Personally, I found "James" to be a quite interesting chapter, since it seems to be some kind of prelude for a much bigger story arc in "Adventure Time", including an eerie re-apparition of the creepy mutants from the excellent episode "Simon and Marcy".
While the new character introduced in this episode at first glance could seem as someone annoying, the crucial moment of "James" is its climax, which involves a sacrifice that has to be done in order to save the others. I think that is important to notice how Finn is more tan willing that do this sacrifice in order to save his friends (Showing once again that despite all his flaws presented in several episodes like "Frost & Fire" and "Too Old", he still hasn't lost his heroic spirit) which leads to another demonstration of Princess Bubblegum's ambiguous nature: While she certainly loves and cares deeply about her people, it also seems that she has no doubts in order to make any kind of necessary sacrifice for "the greater good" and her reasoning for saving Finn to commit a self sacrifice (According to her own words, because "she can't clone Finn") rather tan being a "Fubblegum" moment, it feels like something much more enigmatic and complex.
Finn and Jake's reaction at the end of the episode is a perfect example of how things aren't so simple as they seem in "Adventure Time": While the last scene could seem like some kind of esoteric "happy ending" there is a creepy factor that makes the two main characters to wonder if that conclusion is actually "right or wrong" (In contrast with the episodes from the first two season, where they accepted many weird events with naturalness) The little cliffhanger at the end was surprisingly unexpected and makes me to high expectations about the future episodes of this series.
While the new character introduced in this episode at first glance could seem as someone annoying, the crucial moment of "James" is its climax, which involves a sacrifice that has to be done in order to save the others. I think that is important to notice how Finn is more tan willing that do this sacrifice in order to save his friends (Showing once again that despite all his flaws presented in several episodes like "Frost & Fire" and "Too Old", he still hasn't lost his heroic spirit) which leads to another demonstration of Princess Bubblegum's ambiguous nature: While she certainly loves and cares deeply about her people, it also seems that she has no doubts in order to make any kind of necessary sacrifice for "the greater good" and her reasoning for saving Finn to commit a self sacrifice (According to her own words, because "she can't clone Finn") rather tan being a "Fubblegum" moment, it feels like something much more enigmatic and complex.
Finn and Jake's reaction at the end of the episode is a perfect example of how things aren't so simple as they seem in "Adventure Time": While the last scene could seem like some kind of esoteric "happy ending" there is a creepy factor that makes the two main characters to wonder if that conclusion is actually "right or wrong" (In contrast with the episodes from the first two season, where they accepted many weird events with naturalness) The little cliffhanger at the end was surprisingly unexpected and makes me to high expectations about the future episodes of this series.