The most recent episode clarifies this: he chickened out.

I'll pass. It seems kinda unsubtle and melodramatic.

Rick's been through a lot, sure, but he's also an abusive shithead and the show's lost whatever interest it had on calling him on it.

for what it's worth, I find Lars way more sympathetic than Rick.

for fuck's sake can you stop barging into literally every conversation about a character you don't like

Let's hear it for Lars! One of the biggest things I realized while rewatching the show with friends is that Lars is hands-down the most developed and interesting Boardie. Sure, he's not the nicest person to be around, but the show's always made it clear that he gets at least as good as he gives, and that he has other…

God, I loved this one, and it might actually be my favorite episode of the week. It's back-to-front funny in a way I don't think we've seen from a Boardie episode in a fairly long time, and it gives focus to a character and a parental relationship who we haven't seen nearly enough of. Steven and Connie are adorable,…

Yeah. I think Lars is *coded* trans, personally, but I don't think it's ever going to come out and be an actual plot point.

I like Adventure Time, but as good as Seasons 6 and 7 have been, it's inarguable that the show's been getting less consistent and having a harder time breaking three-act stories. Also, the miniseries ("Stakes" and "Elements" at least) are pretty unsatisfying and overly procedural for my taste.

I used to have a really carefully maintained list of my favorite episodes, but as the show's gone on and changed in the process it's become harder and harder to compare to itself, and I've moved to categorizing episodes by whether I have any substantive complaints with them.

Even putting aside the pointlessness of the complaints, there's something weirdly sexist about the whole concept.

One of my favorite things about this past season has been Steven being utterly no-chill about Rose.

Man, and I thought I had it rough because I was in Germany until last night and my sister was panicky and wouldn't let me illegally stream.

Yeah, that community is… pretty bad. I feel kinda awful now because I've been mildly hung up on the Peridot and Lapis relationship for a while, but hey! I can accept it! I don't get why people can't just grumble in peace.

I think that's underselling the Beach City episodes! They're not just to remind Steven "what he's fighting for" or some other generic narrative platitude. They're there because the show has interesting things to say about the characters involved, and messages about family and being a kid to tell that work outside the…

I agree, and for the first three seasons I'd clearly state my preference for the Steven-focused slice-of-life material over the heavy Gem-related drama. But this most recent season seems to be a little different: there's more slice-of-life episodes that aren't organized around a clear message, with new characters who…

I'm… not sure how I feel about that. I think the show's already introducing a few too many new characters for my taste.

While we're talking about MLP staff: do you know that Amy Keating Rogers has an 80-minute documentary about her history with Jason Bateman?

I mean, Hellen Jo left, I think Aleth Romanillos (one of the character designers) works on Star vs. now, the show's changed art directors once or twice, but I think that's it. No one else major or creatively involved.

I do like that we finally have a character who's more or less an evil version of Steven.