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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Amphibia Weekly Reviews: Thai Feud/Adventures in Catsitting

Hello all you hoppy people! And welcome back to my weekly coverage of Amphibia. As usual time for a quick recap of what’s happened since the last week before we jump into the full reivew with spoilers under the cut.

So.. nothing Amphibia related..... I saw Let There Be Carnage, which was insane and sloppy as it was fun, and finally started the Fear Street Trilogy. Chucky started airing but I haven’t got around starting it. So basically as far as your concerned...

So feel free to join me under the cut wontcha as Sprig tries to get a mom by stealing a truck, we’re blessed with the gift of Wayne Knight, and the Plantars throw someone out a window, try to take a cat to the vet and adopt a possum. All this and more under the cut!

Thai Feud:

It’s time for something we all knew was coming and knew would hurt when it did: the “Sprig wants Anne’s parents to be his parents” episode.

It’s breakfast times and the Plantars have settled in nicely, with the Boonchuy’s treating them as welcome guests now they’ve fully accepted the situation and the Plantars are no longer nearly dying every five minutes so things are good. For about five minutes before sprig storms in, riffles through the fridge and is generally a nusance. Sprig is under the mistake impression he’s family to the Boonchuys, something that crushes him when Anne has to break it to him he isn’t. And it DOES make sense: The Boonchuy’s have accepted the situatioun, accepted what happened with Anne wasn’t their fault, and are more than happy to welcome them with all they’ve done, something we’ll get into more in a minute with the next episode. But you simply don’t become family to someone overnight. It takes time, in the real world and in this very show. Anne wasn’t a Plantar from minute one, she was a guest, accepted by Hop Pop out of circumstance and her noble actions much like Hop Pop himself now is with the Plantars. It took time, hard work, and a LOT of episodes for Anne to go from barely wanted guest, to welcome farmhand, to one of the family. The Boonchuy’s will likely see them as full family eventually, and already probably do at least a LITTLE, but it’s going to take said time for them to actually get to know the plantars.

Naturally though Sprig isn’t willing to wait and isn’t taking it well either. He wants what Anne has: a set of parents, something he’s never really gotten to have, his own dying when he was young and his memories of them slowly fading. It’s understandable why he DOSEN’T want to wait on this and does the rash and impulsive shit he does this episode: he just wants a mom and the Boonchuy’s, mostly Mrs. Boonchuy, keeping him at arms length as he joins them for the day at the resteraunt is crushing for him. Hop Pop and Polly, who stayed behind to watch this world’s version of Quantum Leap, fair enough, have no real need for it: Hop Pop had many wonderful years with his son or daughter before they and their spouse got ate and has their kids to fill the void inside, while Polly is young enough the need for parents hasn’t really hit her like a truck yet, and she’s satisfied with hop pop. Their good.

Opportunity knocks though.. or rather barges in as we meet the Boonchuy’s best customer. Ned! Why am I celebrating? Simple, he’s played by Wayne Knight!

Wayne has had a long, storied career in both live acting and voice acting and is generally just awesome. He’s done tons of work for Disney and elsewhere, and is always a treat when he shows up, so having him show up here as Ned was an utterly delightful suprise, especially since I don’t remember his name being announced in the “what’s coming to disney channel” thing released last month like most guest stars. Not upset or anything though as it let this be a VERY nice suprise to suddenly here his wonderful voice

So Ned is the restraunt’s best customer. He also blatantly says he thought Anne was dead, which kind of explains why Mrs. Boonchuy is annoyed by him a bit. The rest of the explanation is that Ned wants to do a food truck for the business, but Mrs. B understandably wants to keep the recipes in the family... and that Ned being as tone deaf as you’ve probably figured by now, has parked his food truck right outside the restraunt, creating tons of confusion since i’ts mocked up to be for the Boonchuy’s Restraunt.

Where most would see an annoying clueless white guy they can’t legally remove, Sprig sees an opportunity to get adopted. So he tries some sabotage by taking some take out then having an over reactoin.. that in classic sitcom logic, instead backfires horribly and results in Sprig just calling everyone morons and getting dragged inside. In a bit that does frustrate me ANNE gets punished for this, as he’s her guest.. even though she told him not to, can’t watch him every second and most glaringly HE HAS A PARENT. Hop Pop is back at the house. Just send him home and let Hop Pop deal with him. He’d understand. I get not wanting to overstep her boundires as a parent or as their host, but come on.

That said Anne’s handling of things.. makes more sense: She’s mad at sprig for her mom suddenly running on Goosebumps Parent Logic, but she outright says she gets WHY he’s doing this.. she just dosen’t want him to keep doing this shit and getting her in trouble which is fair.

So natural sprig’s next course of action is obvious...

But he dosen’t have a gun or his slingshot so he ops to just carjack Bruce by luring him out of the car with a note to talk to Mrs. Boonchuy. That cunning son of a bitch. Anne spots this and not wanting to get banished to the attic where they keep the living dummies and such, goes after Sprig. Sprig ends up starting the car and Mrs. Boonchuy notices.

Cue a rather awesome car sequence as we get too many great gags to mention and the truck FUCKING RAIL GRINDING. Should this be possible? Nope. Does what’s possible matter in a talking frog cartoon. NOPE! God that was cool. Our heroes successfully land.. and find an incredibly pissed off Mrs. Boonchuy and a confused Ned who thinks Mrs. Boonchuy is kinda nuts for having him car jacked. Sprig takes full responsibility and admits he just wanted to be family and what not and throughly apologizes, while Mrs. B apologizes too, realizing that she was probably a bit hard on the kid who clearly just wants a mom and that he DOES mean a lot to Anne. Also she should stop Goosebumping her kids but she should've known that already. Ned breaks down over this realizing that’s just what he wanted to, to be part of the family and the restraunt and that instead he partook in cultural apporiative baffonery. Taking pity on this sad shell of a man, which could really describe about 50% of my life, she offers him a job as delivery driver, he accepts, and their cool. Once he’s gone Mrs. Boonchuy dosen’t let sprig off easily, laying into him for his bullcrap. Just because he had sympathetic motives .. dosen’t mean he still didn’t do a grand theft auto or nearly get her daughter hurt. He hugs her, realizing he’s now family because she scolded him and as for Mrs. Boonchuy...

Thai Fued was excellent. Other than the questionable parenting, it’s a solid ep that gives Sprig more character work, following up from the reveals about his parents last season, and has some really good gags. And Ned is a delightful addition to the cast, a loveable doofus who clearly dosen’t realize he was a fucking idiot and just wants to be loved. Given that description also applies to me most of the time, you can kinda see why I like the guy Wayne Knight or no.

Adventures in Catsitting:

It’s another day as the Plantars enjoy lounging in the Boonchuy’s back yard, being waited on by Mr. Boonchuy (Please show name them already this is really awkward and if your going ot cater to someone cater to the fat jackass on the internet who constantly roasts you for your poor decisions), and enjoying their day. Anne’s trying to find interdimensonal travel in science mags but can’t find bupkis. What are they doing really?

.... oh well fair. God I wish we had a cure for Diarrehea. I mean world hunger too obviously, but that’s a bigger, far more thorny issue that also involves a LOT of big companies that wouldn’t want hunger to be cured. Diarrehea also funds some industries, but they could simply move to selling the cure or get paid off or thrown in a ditch.

Hop Pop tells the kids to enjoy things now as their in the phase of being guests where their fine and welcome and get to just relax. When they pass three days then it’ll be an issue. Polly then informs Hop Pop i’ts been a week which timeline wise tracks perfectly. Nice on the show for keeping a far easier to track timeline this season than the past two. I’m also fairly certain if I did the hard work and tried to map the season 1 and 2 timeline it’d also bear out just fine, I just don’t have time for that.. though I probably will try it if someone dosen’t beat me too it. And if someone already has, please tell me I want to sees it.

Hop Panic insues as HP dosen’t want to be seen as a freeloader like Cousin Fred. After the kids gasp collectively, Anne and the audience get filled in on who Fred is. He was a relative of the plantars who moved in, wouldn’t leave, used Polly’s bucket for a foot bath, and may not have even been a plantar to begin with..

On the bright side they have their own paint color. I miss mine but they discontinued Pasty Goblin. It is a nice subtle bit of lore building as it means Sprig and Polly’s pink colors come from their non plantar parent. And said parent is likely the descendant of Andrias’ frog former friend who looked an awful lot like sprig. The plot thickens.

The Plantars grew to resent and resent the guy, being nice because hospitality... until eventually throwing him out a window , as he deserved. Now Hop Pop’s worried the Boonchuy’s have worse in mind for him. One can only imagine.

Opprtunity soon knocks though. Mrs. B is taking Anne to the dentist as she’s been gone 5 months, hasn’t brushed and has eaten a LOT of insects. As someone who has to go to the dentist on a regular basis as i’ve been having cavity’s filled, I understand her fear. Problem is she was going to take Domino to the vet, and Mr. B has to go run the restraunt. So Hop Pop gladly volunteers to take them, something they gladly trust our heroes with, with Mr. B giving them an old non-smart cellphone to call him on just in case. It’s nice character progression: they’ve accepted the plantars and now all three trust them enough to go out on their own without getting killed.

So phase one is getting the cat in the carrier. Which as you’d expect... ends in bloodshed and our heroes barely surviving the carnage. Our heroes then get on the bus, with Hop Pop faking the card read thing that busses apparently have now because my town dosen’t have public transit because why should I have nice things. Unfortunately Hop Pop ends up licking everyone.

So their thrown off. So you CAN’T lick someone on a public bus anymore. Huh, what a changing world. So our heroes are forced to make the long ardious treck there dealing with e-scoots, sidewalks and herons, which while not giant, are still the dicks of the sky and thus one bites sprig.

Our heroes make it to the Vet, singed but triumphant, freaked out by all the animals. Sprig is mesmerized by meeting an earth frog while hop pop...

Nearly has his face devoured by spuds mckenzie.

Side note I have a dog JUST like that on my desk now that I got yesterday, down tot he collar. but he’s a good boy. He only eats faces when I tell him to, like a proper dog. Remember kids, train your dogs to eat faces only on command. Be responsible as a pet owner.

So our heroes take Domino in and the visit is fine, she’s normal for a cat: coat’s a good color, dazed expression, dank stygian void where her heart should be. Usual kitty things. After badgering the Vet with frog questions, which is just amazing, our heroes run out.. and accidently leave the kitty. Naturally they don’t notice this for a bit and when they do Sprig tries to do the sensible thing and call Mr. B for help but Hop Pop, afraid of being a freeloader shuts that shit down on sight. However the hunt on their own dosen’t go well: they can’t find the kitty, thougH Polly does find a possum to bring to it’s new forever home.. in the Bonchuy’s trash. Awwww. Despite being told to drop it later (”But it’s face is locked in a horrifying smile!”) i’m convinced she just later snuck out, came back for it and it now lives, again in it’s new home in the garbage, forever more.

Eventually though it’s clear they can’t find the cat and with Hop Pop not being resonable, the kids have to be and stuff him in the cat carrier while they call Mr. B. He gladly tells them where to find her, anywhere with Schwarma it’s her faviorite, and Hop Pop now wants to rescue her before Mr. B comes to pick them up.

They find the kitty eating on a giant meat, and unlike Scooby doo she’s both not shooed away and dosen’t have to go on to star in Scoob!. So in other words she lives a good life, but since the owner wants to keep her for publicity health violations be dammned, our heroes have to clear the place out. Thankfully Hop Pop can immitate an alarm, we get a good karen joke, and everyone clears out, with Polly going into spin and win mode, using a thread on her coat as string to lure domino out. Our heroes when and Mr. B gets them out of there before the Firefighters arrive.

We get an incredibly nice moment on the drive home where Hop Pop genuinely thanks Mr. B for his help and admits he didn’t want to be a burdern or make them feel like he wasn’t pulling his weight. Mr. B explains that they already have and wil lnever be a burden: When his daughter was lost in a strange, dangerous world they took her in, gave her a home and protected her. They could never impose after all they’ve done. I like this because it’s growth: at first it was clear the Boonchuy’s saw the plantars more as a reason their daughter got taken away than as the people who made her a better person and kept her safe. But with a week to process, to see what Anne’s become and to get to know them... they now accept the truth: These are good honest people who helped their daughter and kept her alive so she COUDL get home in the first place. Their family. And they deserve their help and home. It’s incredibly sweet.

At home Anne comes home having had 8 cavities and some cricket legs removed, and is naturally high as balls. Sensing the opportunity to go have married sex while wearing spider-man and venom masks, the Boonchuy’s have the plantar’s watch anne and we end with Domino back in his happy place.. knocking shit over.

This episode was fun. It wasn’t the deepest aside from that one scene, but it was packed full of amazing jokes, was incredibly well paced, and just in general was a joy to watch. Together both episodes help show why this is on track to be the best season of the show period: it combines the show’s deft character work and continuity with it’s slice of life feel. Unlike the last two seasons, every episode so far has felt important and touches on some new aspect of the new status quo. In sharp contrast to the start of last season i’m not twiddling my thumbs waiting for the plot to pick back up as we get random retreads with only one or two clever episodes, but instead enjoying every moment And that’s how a show like this SHOULD function: allow their to be downtime to simply enjoy the new status quo and have fun with it, but still feeling necessary and enjoyable. The show is at it’s best and I can only see it climbing higher as the season goes on. And hope to god those words don’t backfire horribly

Next Week: The Plantars do a crime and visit a holy place. Thankfully not at the same time.

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