On a field trip to the Candy Kingdom Museum of Natural History, Finn and Jake learn about the food chain by becoming the food chain!
- Animesque: The entire episode is done in a bizarre, highly-fluid animation style, on account of being directed by Masaaki Yuasa of Kaiba fame.
- Balloon Belly: Small Bird Finn gets one after eating caterpillars.Finn: Ugh, how'd I get so mad chubs? I only ate one grub.Jake: Dude, you've been eating them for hours.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with the same shot of kids playing on a slide.
- The Eleven O'Clock Number: The "Food Chain" song closes out the episode and sums up what Finn's learned.
- Forced Transformation: Finn and Jake are transformed by the Magic Man into birds, bacteria, flowers, and caterpillars.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Caterpillar Finn decides to marry Erin a very short time after meeting her.
- Meat-O-Vision:
- Happens to Finn when he becomes a starving predatory bird and looks hungrily at Jake, who is a smaller bird.
- It also happens as the Bacteria Finns are eating the big bird's carcass, presumably as a form of Relax-o-Vision.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Finn and Jake gain the desire to eat live worms as soon as they're turned into birds by Magic Man.
- Musical Episode: Sort of. There's the bird song
note , the flower song, and of course, the food chain song. - Rotten Reincarnation: Finn and Jake are cursed by the Magic Man to experience the Food Chain of life from various perspectives and play out the Food Chain, suffering during each phase. In the end, Finn is enlightened by the experience, and sings a song that describes the circle of life as not careless, but essentially harsh and endless.
- Shout-Out: Right before his big spontaneous food chain musical number, when a movie reel starts turning in his head, Finn says "my eyes are open."
- Time Dissonance: While in flower form, Finn and Jake experience time passing by rapidly."Toooo a plaaaaant / Aaaa daaaayyy iiiisss shoooorrt..."
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Finn hocks up a mouthful of caterpillars. Twice.
- Wedding Smashers: The caterpillar wedding is interrupted when birds start eating them.
- Wingding Eyes: Caterpillar Finn gets heart eyes when he meets Erin.
