Original film | I ♥ Arlo
Arlo, I think your swamp has a weed problem..
- Gordy is already a strange and off-putting character with his blank expression and Glowing Eyes of Doom, but a stand-out example of his creepiness is his very first appearance in the series, in which he shows up out of nowhere and gives both Arlo and Ansel a slit-throat gesture when the latter considers using "pumpkin" as a nickname for his son.
- "The Shedding" begins with Arlo shedding his skin, and it's...surprisingly unpleasant. He drops to his hands and feet, his eyes bulge out in opposite directions, he makes all kinds of unsettling noises, and his pale old skin peels off revealing a positively crazed expression. Of course, he's just fine afterwards, but it's still the only time Arlo's ever been this creepy.
- Arlo's shed skin is also an unsettling sight, looking like a toothless mummified version of himself. Of course everyone thought it was a ghost.
- The long line of shed skins that Edmée has mounted on her wall is nice in context, but some might find it a little creepy.
- Throughout the episodes, Edmée notices that SOMETHING is watching her. She doesn't know what, but it causes her to be on alert and booby-trap her home. We finally learn what it is in the finale, and it ain't pretty...
- Furlecia losing her mind in "Blow Out" as her workaholic habits catch up to her, deprive her of her hair (leaving her looking like what Arlo calls a giant tater tot), and cause Thao's appointment to go to Hell. Small wonder that Thao ends up screaming and leaving when she comes at her with a razor and a manic look in her eyes. It gets to the point where the former furball hallucinates her discarded sticky note as her conscience talking to her.
- In detail, its the build up and height of the stress that pushes it into being uncanny. She begins as simply losing patches of fur, concerning, but its been done in other cartoons and similar fashion (the character design stays the same with the lost hair as an added detail.) Her eyes get more bloodshot, the voice acting makes her sound like she's about to start hyperventilating, and actively pulls some hair out when Arlo explains he's been sweeping it. Then her ponytails come off like tree branches before losing All her hair to the point she looks like a potato. As she's working on one last client she squeezed in (the much abused, re-appearing Mail-lady) she actively begins losing her mind doing things like breaking a hair sink, which naturally chases the Mail-lady away. She keeps reassuring that she's fine even after all of this, and has Bertie and Arlo leave despite them both agreeing she needs time to herself. She then hallucinates her "Me Time" stickynote urging her to take a roller skating break. It's framed as a negative because of Furlicia's mindset (the stickynote talks like it's tempting her with something she shouldn't do in a "shoulder devil"-like way) but the moment she realizes she is falling apart is the moment she's able to pull out one of her teeth with no real effort.
- Marcellus' Nightmare Face in "Make a Fish", a direct lift from its inspiration in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
- "Frogday the 13th". As if the title wasn't enough of an indication, almost ALL OF IT is this. Basically, Bertie is alone at Arlo's place while a hurricane ravages Seaside. And while this goes on, Jeromio, scared by the storm, goes from the normally placid frog he is into an insanely berserk creature that wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie. Sure, he just wants some comfort from her after all, but did it really necessitate acting like a slimy demon?!
- A notable example of the above is when he goes down the stairs after turning his head to face Bertie (a whole 180 degrees, no less), while walking down like the possessed Regan from The Exorcist!
- Throughout the episode, Bertie, already unnerved by Jeromio, to begin with, starts to gradually panic more and more as the frog becomes more erratic. It gets to the point where she whips out a feather duster and starts smashing everything in a blind fury.
- A lot of it is kind of funny due to how out of character it is for almost everyone, but Bertie's bad mood in "Moody Tuesday" is basically like a Hate Plague, turning almost everyone against each other as the mood causes them to take their frustrations out on everything.
- Peggy the Kraken from "Stay Cool". At first, she seems harmless, but then she grabs Alia, the one who befriended her tentacle no less, and almost beats her into unconsciousness before assaulting the whole yacht with her tentacles as retaliation for them unintentionally waking her up. After the gang escapes, the ship is dragged beneath the water by her. To think she could have killed our heroes...
- Peggy's mere presence raises a more alarming fact. Up to now, Arlo's world was pretty standard barring the existence of anthropomorphic animals. Peggy (and the ghosts from "Swamp Itch", in all fairness) shows that this world is also one full of bonafide supernatural monsters. And as "The Uncondemning" showed, the Kraken is far from the worst of them...
- The gang getting stranded in a New York City alleyway in "Get Lost!", with just their bus and warnings of a Rat King living there. It's lessened when the Rat King turns out to be a musical writer who just so happens to control hordes of rats.
- Bertie losing her temper when the Rat King steals the bus and her notebook. Seeing her in a bad mood earlier was bad enough, but it legitimately sounds like Mary Lambert is choking on rage before storming off.
- "Just Another Night in New York", much like "Wash the Hurt Away", is a Disney Acid Sequence that's less weird and more unnerving. Throughout, Bertie is haunted by shadowy versions of herself that exist to mock and exaggerate her inability to pull herself together. Unlike its sister song, though, she pulls through.
- The old manager of Ol'Bessie spooking Arlo with his mere presence. The man warns him about everything the same way one would about a killer or a ghost (the latter of which pops out of the manual he gives Arlo warning him to not do anything stupid).
- The Ferris wheel coming off of its hinges and nearly crushing Arlo as it ravages Seaside.
- A deleted scene from "Alro"
shows that Arlo would have gone completely off the rails trying to find the package thief. As in, setting things like Ansel's hedge sculptures on fire (in front of him, no less) and destroying Alia's bus. It's a relief that it never made the cut possibly due to making him too unlikable (also, it would have defeated the joke of Arlo being an ineffectual tough guy). - "The Uncondemning" reveals who's been trailing Edmée...or rather WHAT'S been trailing her, and now has her as a prisoner. Say hello to the Bog Lady, the keeper of the Heart of the Swamp, and a huge planimal-like beast that looks like a cross between a pile of swamp grass, a crocodile, a yak, and five metric tons of megalomania.
- Her buildup is no slouch. Arlo finds that the swamp is much more cramped with plant life than he remembers, twigs and vines are inexplicably coming to life, and his old shack is filled with roots having grown through it. Ruff and Stucky, the ones he thought kidnapped Edmée, are trapped in one of the roots when they find them. As it turns out, she hired them to lure Arlo back to her.
- As they finish the conversation a line of living twig debris either hops or slithers out a nearby window with Ruff explaining that The Bog Lady is "calling them home."
- The Bog Lady's entire motivation is that she feels entitled to everything that lives in the swamp, and Arlo especially, since she made living in the swamp pleasant. The moment she has Arlo in her sights, she attempts to coerce him in a motherly tone. When Arlo rejects her, she suddenly turns a lot more hostile, launching into a Villain Song as she uses her Green Thumb to try and trap him, as well as reveal her hypnotic powers that actually seem to work for a while.
- She looks straight at the camera as she begins to assert said power, almost as if she's using it on the audience.
- Her song deserves mention. It's basically her boasting about her owning the swamp and its creatures while she starts to sound increasingly insane and her powers ensnare Arlo.I'm the one who created this whole thing.I'm the one who created this whole thing!I'm the one who created this whole thing.(Arlo is hypnotized)
- Seeing Arlo under her control is a blend of this along with tearjerker. His eyes are glazed with red and gold spirals, and actually smiles when she pulls him in for a cuddle. The second time he is seen in this state (just before the sound of Alia's voice snaps him out), he is stuck in his adversary's arms with a mind-controlled look of indecision and fear.
- Naturally, said moment above leads to the episode's ultimate Darkest Hour, with the poor alligator boy brainwashed while his home is still in peril, his friends tricked and separated, the yacht having sunken, and Edmée still trapped. If it weren't for Alia and Bertie arriving to save him, the Bog Lady would've won.
- It gets even worse when you consider her inspirations for her design. Specifically, she's based on both the Kappa, a Japanese river demon that preys on children, and the Honey Island swamp monster, a cryptid from Louisiana that's often described as a hulking plant-like creature.
- The biggest stand-out of all is just how sinister she is compared to previous antagonists. Ruff and Stucky were mean but inept, the Beast was just a big dog, Lily was just a chronic thief who saw the error in her ways, Peggy was a massive animal aggravated by disturbances, and Tony's parents ultimately loved their son enough to not cause too much harm. She on the other hand is a vicious tyrant who destroys everything that doesn't give in to her reign. And when Arlo attempts to reason with her long after she's gone One-Winged Angel and quadrupled in size to stop him, she completely disregards his words and attempts to eat everybody, and very nearly succeeds. Compared to everyone who came before her, she is a MONSTER.
- And of course, there's her death. She had it coming, but she's almost completely obliterated when Edmée sets off the bombs below her shack. The last time we saw her, she was sinking to the bottom of the swamp while pathetically whimpering.
