History Recap / AdventureTimeDistantLandsObsidian

* CharacterDevelopment: The episode shows off how much Marceline and Bubblegum have changed since they first came to the Glass Kingdom. In the past both were more self centered, Bonnie wanted to prove her scientific genius and of course solve all the problems herself while Marceline just wanted to play and really couldn't care less about the Glass People. PB ends up lashing out at Marcy when her plans started to fail, and Marcy retaliates in music form every little petty grievance. In the present time, Bonnie is more accepting she doesn't always know the answer and willing to take help from others, and Marceline is more invested in saving the Glass Kingdom and not letting her feelings of anger and sadness cloud her judgement.

* TragicMonster: Molto Larvo's family was eaten by a monster, leaving it the only survivor. It buried itself in a volcano out of trauma for the event.

* MagmaMan: Larvos is made out of molten glass so burning hot that, when he slams a glass person with an arm, they instantly melt into a puddle instead of getting smashed.

** As it turns out, Larvos also has similar issues to Marcy. After its siblings were eaten by a sea monster when it was young and it only just escaped with a scar, Larvos buried itself into a volcanic crevice rather than be hurt again where it turned into the dragon it became by the present day. After hearing Marcy's SillyLoveSong to Bubblegum it takes off the mask it used to hide its scar and transforms into a soft butterfly-cat creature.

** Glassboy goes into the mountain Larvos is trapped in so he can fix the crack in his head. This inadvertently wakes up the dragon and he in turn loses the key keeping the magic door sealed thus giving the dragon the opportunity to escape.

** Not only that: Larvos is essentially a symbol of Marcy's inner demons. The first time she merely buried it/them by deluding herself into thinking that she was simply too cool for Bonnie (the BreakupSong); years later, after having restarted their relationship, she has to face it/them again. And she makes a mistake or two in the process, but at the end she defeats it/them for real when she realizes that she has to open herself up (the SillyLoveSong), which makes the healing (Larvos' metamorphosis) possible.

* DownerOpening: The opening has Glassboy, after being bullied by the other Glass People for his crack, accidentally reawaken Larvo, being imprisoned while the advisors brush off his claims that Marceline is still out there and can stop Larvo again.
* DramaticIrony: The advisors state that Marceline is almost certainly dead by now, given how long ago
she sealed away Larvo. This wouldn't stop her, though, since she's TheAgeless.

* {{Mondegreen}}: After a couple hundred years the Glass people have completely forgotten the lyrics to Marceline's original song. In their version it's about hating a coconut, but the original is a nasty and angry BreakupSong.

* NotSoDifferent: There's an entire sequence wherein Elise fights a wolf to protect Marceline, while the wolf is attacking Elise in the first place because its cub startled her badly enough for her to attack it. The intention is clear: Regardless of the differences, at it's core, this is a fight between [[MamaBear two mothers merely wanting to protect their children]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: While Marceline got particularly nasty singing "[[BreakUpSong Woke Up]]" in the flashback, she raised some fair points about Bubblegum. Early on in the series, [[WellIntendedExtremist while she meant well]], Bubblegum's control freak and Big Brother tendencies did come of as a bit dictator-ish.

* HateSink: See-Through Princess' Advisors are all incompetent, xenophobic jerks who try to control the princess through intimidation, and constantly tell her she should give up the crown and put them in charge. When the dragon attacks they run away and hide, then try to kill Glassboy, Marceline and Bubblegum, by locking them in the furnace with the Dragon.

* TheBusCameBack: Bronwyn makes a return after her small cameo in "Elements" as [[spoiler:Finn's new adventure partner.]]
* TheCavalryArrivesLate: [[spoiler:Simon, the banana guards, Bronwyn and Finn only show up to help PB and Marcy ''after'' the danger has long since past.]]

* FantasticRacism: Most of the Glass People are fairly xenophobic towards any non-glass beings. They also look down on anyone with a crack, [[spoiler: despite everyone having a hidden one.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: The glass people (sans the princess) always bully Glassboy for having a crack on his head,[[spoiler: despite the fact they all have at least one hidden in their string.]]

* InterruptedBath: It is clear that Simon got [[spoiler:Finn]] to help Marcy and PB while he was bathing since he showed up with a towel over his head and waist.

** [[spoiler:As it turns out, Larvos also has similar issues to Marcy. After its siblings were eaten by a sea monster when it was young and it only just escaped with a scar, Larvos buried itself into a volcanic crevice rather than be hurt again where it turned into the dragon it became by the present day. After hearing Marcy's SillyLoveSong to Bubblegum it takes off the mask it used to hide its scar and transforms into a soft butterfly-cat creature.]]

* WhamShot: [[spoiler:To help out Marceline and Bubblegum, Simon recruits PB's Banana Guards, Bronwyn, and a grown-up Finn with a beard and tattoo of Jake on his chest.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:Despite some characters making a comeback, Jake is nowhere to be seen. It's unclear what happened to him between "Come Along With Me" and the miniseries, now that Bronwyn is Finn's adventure partner. Either he retired from adventures or died.]]
* WritersBlock: At the start of the special Marceline is trying to compose a new song but admits to Bonnie that she is having trouble getting the words down. Later on she tries to come up with an angry song on the fly to subdue the dragon but finds she can't draw up the same negative energy she used to. [[spoiler:At the end she realizes it's because she is so happy with Bonnie now that she doesn't have the same anger she used to derive her songs from and thus resolves that issue by singing a SillyLoveSong instead.]]

* MagmaMan: Larvos is made out of molten glass so burning hot that, when he slams a glass person with an arm, they're melted into a puddle instead of being smashed.

** After her mother seemingly abandoned her at a young age (when in truth she just didn't want her daughter to see her die) after she used her demon powers to save her from a mutated wolf Marceline convinced herself that she did it on purpose and that whenever people run away from her it's because she wants them to. This unfortunately had long reaching consequences as instead of dealing with her problems in a constructive way she just lashed out at people which is what led to her making her BreakupSong against Bubblegum after they had a fight.
** [[spoiler:As it turns out Larvos also has similar issues to Marcy. After its siblings were eaten by a sea monster when it was young and it only just escaped with a scar Larvos buried itself into a volcanic crevice rather than be hurt again where it turned into the dragon it became by the present day. After hearing Marcy's SillyLoveSong to Bubblegum it takes off the mask it used to hide its scar and transforms into a soft butterfly-cat creature.]]

* WritersBlock: At the start of the special Marceline is trying to compose a new song but admits to Bonnie that she is having trouble getting the words down. Later on she tries to come up with an angry song on the fly to subdue the dragon but finds she can't draw up the same negative energy she used to. [[spoiler:At the end she realizes it's because she is so happy with Bonnie now that she doesn't have the same anger she used to derive her songs from and thus resolves that issue by singing a SillyLoveSong instead.]]

** Not only that: Larvos is essentially a symbol of Marcy's inner demons. The first time she merely buried it/them by deluding herself into thinking that she was simply too cool for Bonnie (the BreakupSong); years later, after having restarted their relationship, she has to face it/them again. And she makes a mistake or two in the process, but at the end she defeats it/them for real when she realizes that she has to open herself up (the SillyLoveSong), making the healing (Larvos' metamorphosis) possible.

** Not only that: Larvos is essentially a symbol of Marcy's inner demons. The first time she merely buried it/them by deluding herself into thinking that she was simply too cool for Bonnie (the BreakupSong); years later, after having restarted their relationship, she has to face it/them again, defeating it/them for real by opening herself up (the SillyLoveSong), thus completing the healing process (Larvos' metamorphosis).

** Not only that: Larvos is essentially a symbol of Marcy's inner demons. The first time she merely buried it/them by deluding herself into thinking that she was simply too cool for Bonnie (the BreakupSong); years later, after having restarted their relationship, she has to face it/them again and defeats it/them for real by opening herself up (the SillyLoveSong), thus completing the healing process (Larvos' metamorphosis).

** Not only that: Larvos is essentially a symbol of Marcy's inner demons. The first time she merely buried it/them by deluding herself into thinking that she was simply too cool for Bonnie (the BreakupSong); years later, after having restarted their relationship, she has to face it/them again and defeat it/them for real by opening herself up (the SillyLoveSong), thus completing the healing process (Larvos' metamorphosis).

** Not only that: Larvos is essentially a symbol of Marcy's inner demons. The first time she merely buried it/them by deluding herself into thinking that she was simply too cool for Bonnie (the BreakupSong); years later, after having restarted their relationship, she has to face it/them again and defeat it/them for real by opening herself up (the SillyLoveSong), thus completing the healing process.

** [[spoiler:As it turns out Larvos also has similar issues to Marcy. After it's siblings were eaten by a sea monster when it was young and it only just escaped with a scar Larvos buried itself into a volcanic crevice rather then be hurt again where it turned into the dragon it became by the present day. After hearing Marcy's SillyLoveSong to Bubblegum it takes off the mask it used to hide its scar and transforms into a soft butterfly-cat creature.]]

* ParentsAsPeople: Marcy's mom tried her best but hid a lot from her daughter, including the fact that she was dying. This ended up causing Marcy herself to have abandonment issues and trouble expressing her emotions.