Finn confronts the power behind Founders Island, but will he ever return home to Ooo?
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation:
- During their goodbye, Finn asks Minerva if she is fully herself after uploading her brain. Minerva says she doesn't really know, but feels like she is, and hopes that's good enough.
- Susan and Frieda give off much, much heavier Homoerotic Subtext than we see with even Bubblegum and Marceline, especially in the way they part with Finn and Jake.
- Bittersweet Ending: Everyone who wants to leave the Island gets to and Finn goes out on good terms with his mother, but since Ooo is so far away and she can't leave, they won't be able to see each other very much.
- Body Uploading: Minerva advises Finn to move his body onto the same network she put herself on so he'll never be in danger again. When Finn starts to get people who want to leave with him, she decides to cover the Islands in a Light Cloud that will forcibly upload everyone onto the network. Finn talks her out of it.
- Breast Attack: When Finn fails to get a crowd's attention, Jake gives him a titty twister, Finn Screams Like a Little Girl, and everyone looks.
- But Now I Must Go: After staying for some time on the Island, Finn, Jake, and BMO take the boat out while Frieda and Kara/Susan ride off elsewhere together in their craft.
- Continuity Nod: Finn isn't hurt from the sparks flying inside the Guardian because he's still immune to to electricity since "Flute Spell".
- Cross-Referenced Titles: The title references "The Dark Cloud", the last episode of the previous miniseries Stakes.
- Danger Room Cold Open: The episode seems to open skipping straight to Finn and Jake leaving Founders Island, despite the previous episode's cliffhanger. Then the guardian shows up and kills them both. Zoom out to show this is all a simulation Minerva is showing Finn to prove he shouldn't try to leave.
- Didn't Think This Through: Finn showing his mother a Clip Show of his chaotic/dangerous life very obviously just makes her want to protect him even more.
- Dissonant Serenity: Minerva is disturbingly upbeat in explaining, and showing, her son that he'll die if he tries to leave.
- Easily Forgiven: Played with; Frieda immediately forgives Kara for getting her caught, because she now thinks it was the right thing to do. Kara finds this quite disconcerting, as it means Frieda threw away everything she believed in and is repressing her negative emotions.Kara: Don't you remember you dreams of exploration?
Frieda: If I remember... I might get angry.
Kara: You should be angry—at me.
Frieda: (dispassionately) Nah. I'm over it. - Exposition Beam: Finn twice sticks his (flesh) hand into an Unusual User Interface to show his mother his life experiences, shown to the audience as a Fully Automatic Clip Show of his life's dangers and then heroism.
- Heroic Lineage: It turns out that, even without ever knowing, Finn followed in his mother's footsteps of helping people.
- Hourglass Plot: When Kara and Frieda were children, Kara happily bought into the Founders' plan for everyone, while Frieda was disdainful of it and wished to escape. Since Kara left the island, Frieda's given up ever wanting to leave despite Kara's encouragement otherwise.
- If My Calculations Are Correct:Minerva: By my calculations, you stand a .00001% of making it past the guardian.
- Irony: Minerva was emotionally devastated by losing Finn, a situation she thinks was Martin's doing that put their son in danger. In trying to perform Body Uploading on Finn in an attempt to keep him safe she is doing exactly what she believed Martin to have done.
- Liberty Over Prosperity: Subverted. Even though they were interested in the outside world, it turns out most of the Islands' inhabitants won't put priorities on exploring the outside by leaving, at least not immediately - they still have things to finish in their current lives. This isn't portrayed as bad; the important thing is that they're given the option.Minerva: You can't teach a fish to dance overnight, son.
- Light Is Not Good: The eponymous light cloud forcibly uploads people's consciousness into the network.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: After the climax of the episode, where Finn convinces his mother to let him go, they still have the issue of getting past the Colossus. With assistance from Frieda's hologram, they plug Minerva into it so she can shut it down for good.
- Put on a Bus: Kara/Susan Strong departs with Frieda in a transport to explore the world, effectively writing her out of the series.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder:Finn: You think the outside world is scary. Well, you know what's really scary?
Bystander 1: Bees!
Bystander 2: Germs!
Bystander 3: Frogs!
Bystander 4: Crowds!
(the last bystander looks around and shrinks away in a panic) - Screams Like a Little Girl: Finn, naturally. Amusingly invoked by Jake, who makes Finn scream to get the crowd's attention.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Kara/Susan asks Frieda why she gave up on trying to leave.Frieda: I grew up, and learned to accept the Founders' truth.
- Single Tear: As Finn uses the VR helmet to experience bidding his mother farewell in person, one tear can be seen going down his face.
- Stopped Reading Too Soon: Or rather stopped listening.Finn: (addressing a crowd) I know y'all like living on this tiny island 'cause it's safe and chill. But you don't have to live like this.
(crowd starts to disperse; one voice can be heard saying "Alright, thank you.") - Talking the Monster to Death: When Minerva insists she helps people, Finn uses his memory to show her that he does too.Minerva: Finn, you—you grew up to be a helper, too?
(Finn nods in agreement)
Minerva: If your world taught you to behave like that, maybe it's not all bad. - Take Me Instead: Finn thinks Minerva is only trying to put everyone on the brain frame so he will stay, so he offers to join her voluntarily if she'll spare everyone else.
- Time Skip: After Finn convinces his mother to let him go, he decides he can stay for a while and we skip forward an indeterminate amount of time to him leaving.
- Wrong Restaurant: One person keeps trying to order soup at Frieda's toy store.
