Wartwood knows how to wage a shipping war!
When Anne exposes Wartwood to a teen romance film, the town splits on the movie's love triangle.
This episode has examples of:
- Battle Cry: Toadie's scream when he goes after Hop-Pop, escalating through the long stick to the top. Is also Played for Laughs when he screams the same quote as Hop-Pop pushes him, making him fall from the stick to the ground.Toadie: "FOR HUNTER!"
- The Beastmaster: In the Show Within a Show, Alastair has the power to command deer.
- Big Brother Instinct: Sprig jumps in front of a food barage aimed at Polly.
- Black Comedy: The theatre show is cancelled because the troupe got eaten by some predators on the way. The audience treats this more as an annoyance than a tragedy.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Anne playing a movie on Theater Night, only that Sprig and Polly share a seat together in the final half.
- Color-Coded Armies: Red for Team Hunter, blue for Team Alastair.
- Die for Our Ship: In-universe, Wartwood wants to Murder the Hypotenuse of Constance's Love Triangle.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Sprig tearing the town apart with
Ship-to-Ship Combat may be extreme, not wanting to just roll over for Polly when he always has to give her her way can be relatable. - Left Hanging: An In-Universe example. The movie ends on a cliffhanger, and the sequel is still in production (not that Anne could get it anyway), so the residents of Wartwood are left not knowing which one of the two male leads the heroine would end up choosing.
- Not So Above It All: Mayor Toadstool, who normally looks down on Wartwood's citizens, also gets involved in the civil war just like any average citizen.
- Only Sane Man: Anne and Hop Pop are the only ones to not be involved in the civil war.
- Produce Pelting: The primary form of combat between Team Hunter and Team Alastair.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The two male leads in the Show Within a Show are an example of this. Hunter is a tough, macho Cyborg, Alastair is a gentle, sentimental deer-man.
- Serious Business:
- Wartwood descends into civil war over a romantic movie. Hop Pop tells Anne that this isn't the first time they've had a Silly Reason for War, like "the Great Avocados vs. Almonds Fiasco".
- Getting hit by vegetables is treated as a major tragedy, with everyone shedding tears over Sprig's Heroic Sacrifice. In contrast, they treat the theatre troupe's actual death as a minor inconvenience.
- Ship-to-Ship Combat: In-Universe, the disagreement over whether Constance should choose Hunter or Alastair splits Wartwood into two opposing sides. Anne compares it to "an internet comment section, but IRL".
- Shout-Out: The movie Anne shows is a parody of the Twilight movies, about a Love Triangle between a muggle woman and two superpowered men. Later she shows a film titled My Dinner with Anders.
- Sibling Rivalry: Between Sprig and Polly, the former tired of the latter getting her way because she's younger.
- Silly Reason for War: The people of Wartwood are split into two warring camps over a Love Triangle in a teenage romance movie.
- Take That!: The episode takes a lot of jabs at real-life Die for Our Ship and Ship-to-Ship Combat.Sprig: I can't believe we almost killed each over a work of fiction!
Polly: I know, right?! - Taking the Bullet: When Polly is attacked with Produce Pelting, Sprig jumps in front of her to protect her.
- This Means War!: Spoken by Polly.
- The Unfavorite: This episode reveals that Hop Pop always makes Sprig give up what he wants to make Polly happy, whether it's giving up a seat at the theater or letting her win an argument. Sprig eventually puts his foot down.
- This Is My Side: The town is split between a Hunter side and an Alastair side, the border marked with a row of stones. One poor soul realizes that his home is on the wrong side and is attacked trying to cross the border.
