Review: Magical Girl Friendship Squad “Anti Fungal Spit Skanks”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Last week we saw Alex take a job at Aggregon in order to disrupt their plans for world domination, but this week is all about the internal lives of our magical yet average duo. Rather than the “Hero Con” plot that defined episode 4 of “Origins”, we’re treated to a mushroom-encrusted adventure after “Mushroominations” (parasites from another universe) infect Daisy’s cut from a battle with a yoga class succulent monster. As the tiny ‘shrooms spread across her body, they keep whispering to Daisy about her most pressing fears, and also that if David Bowie were alive he’d think she was a narc AND a poser! Alex, on the other hand, is riding high with confidence from being able to pay ahead on rent and utilities thanks to her job, and also asks out Coffee Dude for a “hang” later. But the diabolical fungal infection is set to ruin her plans, as they infect her with the idea that he’s only going out with her as a prank to make her ugly prom queen. The two besties also find their friendship at stake, when Alex returns home to find Daisy painting a mural in the living room and they each lash out about their newly-described insecurities. Luckily, they’re able to boost each other’s confidence enough to end the infections, only to find that the mushroom menace has infected the rest of the city. Since, as Daisy exclaims, “there’s no way to make this many people feel confident outside of a Lizzo concert” the duo heads to the subway to take out the colony’s leader themselves. When they meet Mama Mushroom, the fungal queen explains that in their home universe of Hubris, they serve a valuable purpose of keeping the overconfidence in check. Alex and Daisy are touched that she’s trying to help them, even if it is in a super unhelpful manner, and combine their magical items to create a portal to send these funny fungi back to whence they came. Alex even gets to meet up with Coffee Dude, who also reveals that he grapples with insecurity sometimes.

Our take

This episode is slightly less hilarious than last week’s offering, but provides some much needed character development to move the plot along and, as always, visually impressive sequences. The smear frames from Daisy shaking Nut are “Gaston’s crossed eyes during his hunting lodge song” level funny, and the contrast between the colorful transformation sequence to the upbeat punk tune of “I’m Not A Loser” by Amyl and the Sniffers to the dank and glowy Mushroomination-infested subway tunnel ups the humor of the scene considerably.

There’s also, of course, the value in seeing various character’s struggles with their insecurities put on full display, even if they’re fairly unjustified worries, like Coffee Dude’s “dumb well-defined lats”, or Corvin’s self-loathing fueled quest to become the world’s #1 beefcake, instead of his current standing at #2. The scene where the infected pigeons are fighting with each other is also just a surreal look at how this show takes things to the next level for the sake of comedy.

But where “Anti Fungal Spit Skanks” really shines is with the voice cast, specifically Patti Harrison (you may know her as Ruthie on Shrill) lending her vocals to the mean, foul-mouthed Mushroominations who get to lob complicated insults like the title at anyone unlucky enough to contract them. Between calling Daisy and Alex dingleberry fucknuggets and explaining the need for her species’ necessity in a zen-like tone, Harrison’s performance is pure gold.

Manny Jacinto also finally gets more than a line or two as Coffee Dude (btw, are we ever going to learn his actual name? Probably not important, but still.) Daisy Hobbs and Stephanie Sheh also get in a few background lines, but I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from them in the future.

Overall, a solid episode that helps move our duo forward, while humanizing them with some actually interiority instead of simply playing up their “millennial fuck up” exteriors that previous episodes relied on. Looking forward to seeing how things progress with Alex’s love life, and if Daisy’s encounter with her deepest insecurities spurs her to greater heights.