Amphibia Review: Dating Season / Anne vs. Wild

"Alright, boy, go get that lucrative business relationship!... I mean... romantic relationship! Saved it."

"Dating Season" and "Anne vs. Wild" are, generally speaking, more traditional episodes of the show, but they're both looking to shake up the status quo in interesting ways, with the former seeking to expand upon the show on a more developmental level with its characters, and the latter taking the show's most explicitly narrative-driven stride yet. They're nothing too grand on their own, but they're the stepping stones to greater things, and suggest that, sooner or later, this season is gonna experience some pretty serious shifts, and the story lurching in the background of the show is preparing to jump out into the forefront.

"Dating Season" is, by far, the more simple of the two. While most previous episodes of the show have put Anne in the spotlight, "Dating Season" decidedly puts Sprig first, and it's an exciting idea for the show to get behind, allowing him to really prove his worth as a character independent of the others. He does a great job, too; the episode cleverly casts almost every other character against him in their encouragement that he pursue his friend, Ivy, but after giving some traditional courtship the good old college try, he decides he's miserable and flees into the forest with her to hang out like a couple of buddies and watch some fireflies.

Having the episode's other characters so aggressively push for courtship, too, allows a truly unexpected character to really step up their game and play an active role in the episode: Polly. I've written about the issues I've had with her in the past, feeling that her purpose as comic relief can be two-dimensional and somewhat distracting, but continuing off of her hot streak from "Girl Time," she actually gets to play an exciting role besides giving snarky commentary by calling out how idiotically everyone is acting: Hop Pop and Ivy's mother are interested in their relationship strictly from an entrepreneurial standpoint, which blinds them from seeing how uncomfortable their kids are, and Anne leans so hard into meaningless teen magazine statistical glib that she makes Sprig unsure of what he even wants. Somehow, of all of the roles she could've been given, Polly's found her best deployment yet as the voice of moral reason, which is a twist I would've never seen coming.

While Ivy isn't super well-established yet, she and Sprig have a solid camaraderie that's begging for fan speculation, and Sprig ending the episode by realizing he's suddenly, legitimately in love with her isn't half-bad either. All I'm saying is that, yes, I'm undeniably glad that Amphibia's making an effort to deter anyone from shipping Anne and Sprig together (seriously), but Ivy's a promising new member to the show's supporting cast, and there's a lot of great episodes to be mined out of their little romance, especially with his marriage pact with Maddie complicating things. (She was, sadly, absent from the episode, though that skull ring she gave Sprig made for "Dating Season's" best cutaway gag.)

"A frog can really hear themselves think out here. (Did you leave the stove on? The front door unlocked? WILL YOU DIE ALONE?!) Well, that was a mistake."

Of course, the dating angle that "Dating Season" brings to the show is immediately overshadowed by the ending to "Anne vs. Wild," where after a nightmarish camping experience, Anne finally feels ready to show the Plantars the chest that transported her to Amphibia. It's the first time since the series premiere that the show's made serious reference to Anne's quest to return home, and the cliffhanger of Hop Pop recognizing the object as a dangerous possession of mythical proportions, the Calamity Box, is an exciting wrinkle to the ongoing narrative. What does it mean, exactly? Well, We'll find out soon, but I'm undeniably excited to see what sort of major role this new development play going forward.

The rest of "Anne vs. Wild," though, is pretty traditional fare. Granted, its more straightforward appearance allows for the ending to land as a complete surprise, but after a string of episodes that were more interested in character development, it's sort of a few steps back here, laying out another episode that, more than less, follows the well-beaten path that Amphibia's come to master. Once again, there's a boomerang effect, with a seemingly random item introduced at the start of the episode—Anne's Peony Princess bath bomb—saving the gang from being attacked by a band of muddy cannibals, but "Anne vs. Wild" at least follows that predictable plot point with class and attention to detail.

If anything, that's where I think that the past two episodes have really succeeded: there are little jokes here and there that just exist because they can, and which allow the world of Amphibia to feel like more than just scenery. Little beats like, in "Dating Season," Anne hitting her head against a string of jar lanterns walking with Sprig or Ivy's mother shaking Hop Pop's hand with a handkerchief, or in this episode, where Anne pulls off the bath bomb tag with her mouth like a grenade pin, add quick flashes of inspiration that keep you engaged in Amphibia's general silliness. I doubt anyone else will really care about the small things like that, but they help give the show even more of a creative edge.

Ultimately, while "Anne vs. Wild" isn't full of a lot of surprises (at least not until the end), there's enough going on that it never risks losing your interest, and with a twist ending as exciting as what we got, how could you possibly be disappointed?

FINAL GRADES:
"Dating Season": B+.
"Anne vs. Wild": B.

As for the last two episodes I didn't review, just some quick thoughts: I liked "Sprig vs. Hop Pop." Even if it wasn't anything too special, it was unrelentingly fun, and I like how both Sprig and Hop Pop grow as characters in the process. "Girl Time" worked, too, because of how much it put Polly in the spotlight and actually gave her more of a place in the show. Plus, there's a nice message in there about being yourself that comes across as legitimately sincere, even in spite of the fact that it's drawn from an episode about world-record spitting. B+/B+.

For the last set of Amphibia reviews for "Anne Theft Auto" and "Breakout Star," CLICK HERE.

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