tuiyla:

Long story short, this is an update of the original Bubbline guide. Keeping the original season structure because CN can choke. That being said, I’m gonna update this one last time when the series ends with the new and by that point hopefully final order.

Out of 48 episodes since “Broke His Crown”: 2 must watch, 14 recommended and 22 optional. The two must-watch episodes if you really just want those: “Ketchup” and “Marcy & Hunson”.

• Beyond the Grotto (optional):
  A guest-animated episode that is highly optional. Though versions of both Marcy and PB appear, it’s not really Bubbline, I’m only mentioning it because of the cute Marcelien song. Then again, you could always just listen to it separately.
• I Am a Sword (optional):
  I do realize that I haven’t prepared you for the Finn’s swords storyline with the original guide and this might be something I rectify when I go over the whole list again, but for now, you might wanna watch this episode so later ones make sense.
• Elemental (recommended):
  This is a sort of continuation of the “Evergreen” storyline and crucial to later episodes, especially the “Elements” miniseries.
• Five Short Tables (optional):
  Not Bubbline but in case you’re interested in Gumlee, it’s teased here. I should’ve included “Bad Little Boy” for the same reason, dammit.
• The Music Hole (recommended):
  Partly the reason why I included “I Am a Sword”. A small Bubbline scene and Marcy totally sings about PB.
• Preboot and Reboot, Two Swords, Do No Harm (optional):
  The (original) Season 7 finale and Season 8 premiere, this is mostly so you’ll understand the Fern storyline later. Up to you if you want to dig deep into it though.
• High Strangeness (optional):
  A Tree Trunks episode that has interesting revelations about PB’s plans for the future. No Marceline, sorry.
• Jelly Beans Have Power (recommended):
  Continuation of “Elemental” and a strong Bubblegum episode.
• The Invitation (recommended) Whipple the Happy Dragon, Mysterious Island, Imaginary Resources, Hide and Seek, Min and Marty, Helpers, The Light Cloud (optional)
  The “Islands” miniseries, the first episode is recommended because of a small Bubbline scene and the rest of the miniseries is just interesting on its own. Watch if you want to know more about the fate of humanity and Finn’s soul-searching.
• Orb (optional):
  The tie-in between the two miniseries, completely optional.
• Skyhooks, Bespoken For, Winter Light, Cloudy, Slime Central, Happy Warrior, Hero Heart, Skyhooks II (recommended):
  “Elements” miniseries, included not only because of the few but very cute Bubbline scenes but also because it’s important as a whole and serves as the basis for “Ketchup”.
  
• Abstract (optional):
  If you want to know how Jake deals with the aftermath of “Elements”.
• Ketchup (must watch):
  Okay, so technically Bubblegum is not even in this one, but hear me out. A large chunk of this episode is Marceline’s prequel to “Elements” and her not being to be able to deal with the thought of losing PB so it’s true shipping fuel. But the rest of the episode is super cute as well and a great one for Marcy (and BMO).
• Whispers, Three Buckets, The Wild Hunt, Always BMO Closing (optional):
  All of these are continuations of the Fern storyline as well as the introduction to Uncle Gumbald. If you just want to know the gist of it and don’t care about Fern then just watch the next one.
• Bonnibel Bubblegum (recommended):
  An exploration of Bonnibel’s past and a cameo from Marceline.
• Seventeen (recommended):
  Gumbald attacks, minor but amazing Bubbline moments.
• Marcy & Hunson (must watch):
  Again, Bonnie isn’t in it much, but some very heavy hints towards Bubbline and the reconciliation of Marceline and her dad.
• The First Investigation (optional):
  So I don’t know yet whether the whole Jake and his alien parent thing is going anywhere relevant to this but just in case, here it is. It’s most probably important to the last 8 episodes.

Let me know if I can do anything else, also if you went through the original list.

tuiyla:

UPDATE: Time Sandwhich has been added to the list, as suggested by yellowdartvoice

So all this hype made you want to watch Adventure Time, but just for the cute couple gal pals? (Or you just want to watch the show itself, in which case another guide is coming soon.) Yet you’re intimidated by the 226 episodes that have aired so far? Fear not, here’s your guide to Bubbline that includes their shared episodes as well as those that help you understand them as individual characters. I know you could just go to wikia and see what episode features both Marceline (the punk-rock vampire one) and Princess Bubblegum (the scientific pink one), but come on, you want to understand their story, don’t you? Which is why I made this guide (and it’s not procrastinating, not at all).

The episodes themselves are gonna be under the cut because, well, out of 226 I listed 71 of them. I know, I know, I was supposed to narrow it down, but most of these are optional ones that only feature one or neither of them. If you watch all of these 71 episodes then cool, you have a general understanding of Adventure Time’s most important plot points and know pretty much everything there is to know about Marceline and Bubblegum. If you don’t want to and are only here for the real action, you can find the ones to watch on this list.

Overall, there are 13 core episodes (including all of Stakes), 21 recommended and 37 optional ones (tho some are more important than others). Watching just the core episodes is not that recommended, since you will be confused during later episodes and I don’t think one can appreciate, say, Varmints, as much, but hey, you can of course just watch these.

These 13 episodes are:

• s2ep20: Go With Me
  
• s3ep10: What Was Missing
• s5ep29: Sky Witch
• s7ep2: Varmints
• s7ep6-13: all 8 episodes of Stakes (srsly, watch them all)
• s7ep27: Broke His Crown

Okay, so Go With Me is more like a prologue for Bubbline and Stakes centers around Marceline, but I’m not willing to cut these out of the core. Now, if you’re also interested in their individual character development, I have more episodes for you, some highly recommended, some entirely optional. I really do hope that even without most of the optional ones you’ll get the overall picture of this show, these characters and their relationship. The 71 episodes are the following:

Keep reading