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Mother of Olms
Often, the most passionate parts of a story-driven series are anything that actively advances the big plot of the series, leading to something truly grand and exciting. This cartoon may be a very plot-relevant one, but it’s unfortunately held back by a number of noticeable issues.
It picks up exactly where the previous cartoon left off with Anne, Sasha, and the Plantars taken to see the mother of olms after saving their city of Proteus. As everything goes on, the more it starts to seem like the whole ordeal they faced back in that cartoon was completely pointless. Nothing from there is ever mentioned, no one seems affected about the city being mined, and Lysil and Angwin aren’t even present.
In addition, Mother Olm is completely different from the general jerky nature of most of the other olms, and not just in her huge appearance. She’s actually very warm, caring, and patient with anyone who comes to talk with her. This alone makes it seem like the protagonists will be able to learn more about the message on that ancient vase, and the obstacle that does get in the way isn’t out of her own malice. She can’t remember the destiny the vase message says she’s supposed to guide the way to due to her memories literally being faded due to her age.
To help, the kids have to go inside her head and rub special brain cream on her head to unlock her memories. Unsurprisingly, this direction is not very pleasing with several encounters of gross bodily substances like earwax and snot. It’s very unappealing from an audience perspective, but the disgust is lessened by humorous whines from Sasha complaining about it all. Not only is it funny, but it’s a humane reminder that for all of Sasha’s growth and focus on the task at hand, she’s still a teenager with standards.
As the kids go through their mission to assist the elder Mother Olm, there’s a reflection of the effects of her aging through Hop Pop. Throughout this cartoon, he constantly laments how he’s getting old and his body’s starting to work against him, and how that makes him feel useless to the group. It’s well-staged and relatable for sure, but it honestly doesn’t feel like a good fit for Hop Pop. He’s proven to be capable many times throughout the series and never complained about his age. Why is it suddenly an issue now? At least it makes for a good bond between him and Mother Olm as well as a neat visual of him relaxing in a giant teacup.
There’s also some good reassurance for him as his elder wisdom proves vital in saving the kids from Mother Olm’s head when things get difficult and filled with bat-mosquito hybrids. His knowledge of herbs helps create something to make Mother Olm sneeze everyone out of her nose; needless to say, the end results are affective but gross. To add insult to injury, this entire mission was pointless because the brain cream was expired, and what Mother Olm was trying to remember was written above her all along. All those gross moments could have been avoided which doesn’t help the quality.
However, there’s still a strong payoff with a reveal on the built-up destiny. It relates to the power of the music box that brought Anne and her friends to this world and how many have tried to use that power for their own gain. This in turn created a creature that seems to fit the nature of The Core. However, the prophesy talks of three stars, representing Anne, Sasha, and Marcy, who will use the powers for good and lead to a new era of peace. Anne already having glowing blue powers is an example of this, and it’s revealed that Sasha and Marcy can get these powers too. Of course, now they have to save and reunite with Marcy and retrieve the music box from Andrias so everyone can get powers and the tide can be turned once and for all. It’s a simplistic reveal, but still effectively delivered.
While it does have good heart and relatable conflicts, it shows how much meandering is involved in the way to the big reveal. In fact, some might say it’s indicative of the quality of this season. It knows what parts are big and exciting, and those parts really deliver and build anticipation for what’s to come. However, it does not have much thought put into how to get to those parts. This and the previous cartoon have moments that didn’t need to happen along the way and are never referenced again, and the whole thing feels longer than necessary. It’s good overall and the care is clear, but with how noticeably padded the adventure is, it’s disappointingly not the best it can be.
B
Grime’s Pupil
There’s an interesting class system present throughout the atmosphere of this show very in line with the superiority of actual amphibians. Newts are the biggest and most authoritative with them depicted with the best living conditions; toads aren’t as big as newts but still domineering in their own way which is why they’re depicted as tough soldiers over all beneath them; and frogs are on the low end consisting of simple townspeople and farmers. They all have varying status which naturally leads to conflict among different group, bringing relatable political undertones to what seems like a simple frog show. In this cartoon, this interesting setup is realized well at a time when all classes need to put their differences aside to help a common cause.
The resistance aims to take initiative in building their forces by recruiting the other amphibians to join the frogs in their army against King Andrias. They’re currently appointing the toads whom frogs have a very heated disdain for, and this is especially reflected with Anne’s friend Sprig, and Sasha’s second-in-command Grime. In addition to the complicated political relationship between frogs and toads, Sprig and Grime have personal grudges with each other. Most notably is how Sprig beat Grime in a one-on-one battle in Newtopia, and Sprig never lets up on it while Grime can’t stop complaining about it.
It doesn’t help when the head of the toad army, Grime’s sister Beatrix, taunts him for associating with inferior frogs. Grime becomes so offended by this that he does something very reckless. He calls for a cage match where one of the frog recruits has to fight Beatrix and whoever wins get the army of their opponent, and Sprig is the chosen opponent. With Anne and Sasha horrified that their resistance is at huge risk, desperation is big for Grime to train Sprig in the toad ways of fighting so he stands a chance in the cage match.
Out in the woods where the training is to take place, Sprig and Grime can’t stop arguing, all the while feeling very understandable on both sides. Sprig never lets Grime forget all the ways he and the other toads oppressed all frog-kind for years as well as how he tried to kill Hop Pop while Grime excuses his actions as part of his job. This along with the humorous staging and voice acting really helps take the bite out of what would usually be something very unpleasant. It also makes it understandable why Grime’s brutish toad ways of fighting ultimately become too much for Sprig, prompting him to ditch his training. However, there’s heart to the conflict when Sprig runs into a pack of creatures that cross bees and hyenas, and it’s Grime’s aggressive fight moves that save him.
Afterward, Sprig comes to see benefit in Grime’s ways and is more willing to listen to his teaching. Grime says that the key to fighting is channeling one’s anger to a goal at hand, and that improves Sprig’s fighting immensely.
It all finishes with the long awaited cage match between him and Beatrix. It doesn’t seem like he stands a chance after all at first, but through remembering what Grime told him, at the last minute, he wins the match with an effective headbutt. In the end, the hierarchy of amphibians begins to come together as the toads are successfully recruited into the army, and Grime gets to gloat that his sister too was beat by a frog.
As for this cartoon, it ends up as one of the better resistance-based ones for its heart and interesting subjects.
A
Fan Art
Series Ranking
1.
True
Colors
2.
Hopping
Mall
3.
Reunion
4.
Marcy at the Gates
5.
Anne-sterminator
6.
Olivia
and Yunan
7.
Toad Tax
8.
The First Temple
9.
Froggy Little Christmas
10.
Turning Point
11.
Battle of the Bands
12.
Barrel’s
Warhammer
13.
Escape
to Amphibia
14.
Anne vs Wild
15.
The Domino Effect
16.
The Third Temple
17.
Toadcatcher
18.
Prison Break
19.
The Second Temple
20.
Temple Frogs
21.
A Day at the Aquarium
22.
Mr. X
23.
Anne of the Year
24.
Contagi-Anne
25.
The
Shut-In
26.
Best Fronds
27.
After
the Rain
28.
Family Shrub
29.
Fixing
Frobo
30. If You Give a Frog a Cookie
31. Commander Anne
32.
The New Normal
33.
The Dinner
34.
Hop-Popular
35.
Anne Hunter
36.
Wally and Anne
37.
Children of the Spore
38.
Fight at the Museum
39.
Friend
or Frobo
40. Grime’s Pupil
41.
Sprig’s
Birthday
42.
A Night at the Inn
43.
Bessie
and MicroAngelo
44.
Handy Anne
45.
Scavenger Hunt
46.
Lily Pad Thai
47.
Dating Season
48.
Anne or Beast?
49.
Combat Camp
50.
Little Frogtown
51.
Cursed!
52.
Thai
Feud
53.
Snow Day
54.
Civil Wart
55.
Maddie and Marcy
56.
Stakeout
57.
Croak and Punishment
58.
Taking Charge
59.
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
60.
Bizarre Bazaar
61.
The Plantars Check In
62.
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
63.
Wax Museum
64.
Return
to Wartwood
65.
Sprig Gets Schooled
66.
Swamp and Sensibility
67.
Trip to the Archives
68.
Sasha’s Angels
69.
Toad
to Redemption
70.
Anne Theft Auto
71.
Adventures in Catsitting
72.
Hop Luck
73.
New
Wartwood
74.
Ivy on the Run
75.
Night
Drivers
76.
Quarreler’s
Pass
77.
Hop Pop and Lock
78.
Plantar’s Last Stand
79.
Fort in the Road
80.
A Caravan Named Desire
81.
The Big Bugball Game
82.
Fiddle Me This
83.
Hollywood Hop Pop
84.
Truck Stop Polly
85.
Family Fishing Trip
86. Mother of Olms
87.
Olm Town Road
88.
Hop ‘Til You Drop
89.
Spider-Sprig
90.
The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
91.
Girl Time
92.
Breakout Star
93.
Grubhog Day
94.
Cane Crazy
95.
Sprivy
96.
Lost in Newtopia
97.
Sprig vs Hop Pop
98.
Cracking Mrs. Croaker
The next review has a hunt for more resistance members land the group into a familiar mushroom cult, and we learn about the past of King Andrias.
Next time, this blog is looking in on where it left off with the two incarnations of DuckTales.
If you would like to check out other Amphibia reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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