Recap / Adventure Time S 4 E 11 Beyond This Earthly Realm

When Finn finds a porcelain lamb, it transports him into the spirit world, and only the Ice King can help him escape.

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Tropes

• Artifact of Doom: The freaky porcelain lamb turns those who touch it into spirits.
• Call-Back: Remember when Ice King said that he can see things with his "wizard eyes" in "Mortal Recoil"? Turns out they're real.
• Continuity Nod: Finn calls Ice King "Simon" when seeking him out.
• Didn't Think This Through: Ice King tricks Finn into getting rid of the spirits that have been haunting his lair, and refuses to help Finn back into the mortal world so that Finn will be forced to stay the Ice King's friend. This is Finn's response:
  Finn: I'm gonna go re-open the hole.
  Ice King: No, wait, my plan fell apart!!
• Eldritch Location: The spirit world is filled with some very surreal apparitions.
• Electromagnetic Ghosts: Finn and Ice King realise that they can slightly affect the physical world when Ice King's gestures affect the TV static.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Ice King turns out to have arranged for Finn to be turned to spirit so that Finn will only have him to interact with and be forced to make friends with him.
• I See Dead People: While mentioned before, this is the first time that the spirit world that the Ice King sees comes into view.
• Invisible Main Character: Finn catches the "out of phase" variety.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Ice King's speech about being watched through the TV set.
  Ice King: Whaddaya think, Finn? Can we pull back the veil of static and reach into the source of all being? Behind this curtain of patterns, this random pattern generator... so clever, right here in every home, watching us from a one-sided mirror... (realizes Finn is staring at him) Heh heh, whoops! Just wizard-talking to myself!
• Mistaken for Transformed: Jake correctly believes that the lamb is responsible for Finn's current state, but he seems to think Finn has actually become the lamb, rather than it keeping him in the astral plane.
• Poor Communication Kills: Ice King fails to properly explain to Jake that destroying the lamb will return Finn to normal, which leads to Ice King also being turned to spirit as well.
• Shout-Out: Jake yawns like a certain Wookie at the beginning of the episode.
• Trapped on the Astral Plane: Finn gets trapped in the astral plane after touching an Ancient Artifact, where all of the spirits roam. Much to his chagrin, the only one who can see him is the one person who can see into the supernatural realm, the Ice King.
• You Can See Me?: Finn is surprised to learn Ice King can see and hear him.