Amphibians are not the brightest creatures there are, so maybe they get a pass — but how come Anne doesn't seem to know better?
"Best Fronds":
- Anne and Sprig sneak out of his grandfather's house to swim in the nearby lake, since Anne has been feeling homesick. Sprig notices a sign up saying "Don't Swim" that he observes was written in a hurry. He warns Anne that the sign must be up there for a reason.
You'd Expect: Anne would take a moment to think about this. She barely survived several days alone in the Amphibia wilderness, with its giant creatures. If she still wants to swim, they could compromise: just wade by the shore and run at the first sign of trouble.
Instead: She guilts Sprig into jumping in with her by saying that best friends do whatever their friends want them to, reflecting how her friends Sasha and Marcy pressured her into stealing the music box from the thrift store that transported her to Amphibia.
Predictably: The reason for the sign becomes clear. Anne sees a giant sea serpent trying to eat Sprig, and they can't outswim it because her human limbs aren't built for water agility. Sprig nearly dies by diving into its mouth and feeding it Hop Pop's death peppers, which buys them enough time for them to hightail it back to the house. Afterward, Anne apologizes to Sprig for nearly getting him killed.
"Hop Luck":
- The Plantar Family loses the mandatory town potluck competition every year because Hop Pop's family recipes are terrible. Anne insists they make pizza instead, with four ingredients: dough, cheese, basil and tomatoes. Most of this is relatively easy to acquire, but the tomatoes in this world eat you.
You'd Expect: Hop Pop would explain the last part to Anne. They can still make a delicious pizza with cheese and basil.
You'd Also Expect: They would leave the ingredients at home.
Instead: The family just says vegetables are dangerous. Anne laughs and carries the precious ingredients in a satchel when getting the tomatoes.
The Result: The tomato plant eats them and digests the ingredients, and the family has to eat their way out. All they have to show for their effort is raw tomato. - Following this, Anne is lamenting that they only have tomatoes, but they do have Hop Pop's book.
You'd Expect: They would make a tomato sauce with bugs to dip in, and make the tomatoes the primary focus. Or make tomato soup. You can't mess up tomato soup as long as you add enough spices!
Instead: The Plantars choose to fall back on Hop Pop's recipes to enter the competition. The main difference is they add some tomato.
Predictably: They still come in last. Anne at least chooses to go into the cage so that her favorite frog family isn't hanging out there alone.
"The Domino Effect":
Anne misses her cat, Domino, and coincidentally runs into a caterpillar that looks eerily similar to her. She's worried that Hop Pop will object to her having a pet after she tries to broach the subject and he says "no".You'd Expect: Anne would remember that Amphibia is a Death World where even the tomato plants will eat you if given the chance. She may as well come clean to Hop Pop to make sure that she isn't getting attached to yet another animal that would eat her when it's bigger.
Instead: Anne and Sprig smuggle Domino II into the house and hide her from Hop Pop.
The Result: Predictably, Domino II turns out to be a butterfly that feasts on frogs. As Anne realizes, Hop Pop could have told her that she was about to endanger all of them. A heartbroken Anne has to let Domino II go back to the wild, though she is touched when Sprig makes a figurine of her that she can snuggle with.
"Taking Charge":
- Anne shares her favorite TV show with the Plantars. Overnight, however, someone watches the show and kills her phone battery. The Plantars all suspect each other; it's eventually revealed that Hop Pop was the one who watched it because he didn't know about the phone battery.
You'd Expect: He would have admitted it earlier when Sprig and Polly accuse each other and him respectively.
Instead: He joins in on pointing fingers as they make a dangerous trek to get electricity.
The Result: All the kids come to blows, which nearly gets everyone killed. Hop Pop finally comes clean and redeems himself by diving into Zappapedes with the phone to recharge it. - During this, Hop Pop warns everyone when crossing a rope bridge, saying it may not carry their combined weight and telling them not to make sudden movements.
You'd Expect: Everyone would go one at a time and wait for the person in front to reach the other side. That way, the bridge will likely not snap, and there won't be a chance to plot with Anne against whoever watched the show.
Instead: Despite the warning, Hop Pop has them all travel at the same time and everyone falls into bickering again.
The Result: The rope snaps and they fall to a ledge below.
"Reunion":
- Since the events of "Prison Break," Sasha has started working for Commander Grime.
You'd Expect: Sasha would go and immediately try to find Anne and "rescue her" while making an example of the Mayor for stealing taxes. Then she can do her campaign for Grime. Anne would be more likely to come along at this point and wouldn't protest the mayor getting executed. At least, she wouldn't protest as much as if Sasha tried to execute Hop Pop, and she could threaten to end her friendship with Anne if needed.
Instead: She waits a whole other month before finding Anne and bringing Grime's army with her. Her reason is planning to have "a little fun" with her new job.
The Result: During this time, Hop Pop runs for mayor against Mayor Toadstool. Despite losing, he inspires frogs in other villages to rebel. Commander Grime and Sasha want to make an example of Hop Pop by killing him in public. Obviously, Anne and Sprig protest and lead a rebellion against Sasha; Anne would have given in if not for Sasha trying to kill Sprig as well. The end result is that Toad Tower is destroyed and Commander Grime carries away an unconscious Sasha, to Anne's consternation.
"Grubhog Day":
- Someone needs to watch the Grubhog until the ceremony, as the previous watcher caught the plague. Hop Pop mentions a Plantar who was asked to watch over the Grubhog ate it, and so the family name has been disgraced. The best way to redeem their reputation is to watch over the Grubhog until the ceremony.
You'd Expect: He would volunteer to watch the Grubhog, since he knows how unfocused Sprig can be. Plus, he's old, and just needs to watch the acid-spitting bug for a few hours.
Alternatively: He'd volunteer Polly, who in the pilot is described as having "more responsibility in her little flipper" than Sprig does in his entire body.
Instead: He volunteers Sprig, who is Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! and was looking forward to going on the Grubhog Day rides. Sprig doesn't have the heart to tell his grandfather "no".
The Result: Seeing how miserable Sprig is, Anne says they can go on the rides with the Grubhog since the rules only say he has to watch the little guy. They end up losing him on the rollercoaster to a vulture, and Sprig has to come clean when Anne's attempt to mimic the Grubhog via sock puppet nearly leads to her hand getting chopped off.
"Scavenger Hunt":
- Throughout the episode, Anne was jealous of Marcy’s smartness and thinks it makes her feel dumb, and she tries to prove that she’s smart too by trying to solve the puzzles, but always fails while bonding with 3 people, and when the gang finally escape the sewer gator, Hop Pop scolds Anne for getting into trouble, but Sprig is there to defend her.
- You’d Expect: Sprig not to say anything about, or similar to Anne’s jealousy, because Marcy might hear it if he does.
- Instead: He defends Anne by telling Hop Pop that she’s already sad because she feels dumb because of Marcy’s smartness.
- The Result: Marcy ends up hearing him and finds out about Anne's jealousy, which the latter upsettingly admits to. She even calls Sprig out for accidentally revealing it.
- However: Marcy reveals that she was jealous of Anne's social skills for all the bonds she made today, and admits that she sometimes has trouble looking at people in the eye. She is even thanked by Anne and they both hug it out.
"Lost in Newtopia":
- King Andrias is bankrolling the Plantars' stay in Newtopia, complete with comping a fancy hotel suite and giving them an unlimited credit card. After Sprig spends their first night tossing money around the hotel's fancy offerings while his family sleeps, Anne wants to go out and be a true local, to make up for missing an "authentic" Thailand trip back from when she was a toddler. The problem is that the newts have a different language, as compared to Wartwood using standard English and numbers. She also didn't read the brochures on cultural sensitivity.
You'd Expect: Hop Pop would give the kids some cash using the credit card to make a withdrawal, since we saw Sprig waving the card around. It's generally a good idea, and as he put it wisely in one episode, it doesn't count as wasteful when someone else is paying.
Instead: He doesn't.
The Result: The episode's events get rolling when Anne and Polly accidentally set a fire ants' vendor stall on fire, and they run off when he won't accept the king's credit card. Apparently, his stall said "Cash Only," which Anne naturally couldn't read. Anne's subsequent attempts to "be a local" go From Bad to Worse, something that she regrets when an angry mob is chasing them, including the vendor. If Anne simply had the means to pay for all the damage she caused, it likely wouldn't have been as offensive.
"A Day At The Aquarium"
- The Newtopia aquarium has giant stingrays on display. When the Plantars go to see the acrobatics to deal with the inevitable sadness of Anne staying behind while the rest of the family goes to help with the harvest, Sprig volunteers to feed them. It turns out that the stingrays love frog flesh, but are harmless as long as Sprig is out of the water. He falls in, however, by accident, when seeing a water snake that resembles the one that tried to eat him and Anne in "Best Fronds".
You'd Expect: That the trainer would get Sprig out of the water as soon as possible. That is a lawsuit waiting to happen, after all.
Instead: The trainer calmly announces that the water snake won't harm Sprig, but the stingrays will.
The Result: The family quickly mobilizes to save Sprig, and accidentally frees the stingrays into the Newtopia lakes nearby. This gets them banned for life from the aquarium.
"Friend or Frobo?":
- Polly is playing with Frobo and making mischief all around the town. During this, Frobo has trouble doing activities that would be more suited for a lighter and smaller individual.
You'd Expect: That Polly would realize that these activities aren't really suitable for Frobo and come up with alternate ideas.
Instead: She never realizes that the reason that Frobo keeps on destroying everything is because of his size, and thus, keeps making him participate in activities unsuitable for him and causing damage because of it.
The Result: Frobo ends up destroying the fountain while doing a cannonball into it, which also ends up destroying the surrounding buildings.
"The Second Temple":
- Anne is getting the blue Calamity Gem charged up by Valeriana, but it's taking much longer to charge than the others (as she puts it, it's old). Then Anne hears noises and believes the Plantars and Marcy are in danger.
You'd Expect: Anne would just let the gem charge and call her friends from her phone to see how they're doing.
Instead: She takes the gem before it's fully charged, cries out, "Send me back!", and is sent back. It turns out that there was no danger and the gang was watching loud cat videos on Marcy's phone.
The result: Anne is left unknowingly with a half-charged gem. However, it does play an important role later when it turns out, because of this, Anne is still connected to her stone and able to activate a new superpowered form to take on Andrias' army later on.
"True Colors":
- Sasha and Grime have recently uncovered a painting revealing Andrias' true tyrannical nature just as they see Anne attempting to close the gate to stop the toad rebellion. Keep in mind this is after Anne ended her friendship with Sasha when finding out about her betraying her for the second time with the toad rebellion.
You'd Expect: She would take a picture of the painting using her phone (which she still has as of "Toadcatcher") as evidence and try to show it to Anne as evidence in an effort to try and convince her of Andrias' true nature.
Instead: She never thinks to do this, thinking Anne will just take her word for it even after her betrayals.
The Result: Anne predictably refuses to believe Sasha when she tries to tell her, which leads to a sword fight between them, with Anne coming close to killing Sasha numerous times during the fight and ends with Sasha losing. In turn, this causes the toad rebellion to fall and gives Hop Pop, Marcy, and Olivia time to free Andrias, which leads to very disastrous consequences later on once he reveals his true nature to the group. - A big one in retrospect. It's eventually revealed that Marcy knew about the true nature of the Calamity Box all along, and manipulated Sasha and Anne into stealing it, getting Sasha to intimidate Anne into shoplifting it from a thrift shop, with Anne explicitly saying that Marcy would have threatened to not be her friend anymore. Her reason was that her dad got a job out-of-state, meaning she'd be moving and leaving behind her best friends in the world. This means that everything that happened — Anne missing her own birthday party, Sasha becoming estranged and pulling a Face–Heel Turn to help Captain Grime conquer Amphibia — is indirectly Marcy's fault more so than Sasha's or Anne's. When Anne and the Plantars travel to Wartwood to retrieve the Box, Andrias reveals that he wants to use it to navigate multiple worlds, and says that if she delivers the box to him, he'll let the girls travel wherever they like.
You'd Expect: Marcy would turn down the deal and come clean to Anne, confessing that this wasn't what she wanted to happen and promising to get her and Sasha home at least. Her intent was that they could travel the multiverse together and stay friends while avoiding the move altogether. Yes, Anne would be upset, but at the least Marcy would admit that she made a mistake and Anne would have learned about the whole traveling the multiverse plan. Anne knows very well how someone can do a stupid thing out of good intentions, and has just forgiven Hop Pop for doing that by burying the box and lying to her that it was with his contacts. Then they could talk it out and try to figure out a solution, since they assume that Earth and Amphibia time run on the same clock.
Instead: She keeps quiet about this fact while Anne is gushing about the fact that with the jewels recharged and their friendship with Sasha mended, they can finally go home. Note that Marcy is supposed to be the smartest of the three girls.
The Result: It turns out in the season 2 finale that King Andrias lied; he wasn't going to travel the multiverse, but conquer each world using the Calamity Box, and thanks Marcy for delivering it charged up and ready to go, while taking Sprig hostage to ensure Anne's cooperation. Anne, of course, has been betrayed by both of her friends now, and is hurt that Marcy didn't tell her or Sasha that she was moving, because they would have found a way to make their last few months together meaningful, or found another solution. Marcy is struck with guilt and remorse as Anne fights Andrias and his robots to save Sprig, and uses the box to send her home to Earth. It works, but Andrias stabs Marcy in what looks like a fatal blow, and she sends the Plantars to Earth by accident rather than Sasha. Whoops. - Related to the above, and combined with details in Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia, Mr. Wu is given a job offer. In a worrying indicator of where Marcy's more impulsive and selfish side comes from, Word of God implies that impulsively accepting new jobs is not out of character for him, but this one is different: it's in Massachusetts, a state on the other coast, which would force him to move his autistic daughter away from her only friends.
You'd Expect: He'd sleep on the job offer while he talked with his family, allowing him to either ease Marcy into the move or decline the offer should this prove impossible.
Instead: All available evidence suggests he takes the job offer without question before talking to his family, giving him and his wife no time to adequately prepare Marcy for the move and creating a situation where they have to rip the band-aid off and hope she isn't too upset. The "True Colors" prologue implies that he only just realized the implications of what he's done.
The Result: As can be expected for a 13-year-old kid—an autistic one at that—who just found out that her dad unexpectedly has a new job out of state, Marcy is furious and devastated when she gets the bad news, and not unlike Marcy herself five months later, Mr. Wu is left desperately trying to explain and justify what he's done. The ensuing argument ends in Marcy running out of the house in tears, leading to her stumbling upon the Calamity Box and, too upset to think straight, tricking Anne and Sasha into using it, the implications of what she did only occurring to her after the fact. Though Marcy forgives him in the end, it takes a realization that what she did was just as, if not even more, thoughtless to bring her to that stage, and it takes Anne and Sasha forgiving her for what she did and assuring her that the move doesn't mean they can't still be friends for her to be in the right headspace to move.
"Mr. X":
- An FBI agent gets a photo of "aliens" and a string bean human that doesn't show up on facial recognition owing to the poor angle from a Los Angeles traffic camera. He gets a lead that they're at the movie theater, and spots that very same "string bean". It's clear that the human in question is a teenager, and a scared one at that. She tries to scoot thanks to getting a warning from her parents while grabbing a group of her movie buds to run with her.
You'd Expect: Mr. X would pull out his FBI ID and stop Anne, nicely asking if she can come with him to answer questions about the photo as well as the "aliens", like how Agent Powers and Trigger in Gravity Falls were questioning Grunkle Stan during "Scaryoke". If she runs, he can get a better photo of her and realize she was one of three girls who went missing several months ago. Anne's profile would be with the Los Angeles local police, and perhaps he could question her about what happened.
Instead: He pulls a stun gun out upon seeing Anne, giving a Psychotic Smirk at the thought of firing on a teenager. When they run, he doesn't think to take more photos of them for evidence.
The Result: The Plantars and Anne hit the agent with every Improvised Weapon they can find so he can't corner them. When the Boonchuys finally rescue their family, the other FBI agents laugh at Mr. X for mistaking a group of pet store frogs as aliens. With no proof, he can only commit to finding them in the city.
To Make Matters Worse: In "Escape To Amphibia," the Boonchuys help the Plantars bust out of FBI custody when Mr. X finally tracks them down, and have to let Anne go back through a new portal, courtesy of Terri and Dr. Jan, so that she can help stop Andrias's invasion. Then Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy berate Mr. X, lampshading that they would have cooperated with the FBI earlier if Mr. X had been willing to listen to them that the Plantars weren't alien threats and that the real invasion is much bigger and worse if it comes to Earth. Mr. X has a This Is Gonna Suck reaction — "Oh goody" — on realizing belatedly that he pegged Anne and the Plantars all wrong and wasted their valuable time in delaying their return to Amphibia.
"All In":
- During Anne's next fight with Andrias, Sprig reveals to both of them that Leif had written a letter to Andrais that he had found with Leif explaining her actions to Andrias.
You'd Expect: Leif to hide the letter in a place where she and Andrais would normally meet during the time of their friendship and where Aldrich would not be able to find the letter. Another viable option would have been to tell her family about Andrias and Aldrich and make a final request before her passing that they give the letter to Andrais in a hidden location.
Instead: Leif does not send the letter to Andrias and leaves it in the Plantar house in the attic to collect dust for centuries, where it would not be found until Sprig finds it after coming back to Amphibia from Earth. She also fails to tell her family about Aldrich and Andrais.
The Result: Andrias continues to be manipulated and psychologically abused by Aldrich and the Core and even after years he stil think Leif turned her back on him. He also did not have the mental strength to stand up to Aldrich and say no to invading Earth. Because of this, Andrais has a full mental breakdown after Sprig reads the letter. Had Leif sent Andrais the letter before Anne and her friends had arrived in Amphibia, Andrais attitude with Anne and Marcy would have been truly genuine.
