Amphibia Review: Reunion

"Spranne against the world."

--

This the moment we've all been waiting for, and it was worth the journey. More than just being the pinnacle of everything that happened over the past month, "Reunion" is Amphibia showing its dramatic potential, an entry that looks to prove the series' worth amidst its contemporaries, and in that respect, it's a massive success. This is a show demonstrating that it knows what it's doing, and demonstrating that its narrative has been building up to this point while adding new, daring elements that seek to change the game that Amphibia's worked so hard to establish, and that combination of acknowledging the old while compounding the scope and vision of the show ensures that "Reunion" is a milestone.

A lot of its success is indebted to Sasha. We've only seen her in one episode prior, though she made such a strong impression that she feels fully-realized from the start. I made her out to be nothing but an antagonistic force back then keen on manipulating her friends, but "Reunion" reveals her to be a character with a lot more dimensions than simply being exploitative: as its beginning flashback reveals, she actually does value and look after what she perceives as Anne's best interests.

Amphibia Weekly Round-up Review (feat. "Cursed!," "Fiddle Me This," "Anne of the Year," and more!)

"I'm not sure if all this was a blessing, or a curse." "It was literally a curse, Anne."

Since tomorrow's episode, "Reunion," is something that'll undoubtedly be major, I'll reserve an individual slot for it considering that I assume that there will be a lot to say about it. In the meantime, though, there's six episodes to cover, so let's just dive on in, because there's lots to discuss.

In its final stretch of episodes, Amphibia's getting more ambitious, though its occasional adherence to its own norms tends to play out to its own harm. When Amphibia tries to fiddle with new, engaging ideas, it's almost always a success, getting to demonstrate the strength of its writing, but at this point in time, it can regularly get bogged down by its own sense of regularity.

Case in point: cliffhanger ending aside, I wasn't too swung by the season's penultimate episode, "Anne of the Year." It's an episode aiming to be the culmination of Anne's time in Wartwood: she's gone from a local freak of nature to Frog of the Year, voted upon by its citizens as the resident who best exemplifies selflessness and Wartwood's values. Naturally, Mayor Toadstool disagrees and prepares for disaster in the form of the massive party that the FOTY has to plan for Wartwood, and even more naturally, Anne goes crazy over it.

Amphibia Weekly Round-up Review (feat. "Croak and Punishment," "Snow Day," "Wally and Anne," and more!)

"Wow, you've gone from Town Beast to Town Protector! Big fan of that narrative."

(Because of Disney's ridiculous "eight-episodes-a-week" scheduling, I'm trying a new way to write about the show. Hopefully it works out.)

Amphibia is clearly aware of how ambitious its narrative will ultimately become, but at the moment, it's embracing a more episodic nature, with hints of its progression occasionally coming to the forefront with some level of influence. It's a sound formula, and one that allows the writing to occupy a very specific and valuable time and place: it allows its characters to establish themselves, and gives time to flesh out the universe of the show. It's just a matter of, at this point, what more the series really needs to elaborate upon, and while this past string of episodes has been consistently fun, it feels like Amphibia tends to coasts along by virtue of its own goodwill and inherent strengths, occasionally (but not always) bringing something new to the table.

Perhaps most noticeable is how many of the past few episodes have used Sprig as a catalyst for conflict, to varied effect. Entries like "Trip to the Archives" and "Family Fishing Trip" feel somewhat on auto-pilot by taking advantage of his ability to behave poorly, and even if they're just another means of him learning some valuable lesson along the way, it's a lesson he's learned enough times that the repetitive nature of his use feels sort of disruptive. There's certainly an interesting kernel to their premises, with "Trip to the Archives" being a field trip to the town archives to ready Anne for her journey and "Family Fishing Trip" showing how Hop Pop's new relationship with Sylvia affects Sprig, but they just take advantage of his ability to be petty, which feels unflattering.

Amphibia Review: Civil Wart / Hop-Popular

"Ah, theater night. The one night a month we come together, watch our stories, and forget all our horrible, horrible troubles."

Okay, I just want to get this out of the way: it's obviously Team Alastair. His eyes sparkle like stars and the dude slays with the panflutes. I'm not falling for some phony Schwarzenegger-ass lumbersexual.

Slightly less importantly, "Civil Wart" was a great episode. While the last set of episodes left me skeptical of the show's sense of ambition when not pursuing more serious parts of its narrative, "Civil Wart" immediately assuaged me of my concerns, leaping into a particularly crazy idea with full force. In this case, after Anne shows "Love Choice," a movie where two dudes compete for the love of a girl named Constance, the town gets split into two aggressive factions rallying behind each male lead, both spearheaded by the Plantar kids—Sprig is on Team Alastair, and Polly is pro-Hunter.

Sure, it's inherently funny to watch how dramatically the feud plays out, with Wartwood devolving into a warzone with a line straight down the middle of town, and the snippets of "Love Choice" we get shown are appreciably weird in how they spoof Twilight-esque movies, but the best part of the episode is just how it illustrates Sprig and Polly's brother-sister relationship. I've consistently struggled with Polly's role in the show because I feel like she never feels genuine as a character (instead dishing out mocking commentary whenever she can), but she tends to do well when she's actually in the spotlight, and "Civil Wart" is no different, allowing her to participate in some pretty nice character work.

Amphibia Review: Grubhog Day / Hop Pop and Lock

"Don't stare into the abyss, Anne. After all, it stares back."

Following yesterday's spoils, perhaps there's some disappointment to be felt in "Grubhog Day" and "Hop Pop and Lock," two episodes that very well could've happened far earlier. They don't acknowledge the changes that "Toad Tax" afforded Anne in her place in the community, most noticeably, even though it's not a necessary factor into the episodes themselves, but that still leaves room to feel somewhat disappointed by the gesture that the show was seeming to make. Either way, today's batch isn't bad—just pleasant, if unremarkable.

"Grubhog Day" is definitely the more conventional episode, and probably one of the most straightforward yet: Hop Pop makes Sprig watch over the Grubhog, Amphibia's warped take on Groundhog Day's groundhog. In traditional fashion, though, Anne convinces Sprig of a middle ground, with them taking the creature out of its cage and celebrating a day at the fairgrounds with it. Naturally, this backfires as badly as you would expect, with the Grubhog being captured by a bird and flown away.

Amphibia Review: Toad Tax / Prison Break

"Now, who wants pill bug pancakes?" "Oh, my favorite! I've been here too long."

With Amphibia at its halfway point, I was anticipating some more legitimate development in the show's narrative; most episodes in the past, after all, have been more focused on building up the show's cast of characters through more episodic, conventional subjects without taking any bold steps towards anything greater. Luckily, today's episodes delivers on every front, bringing about a sense of real change, aiming to shift the status quo and ready the second half for some exciting changes.

"Toad Tax" will tragically go somewhat underappreciated by virtue of the episode it's paired with, though both feel incredibly seminal in their own ways. Here, the show finally tackles the townsfolk's perception of Anne in a meaningful way, something that's always been somewhat in the background but never examined in such a way as to suggest a break in the cycle. As much as I enjoyed "Breakout Star," which a lot of people didn't, even I have to admit that it played more with their perceptions of Anne for laughs without making any more poignant examinations, so "Toad Tax," in that sense, feels incredibly refreshing and exciting, taking that episode's ideas and pushing them towards a certain end.

Amphibia Review: Contagi-Anne / Family Shrub

"Wow, that's uncharacteristically generous of you."

Amphibia episodes tend to play like extended proverbs and life lessons. No matter how complex the episode, there's a basic sense of lesson-learning crucial to each of them. From the very start with a basic but cleverly-subverted message about not judging books by their cover, to "Breakout Star" teaching you to never forget where you came from, there's a sort of fortune cookie mentality, with each episode dispensing some nugget of uncomplicated wisdom on its way to the finish line. It's never to the expense of the material of the show itself, and it allows for a basic throughline of optimism that connects every episode, but at a certain point, you wonder if there's really any other mode that Amphibia can switch into.

"Contagi-Anne" is, in that respect, as straightforward in its lesson-learning as it can get. Instead of helping out her new family with protecting their crops during the worst rainstorm of the year, Anne decides to fake coming down with a bad case of the Mocha Lattes, but as a result of her refusal to lend a helping hand, all the other Plantars get legitimately sick, and it's her job to take care of them. That's a fine bit of situational irony in and of itself, but there's the extra step taken of having all of them come down with a far worse ailment: a deadly disease called Red Leg, which turns you red from legs up until you croak. (Heh, frog puns.)

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.

Amphibia Review: Anne Theft Auto / Breakout Star

"Thanks for helping me, guys." "That's what we're here for." "Not me. I'm here for the drama."

"Anne Theft Auto" and "Breakout Star" are two incredibly different beasts—even moreso than other episode pairings last week—but in spite of their differences, they form an effective pair, playing to different strengths entirely and ensuring that, when put together as a double-feature, they're all-encompassing of everything great about Amphibia at this point in time.

"Anne Theft Auto" is perhaps the more traditional of the two, focusing on Anne and Sprig on another misadventure, this time taking ol' Bessie (the Plantar family snail) for a ride without reading her instruction manual, which Hop Pop makes a requirement. Anne's reprehensibility is probably her leading trait, and it's a somewhat predictable means of driving some conflict and lesson-learning into an episode, but "Anne Theft Auto" is able to nail it because it doesn't just save those morals for some last-minute resolution out of a botched attempt to solve her mistakes as usual. When she and Sprig take her off-road, leading to Bessie retreating into her shell and effectively leaving the two trapped in the woods, there's no easy escape, and sending out Sprig to get Hop Pop and solve her problems only goes so far. (In a fun twist, one of the townsfolk that he mocked in an act of road rage earlier is his only chance of hitching a ride to Hop Pop, and he gets punished accordingly in the form of the most nightmarishly slow ride of his life.)

Amphibia Review: The Domino Effect / Taking Charge

"Welcome, brother, to the Church of Cute!" "Uhh, this a cult thing?"

For better or worse, Amphibia's very much in its first season, and while it's been advantageous on the character front, working hard to solidify each character and demonstrate their chemistry, the episodes through which they've been demonstrating their worth, for the most part, feel safe. I don't find that lack of ambition surprising, though: Amphibia is accomplishing everything that it has to with aplomb, carving out a distinct universe and tone that makes it stand out from other, like-minded shows, and leaving an impression is the earliest sign that a show's getting somewhere.

Unfortunately, though, episodes like "The Domino Effect" are a reminder that we're still in the show's first phase. As I mentioned last time, there's a formula the show's been using where an object that once seemed insignificant suddenly comes out of nowhere and saves the day, and lo and behold, Anne's toy mouse gets to hold that coveted role for this iteration, though with an unfortunate lack of unpredictability to make it at least an engaging conclusion.

Amphibia Review: Hop Luck / Stakeout

"SON OF A SLUG!"

There's a formula key to what feels like every other Amphibia episode so far: something that once seemed insignificant at the start proves to be crucial to the resolution of each narrative. In "Cane Crazy," Anne's hypnotic pen becomes a commodity to pay for reparations to Loggle's damaged shop; in "Flood, Sweat, and Tears," Anne and Sprig's pillow-fighting becomes an invaluable asset in the climactic fight sequence; and now, with "Hop Luck," Hop Pop's old-fashioned book of advice goes from a relic of the past to a vital source of life-saving advice.

Some adherence to that formula is expected, and I know why the writers are using it for now: it works. It's pacing by-the-books, ensuring that episodes make sense and have a satisfying conclusion. The issue is just that, as someone who gets really into the mechanics of plot devices and how narratives get assembled (I'm a massive writing nerd and I apologize profusely), that means that episodes like "Hop Luck" feel transparent in their lack of adventurousness. Luckily, Amphibia is such a charming and charismatic show that it never impedes on the show's ability to be fun, and Anne and the Plantars' quest to gather pizza ingredients in hopes of winning the town's annual cook-off for the first time is an enjoyable enough ride.

Amphibia Review: Cane Crazy / Flood, Sweat, and Tears

"Oh. Oh, I like this."

While the first episodes of Amphibia more firmly established the show's overarching narrative, "Cane Crazy" and "Flood, Sweat, and Tears" reel it back a little. Anne's got two months before she can embark on her journey to the mountainous edges of Amphibia, so the pair making up today's batch is more of a look into what we'll be getting in the meantime, turning out two serviceable episodes more focused on lighthearted adventures with faint beats of character development along the way. They don't aim high, but they make for satisfying entries more focused on getting us comfortable with the characters and their dynamics than adding anything more pressing into the formula, and that's alright with me.

The first of the two, "Cane Crazy," is by far the least eventful, though that's not an inherently bad thing. Both episodes suggest that Amphibia is subscribing to the "monster of the week" episode formula, but it manages to do so in a fun enough way with plenty of creativity, with Anne accidentally breaking Hop Pop's prized, family heirloom cane. Obviously, Hop Pop would be mad at discovering what she did, and she fears that he'll live up to his threats of kicking her out of his house for misbehaving, so Anne, Sprig, and Polly meet up with the local wood expert, Leopold Loggle, a fun character with some fun eccentricities in his devotion to woodworking and unfortunate speech patterns. He ends up pointing them in the direction of the Doom Tree (which turns out to be a strange tree-insect beast) where the original cane's wood comes from, and they set out to fetch a new branch to replace it.

Amphibia Review: Anne or Beast? / Best Fronds

"Guys! I just had the craziest dream where I was trapped in a world of frog pe— Oh. Right."

Amphibia is a show that I've been patiently awaiting for the past year, which is something of a rarity for me. Although I'm someone who generally likes to think that he keeps his tabs on animation, there's not a lot of projects that have filled me with as much excitement as this one.

We're in what I feel like is a very transitional era in cartoons. This is a point where it's becoming clear which shows in the past few years were the true trend-setters, and a point where animation is becoming increasingly serialized, more intent on telling a longer narrative with dramatic twists and turns that allows for deeper character investment as opposed to the zanier, episodic antics of cartoon's past. There's also been more pushes for diversity in the voices of those creating animated programming, and Amphibia is no exception. It's culled from the mind of Matt Braly, a half-Thai former storyboard artist for Gravity Falls and Steven Universe, basing the show off of his childhood experiences of visiting Bangkok.

Although the influence of the show off of his childhood is currently more subdued (it'll play more of a hand in the show as the season progresses), that sense of being a fish out of a water in a strange world is retained, and the creation of animation's first Thai-American protagonist, Anne Boonchuy (voiced by Brenda Song), is an exciting development: as a person of half-Asian descent myself, let alone also being named Matt, Amphibia had me sold from the start. It helps, too, that if the first two episodes are any indication, we're in for the start of a wonderful new show.