Original Airdate: November 1, 2010

Written & Storyboarded by: Cole Sanchez & Benton Connor

Finn the Human’s strengths come from his bombastic energy and desire to help other people, but not necessarily his physical attributes or cunning traits. He’s defeated the Lich on three separate occasions and has even survived lava through his time on the show, but he’s relied mostly on his wits and his daredevilish personality to accomplish these tasks. This episode highlights that Finn, while brave, noble and honest, can sometimes be a wimp when it comes to taking pain. Not that I can really say anything though, I’m still a little bitch when I get splinters too.

What I really like about this episode is that it stresses that it’s okay that Finn isn’t the toughest warrior when it comes to physical attributes. In fact, all of the obstacles he endures in this episode are mentally taxing as opposed to brutal combat. Finn the Human, while being deemed a “pervert” or a “baby” by those he encounters in this episode, has one thing that Sir Slicer and his armored cronies do not have, and that is a large moral center. Blood Under the Skin continues with season one’s tradition of teaching Finn what it means to be a true hero, and this one spotlights not needing to look “cool” or tough in order to show who Finn truly is, and that is Ooo’s greatest hero.

This episode is loaded with great side characters. This is Choose Goose’s very first appearance in the series and I never figured he’d become a recurring character, but his generally surreal demeanor and Hanna Barbera-esque voice always cracks me up whenever he’s on screen. This is also a limelight episode for Steve Little’s voice acting. He plays both Sir Slicer’s minstrel and the drop ball ghost. What I like about Little is that you always know it’s his voice almost instantly when you hear it, but it has such a cartoony and exuberant touch to it that it almost feels like he could play every background character and I really wouldn’t mind. And I totally wanna try to play drop ball after this episode. Sir Slicer is a delightful jerk, and I’m surprised he’s never returned as an adversary towards Finn.

What’s really undermined by the episode, however, is just how great Jake is written. Like I mentioned before, Finn seems constantly concerned with his identity as a true hero, while Jake doesn’t really give a fuck about what people think. He’s as supportive as possible to his best friend in this episode, but he has no shame at all wearing that slick lady armor. Although I think I can permanently remove the scene of Jake picking Finn up with his butt from my memory. Hopefully Finn will too. Right in the vault.

I also wanna try something a little new and include my favorite bit of dialogue in each episode review. This week’s quote:

Favorite line: “ Wonderful! I’ll need a trade of equal value. I’ll take the head of your dog friend!”