A bad cop in every sense of the word.
When Sprig's rare and precious Blue Moon Shell is stolen, he and Anne investigate to find the thief.
Tropes:
- Beware the Nice Ones: Gunther is awfully nice, until he gets angry and hulks out.
- Also, Toadie literally kicks Anne and Sprig to the curb when they come to him begging for shelter from Gunther.
- Crossing the Burnt Bridge: It comes as no surprise that all the frogs Sprig played bad cop to don't want to help him when Gunther is after him and Anne.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: While investigating the theft case, Sprig munches on a bag of licorice donuts.
- Gone Horribly Right: When she sees Sprig acting too nice to be a bad cop, Anne motivates him to be too aggressive to the point that he takes his role much too seriously, which includes assaulting suspects, calling them names, and destroying some of their possessions. Naturally, when Sprig and Anne try to come to them right afterwards while being hunted by Gunther, they are rejected for the way Sprig treated them.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Anne and Sprig interrogate their suspects this way, with Anne as the good cop and Sprig as the bad cop. Sprig gets too much into it and roughs up the suspects.
- Hulking Out: Gunther is a Southern tusked frog, a species that turns green and puffs up into a larger, more muscular form when angered.
- Hyperventilation Bag: Sprig uses one after having a nervous breakdown once his Blue Moon Shell is stolen.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Sprig says that only Southern Tusk Frogs change colors and transform like Gunther is, but Gunther doesn’t have tusks. Then Gunther promptly grows tusks right in front of them.
- Interrogation by Vandalism: Sprig interrogates Gunther by barging into his house and smashing his belongings.
- Irony: The shell was taken by Ivy, whom Sprig was going to give it to in the first place.
- Jerkass Ball: Combined with Gone Horribly Right. Anne way of motivating Sprig to play bad cop works too well as he violently harasses every suspect and destroys their possessions. This comes back to bite him hard as he and Anne are chased by Gunther and nobody wants to help them because of the way Sprig treated them. Giving Sprig a Jerkass Realization for his behavior.
- Jerkass Realization: Sprig has this while he and Anne are being chased by Gunther, and everyone refuses to help them because of Sprig's earlier treatment towards them.
- Letting the Air out of the Band: At the end, after finding out that Ivy was the one who actually stole the shell, an awestruck Sprig tells Anne that she also "stole his heart." He keeps his face like this while love music plays, which slowly grinds to a halt when he notices how deadpan Anne is looking at him.
- Poke the Poodle: In his first attempt at being bad cop, Sprig compliments the hair of a clerk he's interrogating, and knocks over a jar of pencils. It takes Anne's goading for him to really get aggressive and nasty.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: Crime and Punishment.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Sprig has a very cute version of this when gushing about Ivy with Anne. It takes Anne to stare at him unamused for a moment for him to snap out of it.
- Rule of Three: In Sprig’s interrogation montage, he goes to three different neighbors and knocks over their stuff: Stumpy’s cauldron, Mrs. Croaker’s grandfather clock, and Mayor Toadstool’s…Toadie.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The Blue Moon Shell wasn't stolen, actually; Ivy found it and had it cleaned before returning it.
- Shout-Out: Gunther turns into a green muscular giant when he gets angry.
- Show Within a Show: "Cop Stop" is an over-the-top Detective Drama that Anne shows to Sprig to demonstrate what a crime investigation should look like.
- Skyward Scream: Sprig does this when he realizes the blue moon shell disappeared.
- Stock "Yuck!": Sprig gets Gunther angry again by giving him licorice-flavored donuts.
