From Finn’s tiniest insecurities to his heaviest responsibilities, "Adventure Time" explores the human condition through the only human character in its vast imaginative world, The Land of Ooo. We begin to understand a world of foreignness through Finn's eyes, empathizing in every visceral conflict that we must face with him. What makes Finn even more relatable is the fact that he’s still a child in a world where he, at times, must make very adult decisions about love, friendship, and even identity.
While the premise is simple enough--a boy hero and his sidekick dog go on adventures helping wronged citizens or innocent people--many episodes inject a real 'slice of life' into the story. The scattered plot also makes "Adventure Time" interesting because--while the plot is chronological--it also breaks from Finn and Jake's adventures shifting the focus between episodes to other characters and their three-dimensional selves. There’s even an entire episode dedicated to Finn and Jake’s sentient computer system, BMO. There are no extra characters with flat personalities in "Adventure Time". Everyone matters and everyone is given a prerogative.
In one of the earlier episodes, "Ricardio the Heart Guy", Finn is met with an adolescent feeling that he can only reciprocate with awkwardness. He becomes jealous of a love rival who seems smarter and more classy than he is.
His crush on Princess Bubblegum is familiar to us all and his only consultant is Jake, his best friend who is too laid back to give any palpable advice. And what Finn doesn't realize is how much the princess is more of a mother to him than a mate. When he tries to impress her, he's met with an intolerable mouthful of jargon he doesn't understand because he's still a child. She says to him, "that's jealousy, hun." In the end, Finn is never really allowed to figure out his personal feelings because his duty as a hero gets in the way. This paradoxical obligation to both himself and his morals forces him to grow up.
Yet, unrequited love isn't the only maturing agent in the show. Identity pervades much of "Adventure Time" and especially with Finn. In another episode, "Susan Strong", Finn meets human-looking peoples living in a sewer, wearing animal-shaped hats. Each person has a different animal and while they can't speak and don't initially understand Finn, he tries to teach Susan how to be 'human'. His hope is soon crushed when at the end of the episode, many of the creatures with the exception of Susan take their hats off, revealing the gills on their neck.
While she runs away, she looks back at Finn one last time at his shout of her name. As she disappears, Finn asks Jake if she could still be human or just a wild animal. We feel a sense of desperation and yearning with his question. With his attempt at consoling Finn, Jake replies "We're all wild animals, brother." Finn innocently takes a bite of burnt marshmallow, and says, "Yeah. I guess we are. . . brother."
Finn makes the hard realization that his closest and only kin is not his own species, but the dog he's been friends with since birth. He has to face an adult reality that maybe he is destined to live as the only human in this foreign world. And he takes it with a stunning amount of bravery for a twelve-year-old.
Later, we find out that Finn has a father. But Finn's and our hope is crushed yet again when his father abandons him for the second time. Even when Finn finds another human to relate to (his father), he doesn't want anything to do with Finn. So our human adventurer is fated to solve his own existential crisis alone.
