Over the years, the children’s show Adventure Time has grown from a seemingly nonsensical show about a boy and his dog, to a show that many viewers believe to be deep and meaningful. Many speculate that the majority of the episodes are subtle commentaries on real life issues. Some of examples of these issues are dating, having issues with parents, the meaning of life, or even dealing with loved ones who are afflicted with dementia or Alzheimer’s. The characters are diverse and make these issues seem playful, but as many viewers know, Adventure Time knows how to hide life lessons in nonsense. On April 30, 2015, the Adventure Time episode “Chips and Ice Cream” was aired and the episode focuses on a pair of annoying, parasitic creatures named Chips and Ice Cream. Without giving away the plot for those who haven’t seen it, I feel that the episode was a commentary on depression and how it affects different people’s lives.

While a depression theme might seem far fetched for the episode, as someone who has Persistent Depressive Disorder, I related to the bear, Morty Rogers a lot. If you look up the symptoms of PDD, the majority of the symptoms are what many describe my personality to be. For me, this concept is terrifying because I am not sure who I would be if I sought help for my disorder. My fear is that I would become like Morty, someone who had a disorder (Chips and Ice Cream) for so long that the disorder had taken over his life. Morty had come cope with living with Chips and Ice Cream even though they drove him insane, and once they were gone he did not know what to do with himself.

Seeing Chips and Ice Cream as metaphors for depression also works when looking at the issues they caused for Finn and Jake. In the beginning Finn was okay with Chips and Ice Cream even though they were annoying and said it would be fine and that he would just ignore them. This statement is almost identical to the statements that people I have dated have said to me when they find out I have PDD. As the episode progresses, however, Finn’s ability to cope with Chips and Ice Cream deteriorates until Finn looks exhausted and eventually tells Jake that “I thought I could just ignore ’em, but I can’t! Chips and Ice Cream have to go.”

This scenario is another way that Chips and Ice Cream show that they symbolize depressive disorders because I’m sure everyone who has a depressive disorder has experience the same situation as Jake. Jake had accepted his problem and lived his life the best he could with it, but his partner, Finn could not deal with it. Personally, my current girl friend and exes have all made similar statements.

While I have no proof that the Adventure Time episode “Chips and Ice Cream” is actually about depression, I can say that it caused me to feel incredibly uncomfortable watching it from that perspective. The episode has only heightened my fear that without my disorder, I won’t have a personality of my own and that I will end up just like Morty Rogers if I were to seek help.