Review: Amphibia “Quarreler’s Pass; Toadcatcher”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Plantars are halfway to Newtopia and things are going pretty smoothly so far. Aside from Sprig and Polly constantly bickering and doing near perfect impressions of each other. Fed up, Hop Pop leaves them at Quarreler’s Pass, where the two must make amends to survive. They start to work together, but start fighting again once they enter a cave with forking paths, finding out that it is the lair of a two blind lizards. Using their ability to do perfect impressions, the siblings escape by turning the two lizard siblings against each other, learning perspective and reconciling.

Meanwhile, Sasha is eagerly training for a bitter rematch with Anne, though Grime seems to have lost the fight in him, much to Sasha’s chagrin. They’ve lost just about all of their forces and have nowhere to go since Newtopia branded Grime a traitor. But even if they’re living in what is basically exile, it seems fate has other plans in the form of General Yunna, the youngest newt to ever become a general, who is on the hunt for Grime. She soon finds him and Sasha and is ready to decapitate them with her Wolverine-esque claws (we get it, Disney, you own the X-Men movies now). As the flee, Sasha is upset that Grime hasn’t trained, though Grime gets her to admit that she’s mad that she lost Anne as a friend. But she admits she’s also been training to protect him, the only friend she has left. With that, they fend off Yunna and throw her into the nearby lake. They then plan to take over the world themselves, though Sasha knows things aren’t over between her and Anne.

OUR TAKE

This week’s episode was one I have been waiting for in great anticipation. Not for the segment with Sprig and Polly (though that one was pretty good two, being a very neatly written plot that used its lesson well and balanced its themes and story nicely), but obviously the one with Sasha and Grimes. For only making major appearances in two episodes before this, Sasha has made QUITE the impression as a character. She’s one of only three human characters in the story (with Marcy not showing up properly for a couple more weeks) and hasn’t had nearly as much screen as Anne (who is in nearly every episode), but the time she HAS gotten has been efficiently used to show how she has been a good contrast to Anne in her relationship with Grimes versus Anne’s with the Plantars, as well as how she is a real mastermind in the making who is now learning to be a major threat. And of course, a very intriguing character to boot.

There’s been comparisons thrown around between her and Grimes’ current state and that of Zuko and Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender during THAT show’s second season. Obviously things are quite different between them, as while both Sasha and Zuko are/were recovering from major defeats in the previous season’s finale, Grime looks to be taking her straight into war, though I’m sure her eventual character arc will put her on the path to mental peace in the end. But also like Zuko, her path is going to take her straight back to her own rival, likely by the end of this current season. It’s also nice to see this pair up to their own stuff like they did back in Season 1, where they first established their dynamic. Even as antagonists who are clearly a threat, they’re also likable and interesting with understandable mindsets, much like Zuko and Iroh, although Grime could probably stand to drink some more tea.

We’re still a bit of a ways off from Newtopia, though we have one last pitstop, a surprise kinda-sorta-not really crossover with Gravity Falls! At least, that’s what they’re hyping it as, and hey Alex Hirsch is doing some of the voices so I guess that counts, and it’ll definitely still be fun to see. And no sign of the frogbot since a couple weeks ago, but I expect he’ll show up again pretty soon. There’s just too much cool stuff in this show right now! They should really tone it down.