The episode was viewed by 2.096 million viewers, and received generally positive remarks from critics, although several noted that it was noticeably different from the remainder of the series, due to the show's eventual evolution.

After a party that results in Finn saving Princess Bubblegum from falling from her tower, she decides that he is worthy of reading the Enchiridion: a tome of heroic knowledge.

Believing his friend to be dead, Finn steals a giant dollar from the ogre and attacks him, hitting him in the groin.

Finn, however, makes sure to send the dollar back to the Ogre, causing Jake to call his act "righteous".

Ward, with help from Patrick McHale and Adam Muto, turned in a rough storyboard that featured Finn and an "oblivious" Princess Bubblegum going on a spaghetti-supper date.

Ward then created an early storyboard for the episode, "The Enchiridion", which was his attempt to emulate the style of the original short.

[5] The first draft of the storyboard featured Finn encountering twelve trials, which included making friends with a giant bat, dealing with a wizard gnome, and fighting skeletons.

[5][6][7] The episode originally was also supposed to have a scene featuring "this little tumor creature dancing behind these red velvet drapes that opened up in a knot in a tree."

[8] Choose Goose was originally supposed to make his appearance in this episode, offering Finn and Jake some juice.

[7] Mannish Man was based on character by Justin Hunt that was originally created for a multi-user dungeon game.

[5][7] The sequence taking place in the Evil Guy's "Brain World" was written after executive producer Derek Drymon suggested that the scene could be longer.

Grossman called it a good' episode, but noted that it possessed a sort of "cartoon physics" that the series later abandoned; he specifically highlighted the scene wherein Cinnamon Bun did a backflip and destroyed a tower.