Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service. The 91st episode of the show, and the 2nd episode of the "Steven Summer Adventures" event's second week. Again, I have to apologize for the delay of this review. It aired three days ago. Yet I was so conflicted on this one I had to watch it several more times to be able to construct a review. See, some episodes I actually preferred on re-watch (like Drop Beat Dad), but some are just not very re-watchable, and didn't fare so well on re-watch (Restaurant Wars).



If you haven't seen this episode, you might want to before reading this review. Because this episode is bizarre.



I was rather underwhelmed by this episode on first watch. It just felt like yet another throwaway filler episode. I felt the cheese monsters could have been more interesting, and this episode just seemed to fly by really fast. And sure, this episode may not be as good as other dream episodes like Chille Tid, but all I can say is that this is one of those episodes that I enjoyed so much more on re-watch.



The plot of the episode is that Kiki has been having nightmares every single night where she is drowning in an ocean of cheese. Steven once again uses his astral projection abilities to hop into Kiki's nightmares to try and put an end to them, or at least to see what is causing them. They discover that her nightmares are caused by stress. Jenny, Kiki's twin sister, has been slacking off lately and leaving Kiki with all the work. She has been overworked and this has lead to her nightmares.



So, as per usual with the episodes in the "Townsfolk" arc, the gems are totally absent. Yet it's not really noticeable in this episode, amazingly. It doesn't feel like the writers went out of their way to exclude the gems in this one like they did in some others (looking at you Beach City Drift and The New Lars). If the gems had been in this episode, it wouldn't have added anything. They simply were not needed for this plot.



Let's talk about Kiki herself. She's had very little screen-time so far. And she finally got her own episode. I think she is a really good character. She is sassy sure, but she is definitely a good person, and does care for others before herself. She really cares about Jenny, and she's concerned for Steven as well. She really is the good twin. Now let's talk about Jenny and her role as the bad twin. She is incredibly selfish in this episode, leaving Kiki with all the work and not even caring about the effects it might have on her. She leaves Kiki with all the work to satisfy her own needs, such as going to concerts. I can understand how making Kiki deliver the pizzas whilst she goes and fixes the pizza mobile, but making her deliver all the pizzas just to go to a concert is really not good. Sure Jenny didn't know about Kiki's nightmares, but even after she did, at the end of the episode, she was no better. She said the line to Steven, "If [kiki] like(s) running so much, why can't [she] deliver pizzas?? But I just can't say no to my sister". I do believe Jenny should have been called out for her actions in this episode.



Now let's talk about Steven. And how he is apologetic that he accidentally entered Kiki's mind. He now has learned that entering people's minds and staying in their mind is not a good thing, after the events of "The New Lars", and when he realizes what he did, he instantly apologizes. Now this is some character development for Steven as well.



When I first saw this episode, I was underwhelmed by the cheese monsters. I felt they could have been so much more creative than just hands coming out of an ocean of cheese. However, on re-watch, I didn't mind this so much. I appreciated the way they defeated the monsters a lot better too. They always threw in a one-liner before using some weapon to destroy the hands. There was even a very nice callback to "Steven's Lion" when Steven says this gem (pun intended): "Sorry for using the same pun twice". Little continuity nods here are another thing that make this show great.



Ultimately this episode is about being able to say no, even to people you care about. A demonic cheese version of Jenny rises up from a pool of cheese, with dead pepperonis for eyes. Brrr. The cheese demon Jenny starts to swallow up Kiki, and asks Kiki to deliver more pizzas. Kiki says she will, and that she doesn't mind. Steven tells Kiki that she DOES mind, and that she has been lying to not only Jenny, but herself. She is being overworked and has been allowing herself to continue being pushed around and used because she is afraid of disappointing her twin sister. She finally stands up to the demonic cheese version of her twin sister, and with one big "NO!" (the word that started the entire series, remember), the cheese melts and disappears (well, most of it). This did feel again like it was resolved maybe a bit too easily, though. I mean, the demon just melted, and then the cheese just melted... but this isn't much of an issue, because of what comes next.



Kiki has finally been able to stand up to her sister in the real world, because she had practice in her dream. Jenny is still a selfish brat, but at least she let Kiki have the day off, and Kiki is now finally able to have some "her" time. Steven then passes out from exhaustion.



Overall, this was an enjoyable episode that I liked much more on re-watch. Sure it may not be one of the show's absolute best, but in terms of the Townsfolk Arc, specifically, the episode that wraps up the Townsfolk Arc, this one was quite an unexpected gem.



Sorry for using the same pun twice.



Stray Observations

-"Sour Cream's drops are pretty dirty".

-Steven wakes up thinking it's breakfast time but it's actually 3pm. Summed up my life right there.

-Cheese demons... that is something you'd expect in Adventure Time.

-There's probably ten bajillion anime references in this episode that were totally and utterly lost on me. In case you didn't know, I've never seen a single anime in my life.

-Cheese rave in a pizza cave? Now I'd wanna go to that!

-Pepperanhas. Just. Pepperanhas.