This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the character.

"Betty" is the forty-eighth episode in the fifth season of Adventure Time. It is the one hundred and fifty-second episode overall.

Contents show]

Synopsis

When a ritual changes Ice King back into Simon Petrikov, he enlists the help of Marceline, Finn, and Jake to recontact Betty in the past to tell her he's sorry for everything he has done.

Plot

In a secret chamber in Wizard City, the Secret Society of Forest Wizard, Laser Wizard and Bufo meet with Bella Noche, a misshapen head from another dimension, unaware that Ice King is watching them from the shadows. In exchange for bringing the powerful magical items that will allow Bella Noche to enter their realm, he has promised them the lost system of Antediluvian magic, "the tightest of all wiz biz."

Interested in this reward (and in joining the secret wizards' club), Ice King reveals himself, much to the other wizards' annoyance. Bella Noche uses this distraction to absorb the power of the magical items, just as Grand Master Wizard breaks in, declaring that Bella Noche must not enter their world, as he is "a being of pure anti-magic." However, it is too late as Bella Noche strikes, removing the magic from the four congregated wizards, which leaves Ice King's crown powerless and turns him back into a young Simon Petrikov.

Grand Master Wizard sends the Wizard Police to attack Bella Noche, to little effect, while Simon escapes, still in shock, from the chamber to the streets. He believes he is hallucinating until he removes the crown and finds he is still thinking rationally. He is then confronted by Ash, Marceline's ex-boyfriend, who insults him by telling him he is ugly and to stop looking at himself in a puddle of water. He states that Simon is in his usual busking spot and to get lost. Simon punches him and knocks him out, apologizing as he takes Ash's magic carpet, leaves Wizard City to go to the Ice Kingdom. He flies into "The Past Room," finds an old pair of his glasses, and accesses a secret passage to a library, containing all his research and old clothes.

He finds a book on mystic rituals that he and his fiancée, Betty Grof, wrote together, and finds a picture of a young Marceline inside. He calls her up immediately while she is in a jam session with Finn and Jake, neither of whom care for her new style of holding her bass guitar higher up to get better fingering. Simon tells her what's happened, that he needs her help and to bring Hambo with her. She faints from shock, but when she comes to, she convinces Finn and Jake to go help Simon.

Marceline and Simon are overjoyed to see one another, but Marceline becomes concerned with Simon's health as he is dying. Simon seems to have accepted this and wants to use his final hours to create a time portal to the past to contact Betty and apologize for driving her away. He gets Finn and Jake to pedal a bicycle-powered generator, and requests Marceline to sacrifice Hambo, as an object that has been loved and tended for centuries would be the procedure's ideal catalyst. She regretfully gives it to Simon, who thanks her for giving him this chance to say goodbye to Betty.

The procedure is successful and a small portal opens above Betty before the events of the Great Mushroom War. She has just escaped from the past Simon, who is shooting ice into the streets, screaming for Betty, his "princess." She sees the portal and the present-day Simon who tells her that he is sorry for what he did due to his madness and that he loves her and forgives her for leaving him. However, just as the portal begins to close, Betty jumps through it to be with him after realizing and figuring out why she left him. She kisses him until Simon collapses. She then learns that Simon is dying of old age as the crown was the only thing keeping him alive. After she learns that Bella Noche took the magic from the crown, and Simon needs it to live, Betty decides to confront Bella Noche and re-power the crown. She takes off on the magic carpet, with Simon barely hanging on.

Simon begs her to reconsider because he doesn't want to be Ice King again, but she says that that will only be a temporary measure. Once Simon is safe as Ice King, she plans to find a way to keep him alive without the crown so they can be together. He is unsure, especially as Death arrives, driving in his invisible death bus alongside them, saying that this is Simon's only chance to die, or else he will be the Ice King "until the sun blows up." Simon is reluctant to go with Betty's plan, but admits that if he does not at least try, he is nothing. Death shrugs and disappears.

They arrive at Wizard City where Bella Noche has absorbed the power of most of the wizards in the area and only a few remain standing, including Huntress Wizard and Grand Master Wizard. Ron James arrives late to the fight and attempts to fight back using a special potion, but fails and instead makes the being stronger. Simon falls off the magic carpet and Betty begs him to stay alive for a little longer as she goes after Bella Noche. By this point, every wizard in the area, including Huntress Wizard, Ron James and even Grand Master Wizard have fallen, with only Simon and Betty standing. As Betty flies off to find a way to defeat Bella Noche, she leaves Simon lying on the ground for safety. Death reappears to Simon, telling him time is up in fifteen seconds. Betty quickly flies inside of the black mass surrounding Bella Noche and finds him in his true form, quickly knocking him out with a punch.

Magic is restored to the wizards, and Death disappears again, apologizing to Simon as he departs. Simon has changed back into Ice King with no memory of what has happened. Later, he kidnaps Muscle Princess and takes her back to the Ice Kingdom and tells her about the whole battle as Ron James told him. She overpowers him and beats him up, while Betty looks on sadly from the magic carpet before flying away.

Characters

Main characters

Minor characters

Trivia

Jake has returned since the episode "Blade of Grass."

It is revealed that Ice King has kept a library hidden in the Ice castle with his suit and other items from when he was Simon. It is located behind his The Past Room. It seems that both of these rooms weren't damaged by the partial destruction of the Ice Kingdom in "Frost & Fire."

It is revealed that Simon chased Betty while first under the influence of the crown, which is what caused her to leave in the first place.

Bella Noche's "powerful" form somewhat resembles the Ice King/Queen through the white hair, blue robe, and bluish skin.

The items (a unique staff, a sword, an orb, and a goblet) that are needed in order for Bella Noche to escape are loosely based on the four suits of tarot, namely wands (also known as batons), swords, pentacles (also known as coin), and cups.

Marceline's outfit in this episode resembles a grown-up version of her childhood outfit.

When the crown has no powers, the Ice Kingdom is shown to melt.

Simon mentioned that as Ice King he retains no memories of what he does and just gets vague "dreamlike impressions" of what's going on.

Simon seems to be somewhat self-aware of his insanity as the Ice King, as when he is first transformed back into a human, he wonders if he has gone so crazy that he became normal again.

Betty's last name is an homage to Stanislav Grof, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology.

Death can only be seen when people are in the Dead World or when they are beginning to lose life. In this episode, when Simon was talking to Death, Betty said "What?" meaning that she could not see Death.

Betty seems to be immune to culture shock, as she did not question anything about Ooo or react oddly towards Jake or the wizards. Granted she didn't have time to take anything in, since she only had minutes to save Simon.

When Ice King turned back into Simon Petrikov, not only was he transformed back into a human, but also back into a young man. Presumably, when the magic of the crown was negated and magic left Simon, he was reverted back to the physical state he held just before wearing the Ice Crown for the first time.

Simon's Scientific Parasite is not present in his coat pocket.

Cultural references

In the beginning of the episode, one of the wizards mentions magic dating back to the Antediluvian period, which is the period of time before the Biblical Flood.

On the other hand, it could be referring to magic that may have existed before the mushroom war (eg: Ice Kings crown).

The items brought before Bella Noche represent the Minor Arcana: a sword, a stick, a chalice, and a pentacle.

During the flashback, a crashed plane can be seen in the background. The plane has the American star and stripe on the wing commonly seen during WW2 on U.S. fighters and bombers. It somewhat resembles a Lockheed Ventura, an aircraft commonly used for anti-sub warfare during the Second World War.

When Marceline plays the bass in this episode, it is held in the same way as John Flansburg from They Might Be Giants in the music video for "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head."

Episode connections

Errors

In this episode, Marceline's skin color seems to be white and there were no bite marks on either side of her neck.

In Holly Jolly Secrets, Simon says that Betty ran away after he took off the crown (and looked at him "with such contempt"), but in this episode she runs away while he's still wearing it.

Storyline analysis

Betty steps out of her time sequence and now lives in Ooo. This event reveals why Betty left Simon.

Finn is as of now not the only known official human to currently live in Ooo.

Although Simon seemed prior to have not set anything up for himself within the Ice Kingdom, this episode reveals that there is an entire library and even a spare suit and glasses for him for when he returns back to that form after he loses his ice powers; this is hidden away within the castle beyond Ice King's "Past Room," which makes it well hidden due to Ice King's necessities being merely a pile of random clutter with occasional connections to his previous life.

This episode establishes a stable time loop, wherein the Betty of the past leaves Simon because future Simon told her that she would. Whether or not this altered the past into a stable time loop, or is how it always happened is unrevealed.

Gallery





Official art

Background art