
I also love how finn doesnt have his right arm when hes older, serves as just a bit of foreshadowing of whats to come later. or, just because finn losing his arm is a constant and his, in a sense, scar of maturity after he straight up laid pipe on LSP, but idk another nice detail i dont think ive seen in the comments nor in the vid, awesome work bruv, keep it up
@@Xahnel Yeahhhh, it's implied in one episode that LSP "Showed him the ropes" so to speak. It has her showing him how to properly make out with a girl, with her going in for a kiss, before it cuts to black, then has him laying under a blanket, with LSP right nearby.
@@shadow98004I believe the producer says it was a French Kiss but they couldn't show that on CN so they cut to black, but it made it look so much worse than it actually was. No actual sex was had that day.
A cool little thing about this episode, Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker from Star Trek) voices adult Finn. Jonathan Frakes audio directed the TNG episode The Inner Light, where Captain Picard goes through basically the same thing. The only difference is Picard remembers his entire other life.
Puhoy, Jake the Brick and The Hall of Egress are peak Adventure Time to me Standalone stories which work just as well as character studies of their protagonists as they do just general meditations on life. That synergy between micro- and macro- characterisation has always made Adventure Time stand out.
Ill be honest with ya. I love the atmospheric Music only intros. Getting me rly into that zone of what comes next and already starting my expectation and keeping my interest with the visuals. Most probably also adding nostalgi or Emotion from the past when I watched it. Love all of your videos.
One of the best and most haunting episodes ever in Adventure Time. I had a sea of emotions during this episode. I felt angry at Finn for cheating on FP, my heart broke when his pillow wife didn't stop him from leaving forever as long as he didn't forget them. When she cried and just asked Finn to not forget her and his family and she didn't even hesitate to keep him in their world, the was a tearjerker. And then to see Finn on his deathbed was just the saddest thing ever. Then he went back to his homeworld. I then felt conflicted at how he lost all memory of his life there and just continued on with his former life. He no longer had any recollection of his kids, his wife and friends there and that's just so haunting and bittersweet. Bittersweet that yes, he did have a full life, he did have a loving family, he lived as a legend, a hero in the village people's eyes and he died an old man, surrounded by everyone he loves. It was a good life, a great life but to forget and lose all the memories of that. It's just haunting. And this is why Puhoy is one of the best episodes I ever watched in Adventure Time.
Seeing Golb at the end not only implies the tangibility pillow reality and hints of the temporary wormholes that adventure times multiverse contains as described by Book-O, what's scariest is how Finn seemingly forgets everything at the end of the episode, which, despite being a convenient plot point so they can wrap up the episode, still seems a bit weird as Finn doesnt put it in "The Vault" however this can also serve to confirm the destruction of pillow world. Golb being such an absolute being (that prizmo couldnt resurrect margles POST CONSUMPTION and the wish granting crown couldnt remove him from the world logic) destroyed and consumed every single trace of existence of pillow world, even including the metaphysical memories of pillow world possessed by beings separated by the fabric of the multiverse (supported from how all traces of margles even photos dissipate out of reality). Which is absolutely fucking terrifying portrayal of a 5D entity.
I really enjoyed this, I had never really thought of the theme of this episode, but I certainly will give it more thought following this. I remember this episode gave me an existential crisis when I was 8, I kept thinking about the idea of living my entire life only to move onto another and completely forget all of it, this was before I even knew about reincarnation.
Genuinely one of my favorite episodes I just like the vibe of it I guess? It’s so chill and melancholy in its own way. Something about it just gives me a sense of calm. As well as the episode after the Elements event(?) Where Jake has to accept that things change :)
Haven't looked into what others have said about it, but after watching this AWESOME video, I do think Golb was headed to pillow world! Oh, and it adds layers of tragedy!!! Okay, so Simon says Golb is "in every crevice where chaos lurks" or something like that in a flashback. Something seperated the pillow world (kingdom?) from literally everything else, outside of whatever they did to create the tunnel. Finn is the only flesh in pillow world. With the time dilation, he's probably the first flesh on this plane ever, SURE, but the sheer number of years it'd been that way dude... Finn was a sore thumb, and it seems to me Golb was drawn there. DEATH SCENE: With that in mind, I think the kaleidoscope effect was Finn beginning to die, but the SHATTER was Golb destroying pillow world. A very much alive Finn gets jettisoned through the void, presumably because Golb destroyed the world and its "proper" inhabitants, and bounces off Golb's tongue. You guys remember what goes on when Golb eats something, right? It reverts back to its original form! I bet the saliva from his tongue sent Finn back to Ooo as a boy. Glob destroys the memory of worlds too, right? Would explain the forgetting. This was fun.
I had a dream once where I woke up in the world of Undertale. Everything felt so real and I acted as myself and not a character. We were able to get to the surface and I had realized I was dreaming but I truly felt like I had a choice to never wake up and stay there or wake up and go back to my normal life. Despite my adventure and feelings for all of them I chose to wake up and ended up waking up with warm sunlight peaking through my window and birds chirping. I stayed in bed and cried for a bit.
I’ve always seen it as a DMT trip. There are plenty of descriptions of journeys people have taken before waking up only minutes later. The kaleidoscope imagery is a perfect visual for how reality starts to shift. It’s beautifully done. Even Finn seeing golb on his way out feels symbolic of how after doing DMT you feel like there is some sort of universal truth outside of your own head. But Finn jumps over it cause he’s not ready to leave ooo behind yet
Fin seeing golb after passing away then subsequently forgetting everything that happened in pillow world is probably definitive evidence to that universe being devoured by golb.
i just finished the show last night and i’m watching distant lands now. i regretted how little context they gave for GOLB as he was supposed to be the final boss type character, but i guess they meant for there to be more questions than answers. this was one of my favorite episodes of the series and it really stuck with me, so it’s cool how someone made a analysis on it so recently
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!This is literally one of my favorite episodes. I think this episode foreshadowed Finns later life. I believe that after Jakes death, Finn eventually does settle down and have a family but he neglected them because he wasn’t able to move past losing Jake.
Oooh finally someone appreciating one my favorite episodes, this one really hit hard since it’s strangely heartwarming to see finn have a family and live a simple life for once. I remember being pissed off that he forgets them but I suppose that’s the message of the episode, nothing really matters in the end.
These types of videos always come as a surprise to me, because the last time I saw this episode was years ago, yet I remembered it almost perfectly and many others as well. This really goes to show how deep of an impact Adventure Time was able to give me, such a great show.
I perfer to think pillow world was another dimension with dilated time and finns kids continues on as finn returned, its more comforting to think that something was left behind.
With what we see happens to Finn in Distant Lands wishing to see Jake again, I’m not surprised how desperate he was to see Jake again when the portal was first mentioned.
Dude this is one of the few episodes of adventure time I caught it at least remember from the awesome age of cartoon network and...yeah. It was definitely memorable. I think what made it memorable was the fact that it perfectly reflected everything I associated with adventure time which was a hodgepodge of lightening fast emotions from funny and goofy to deep and meaningful to sad and depressing in less than ten minutes. Also I was surprised to find that the random abomination of the week would turn out to be the final boss of the whole show. It was like a memory unlocked and I was like "Wait...this particular eldtrick horror thing from this show seems familiar".
This is exactly why Adventure Time is the best cartoon of all time. I know someone who took ambien one time, and he dreamt an entire 19 year life as someone else during a 12 hour sleep, from birth to death.
I remember I was in 5th grade and me and my best friend were excited to see a new episode of Adventure Time and after watching this episode we both came back into school really confused as to what we actually watched
The way he lost his arm and encountered Golb was awesome foreshadowing. I think if we could see the full picture we’d go mad. I think Lovecraft was right about stuff, not race stuff, but stuff.
Sometimes, you seriously have to wonder how many stories' messages are really just intended to be Rorschach tests for the audience (more so than what stories all kind of are already)
Hey guys, with this video suddenly getting a large influx of views, (thanks algorithm,) I'd thought that I'd address some of the repeat comments that I've been getting.
1 - The Chinese Story I kind of gloss over is "The World Inside a Pillow"
2 - I'm not a huge Star Trek guy, so when I learned about this episode's connection to "The Inner Light" while researching for this video, I didn't think it was worth diving into for time's sake. I was probably wrong in this choice, as evident by the comments pointing out that the connections run deeper than I thought, but I still think everything I said in this video is accurate.
3 - I'm 100% gonna do a Hall of Egress video in the near future, just need to watch it a couple (dozen) more times, because I know it's such a special episode and deserves all the analysis I can give it.
Anyway, thank you so much to anybody who stuck around and watched the video, and I'll have one about one of my favorite Regular Show episodes next week. Also, just a small reminder to check out my Twitter (twitter.com/amplesamuel_ ) if you want to see my terrible takes on animation that don't make it into video form.
i just saw this episode
Welp, that saves me the whole "oh you know exactly wich episode to analyze" villain monologue thingy
I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this video. All you did this video was summarize the plot (taking up the majority of this video's runtime) then draw two very mundane conclusions: that pillow world was probably real because there was one scene where Finn looked like he was afflicted by something a little worse than post-nap grogginess, and that the Golb appearance was only foreshadowing. You could have at least reinforced the first conclusion by mentioning that memory deterioration (evidenced by the misremembering of Jake) wouldn't be something that happens in an hour-long dream. As for the second conclusion, at the very least try to expound motives or possible symbolism. For example: what if Golb was trying to devour Finn (proven by Finn literally bouncing off of Golb's open mouth, then Golb having a closed jaw when looking back) because he's an incarnation of a catalyst comet, and doing so would add to Golb's influence? Or, consider @Camile's conclusion, that "Golb appeared because Finn died somewhere where he wasn't supposed to be, so Golb was there to have him devoured to erase his existence in Ooo permanently". While these scenes might not be all that deep, the writers of this show were HIRED to write though-provoking plots, and your conclusions are kind of a buzzkill. Analysis videos should delve deep into theories and provoke thought among a fanbase. Don't be afraid to look deeper.
What you did well in this video was describe how the A and B plots diverge, how this divergence allows two different approaches to the episode's theme, how the plots specifically relate to the theme, and how the plots coalesce at the end. However, while this is good, I'm hesitant to call this any deeper than surface-level analysis because a theme cannot exist without a plot. If an episode is critically acclaimed, of course it will have a theme that the plot(s) make evident. Drawing out a theme from a plot is something children learn in middle school.
Now, I'm not asking for a scholar-level video essay, but with a title like "A Surrealist Masterpiece", I feel that at least comparisons to other surrealist works should be present, to demonstrate how this episode matches other surrealist works or maybe even outdoes them. A comparison to Star Trek's "The Inner Light" would have gone a very long way in provoking thought and interest. Or, maybe even a comparison to one of Spongebob's surrealist episodes or that one episode in ATLA where appa and momo can talk. Something to demonstrate why puhoy is actually a "masterpiece" would be very interesting.
I'm not sure if you felt constrained to a roughly 10-minute runtime because of youtube algorithms or you just didn't want to spend time going deeper than surface level, but personally I'm not satisfied walking away having only learned that one line at the dance scene was an innuendo. If you are constrained by runtime, I'd say to cut down on plot synopsis (since viewers are probably familiar with the episode) and expound more on the things I mentioned above. I worry my wording is a bit harsh, but I hope you can take this comment as constructive criticism. Good luck on your next video!
@Salvo hey, first of all, thank you for taking the time to write this comment. while my immediate reaction to reading a comment like this is to obviously get defensive, I know that comments like this are ultimately more beneficial than just ones that say "great video!"
to address some of things you said, i'll start with what I disagree with. The ultimate reason behind this video is to talk about the thematic elements of the episode, and the characterization of Finn through his journey in the episode - not to theorize about a decade old episode. Claiming that "drawing out a theme from a plot is something children learn in middle school" feels unfair when your alternative is talking about the optics of a space demon baby eating a pillow world.
but really, i fundamentally agree with everything else you said. while the middle section of the video is more than summary, drawing out a lot of the character moments that I address at the end while also serving as a quasi-review, the ratio of summary to analysis is higher than any of my other videos, and that's something that I should have addressed before release. As you could probably guess, after the Fionna and Cake video blew up, I was in a bit of a hurry to get this one out as well, and if I knew that this one would do even better, I would have made a more in-depth video.
ultimately, I think a lot of your criticism is derived from the title, which has definitely been a double-edged sword for me these last couple of days. while I think that it's obviously a "good" title, 207k views on a >5k sub channel is clearly evident of that, it does a crappy job describing the video. it's a title I made after I wrote the video, and adding in the word "surrealist" makes it seem like I'm gonna dive into that element of the episode, which I ultimately fail to do. (your suggestions of surreal episodes are great btw). honestly, i understand that clicking on a 200k video with the title "Puhoy: A Surrealist Masterpiece" and getting this video would be somewhat disappointing, especially if you are in the group (which I believe is smaller than you imply) that is deeply familiar with the episode.
my next couple videos are more review-y than analytical, but when I eventually do a video on Hall of Egress, I'll definitely try and dive a bit deeper into the episode, or at least have a more fitting title. anyway, I really appreciate your comment, definitely more constructive criticism than hate :)
@@AmpleSamuel @Salvo What beautifully written comment and response. You both made valid points, backed those points with examples, and kept the conversation civil without going defensive yet still showing genuine emotion. I know that's a DEEP reading between the lines for UA-cam comments, but it's a breath of fresh air from what you commonly find on the internet. It can be hard to keep composed emotionally without overthinking your comment/response (at least for me anyways as I'm working to overcome that), but you two are professional at it. Hope you both keep at it!
I like that old pillow world fin has a pillow version of the robot arm you see later in the series like losing the arm was always inevitable or something
Every iteration of Finn shows him eventually losing an arm, past, present, or future! I don't really know what it's meant to represent, but it's consistent for sure.
@@psychotophatcat I feel like it’s supposed to show the adventurous aspect of his character and his dangerous lifestyle
@Red Fortune he said one time he thought mods were cool so he prob just wears it w pride
@@psychotophatcat I think it shows inevitability in life. No matter how smart or tough we are, some things will always hurt us. And it’s meant to happen that way.
on god i thought for the longest time that his arm was just always fake, that PB made one for him that looked like his real arm until hed eventually grow out of it. Also the scene when his arm just pops off effortlessly in the Lich's return and the grass arm grows in its place cemented that fact for me. Finns arm was never really flesh, therefore him getting a different looking robot arm was simply inevitable later on.
I love how the only 2 times a knife storm has happened in this show were when Finn and Jake were using their imagination.
My theory is that knife storms in some way have some link to imagination powers, and that Finn conjured up the whole pillow land from his subconscious.
if what Jake imagined actually happened during the rain, then what Finn dreamed of probably really happened too!
@@charliewu3416 I mean, in the original imagination game it's shown that only jake can imagine things, but maybe finn's imagination has grown since then, or perhaps jake actually subconsciously imagined a situation to teach finn, or maybe... I dunno, jake imagined that finn could imagine so that he imagined?
@@MattHerrema Well i would says it's more a play on the outside storm making people curl inside into their imagination. It raining knife is simillar to "raining cat and dog" or in my language "raining ropes". So if there i would says it isn't a magical thing more than a metaphorical one
I think it's a reference to the video game RPG daggerfall
I thought it was a great touch how Jake was drawn off-model in elderly Finn's imagination.
Sadly, we really do slowly forget what our lost loved ones look like.
As someone who has had that happen a couple of times, it's the most unnerving feeling I have ever felt
I genuinely had a fight-or-flight reaction first time seeing it
It's just a comfy memory.
But nowadays we do have pictures, videos etc.
I sometimes struggle to remember my dads voice but sometimes I comes through my mind clear I never forget what he looked like tho
Finn not remembering is what makes this episode a horror story.
He doesn't remember cuz Golb erased it
@@remuslebeau6570 Not so much, I don't think. The inclusion of Golb was, I believe, to indicate that the events actually happened, but in another reality, as Golb is beyond a singular universe.
Finn not remembering the events that took place I theorize to be because, as paralleled by our real life, dreams are often forgotten despite the fact that science has determined that we dream every night. Our minds tend to make us forget our dreams because our subconscious recognizes them as events that haven't actually happened.
Finn, for a moment when he returned, noticed that his world had not progressed much time and considered pillow life as a dream, and was going to relay the events of the dream to Jake, but before he started getting into it, he was interrupted. Thus, his subconscious was not directed to see that the memories weren’t important enough to be kept; it was a dream, wasn't it? Not worth remembering.
When you wake up tomorrow, Write, or at the very least say, as much as you can remember from your dream, and you'll find that you'll remember more and more of it as you bring back the events from memories. If you don't, you'll likely just forget. Just like Finn, you may have lived a full life in those few hours you were asleep.
I know it's sad, but the mental trauma of living his whole life and then dying? Might be too much for his 13 year old brain to take. Imagine being 80 then getting booted back to middle school. I think of this as more like a reincarnation. He lived a fulfilling life and now he can live another one unburdened by his past.
@@RainAngel111 he kinda did that when he went through the dungeon. Sure it was 2 years but it was basically blind
I never took the ending as Finn forgetting about the whole Pillow Universe. I took it as him taking Jakes advice perhaps too much to heart and moving on from it immediately. Deciding to not dwell on it and look forward in life.
The sad thing about this episode is that Finn not only found someone to spend his life with but have a family too, he also lived a full life only to forget his family and the life he lived through
i’d rather live an entire happy life and not remember it after the fact than to not have that happen at all. in fact, i feel like i’ve had several incredibly long term dreams that i’ve almost entirely forgotten about. wouldn’t you want this as well?
@@georget4141 what if we live entire different lifes constantly on different universes but never remember any of it
Bro this happens to me like at least once a week
@Viola-Kazooie i only remember dreams when im about to wake up from them, everytime without fail i remember my very last dreams tho, my brain always guesses when im about to wake up
I'd like to think that's the reason finn never got a family after jake's dead, he already experienced so he didn't had this desire in him. He maybe don't remember them but that feeling stayed with him the rest of his life
I always thought that Golb appeared because Finn died somewhere where he wasn't supposed to be, so Golb was there to have him devoured to erase his existence in Ooo permanently. The dimension leap was so illogical and incomprehensible it summoned him to take care of it. Finn letting go of coming back home and instead adjusting to the new world saved him, I think, that he was able to make that jump. It may not be that deep though lol
Fin bounced off Golb's tounge, his mouth was hanging opening as if waiting for food to fall into it. Fin was definitely about to be eaten. Maybe pillow world is one if those universes that is only linked to others by rare temporary portals and is particularly disconnected from the rest of the multiverse like what if it isn't even connected to the dead worlds? We never see a pillow person outside of pillow world even in the dead worlds and Golb's presence proves that pillow world was real so I think there are some universes that are either naturally very separate from the rest or they have been artificially sectioned off by Golb (or maybe it was done by the Scholars of Golb that the litch claims to be that last of) so that all who born there are funneled straight into Golb's mouth after they die instead of being sent to one if the 50 dead worlds. Since Golb consumes a beings entire existence and there are digestive enzymes in saliva I think when Fin bounced off of Golb's tounge his entire life in pillow world was consumed and that's why what little was left of his memory of it faded like a dream after he got back to Ooo.
@@wafflemaster59 and also Finn is a reincarnation, and his reincarnation shenanigans breaks everything if he died in a world where he isnt from
I think it’s that deep. Golb has a really significant meaning for his presence even though it’s not explained. I think it wasn’t a coincidence that Golb was there with his mouth open. He was probably waiting for Finn the entire time to devour him. Which is honestly creepy. It’s a neat thing to think about
I thought it was like he was being marinated in pillow world
You know in the finnally Golb breaks them down to their most basic forms
Omg imagine being finn in that moment 🤣
I honestly think the events in pillow world did happen. When the encharidian was explained they talked about parellel dementions having connection.
Also Globs apparence cements this idea for me because is it was truly all Fins imagination where would he come from? While it makes sense for Finn to dream about a relation ship, lifting in the moment and family it doesn't make sense for him to dream of Glob.
That’s like cosmic owl level crazy dream symbolism
Golb not glob
@@daveywavey8294 exactly
@@daveywavey8294 it was probably just auto correct
yessssss! Portals to other universes randomly appear!
I think it's incredibly tragic and horrible that Finn just forget about the full life he had in pillow word. There's something incredibly scary about forgetting things you love and hold dear.
Isn’t it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Losing something includes forgetting about it…. Those beautiful moments remain in time and can never be changed, even if you don’t remember them they still happened.
@@maddieb.4282 All that we have and are is memories. To forget all that we hold dear is to lose ourselves. We don't know the true nature of time and space but as far as humans know, once a moment passes memory is all that is left.
Now that you mention it, Finn had signs of Alzheimers by the end of his time in pillow world. Maybe thats why he forgot what happened there.
Nice, that's precisely one of the points of this episode. Forgetting things you love and letting go.
...But now that world is gone forever, so it wasn't real, and Finn doesn't care about it anymore.
the overarching plot of AT is amazing but i'll always love these little self-contained stories the most. great video as always !!
same, and thanks !
Same, Egress is great too
@@KT-PYRO I love egress, and I like that it's mentioned in the first Skyhooks episode
I always assumed GOLB ate the pillow dimension and that’s why it couldn’t even exist in Finn’s memory
So his family is dead?
@@Mehhhhhhhh yes
@@Mehhhhhhhh very much so
Cooking
That.. doesnt make sense. from what we know about Golb devouring, it erases everything BUT the memories.
Damn Jake had the best response to Finns “Having a girlfriend is hard” with “no being crazy is hard” which is damn that hits different.
But is it really? I don't use Twitter so try it out for me.
The golb being on his way to destroy pillow world would actually make complete sense. The pillow world only existed in Finn’s dream so when he “died”(woke up) the pillow world ceased to exist and therefore had to be destroyed. We’ve already seen in adventure time dreams are tangible real things not just thoughts. Prismo is literally the physical manifestation of a dream and only exists as long as an old man is dreaming. So it’s completely plausible the pillow world was 100% real but only existed as long as Finn kept dreaming it.
The cosmic owl is a solid proof of that with interaction outside of dreams
I love this analysis
Also we can see the power of the imagination of Jake. Like in the episode where he transforms the world with his imagination, there is a knife rain. Also, he literally dreamt Prismo to bring him back to life! The pillow world must have a link with the power of imagination in AT
The entire cosmology of Adventure Time is a dream.
This is the correct analysis, and this video's conclusion that it's simply a coincidence is pretty lame. They wouldn't tease him if it was a coincidence. The adventure time writers are too interested in the long game for that
I was so sad for Finn, dude.
Bro just wants to be happy the whole series and everything that could go wrong went wrong in his life, so when he just wanted to find someone to love everytime he found someone, something happened and that's practically how they FORCED him to be alone and accept it, but Finn never said "no" to love
I mean to be fair he really fucked up with Flame Princess. He basically lied to her for his kink. And in the end he had the best relationship with Hunter Princess, when he stopped focusing on the romantic aspect so much.
@@Broeckchen Oh yeah, he did, he was a teen, but she really let him know he fucked up and he learned his lesson.
Now, he didn't stay with Huntress Wizard at the end, did he? To be completely honest their relationship gave me some weird vibes lol
You don’t need romance to be fulfilled and happy. Finn took time for himself. They also made fun of people saying this with Jakes commentary in the Huntress episode 👀 besides, the saddest part is how he wasted his life waiting to see Jake again in the afterlife and didn’t actually LIVE after Jake died.
They were reborn together though! So there’s a plus.
@@lilwabbit659 Meh, i still think it was poorly handled.
Like, you can make a character realize they're NOT interested in romance without giving them so many romantic interests that it becomes overwhelming everytime a new character shows romantic interest in them, cuz that's what they did with Finn.
This is my life
The thing with the mug is interesting; there's an actual book called The Enchiridion, wich means The Guide written by Epictetus. On the third chapter, he says that your favorite ceramic cup is going to break, meaning that everything can happen, even if you love them, it can break, and sometimes you cant do anything about it.
The enchiridion is also, if i remember well, commonly an object of power within the world of adventure time so it would make sense that this line is a reference to that
@@peomaster6914Its Basically an All-Powerful, Omniscient entity, but not used for proper means
I dont think they planned Golb to be the final antagonist, it intended to represent some kindof extraplanar being that lives in a void between dimensions
Thats a big rodent.
And that is exactly why adventure time shouldn't have been a kids show.
@@HingleCringle why not?
Golb is the manifestation of chaos and entropy. No intellect, no higher purpose, no ambition. It just destroys.
I honestly liked the pillow episode and unless I missed it, I do wish we got a little more of them, especially the kids
Nope pretty sure this was the only time we ever saw this world which implies that golb destroyed it
We did now, just as humans
@@OmniversalInsectNot really fans just jumped to conclusions as usual.
I think it's incredible how often fin losing his arm is foreshadowed, he even gets a false arm in pillow world
I never realized how stupid finn thought why they might be over
Also how foreshadowish this episode is
Finn being the only one left and Jake is gone
Finn old man design
his pillow arm looking like his robot arm
Glob being there
I mean its like the first time we see Glob our of around 2 and we dont get a name.
I do love how this series trowes so much bs at you that you pretty sure none of it matters but plot twist most of it ends up actually mattering. and thats what i love about adventure time.
... but then there is the stuf i dont like especially in the ending of the goinal world (have not seen the new world stuff, should get on it at some point maybe)
I love how this show knew how to nail nostalgia feelings, the content reminder than life is a moment is such a big part of this show.
It's golb not glob. Glob is a doffrent character, he's the guy with multiple heads and the king of Mars too
This episode hit me so hard when I watched it as a teenager and it hits harder now, the fact that he lived a complete life that we only see a glimpse of is pretty out there. Anyway I just discovered your channel and wanted say that it was an awesome video hope to see more of your channel in the future.
Finn chooses to fester. He surrounds himself in the comfort of his own sadness and confusion, like stuffing his face into a pillow and wallowing. He has the key to leave. What's really to stop him from slicing open the "sky" or border of the pillow world with his sword? We never see him try that, so that's what leads me to this conclusion. This is my favourite episode of the series and I'm so glad you took the time to make a video about it.
This episode is one of my favorites. It's the only episode I can think of that is intentionally derivative of an episode of a different show ("The Inner Light" from Star Trek: The Next Generation), and how it adapts that concept is really cool. Also, Jonathan Frakes voicing adult Finn is epic.
Yes! I thought that amplesamual would mention that
Perhaps should have, but I’m not a Star Trek guy and only knew about the connection through doing research for this video - didn’t want to accidentally say anything incorrect. Still though, nice catch!
@@AmpleSamuel The Star Trek connections don't stop at this one episode. Levaar Burton (also a regular on TNG) guest stars in the very next episode as the bubble that BMO befriends. Two consecutive episodes with guest performances from Star Trek regulars. It's weird.
@@aaronfletcher8745 also a third, since Wallace Shawn who played the Grand Nagus in DS9 was in Puhoy as well!
In season 1, we learn about the multiverse and how portals to other universes randomly appear sometimes. I think pillow-world is one of these universes, and that Finn found himself in a randomly appearing brief portal. Golb's appearance signifying that he is now returning to his home universe.
Always loved this episode.
Adventure Time excels at making some truly interesting and layered stories while confined to the 11 minute episode format
It's something I've always admired about the show.
love your vids man! I occasionally just rewatch stakes then watch your vids on it right after.
well at least you still remember your dream, lol
Well said. I love how they always make each episode story come full circle.
This episode is definitely one of my favorites. Mainly because I once had a similar dream (way before knowing about adventure time) where I lived a whole life and in the end of the dream I needed to get back to my real life, leaving behind a family. This dream gave me some real existential crisis at the time.
Oh, yeah, I remember waking up after a similar one too. Wouldn't recommend such an experience to anyone.
I heard of someone who lived 1000 years in a dream
I had a dream that felt like it lasted centuries, I even made my own language and lived for like millennia with some random little girl in slave. Woke up, forgot the language, remember the dream.
Those are the most hard ones to let it go and wake up ...sometimes all we want is over there .
You are not real, wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up please
We miss you, wake up wake up
Puhoy and Hall of Egress are two poems of an episode, they are what goes above the net.
Yo dude! Good essay.
Your last line was my favorite analysis, and finally I can have some peace in my head about this episode. I was exactly Finn’s age and “grew up with him” as the show went along, and Puhoy made me so uncomfortable.
Having the theme of present-ness being “fully concluded by forgetting his past life” makes for a nice satisfying completeness. Thanks. :)
thank you!
did anyone else get the feeling this was inspired by DMT?
a DMT trip last a couple minutes but it feels like hours, you see things and beings from another dimension. You see fractals that look like a kaleidoscope and when you come back it's really hard to remember what you saw.
I've heard some massive dose LSD stories where someone has lived out multiple lives within a few hours. Not recommended!
Thing is if its a 'bad trip to some place worse than hell' and you forget you ever had a life before, this is why psychosis or suicide attempts happens on it.
I feel like DMT would be in some weird geometric pattern space with some alien fractal beings because things get weirder and completely indescribable?
I literally immediately thought of DMT when seeing the kaleidoscope images
@@jorgepeterbartonhey man it’s pretty obvious you’ve never done drugs lol
@@jorgepeterbarton yes and yes
dont do massive amounts of any drug and you'll be fine
@@jorgepeterbarton I did 30 tabs of acid in a month once and let me tell you that the grip on reality is very much still intact even in higher doses if you just tell yourself that your visuals are wacky due to lsd. Most of what it does is change the way you think while you're on it. Great for ponderings once youre fully comfortable with the effects. What you might of referred to was salvia or datura, the latter being a very dangerous substance.
"Well they're used for that here too. ;)"
My God that was smooth.
I remember watching this episode during a really confused point in my life. Questioning where to go, what to do with my time on this Earth. Finn's whole life and family in the Pillow World felt like a glimpse into a possible future for me - a road not yet taken, but still open. Finding a partner, getting married, settling down, having children, growing old... was that really the life for me?
That interpretation fucked me up at the time. Genuinely brought me to tears, thinking about such a future. The episode has stuck with me ever since, and has made it kinda hard for me to engage with what the episode is actually talking about, haha.
The fact that Finn saw Golb would suggest that he actually did live a whole life and die. The fact that he didn't remember his past life in the pillow world would suggest that the life he is currently living with Jake and B-Mo is just another "dream" from which he will someday awake into yet another higher reality. In this way the episode is very philosophical in that it juxtaposes living a real life with living a life inside of a pillow fort. The pillow family is real, just as Flame Princess is real. Both are temporal and both must eventually be let go. Both will be forgotten. I thought the ending of this episode with Finn having no clue about his past life and reacting to Jakes questions about it with complete ambivalence was perfect.
“According to the Chinese philosophical classic Zhuangzi, the great Daoist thinker of that name fell asleep one day and dreamed that he was a butterfly. When he woke up, he did not know whether he really was a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly or whether he was a butterfly now dreaming he was a man.”
This episode to me appears to be about attachments just like how Adventure Time uses Buddhist themes like enlightenment when Finn and Jake were dead to tell a story. The message of this episode is to remain in the present moment and to let go of attachments. I think Finn “forgets” the pillow world because he isn’t attached to it just like his revelation about his past with Jake in the pillow world. Finn learns to be in the present rather than focusing on the past or his future with Flame Princess
Aside from the forgetting part, this episode feels eerily similar to a Salvia trip, like I've heard storys of people taking a hit and having a multi-year experience containing meaningful relationships while it all took place within a couple minutes real-time. I've heard of a few times where people would take it and have a spouse and children for what seemed like a lifetime, only for it to be ripped away from them by the high ending and the reality that the family they had was never real in the first place. That is true horror to me.
Tsukuyomi type beat
I also think that Finn forgetting a few seconds after leaving the pillow world could further prove the theory that it really was just a dream. This is because the human mind tends to forget dreams pretty easily once they are over since it subconsciously knows the dream is gone forever, is not real...
...
_...so it does not care about it anymore..._
*...very clever, Adventure Time.*
Why would he see Golb then?
@@1faithchick7Dreams are Reality in Adventure Time, that's your answer
It's also I believe this episode is the first time they foreshadow Finn losing his arm.
Actually, I think not. In one of the very early ones (I think the one that introduced the Lich), he envisions himself with a robotic arm, although it looks different and I’m pretty sure the creators at that point did not plan to go with that and it was a one-off gag or artistic decision.
yeah the first time was in "mortal folly" when finn envisions himself w/ a robot arm. they also did it in a couple other times, mainly w/ farmworld finn
I don't know when exactly the earliest ep showing it was, but it showed farm world Finn in the mirror in the King Worm ep. That was before Finn even wished for Farm World. So it seems to be something they thought of early on.
It's also foreshadowed in "The Vault" with Shoko as she's one of Finn's past lives, Fun losing an Arm is a constant thing that happens to him as would be the case for an adventurer/Hero.
I remember how much this episode affected me as a child. I don’t know how but it altered my brain chemistry, I felt different after those 15 minutes. I don’t know why, but it just changed me? I was 10 when it came out and it left me with so many questions, so many answers and a whole lot of confusion and sadness. Grief almost?
Anyway all that to say that episode means a lot to me
I feel the same way, revisiting it older and knowing more about the worldbuilding of the show it just fills me with... melancholy
@@andrewramlall3560 your not the only one brother
Same man.
I think its neat how in every version of his life he becomes disabled.
Love that rep and love Fin robot art, grass art, pillow arm
[SPOILERS FOR THE NEW FIONNA AND CAKE SERIES]
New Fionna and Cake series pretty much confirms that GOLB did indeed consume Pillow World.
In it Prismo explains that he made up Fionna and Cake which led to the creation of their universe. However since Prismo isn't actually allowed to make up new universes, he planted memories of their universe into Simon's brain, thus allowing their universe to continue to exist. This shows that memories may very well be linked to alternate worlds.
So with that said, when Finn lost his memories of Pillow World, it shows that it has been destroyed completely.
The only slightly vague aspect of this theory is that we don't know for sure what GOLB does and why he does it. We know he's some sort of embodiment of chaos, sure, but we don't know the specifics on how he operates.
One of my favorite episodes. Season 5 was excellent.
I really enjoyed the Star Trek TNG cast coming on as voice actors. The show was really popular and influential at this point and got to have a lot of great guest actors and animators.
This episode is a lot like the TNG episode “Inner Light.” I have to imagine the show’s creator is a fan.
Reminds me of that sign quote in Southern Island in Pokemon Emerald.
"All dreams are but another reality"
My idea on Golb is that he indeed came, and succeeded, in destroying Pillow World.
Never before is it mentioned that the world exists, and it's never talked about after this episode.
The mind can do crazy things when the situation is right, like when sitting in a sensory deprivation tank.
Finn was in that sort of situation inside the fort, no light, no sounds (because the pillows would absorb all the sound due to the sheer number of them), no touch (because it would probably feel like you're floating with all those pillows), no smells (just the same pillow smell), and no extreme temperatures just room temp.
With all this going on Finn, or Finn's mind, would want something exciting, so it creates Pillow World.
Now because Finn is the creator of this world when he "dies" the world would die with him, because it's just a figment of his imagination, but because it's still technically a world Golb shows up to get rid of it.
But Finn is not of Pillow World, he is of Ooo, so he is therefore able to ignore Golb because he was never born of that world and also it's creator somewhat.
And despite Finn going on a pretty big journey in Pillow World he doesn't remember it, even after his pillow wife asked him to remember them, because Golb did what he does, he destroyed the world, aka removed it from Finn's mind.
Best theory I've read on this
i was obsessed with this episode as a child, it's so underrated
Personally, I interpret this episode as a lesson on how we should learn to enjoy the moment and appreciate life as a whole. The themes are not dissimilar to the story of Lao Tzu dreaming of being a butterfly and then waking up from that dream to his human reality, leading him to question what the true nature of the "present" and the "now" really is (I think that was the story briefly alluded to in the video as well). After Finn's visit with the pillow in the mountains (I think he was meant to be an allusion to the monks of Tibet or something like that), he has a moment with his family where he realizes that what he has in front of him, the love that he and his present family members all share together, is all that really matters, and that the past is meant to be accepted and moved on from so that life can persist. I believe understanding this, that the meaning of life is about being integrated with the present moment, is what allowed him to defeat "death", who came in the form of Golb, who is the emanation and personification of chaos and dissonance (the antithesis to life). At the end of the episode, when he returns back to Ooo, he is able to reconcile himself with his present reality- something he was having trouble with at the beginning of the episode (though a layer of heartbreak is added in that his past family was forgotten). This means that the lessons he learned in pillow world were now solidified, allowing him to move forward with his true and original life.
Yes! I think you nailed it
I also love how finn doesnt have his right arm when hes older, serves as just a bit of foreshadowing of whats to come later. or, just because finn losing his arm is a constant and his, in a sense, scar of maturity after he straight up laid pipe on LSP, but idk another nice detail i dont think ive seen in the comments nor in the vid, awesome work bruv, keep it up
I'm sorry, what's this about LSP?
@@Xahnel Yeahhhh, it's implied in one episode that LSP "Showed him the ropes" so to speak. It has her showing him how to properly make out with a girl, with her going in for a kiss, before it cuts to black, then has him laying under a blanket, with LSP right nearby.
@@shadow98004I believe the producer says it was a French Kiss but they couldn't show that on CN so they cut to black, but it made it look so much worse than it actually was. No actual sex was had that day.
A cool little thing about this episode, Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker from Star Trek) voices adult Finn. Jonathan Frakes audio directed the TNG episode The Inner Light, where Captain Picard goes through basically the same thing. The only difference is Picard remembers his entire other life.
Love the fact Finn always loses his right arm in every reality
Puhoy, Jake the Brick and The Hall of Egress are peak Adventure Time to me
Standalone stories which work just as well as character studies of their protagonists as they do just general meditations on life. That synergy between micro- and macro- characterisation has always made Adventure Time stand out.
Ill be honest with ya. I love the atmospheric Music only intros. Getting me rly into that zone of what comes next and already starting my expectation and keeping my interest with the visuals. Most probably also adding nostalgi or Emotion from the past when I watched it. Love all of your videos.
thank you! i spend way too long on the music, so I'm glad to hear that it's worth it!
also the episode just casually shows glob
golb
gblo
Its wild that he ends up with the prosthetic arm in the pillow world too.
As a kid I was quite honestly disturbed by the concept of puhoy, but now I love it for some odd reason
He didn't have to drop the pillow intercourse line right at the end so we think about it after, but he did.
And I respect him for it.
One of the best and most haunting episodes ever in Adventure Time. I had a sea of emotions during this episode. I felt angry at Finn for cheating on FP, my heart broke when his pillow wife didn't stop him from leaving forever as long as he didn't forget them. When she cried and just asked Finn to not forget her and his family and she didn't even hesitate to keep him in their world, the was a tearjerker. And then to see Finn on his deathbed was just the saddest thing ever. Then he went back to his homeworld. I then felt conflicted at how he lost all memory of his life there and just continued on with his former life. He no longer had any recollection of his kids, his wife and friends there and that's just so haunting and bittersweet. Bittersweet that yes, he did have a full life, he did have a loving family, he lived as a legend, a hero in the village people's eyes and he died an old man, surrounded by everyone he loves. It was a good life, a great life but to forget and lose all the memories of that. It's just haunting. And this is why Puhoy is one of the best episodes I ever watched in Adventure Time.
Thank you for putting this together ❤
Seeing Golb at the end not only implies the tangibility pillow reality and hints of the temporary wormholes that adventure times multiverse contains as described by Book-O, what's scariest is how Finn seemingly forgets everything at the end of the episode, which, despite being a convenient plot point so they can wrap up the episode, still seems a bit weird as Finn doesnt put it in "The Vault" however this can also serve to confirm the destruction of pillow world. Golb being such an absolute being (that prizmo couldnt resurrect margles POST CONSUMPTION and the wish granting crown couldnt remove him from the world logic) destroyed and consumed every single trace of existence of pillow world, even including the metaphysical memories of pillow world possessed by beings separated by the fabric of the multiverse (supported from how all traces of margles even photos dissipate out of reality). Which is absolutely fucking terrifying portrayal of a 5D entity.
This episode is my favorite because it show fin having a happy ending. Slay a monster,marry the princess, raise a family, die happy 🌹.
I really enjoyed this, I had never really thought of the theme of this episode, but I certainly will give it more thought following this. I remember this episode gave me an existential crisis when I was 8, I kept thinking about the idea of living my entire life only to move onto another and completely forget all of it, this was before I even knew about reincarnation.
3:41 OH GOD, that went high above my head when I first watched it.
Genuinely one of my favorite episodes
I just like the vibe of it I guess? It’s so chill and melancholy in its own way. Something about it just gives me a sense of calm.
As well as the episode after the Elements event(?)
Where Jake has to accept that things change :)
Love ur analysis bro!! Please keep these up!
Back when it came out, this was the episode that finally prompted me to go back and binge watch the series so far
this is one of my all time favorite episodes, great video!
thank you !
Haven't looked into what others have said about it, but after watching this AWESOME video, I do think Golb was headed to pillow world! Oh, and it adds layers of tragedy!!! Okay, so Simon says Golb is "in every crevice where chaos lurks" or something like that in a flashback. Something seperated the pillow world (kingdom?) from literally everything else, outside of whatever they did to create the tunnel. Finn is the only flesh in pillow world. With the time dilation, he's probably the first flesh on this plane ever, SURE, but the sheer number of years it'd been that way dude... Finn was a sore thumb, and it seems to me Golb was drawn there. DEATH SCENE: With that in mind, I think the kaleidoscope effect was Finn beginning to die, but the SHATTER was Golb destroying pillow world. A very much alive Finn gets jettisoned through the void, presumably because Golb destroyed the world and its "proper" inhabitants, and bounces off Golb's tongue. You guys remember what goes on when Golb eats something, right? It reverts back to its original form! I bet the saliva from his tongue sent Finn back to Ooo as a boy. Glob destroys the memory of worlds too, right? Would explain the forgetting. This was fun.
finn's pillow daughter looks just like his human mom
Love your AT vids, keep up the great work!
thank you !
That is litteraly just lovecraftian lore at this point
I had a dream once where I woke up in the world of Undertale. Everything felt so real and I acted as myself and not a character. We were able to get to the surface and I had realized I was dreaming but I truly felt like I had a choice to never wake up and stay there or wake up and go back to my normal life. Despite my adventure and feelings for all of them I chose to wake up and ended up waking up with warm sunlight peaking through my window and birds chirping. I stayed in bed and cried for a bit.
I remember you from your Slade video. I’m so proud of how far you’ve grown.
I loved this episode, it's almost a DMT trip 😅
I’ve always seen it as a DMT trip. There are plenty of descriptions of journeys people have taken before waking up only minutes later. The kaleidoscope imagery is a perfect visual for how reality starts to shift. It’s beautifully done. Even Finn seeing golb on his way out feels symbolic of how after doing DMT you feel like there is some sort of universal truth outside of your own head. But Finn jumps over it cause he’s not ready to leave ooo behind yet
I like how they got Johnathan Frakes for an episode that is basically Next Generations "Inner Light" episode.
it must have happened since Finn couldn't have made up Golb perfectly with no reference or past encounters.
Finns only non toxic relationship
It's been a long time. I'm very happy that someone still remember this episode because it's such a good one.
Fin seeing golb after passing away then subsequently forgetting everything that happened in pillow world is probably definitive evidence to that universe being devoured by golb.
i just finished the show last night and i’m watching distant lands now. i regretted how little context they gave for GOLB as he was supposed to be the final boss type character, but i guess they meant for there to be more questions than answers. this was one of my favorite episodes of the series and it really stuck with me, so it’s cool how someone made a analysis on it so recently
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!This is literally one of my favorite episodes. I think this episode foreshadowed Finns later life. I believe that after Jakes death, Finn eventually does settle down and have a family but he neglected them because he wasn’t able to move past losing Jake.
Wait that girl straight up said “Bed me Finn” on a kid’s show
Mans got rizzed up by a pillow
"Used for bedding", damn, somehow I forgot how direct that joke was 😂
You should make a video on the episode where finn gets stuck in a time loop where he cant open his eyes that one fucked me up bro
Great video dude! Puhoy is one of my favorite episodes. Glad to see it get the recognition it deserves
thank you so much ! glad to get more people talking about the episode
Oooh finally someone appreciating one my favorite episodes, this one really hit hard since it’s strangely heartwarming to see finn have a family and live a simple life for once. I remember being pissed off that he forgets them but I suppose that’s the message of the episode, nothing really matters in the end.
These types of videos always come as a surprise to me, because the last time I saw this episode was years ago, yet I remembered it almost perfectly and many others as well. This really goes to show how deep of an impact Adventure Time was able to give me, such a great show.
just realized finn has a "robo" arm in the pillow universe as well. so in all of finn's lives, he has had one proper arm for most of it
well in the pillow universe he at least lost his arm way later in life compared to "our" universe where he lost it as a teenager
I perfer to think pillow world was another dimension with dilated time and finns kids continues on as finn returned, its more comforting to think that something was left behind.
My favorite part about this episode as a kid was seeing Finn happily married. I was like “damn, I hope I have that someday”.
With what we see happens to Finn in Distant Lands wishing to see Jake again, I’m not surprised how desperate he was to see Jake again when the portal was first mentioned.
1:29 cool red filter bro.
golb represents the end of every world, even puhoy
I know adult Finn is voiced by Jonathan Frakes aka Riker from Star Trek TNG, which I find hilarious.
This is my absolute favorite Adventure Time episode. So glad someone's covering it!
Dude this is one of the few episodes of adventure time I caught it at least remember from the awesome age of cartoon network and...yeah. It was definitely memorable. I think what made it memorable was the fact that it perfectly reflected everything I associated with adventure time which was a hodgepodge of lightening fast emotions from funny and goofy to deep and meaningful to sad and depressing in less than ten minutes.
Also I was surprised to find that the random abomination of the week would turn out to be the final boss of the whole show. It was like a memory unlocked and I was like "Wait...this particular eldtrick horror thing from this show seems familiar".
This episode only made me think Finn was a weeaboo with an obsession with body pillows.
The fact he forgot is what makes this episode amazing for me. Fin has lived many times after all.
5:41 crazy how he loses his arm even in this universe
This is exactly why Adventure Time is the best cartoon of all time. I know someone who took ambien one time, and he dreamt an entire 19 year life as someone else during a 12 hour sleep, from birth to death.
bro ambien is no joke. have you hallucinating in your sleep fr 💀💀
So glad someone talk about this episode, really showed a lot about what’s to come in the later season
I remember I was in 5th grade and me and my best friend were excited to see a new episode of Adventure Time and after watching this episode we both came back into school really confused as to what we actually watched
Too real. I was in the 5th grade when this came out too
The way he lost his arm and encountered Golb was awesome foreshadowing. I think if we could see the full picture we’d go mad. I think Lovecraft was right about stuff, not race stuff, but stuff.
Sometimes, you seriously have to wonder how many stories' messages are really just intended to be Rorschach tests for the audience (more so than what stories all kind of are already)
This was pretty cool, gonna binge some of your other videos when I have more time
Good stuff keep it up
Thank you so much!