The Undergrowth as a concept really just ties together all of this Seasons' themes so beautifully, doesn't it?
It's the 'Nature Magic' that Huntress Wizard has always been using, but it's 'Nature Magic' in the sense that it's about the connections between everything in the natural world, and the constant transformations of nature and emotions.
It links between different universes, it hosts the collective subconscious of the entire multiverse, because no matter how much Huntress Wizard feels safer being Alone, we are all connected. And it's through these connections that she finds true strength…
And our connections also heal us, and as silly as it might seem this is what the concept of a "True Love's Kiss" is all about…
And fairy-tales might be silly and simplistic and we live in a world where 'True Love' is complicated and not always eternal and not always what we expect…
But also Fionnaworld's Heart of the Forest, the connection with the Undergrowth, is a Rosa rubiginosa, it's sort of a Briar Rose.
(I assume they didn't go with Rosa canina cause the association with dogs would make people think immediately and exclusively of Jake...)
A True Love's Kiss is all about Healing Via Connections, and this is what Huntress Wizard needed to access the Heart of the Forest and also her ultimate goal for this entire Season. She was healed by Fionna's love for her and now she'll heal Finn because she loves him.
And then also Huntress and Fionna mirror each other through the entire season, and Huntress' inability to see it is what prevents her from initially accessing the Fionnaworld Heart of the Forest…
Because we are all more similar than we expect and can find reflections of each-other in unexpected places, just like the Undergrowth's design draws parallels between the Roots of Plantae and the Veins of Animalia and the Mycelium of Fungi.
And these connections and these reflections is also why there is a symbiotic relationship between loving yourself and loving others…
And between hating yourself and hating others….
And then also the way we are all connected is another reason we should care and be considerate of everyone. The Cosmic Owl was a stranger to Fionna and Cake, but his death still revibrated with Pain that affected people they are close to.
And this is also why Huntress Wizard put in all that effort to help Russel and save the Undergrowth from Witch Wizard, and by doing that she acted like a Hero, like Finn would have. She reflected him.
And Witch Wizard herself was motivated by a lack of self-worth, afraid that she's a 'nobody' without her powers, which is yet another example of how self-hatred become real harm to others and also she is just the logical the Green Wizards' lack of appreciation of the Undergrowth's true nature. Just like Huntress Wizard herself did not understand the true power of Connections at first.
And both Huntress and Witch end up losing an eye during that fight, because we can all mirror each other, even our enemies...
And then also, because the Undergrowth collective unconsciousness of everyone in the Multiverse, it is where unprocessed pain goes when it's repressed or not dealt with. Because we have so many characters still dealing with trauma and we have been exploring all of these characters have differed from their Mainworld Counterparts because of their different experiences, because they had different 'painballs'.
While Fionna's self-loathing makes her believe that she is alone in her pain and everyone else is doing just fine, in reality everyone's pain grows together in one garden.
And the Painballs sometimes come back down even after they have been processed and ripened, because there is always a chance for progress to become regression.
But there's no shame in it, because reiterating is part of the process of transformation.
And Cake thought her stretching-abilities make her a 'freak' and set her apart from everyone else in her normal world, but transformation is another one of these universal natural concept the Undergrowth represents, and it is actually Cake's transformation that connect her to everything in the world and make her truly herself.
And the more Cake allows herself to transform the more she understands herself, and the more anyone can allow their thoughts to transform the more they can understand themselves.
And then ALSO, this entire Season has been taking place in the shadow of Finn's grief-induced recklessness and deathwish, as he just started repressing all of his pain deep down. None of his Painballs never float back up.
Which is exactly one of those things that should teach Fionna to stop comparing herself to Finn, that, like Fern did before her, she should aspire to be find out who is is, to transform herself as well.
Because what stays the same and what changes across the multiverse might not be as obvious or inevitable like you might think.
And also Finn's behavior is it's own kind of regression from the lessons he learned during the original Adventure Time.
And his grief about losing his brother is then reflected by the Cosmic Owl, who made his own deathwish come true at the hands of Huntress Wizard.
But was then given a second chance to make amends, and Fionna could see herself reflected also in that situation, realizing that her guilt isn't as important as fixing things. Because by loving herself enough to take the effort to fix things and making things right is also a manifestation of loving others because she is Connected with all of her friends and…
It's just… all tied up together so beautifully. Just like the Undergrowth in-universe ties together all the Multiverse, as a narrative device it also ties together the themes.
