Amphibia: Thai Feud/Adventures in Catsitting

October 16, 2021 9:16 AM - Season 3, Episode 3

Thai Feud: The Plantars are guests in the Boonchuy home for now, but Sprig wants to be part of Anne's family like how Anne is part of the Plantars'. He unwisely resolves to do something about a rival food truck that's taken to parking outside the Boonchuy's restaurant. Adventures in Catsitting: It's been a week since Anne returned to Earth and her parents' house with her favorite frogs, and Hop Pop suspects they're overstaying their welcome. Desperate for him and his family to pull their weight, they volunteer to take family cat Domino to the vet.

These are the kinds of episodes that some might deride as filler, but in my book, they are both excellent stories, and make the most of the changed premise for Amphibia's final season. They really couldn't have worked the same way if we didn't already know these characters very well from two prior seasons.
Thai Feud

• It should be remembered throughout this that Sprig and Polly lost their own parents to a monster attack before the series began, which is why they're cared for by their grandfather Hop Pop.
• Sprig is overly familiar, literally, assuming that he's not just a guest in the Boonchuy residence, and is inadvertently rude to Anne's mom.
• Polly: "I for one like being waited on hand and foot. And I should know... (kicks tiny legs up on table) I have feet now!"
• Anne's mom and Anne go to the family restaurant, Thai Go, finally revealed after being mentioned way back in the first season episode Lily Pad Thai. Sprig comes along too....
• "Hop Pop! Polly! Try to research some portals or junk while we're gone!" Hop Pop: "You got it!" Polly: "So, are we watching Starzgate or Quantum Hop?"
• The rival, Ned, isn't just a competitor, he's actually a big fan of the food at Thai Go, and he's trying to push his way into the business. Sort of similar to the attitude of a certain pink frog. You don't get a good look at his shirt, but it seems like it reads "ROMANCE ACADEMY" with katakana bordering it.
• Ned: "Anne! I thought you were dead!" Almost was, repeatedly, due to being attacked by monsters. Also, she turned into a bird for one episode, got mind-controlled by mushrooms once, learned swordfighting from a criminal, and gained crazy glowing blue powers.
• Sprig: "Tough problem, huh. If someone were to solve it, your mom might consider him the son she never had...." Anne: "Sprig, stay out of this!" YEAH SPRIG, remember when you tried to bridge the initial gulf between Hop Pop and Anne? Or when you attempted to get Mrs. Croaker to like you? Or when you tried to drive off Sylvia Sundew? Or when you accused half of Wartwood of stealing your seashell? You kind of have a problem going overboard with weird schemes, little frawg. To her credit, Anne watches him out of the corner of her eye as she walks away. She suspects something's going to happen.
• A sign on Ned's truck ("Thai ^on_the Go", sneaky) says: "We accept: - Cards - Wenmo" I see what you did there, writers.
• Sprig orders the special from the truck, eats some of it as he walks away, then shouts, "Oh my frog! This food..." (pulls off his jacket, revealing his froggy body) "...it's turned me PINK!" Sadly, the other customers watching figure they might want to be pink. This begins a loud argument between Sprig and them and matters are made worse in a manner that will be familiar to watchers of many cartoons.
• "I wouldn't mind being pink! Maybe it would help me with my next Star Trip audition!" Ah, L.A.
• Sprig does something wrong, but Anne gets in trouble, because Sprig is her guest. Anne: "Just knock it off, okay?" Sprig: "Knock it off, or knock it on?" Sprig is firmly wearing the Stupid Hat this episode.
• The way Sprig climbs up the side of the food truck that night makes it seem that he'd make a pretty good ninja, with his wall-clinging hands.
• "And now to destroy an earth man's livelihood." But Anne spots him in the truck! "No Sprig! Bad Sprig!" Everything's going to be okay, surely!
• (Sprig kicks a lever, engine starts) Maybe not.
• Anne: "Okay. I've never driven a car. But I have driven Bessie. And played 900 hours of Super Wario Karts!" Ut! Don't you mean, uh, Ultra, like, BARIO Karts?
• The brakes are out! I can't help but think some of this is on Ned? Although it might explain why he doesn't move the truck, if he started it up he wouldn't be able to stop easily.
• Far be it from me to describe every gag in the runaway truck sequence, but this is a very well scripted episode generally.
• The sign for the skate park has a "Cool S" over the S in the word "Skate," a kind of sight gag that you'd see in OK K.O. BTW if you haven't seen OK K.O. you really should okay back to the episode.
• Anne remembers that Sprig has a long stretchy tongue, which is more than Sprig usually does! And it's a very strong tongue it seems!
• At the end, the episode does a good job of comparing Sprig's efforts to push himself into the Boonchuy family to those of Ned trying to elbow his way into the business. Ned, a big white human male, also realizes that he was appropriating their culture, and that he shouldn't have, which is a good thing for kids to see him realize.

Adventures in Catsitting

• While this may seem like a plain frogs-out-of-water story, it gets a lot of mileage out of its premise. It's everything I was hoping for in a Season 3 episode, and squeezes a lot of gags into its 11 minute run time, but without seeming rushed. It seems timed out very well, and there's lots of great jokes that I don't call out here.
• This story begins with KITTY CAT TIME. Domino being adorable! But where is Domino sleeping as the story opens? It's not Anne's room. It is Anne's parents' room? Where the Plantars are sleeping? There's a box with kitty ears on a nightstand. Is this... a whole room, for Domino? The ceiling is angled, implying it's the attic.
• Domino grabs a fly and eats it! It's not just a trick for frogs. But then barfs it out. Because cats.
• Still no luck on the portal info subplot. I wonder when Anne will realize that Marcy must have found out about the box somewhere, and that somewhere is probably the library?
• "We're freeloaders! Just like Cousin Stanley!" Time for a bit of Plantar family history, Cousin Stanley stayed with the Plantars some time back it seems, until they had to throw him out the window. There is a whole implied story there, that Stanley wasn't really a relative but just painted himself a Plantar-ish shade of orange. Observe, in the flashback when he's falling out the window, his skin is green, as if the family had detected his subterfuge and it had been the last straw.
• Anne's dad is a very gracious host, making little finger snacks for his guests.
• "Here's the address to the vet! If anyone suspects anything froggy about you, just say, 'Boy! I could use some coffee!' It's like code for 'I'm human.'" Anne has picked up some degree of outsider's knowledge about human beings, we see.
• Polly is given custody of the phone. "Sweet! Burner!" We see in this episode that the Plantars have picked up some level of Earth skills: they do call Mr. Boonchuy for help eventually, and they use the phone's GPS to find the vet.
• Mr. Boonchuy: "Have fun with Domino, guys!" He drives off on a moped, which, going by the opening, we may have reason to believe Anne will be driving in a future episode.
• The frogs had experience with the deadly Amphibia version of cats, with Domino 2, but it's nice to see that Earth cats can still give them problems.
• Signs spotted around town: a movie poster for "Suspicion Island 2: 2 SUS," an ad for what seems to be an album called "My Way," and establishments called Donut Dunce, Sushi Dump, Mister Washy, Slime Burger and Sherm's Shawarma. One of the bus passengers is wearing a shirt with a picture of a rabbit wearing sunglasses and the caption "Bibsy World."
• Hop Pop reveals a useful skill, the ability to mimic beep-like noises, which he uses to fake his family's way onto the bus. Sadly, he remembers he has a long sticky tongue, which gets him thrown off the bus when he uses it to grab a pole. (He shouldn't be tasting public transit poles with that anyway.)
• When they finally arrive at the vet, they're so relieved they do a little spin-in-place dance to celebrate.
• There is a pleasing variety of people in the waiting room, including a man in a turban and two people with pastel-colored hair. A woman is wandering, asking if anyone's seen her snake Bobbit. She looks a lot like a lady in the mall in the previous episode!
• Sprig spots an Earth frog held by a boy in the waiting room. "No way! Our brethren!" The two seem to connect, and there is dramatic music--
• The Plantars take the opportunity to ask the vet personal medical questions. "What would you say to an older frog who's complaining about back pain these days?"
• In their haste to get out of the vet's office, Domino slips out. Meanwhile a boy asks another person in the waiting room, "Excuse me, but have you seen my frog?"
• Hop Pop's determined not to call Mr. Boonchuy for help... so it's for the best that Sprig just went ahead and did it.
• "He said Domino would be at the nearest shawarma restaurant!" This is the kind of deep kitty cat lore that I hope we get to learn some day.
• While on the way to the shawarma place, Sprig removes the frog from the vet from his hat and sets it free. I hope it'll be okay on the streets of L.A.
• Polly uses her ball-like pollywog powers to make Domino think she's a ball of yarn, and lures her out the door of the shawarma place.
• Anne's dad, at the end, sets Hop Pop's mind at ease; for taking care of Anne for five months, he doesn't consider them freeloaders at all.
• Anne's a bit... altered, from the anesthetic from her dentist appointment. "You guys are everywhere!"
• The final shot goes, again, to Domino, who, just like a cat, sits directly in front of the camera and licks their nether regions, the end.

posted by JHarris (2 comments total)

While enjoyable, I am looking forward to the next arc episode. On the plus side, now I want some pad thai.
posted by Marticus at 2:26 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

That seems to be the next episode in which Anne and frogs rob a museum...?
posted by JHarris at 10:51 PM on October 18, 2021