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The Root of Evil
It’s certainly quite a process to watch the resistance take its time to get recruits before actually seeing it do something meaningful. While this does mean that there’s quite a drag to everything, some meaning can be found in this set of adventures. For this one, it covers the basis of one of the biggest advantages the main antagonists have in the conflict. It relates to mushrooms whose enzymes control the minds of anyone coming into contact with them. The interesting thing about it is that there was a past story that formally introduced these mushrooms, giving the audience some familiarity in this new story direction. With that in mind, it’s fitting for the main players revisit the source of this mind controlling.
While getting more recruits for the resistance, as well as Hop Pop feeling his interests in plants are unappreciated, everyone ends up taking a wrong turn off a cliff. After a scene where it looks like everyone’s entered the afterlife, they find that they’ve landed in a secret community known as Gardenton.
Here, the citizens have very spiritual customs completely devoted to plants to the point where they worship them like gods. Unsurprisingly, this is enough to make Hop Pop feel right at home surrounded by frogs who understand his interests and give them great respect. From the looks of Gardenton, the passion for plants is very clear right from the beauty and colors of the surrounding plants. Still, there’s a strong air of obsession where it feels like they worship plants a little too much. This is especially notable when someone accidentally steps on a flower, and everyone acts like it was a heinous crime.
Then, there’s a twist to Gardenton’s nature when everyone meets the leader of the community. It follows up on the end of the introduction to the mind control mushrooms where it was revealed its essence was still around after it was defeated. This mushroom, Apothecary Gary, found a new host in a beetle Hop Pop once bonded with and formed the community of Gardenton. If that’s not enough, the citizens who came to live in Gardenton accepted his mind control willingly. So even though what Gary is doing seems morally wrong, the fact that his followers chose to go along with this demonstrates some sense of ethics. Gary does still recognize Hop Pop and remembers how he defeated him, and so the pleasing atmosphere gets dark fast as he has the Gardenton citizens attack everyone.
Then, they’re attacked again by a battalion of King Andrias’ robots who found them after putting a device on the Plantars’ transport. Hop Pop and the others escape, but Hop Pop just can’t abandon other fellow gardeners. For that, everyone goes back to help them despite everything.
In addition, they even convince Gary and the others to join the resistance since the community will still be under threat now that Andrias’ army knows of Gardenton. In the end, there’s a strong sense of character, atmosphere, and solid turning points in certain plot threads. Plus, the fact that it highlights the importance of farmers though does have a solid tie to the events of the following cartoon, so it works in a thematic sense.
While it’s ultimately not the most interesting work of the show , this is still one of the better stories of the resistance.
A
The Core and the King
One thing that really helps a show just as well as great characters is equally deep and insightful backgrounds on the characters. This show has often offered a lot in terms of character background already, but here the audience is treated to what may be the deepest background of them all. Its purpose is to show humanity in a notable antagonist, King Andrias, by highlighting where his drive for conquest comes from. It also develops a previously-established factor where he feels betrayed by people he thought were friends in a conflict related to the music box. There’s clear potential for something impactful here, and the final results really live up to it.
In the present, Andrias is following the orders of The Core, a being made of the strongest minds in all of Amphibia currently using Marcy’s body as a vessel after possessing her. While this powerful being does adopt Marcy’s charming albeit clumsy mannerisms, it still remains a strong toxic influence on Andrias. As it plans for the next phase of conquest, it advises Andrias to let go of the past so he can keep his focus. As the king heeds this being’s advice, there’s a transition to a flashback that reveals just about everything one would want to know about Andrias.
In the flashback, it’s shown that Andrias was once as innocent and fun-loving as his old façade suggested. He also showed good consideration for all amphibian-kind with his best friends being Barrel, a famous toad warrior with a warhammer, and Leif, a small frog gardener. Their chemistry is very clear and big on charm through the audience just watching the three interact. However, this innocence was not made to last as Andrias would soon be king, and his father insisted his friends would divert his son from royal obligations; it’s ignorance of the importance of emotional goodness that’s proven to be just as unhealthy as shirking responsibility.
Anyway, Andrias still tried to keep his friendly ties with Leif and Barrel by showing them the music box he was given access to. While they were playing around with it though, Leif ended up pressing the box’s gemstones and saw visions of its use in the kingdom’s conquest leading to devastation for all. This here is one of the biggest answers in explaining how the established warmings of the music box came to be. Leif didn’t hesitate to report her findings to the king, but there was no sense of reasoning out of this. Not only did the king balk at her claims, but behind her back, he branded Leif and her kind as traitors and congratulated Andrias for bringing this to attention. In reality, it’s very impressive that this finding came from a humble gardener which ties nicely into the events of the preceding cartoon.
Then as a major blow to great friendships, Andrias gave into his father’s authority of deciding to use the box for conquest anyway. As a result, a chase broke out with Leif stealing the music box to get rid of it and Andrias ordering Barrel to go after her too despite the toad’s reluctance. While this chase is entertaining on an action level, it's more importantly very emotional in what it led to with all amphibians assimilated into a class system; this in turn is very symbolic of this broken friendship. Anyway, the chase would end with Leif successfully escaping and eventually getting rid of the box, and Andrias branding her and Barrel as traitors, which really sells this tragic turn of events.
Because of this event, Andrias now spends his reign trying to redeem himself by fulfilling the conquest of Earth and traditions of all his ancestors. This is further shown with one last scene in the present where he deals with the pains of the past by turning his back on his past friendship and telling The Core he’s ready to invade. The part of The Core that represents Andrias’ father tells his son he’s proud, but it’s clear it’s at a very heartbreaking cost caused by his toxic authority.
In all, this is easily one of the most engaging stories of this season and the whole series. The depths it goes to explain the dark past of one of its characters and reveal so much on the nature of him and the story are thoroughly impressive and engaging. It’s the grandest quality the show has shown off in a while and a perfect fit for the tone of the endgame. Now that so much of the past has been revealed, it’s time to see the effects it has on the present.
A+
Fan Art
Series Ranking
1.
True
Colors
2.
Hopping
Mall
3.
Reunion
4.
Marcy at the Gates
5.
The Core and the King
6.
Anne-sterminator
7.
Olivia
and Yunan
8.
Toad Tax
9.
The First Temple
10. Froggy Little Christmas
11.
Turning Point
12.
Battle of the Bands
13.
Barrel’s
Warhammer
14.
Escape
to Amphibia
15.
Anne vs Wild
16.
The Domino Effect
17.
The Third Temple
18.
Toadcatcher
19.
Prison Break
20.
The Second Temple
21.
Temple Frogs
22.
A Day at the Aquarium
23.
Mr. X
24.
Anne of the Year
25.
Contagi-Anne
26.
The
Shut-In
27.
Best Fronds
28.
After
the Rain
29.
Family Shrub
30.
Fixing
Frobo
31. If You Give a Frog a Cookie
32. Commander Anne
33.
The New Normal
34.
The Dinner
35.
Hop-Popular
36.
Anne Hunter
37.
Wally and Anne
38.
Children of the Spore
39.
Fight at the Museum
40.
Friend
or Frobo
41. The Root of Evil
42. Grime’s Pupil
43.
Sprig’s
Birthday
44.
A Night at the Inn
45.
Bessie
and MicroAngelo
46.
Handy Anne
47.
Scavenger Hunt
48.
Lily Pad Thai
49.
Dating Season
50.
Anne or Beast?
51.
Combat Camp
52.
Little Frogtown
53.
Cursed!
54.
Thai
Feud
55.
Snow Day
56.
Civil Wart
57.
Maddie and Marcy
58.
Stakeout
59.
Croak and Punishment
60.
Taking Charge
61.
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
62.
Bizarre Bazaar
63.
The Plantars Check In
64.
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
65.
Wax Museum
66.
Return
to Wartwood
67.
Sprig Gets Schooled
68.
Swamp and Sensibility
69.
Trip to the Archives
70.
Sasha’s Angels
71.
Toad
to Redemption
72.
Anne Theft Auto
73.
Adventures in Catsitting
74.
Hop Luck
75.
New
Wartwood
76.
Ivy on the Run
77.
Night
Drivers
78.
Quarreler’s
Pass
79.
Hop Pop and Lock
80.
Plantar’s Last Stand
81.
Fort in the Road
82.
A Caravan Named Desire
83.
The Big Bugball Game
84.
Fiddle Me This
85.
Hollywood Hop Pop
86.
Truck Stop Polly
87.
Family Fishing Trip
88.
Mother of Olms
89.
Olm Town Road
90.
Hop ‘Til You Drop
91.
Spider-Sprig
92.
The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
93.
Girl Time
94.
Breakout Star
95.
Grubhog Day
96.
Cane Crazy
97.
Sprivy
98.
Lost in Newtopia
99.
Sprig vs Hop Pop
100. Cracking Mrs. Croaker
Be sure to stay tuned for the next review where another callback to the past brings another resistance recruit, and Anne finds an old friend that gives the resistance a major reinforcement.
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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