Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
The third season follows the fallout from Bubblegum’s return as a thirteen-year-old. Because she is too young to rule, her first creation, the Earl of Lemongrab, takes the Candy Kingdom throne and threatens its residents with imprisonment. Finn and Bubblegum try pranks to remove him, but he catches them and sends them to the dungeon. The candy citizens contribute pieces of themselves so Bubblegum can regain the biomass she needs; Finn supplies the heat of a hug, restoring her adult form. She dismisses Lemongrab and resumes the throne, while Finn’s attempt to turn their age-matched friendship into romance ends when she rejects him again. Elsewhere, a Door Lord steals the friends’ belongings. Singing together lets them recover the objects, including a shirt Marceline once gave Bubblegum, exposing the affection beneath their arguments.
That rejection drives the season finale. Finn falls into despair, and Jake decides to find him a new love interest by visiting the Fire Kingdom. He pretends to be an emissary for “Prince Finn” and asks Flame King for permission to court his daughter, Flame Princess. Jake’s performance and shapeshifting trick convince the king that Finn is brutal enough to marry his daughter, but Jake-as-Finn rejects Flame Princess’s advances and angers her. She chases Jake back to the tree fort, where Finn saves her from rain. She slaps him and warns him not to interfere again; only then does Finn say he has a crush on her.