Recap / Adventure Time S 1 E 13 City Of Thieves

Finn and Jake wander into a city with a terrifying curse: anybody who enters the city leaves as a thief.

---

Tropes

• Always Chaotic Evil: The City of Thieves is full of crime 24/7.
• Badass Cape: Jake turns into one of these and is worn by Finn.
• Batman Parody: The section when Finn considers himself "darkened" by becoming a thief is a spot-on visual parody of Batman: The Animated Series.
• Big "NO!":
  • Finn gets one when he realizes he's been tricked into stealing.
  • Penny gets one when Finn and Jake force her to take a bath.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Penny was only pretending to be a helpless little girl who was just a victim, but was actually Evil All Along.
• Break the Cutie: Finn believes that he's Incorruptible Pure Pureness, but he ends up manipulated by Penny into becoming a thief like her, shattering his confidence.
• The Corruption: The City of Thieves will end up making all its inhabitants into thieves.
• Dead All Along: The King of Thieves died a long time ago surrounded by his treasures before Finn meets him.
• Defeat by Modesty:
  • One of the many thieves in the city is rendered helpless after he gets his ninja jammies stolen.
  • Finn suffers this at the end when Penny steals his clothes, leaving him in his underwear, socks and shoes.
• Enfant Terrible: Penny turns out to be a thief too, and went so far as to trick Finn into stealing a treasure for her.
• Foreshadowing: Penny's absurd story about how she got her flower basket stolen while in the middle of a desert starts to make sense when her true nature is revealed.
• I Warned You: The witch Finn and Jake encountered early in the episode warned them about the city of thieves, but they didn't listen as they believe their pure hearts were enough to overcome the curse. She shows up again after Finn was tricked into stealing, telling them this would happen, only for Jake to kick her away.
• Impossible Theft: At the end of the episode, Penny somehow steals Finn's clothes right off his back without him noticing.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Subverted. Finn tries to remain a noble pure hero, but he ends up corrupted thanks to the manipulation of Penny.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Whoever really stole Penny's basket is never caught.
  • Penny gets away with manipulating Finn and Jake all along and runs off after faking her change of heart before stealing Finn's clothes.
• Losing Your Head: The twin headed thief gets one of his heads stolen.
• Manipulative Bitch: Penny.
• Parental Bonus: When the ninja cloaked thief gets his cloaking jammies ripped off we can see he's wearing a chastity belt. This implies that material things aren't the only thing stolen in the city.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder:
  Finn: What have I done? What have I become?!
  Penny: You've become a thief, stupid!
• Say My Name: At the end, Finn shouts Penny's name when he realizes she managed to strip him to his underwear, socks and shoes while he wasn't looking.
• Self-Guarding Phlebotinum: The King of Thieves' tower has a barrier around it that repels all thieves.
• Shout-Out:
  • City of Thieves is the title of one of the best known Fighting Fantasy books.
  • The King of Thieves being revealed to have been Dead All Along while surrounded by his dark tower is a reference to a classic ThunderCats episode.
• What Have I Become?: Finn becomes a thief thinking he was helping a little girl.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Penny plays the victim to trick Finn into doing her bidding.
• Wretched Hive: The eponymous City of Thieves is a dingy city build on the shell of a long-dead giant tortoise, where the citizens are constantly robbing each other.