Amphibia: Toad Tax

August 14, 2021 2:22 AM - Season 1, Episode 19

Over a month after her arrival, Anne is still made fun of and called "Scarecrow" by Wartwood's residents. But then a small band of toads arrives from Toad Tower to punish folk who haven't paid taxes, and Anne joins them to try to earn some respect from the townsfolk.

• This is the first episode to use an abbreviated opening, little more than a title card and music sting. It is worth noting, behind the title in this episode and others is an image of a stone relief, which appears to be of three humanoid figures facing off against a big frog monster. Ominous....
• No one almost dies, but Anne does have her arm injured at the end, and may have sustained much greater injury if Sprig hadn't intervened.
• Anne likes beetle jerky! She is developing into an insectivore. Also, about pillbug pancakes: "Ooh, my favorite! ...I've been here too long."
• Revealed is one of the show's best running gags, Wartwood's town motto: "Slow to accept, even slower to respect."
• Anne's developed a bond with Bessie it seems after Anne Theft Auto.
• The toads' names are Bog (the leader), Mire (the one in the armor and helmet) and Fen (the one Anne hits with the racket). It is worth going over what we see about the political structure of the races of Amphibia throughout the show. The Frogs seem to be agricultural folk for the most part. The Toads are mostly the Amphibia military, enforcers, and mid-level rulers. They are beneath the Newts, who mostly live in the capital of Amphibia, Newtopia, led by the giant newt King Andrias Leviathan, who we don't meet until Season Two. The rest of Amphibia royalty also seem to be newts. While overall a monarchy, town (well, valley) level mayorship is democratically-elected, and while Wartwood's mayor is a toad (Maire Toadstool), it could conceivably be a frog, although apparently the mayor still reports to the toads and delivers taxes to them. Take note: while Andrias' rule of Amphibia is depicted as benevolent on the surface, the means of tax collection is harsh. "The law is the law, Anne."
• Bog hands Anne a sword, a fateful gift.
• HP: "Uh, boy, what are you doin'?" Sprig: "I have a bad feeling about this, so I'm going to follow Anne and watch over her!" HP: "That's all well and good, but could you at least use the front door?" Sprig: "....NO." (climbs up wall, exits window from top)
• We see Wally's house, which is very Wally. Inside there's a number of lutes, an accordion, a book, a rolled-up banner on the wall, a big bottle with a plant sprout growing in it, some bug chickens, and a bathtub (containing Wally).
• At each stop the toads steal most of a resident's belongings, but Anne, feeling guilty about her role, hands back one of the items taken: Wally's bag of beetle jerky, Felicia's mug, Loggle's wooden cane and Mrs. Croaker's pet bed.
• When Sprig looks through binoculars, realistic frog eyes are shown magnified in the lenses.
• I mean, it isn't important that Toadstool keeps the stolen taxes in the statue's butt, but it is funny.
• "You get your hands off that snail. Better yet... get off our property!" (lightning flashes, rainfall begins) Anne's actions don't just advance the story, they are a genuinely heroic act. They make an enemy of Bog. Fen: "So, are we going to tell the captain about that creature we found?" Bog: "Oh we're gonna tell the captain EVERYTHING...." Stay tuned.
• From the backpack: tennis racket (dual wielded with sword)

posted by JHarris