I Remember You (Adventure Time)

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“I Remember You” is the 25th episode of Adventure Time’s fourth season. In this 11-minute story, Marceline the Vampire Queen teams up with the Ice King to write a song, and Marceline tries to help him remember who he truly is. The episode reveals that Marceline and the Ice King once knew each other about a thousand years ago after the Mushroom War. The Ice King is actually a human archaeologist named Simon Petrikov whose memory has been damaged by a magical crown.

To jog his memory, Marceline shows him pages from an old scrapbook, including a note Simon left for her long ago. A flashback tells how, after the war, a young Simon comforted Marceline in the ruined world and gave her a teddy bear named Hambo. The two sing together, and Marceline confronts the Ice King when he misreads his feelings; the moment culminates in a duet, “Remember You,” that ties their past to the present.

The episode also features several songs: “The Fry Song,” “Oh Bubblegum,” “Nuts,” and “Remember You.” Rebecca Sugar wrote all four songs (Sugar also wrote the lyrics for all but “Oh Bubblegum,” which she co-wrote with Cole Sanchez). The music and emotional story explore memory, identity, and loss, helping explain the Ice King’s condition and Marceline’s history.

“I Remember You” aired on October 15, 2012, and was later re-broadcast as a half-hour special with “Simon & Marcy” on March 25, 2013. It received widespread critical acclaim for its depth and handling of mental illness and memory, and it drew about 2.5 million viewers. The episode was directed by Larry Leichliter, with Adam Muto as creative director and Nick Jennings as art director; the story was by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and Pendleton Ward, with Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar as writers. The music played a key role in bringing Marceline and the Ice King’s shared history to life.