Amphibia Spoiler Review: Fixing Frobo/Anne-sterminator
This week in Amphibia, a precious metal baby was brought back, two fun new characters were introduced bringing some LGBTQIA+ goodness to the show, and Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy were fully thrown into the story with “Fixing Frobo” and “Anne-sterminator.”
These two episodes were fun for the Halloween weekend. While not going fully in with kid-friendly horror as they have in the past with episodes like in “The Shut-In,” there was still a cool Frankenstein vibe between the two. Polly trying to rebuild Frobo on her own gave her some great comedic mad scientist laughs. Then we saw Cloak Bot actually putting itself together with whatever it could find like a Frankenstein monster. I’m not sure if it was purposeful for this episode to fall right before Halloween but it was very effective with its spooky vibes.
Polly stepped up in a new way in “Fixing Frobo,” taking on the responsibility of trying to fix her robot friend herself. The two big Frobo episodes so far have been Polly centric which has been a nice change of pace. Before Frobo came into the picture, most of the Polly episodes were tied to other characters like Anne and Sprig. Frobo is a great way for Polly to have stories on her own.
It really makes a lot of sense why Polly is so desperate to fix Frobo. She says that he is her best friend, and it hit me that Polly really doesn’t have friends that we’ve seen. Sprig has Ivy and Maddie and of course Anne. But outside of Anne and her brother, Polly has never been paired off with anyone other than her family. She’s usually stuck with Hop Pop or the older kids on adventures. Frobo was the first friend she made on her own without anyone else.
He's also helping her mature along the way letting her take on an older sibling role. Polly is still impatient which makes sense as she is a baby. She wants to cut corners and have him back now. But when things keep failing, it’s inspiring that Polly takes the initiative to learn a new skill on her own. It’s something that could actually set her up for her future. Sprig has shown that he’s willing and fine with taking over the farm when Hop Pop retires, but I would argue that Polly is the one who tends to push back against the grain of what’s put upon her in society. Learning robotics, which seems like a lost skill in Amphibia but now is suddenly very important with King Andrias taking over, is setting her up for a unique ability that a few people back in Amphibia will have.
This feels like an endgame story for Polly putting her on a path for something big.
Polly takes it upon herself to ask for help which introduces two fun new characters, the I.T. Gals Jess and Ally.
First of all, we have queer characters in Amphibia as they are girlfriends. Ally’s color scheme is the pansexual flag while Jess’ is the bisexual flag which is a really nice design choice. It’s so important to normalize LGBTQIA+ characters in young media. Like how I was saying last week the importance of bringing Anne’s Thai culture into the series, the same applies here with Jess and Ally. Growing up with horrible queer representation really hurt me as a teenager. It made it harder to embrace myself and left me feeling ashamed for being queer. With shows like She-Ra, The Owl House, Steven Universe, Kipo, Korra, and so many others, Amphibia joins their ranks continuing this very important work. It makes me so happy that the next generation gets such great representation that I didn’t.
Like Dr. Jan, this is a nice introduction for Jess and Ally, but we don’t really delve into them too much other than giving Polly some advice on Frobo. There is a feeling the last several episodes like Anne and the Plantars are forming a team for the real world to fight Andrias. The only thing I’m bummed about is we’re getting all these fantastic new characters right here at the end of the series. Unlike the residents of Wartwood which we had two full seasons to fall in love with, we only get this one season with the Earth characters. It makes me want to see a spin-off series in the future.
And Polly got to make two new friends on her own which is great!
"Anne-sterminator" pushed Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy fully into the story when Cloak Bot comes calling.
Living up to your parents’ expectations is a super relatable thing. Heck, I’m 34 and I still feel like I often let my parents down with my life choices at times. Everyone has felt this kind of pressure to a certain extent no matter what age they are. Anne's struggles here are very universal.
This is a nice continuation from the episode “The New Normal.” Anne has changed since her adventures in Amphibia, but she’s still keeping the full truth from her parents. We as the audience know it’s a form of protection. But as she used to be an irresponsible kid with a knack for getting in trouble, Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy have to have this information revealed to them. They only knew who Anne used to be, so this new side of Anne is a welcomed change. The reveal she’s been lying means they only have the old information to fall back on leading to the conflict of the episode.
And let’s keep in mind that Anne is a kid with a ton of pressure put on her. It’s no surprise that she doesn’t handle this situation smoothly. There’s also the guilt of not knowing if Sasha and Marcy are okay (again, where are their parents?). Anne really is doing the best she can, but Cloak Bot’s arrival tips her over the breaking point.
It’s really cool to see the Boonchuys finally getting in on the action and participating in the adventure. I mentioned before how they’re going to be such a key element going forward. We’ve watched Hop Pop go from a humble farmer to an adventurer over two seasons. But the Boonchuys have to be very quickly brought up to speed. This is the perfect situation to show what they’re both made of and they completely rise to the occasion.
Also, Mr. Boonchuy’s reaction to his wife’s rage against the machine (pun intended) was PRICELESS.
I actually feel super bad for Cloak Bot. Yeah, he was a killer robot, but Andrias put Cloak Bot into a horrible position of succeeding or getting killed off. They did a good job of animating his desperation. Especially with how they’ve written Frobo to be a robot with feelings, it puts some perspective into Cloak Bot’s writing. Though, I’m also glad they didn’t go on a redemption journey with him. It would have been a bit cliché and taken away the tragedy of his writing. Plus, having a second Frobo-like character would be a bit unnecessary this close to the end of the show.
I want to touch on Sprig for a moment this week. He played a great supporting role in both episodes. His big brother side came out in “Fixing Frobo” by trying to be there for his sister and comforting her when Polly was injured and upset. He was also the one Anne turned to in “Anne-sterminator” when she was guilty about lying to her parents. It was the perfect use of Sprig in both instances.
Some random thoughts to round out Fixing Frobo and Anne-sterminator:
-Poor Mr. Boonchuy. All he wants is to have a nice day being the adorable gaming nerd he is!
-As a Star Wars podcaster and a Prequel Apologist, I am always here for anything that pokes fun at the Prequel Era along with a loving middle finger to how nostalgia can ruin things. Grade A+ on that Star Wars joke!
(Check out Space Waffles, the Star Wars podcast part of the Geeky Waffle network! I’ve been on a few episodes!)
-If Cloak Bot had a bomb in his chest, maybe it was a good thing that Frobo got smashed in the season two finale. His body was left behind in Amphibia. They might have dodged a bullet there.
-There’s a ton of damage being done to the Boonchuy house. Those repairs have to be adding up. I know it’s the magic of animation that everything gets fixed quickly and maybe I’m just old, but I kept wincing and adding up the cost of damage in my head!
-While it’s played for a joke, it’s very sad to see Mrs. Boonchuy’s workout room full of images of Anne. She truly missed her daughter. That’s a room full of pain.
-That cliffhanger that the FBI is coming in was a great moment. Who is Mr. X and what will happen next?
Fixing Frobo and Anne-sterminator were both fantastic episodes with Amphibia’s stellar third season! And the first five episodes of season three are now on Disney+. Streaming is so much more important than watching it on cable, so support the show and its creators by checking it out on Disney+!
