Daddy-Daughter Card Wars

Airdate:

July 7, 2016 ^[2]

Credits

Episodes
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"Daddy-Daughter Card Wars" is the thirty-seventh episode in the seventh season of Adventure Time. It's the two hundred thirty-sixth episode overall.^[3]

Synopsis

Jake needs his daughter Charlie's help in an underground Card Wars tourney to move on from his embarrassing past. ^[4]

Plot

The episode begins with Jake, Charlie, and BMO sailing on an ocean. Charlie shows her cards to BMO for entertainment, afterwards Jake ask Charlie about his cards from Card Wars. Charlie becomes confused, and BMO jumps off the boat out of resentment for the game. Jake attempts to rescue him, but decides to disregard him out of fear for being late to the tourney.

He then clears up Charlie's confusion with the game, by explaining to her a brief synopsis and the mechanics of the game. This causes Charlie to become uninterested; she does not involve rules with cards. Jake then attempts to convince her, leading to a wager of one of his bones for one game.

The two arrive at the tournament, which is inside an abandoned oil rig. Upon entering, and greeting an usher, Jake introduces the contestants to her. They eventually encounter the reigning champions, Grand Prix and Moniker. Jake reunites with the two, introducing them to his daughter. Jake dismisses himself, and Charlie teases Jake about his love interests.

Jake and Charlie enter the first round, Charlie wins one game. Charlie announces her departure leaving Jake confused, Charlie then procedes to bring up her previous deal, one bone and one game. Jake again tries to persuade her with all his bones to continue, but she denies and states that she only needs one, then procedes to head over to her house. Jake decides to continue on in the tourney without her. Charlie now at her home, starts to perform a ritual, using the bone Jake had given her and some hair from Lady Rainicorn and some cards.

The scene goes back to Jake, at the tournament, facing a possible defeat from his opponents. He decides to force a draw, which will allow him to continue in the tourney, much to the audience's dismay. Jake realizes that he is still in possession of his younger self's attitude, and runs into the restroom.

Back at Charlie's home, her ritual displays herself at intervals of ten years, beginning at her 20's. Here she acknowledges her faults of youth. Her years go by being represented by her future self, Charlie ends at her 90's merging with her old and wise self. She has a sudden realization that she needs to help Jake in the tourney.

The scene goes to Jake struggling with the temptation of his twenty year old self, which he wants to rid. Charlie shows up, then forcing out Jake's immature subconscience making him mentally wiser. The two begin their battle with Grand Prix and Moniker, leading to the reigning champs coming out victorious again. Jake congratulates them, and the episode ends with him burying his "twenties."

Characters

Major Characters

Minor Characters

Mentioned and pictured

Trivia

Finn is absent in this episode.
This episode reveals why Jake gets so upset easily whenever he loses Card Wars.
This episode marks Charlie's first speaking role.
- She is also the last of Jake's kids to have English dialogue in an episode.
This episode is a sequel to the season 4 episode "Card Wars."
- This is also the first major appearance of Card Wars since the titular episode.
It is revealed that Charlie lives in one of the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. The pyramid is shown to still be in relatively good condition, suggesting Cairo may not have been targeted during The Great Mushroom War, or that this pyramid was not located near any strategic targets.
- It is also revealed that Charlie inherited her mother's ability to phase through objects, as well as her father's ability to change size.

Cultural References

The "Fat Baby King" set used to instantly win in Card Wars is similar to that of "Exodia the Forbidden One" from the Yu-Gi-Oh manga and card game.
One of the cards had a monster that looks similar to a Troll doll.
Mr. International looks similar to the Japanese cartoon character, Anpanman, with similar noses and outfits.

Episode Connections

The people Jake introduces to Charlie are the same ones who were in Jake's contacts from his old phone as seen in "My Two Favorite People."
This episode is the sequel to season 4's "Card Wars."
- In addition as a nod to the first episode, BMO still won't play Card Wars with Jake, as revealed in the titular episode.

Production Notes

This episode was previously titled "Dignified." ^[5]
In the early version of this episode, Finn was initially going to appear at the beginning, but this was cut in the final version which explains his absence. ^[6]