Amphibia Spoiler Review: Hollywood Hop Pop/If You Give a Frog a Cookie

After the heart-wrenching pain of last week, this week’s episode of Amphibia was a nice breather with “Hollywood Hop Pop” and “If You Give a Frog a Cookie.” That’s not to say they were filler by any means. Quite the opposite actually as we got the return of Mr. X as well as meeting a new character that could get the Plantars home.

So let’s get into it.

I want to start off with a point I made about “Spider-Sprig.” I talked about how dangerous it was that Sprig was a vigilante trending on the internet and getting featured on local news. It made me nervous the entire time watching the episode since we know that Mr. X and Jenny were looking for the Plantars. Sprig’s superhero costume must be really good because it was never a problem.

But “Hollywood Hop Pop” really shined a glaring light on “Spider-Sprig” as the plot was pretty much my fear of Sprig as Frog Man. Hop Pop got featured in a commercial, and there was Mr. X hunting them right away. I have to wonder if “Spider-Sprig” was supposed to be earlier in the season prior to the “Mr. X” episode. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it. It’s a very common trope in superhero media and anime that all someone has to do is put on glasses or a tiara, and they’re suddenly unrecognizable. I have to assume this was the angle the Amphibia team was going for since it was an homage to these genres.

Gripes aside, “Hollywood Hop Pop” was a delightful little watch.

I really felt for Hop Pop this week. Sometimes a person can work and work their entire lives for their dream and never crack what we deem as “success” in our society. It’s a slog that many creative types go through. Heck, I feel that almost every single day as a freelance writer. It truly affects you as a person when you have a passion for something but can’t seem to catch a break.

Our passions sometimes become our careers, but they should never define who we are. Being an actor doesn’t make Hop Pop who he is. It’s something he enjoys. Defining ourselves as our passions and our jobs can be a toxic mindset at times. If we fail in those ventures, it can make us feel like we failed as people.

Where I loved this episode is Hop Pop learns that he has a different kind of success. He has a family that loves him. Carving out a life for himself in Wartwood, he raised two amazing kids and also guided Anne when she joined them. He’s well respected in his community. This might not be the thespian life he dreamed of, but none of this means he’s a failure. In fact, we see who Hop Pop truly is when he gives his audition to Humphrey. Hop Pop got a taste of success and now shares the opportunity with another person.

I’m also always here for stories of artists helping out artists. In our broken capitalist society, artists and creative types must look out for each other. Because society sure as hell won’t have our backs.

And while it wasn’t the focus of the story, I’m glad that through Hop Pop and Humphrey the creators touched a bit on Ageism in Hollywood. Entertainment is difficult to break into, but even harder when a person is over a certain age. The roles become far more limited, just as we see in this episode where there was only one spot for a long line of old men. It was a nice little bit of commentary there.

“If You Give a Frog a Cookie” was another fun romp. There might be a breakthrough for the Plantars to get back home. Dr. Jan returns to share she’s found a scientist who is experimenting with portals. Dr. Jan warns Anne about the scientist, but Anne is getting guilted by the Plantars throughout the entire thing.

It’s kind of fun to see Anne get a taste of her own medicine. Early in season one, Anne pulled similar tactics on the Plantars to get out of work or trick them in some way. It’s a great way to see how much Anne has grown as a character since early in the show.

I totally called “Wax Museum” being important in my Essential Amphibia Episodes guide because we see the return of the Skip Man! It was too juicy of a detail hidden in the Gravity Falls homage story. It also helped answer some questions too. One query I had was when was the last time a human had been in Amphibia. Skip Man AKA portable CD players were popular from the 1980s to the early 2000s before the iPod hit the market, so it was an item well before Anne’s time. She even noted it was her parents’ generation that had them. But we see in “If You Give a Frog a Cookie” that the Skip Man didn’t come from a previous visitor to Amphibia. It belonged to Dr. Frakes and was sucked through a portal the night that Anne, Marcy, and Sasha left. It’s nice to see some of the minor questions come back around.

We also meet Terri, an assistant to the crazy scientist Dr. Frakes. She’s voiced by Kate Micucci, so my DuckTales and Steven Universe loving heart jumped for joy hearing her voice. Terri’s story fits in a lot of ways with Hop Pop’s this week. While she has a passion for science, she doesn’t let it define her morals or seek fame as Dr. Frakes does. Terri doesn’t even hesitate to jump in to save the Plantars, selflessly jeopardizing her career. In a lot of ways, it’s a similar narrative as Hop Pop gave his spot to Humphrey leading to these two episodes’ themes being paired well together.

Finally, here they are:

The Earth Avengers team is gathered. All the people from the opening theme song have been featured. The main focus of this season is meeting all of these new characters. There must be a purpose for it, and I think it’s to band together to stop Andrias. Terri and the IT Gals have the tech know-how to open a portal. If Mr. X and Jenny come around, they have government resources to provide them. Dr. Jan has history knowledge and connections. The Boonchuys have already been the moral support and ready to fight. While not in the intro, I could see Otto from last week make a return, because he has shown his passion for protecting his neighborhood. Humphrey is the only person I’m not sure how he would fit into the Earth Avengers team unless they use him at some point as a decoy for Hop Pop, which we saw this week that it works. Now that they’re all established, we await the invasion of Earth. After last week, it will probably not emotionally hurt at all (I say sarcastically)!

Some random thoughts to round out Hollywood Hop Pop and If You Give a Frog a Cookie:

-Changing the opening credits with Darcy was not nice! I’m still reeling from last week!

-Mr. X keeping the frogs from his first episode is very cute!

-I hope someone makes the sock Bessie figure because it’s adorably heartbreaking and I love her.

-I got super nostalgic over seeing Dr. Frakes science center. In my hometown of Atlanta, we used to have a similar place called Sci Trek. I took so many trips there as a kid and it was a big part of my childhood. Sadly, it was underfunded and had to shut down. So please, please, PLEASE support children’s museums and science centers like this. They’re really important.

-I have to wonder when Polly calls Dr. Frakes by “Dr. Fink” if that’s a nod to The Nightmare Before Christmas. The mad scientist was Dr. Finkelstein and had a dissection lab similar to Dr. Frakes. I could be reading into it too much but that would be a fun little Easter egg if it was true.

-Love the meta-joke of Mr. X having pictures of RuPaul on his fridge.

-And last but certainly not least:

THE OWL HOUSE!! THE OWL HOUSE!!! THE OWL HOUSE!

I’m sure it’s an Easter egg and not to be thought of more past that. But with both shows dealing with worlds in other realms, it’s cool to think that Amphibia and the Boiling Isles could be connected.

Next week wraps up season 3A before we hit the holiday hiatus. I’m excited for a Christmas special especially since it has a song written by Rebecca Sugar in it. Amphibia is wrapping up so fast, and I can’t wait to see what the back half of season three brings.